Contents – March 2024
CONTENTS – March 2024
Character towns, small and large, help build social cohesion, community connections, civic pride and institutional trust with places and spaces for people to socialize. A systemic approach to obtaining, designing and connecting the many open spaces in the city results in a network of beautiful and sociable spaces that can, if done enthusiastically, define the city.
Design the city to be a park; an active, verdant civic asset
THE “HOLISTIC OPEN SPACE SYSTEM” EDITION
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IDEAS…
- “Urban Open Space Systems, Leverage the Open Space System to Unify the City and Save the Environment”…wck.
- “Parks, Plazas, Trails and Open Spaces: Citywide Amenities and Connectors”…wck.
- “Main Street Parks and Plazas, Open Air ‘Third Places’ “…wck.
- “The Multiple Benefits of Co-Located Public Venues”…wck.
- “City Sidewalks, A Limited Resource Needs Management”…wck.
- “Benefits of Trees” from the Arbor Day Foundation, LINK: https://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm
- “Urban Parks: Programming Areas and Facilities”…wck.
- “Small City And Town Aesthetics, The Idea of Community Beauty”…wck.
VIDEOS…
- “How to Save Life on Earth”, according to E.O. Wilson [6:29].
- City Parks Alliance Video Series: City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Overview [4:11]
- City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Multi-Use [0:40 / 0:40]
- City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Economy [7:15]
- City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Traffic & Transportation [5:38]
- City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Resilience [6:58]
- City Parks: America’s New Infrastructure – Health & Social Benefits [6:25]
- “How Bumble Bees Inspired a Network of Tiny Museums”, TED Talk, Amanda Schochet [10:59]
- “Nature Ignores Design That Ignores Nature: Observing Natural and Historic Patterns for Site Planning, Native Landscape, and Green Infrastructure” presentation by Tom Mortensen, PLA, ASLA, raSmith [1:10:36]
FROM THE PLANNERS’ BOOKSHELF…
- Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planning, Timothy Beatley, Island Press, Center for Resource Economics, Washington DC, 2011.
- A Clearing in the Distance, Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century, Witold Rybczynski, 1999. Scribner; First Edition (July 5, 2000)
- Sidewalks and Trails, The Florida Department of Transportation LINK: https://www.fdot.gov/roadway/ada/sidewalksandtrails.shtm
- Design with Nature, 25th Edition by Ian L. McHarg, Published by Natural History Press, 1971, then by John Wiley & Sons, 1992.
- Parks and Recreation System Planning, A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities, David L. Barth, PhD, Island Press, Washington D.C., 2020.
“Parks and Recreation System Planning, A New Approach for Creating Sustainable, Resilient Communities” by David L. Barth
FROM CharacterTowns.org…
David Barth has provided the city-building professions with a holistic guide for developing a great parks systems while using it to develop a great city. The power of the parks and recreation system to address the full range of social issues is presented in terms of tactics and aspirations. A great and useful read.
Contents – April 2024
CONTENTS – April 2024
Character towns, small and large, are economic systems with jobs and family incomes driven by economic development that retains and recruits jobs. The economic system also includes the public sector that not only employs residents but also supports development in order to generate taxes and fees that fund public goods and services in support of the private sector…a re-enforcing circular system.
THE “SMALL TOWN ECONOMY” EDITION
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IDEAS…
- “Small City and Town Economic Policy, Prosperity Through Economic Development”…wck.
- “The City’s Business Model, The Comprehensive Long-Range Finance Plan”…wck.
- “Character Towns as Entrepreneurial Cities”…wck.
- “Small Cities and Towns Can be Global Cities”…wck.
- “The Economic Power of Exhibitions and Fairs”…wck.
- “Main Street ‘Activity Zones’ ”…wck.
- “High Performance Development Corridors”…wck.
- “New Investment in Blighted Commercial Strips”…wck.
- “ ‘Last-Mile’ Delivery Warehouses as Retail Tenants”…wck.
- “A Co-Work Space Policy for Small Towns”…wck.
- “Five Principles of Urban Economics”…from the Magazine, City Journal.
- Video [2:57 + 25:01], “Capturing the Next Economy: Pittsburgh’s rise as a global innovation city” with Bruce Katz, Brookings Institution, 2017.
FROM THE PLANNERS’ BOOKSHELF…
- A Generosity of Spirit: The Early History of the Research Triangle Park, Albert N. Link, Research Triangle Foundation; First Edition, 1995.
- Cities of Knowledge, Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley. Margaret Pugh O’Mara, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2005.
- The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last, Tom Peters, Vintage Books, NY, 2018.
- Regenerating Older Suburbs, Richard Peiser, Washington, D.C., ULI, 2007 and Ten Principles for Rebuilding Neighborhood Retail, Michael D. Beyard, Michael Pawlukiewicz, and Alex Bond, Washington, D.C., ULI, 2003.
- Place and Prosperity: How Cities Help Us to Connect and Innovate, William Fulton, Island Press, 2022.
- Reaching for the Future, Creative Finance for Smaller Communities, Tom Murphy, Maureen McAvey and Bridget Lane, Urban Land Institute, Washington D.C., 2016.
- The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream, Steve Case, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2022.
- Citistates, How Urban America Can Prosper in a Competitive World, Neal R. Peirce with Curtis W. Johnson and John Stuart Hall, Seven Locks Press, Washington, 1993.
Benefits of Trees
Excerpts from the Arbor Tree Foundation
Trees can add value to your home, help cool your home and neighborhood, break the cold winds to lower your heating costs, and provide food for wildlife.
The Value of Trees to a Community
The following are some statistics on just how important trees are in a community setting.
The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. U.S. Department of Agriculture
If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%. Dr. E. Greg McPherson, Center for Urban Forest Research
Small City and Town Aesthetics
THE IDEA OF COMMUNITY BEAUTY.
Beauty is of paramount value in many cultures. Everything is designed with both function and beauty in mind. In some cultures, function is the primary and sometime only guide to the design of everything from bridges to door hinges. Some cultures believe that design costs more, which it doesn’t have to; some believe beauty is a personal thing not warranting consideration in the public realm; some are just unaware that beauty exists; and some are afraid of beauty believing that once people see and appreciate a beautiful park or building they will demand that beauty be a bigger part of their lives.
The Economic Power of Exhibitions and Fairs
They educate, promote economic development and enhance civic pride.
SMALL CITIES AND TOWNS HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE.
Every city and town has something to celebrate: an historic event, the birthday of a famous resident or a reoccurring natural phenomena. If there is not an indigenous celebratory event or person, grab from the regional, state or national scene. Find something to celebrate in a public way. State fairs serve this purpose, especially in places with strong agricultural interests. Annual sporting events like the Daytona 500, a football bowl game or a national holiday like Memorial Day fill the bill; although local, authentic events are more interesting.
A Generosity of Spirit: The Early History of the Research Triangle Park by Albert N. Link
CharacterTowns.org usually has no trouble finding insightful summaries and reviews of important books; however, in the case of A Generosity of Spirit, an unusual source has been used – JSTOR. A great source of important works offered for sale. The first page of their on-line synopsis is presented on the following page.
The dearth of information about this book and about the origin story of The Research Triangle is a loss to everyone interested in how to start the creation of a great institution. The JSTOR excerpt below recounts the beginning of the story, better to buy the book and read the 149 pages from the actual instigators. A great story and inspiration for anyone trying to create something important from humble beginnings.
The City’s Business Model
A Comprehensive, Long-Range City Finance Plan.
SOURCES AND USES OF FUNDS: A Professional Accounting Viewpoint.
CharacterTowns.org has taken the accounting term, source and uses of funds, and contorted it for use in comprehensive long-range finance planning for municipalities. The term, sources and uses of funds, is so appropriate for application to the needs of municipal finance planning that the temptation for the contortion is irresistible.
In professional accounting practice, the Certified Public Accounting [CPA] type, a sources and uses of funds statement has been described as a summary of a firm’s changes in financial position from one period to another. It is now generally referred to as a flow of funds statement or a statement of changes in financial position. Since 1989, it has been replaced by the cash flow statement in US audited annual reports. Since the term has become passé to accountants, it is being absconded for use in the city planning context as a tool for comprehensive, long-range finance planning for municipalities.
Main Street “Activity Zones”.
New Downtown Retail and Restaurant Site Design Factors.
The “Active Zone” of Shops and Restaurants.
Whether you are worried about the new normal, returning to the old normal or figuring out the expected hybrid, the future of the downtown in every small city and town will depend on the continuity of successful retail and restaurant businesses; usually small and locally owned. Given the continuing experience of 2020 and the expectation that there are more pandemics to come, how do we protect main street businesses; what do we know that will drive the future?
Small businesses of all types are fragile. Slight changes have big consequences. Care needs to be taken when tinkering with the traditional formula of window signs, comfortable sidewalks, on-street parking and well-lit streets for extended hours shopping and dining and a continuity of successful businesses in downtown’s “Active Zone”.
The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream by Steve Case
FROM AMAZON…
#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Steve Case, cofounder of America Online and Revolution and New York Times bestselling author of The Third Wave, shows how entrepreneurs across the country are building groundbreaking companies, renewing communities, and creating new jobs—in the process reimagining the American landscape and bringing people together around a shared future.
In 2014, Steve Case launched Revolution’s Rise of the Rest, an initiative to accelerate the growth of tech startups across the country. Rise of the Rest is based on a simple idea: cities can be renewed and rise again if they develop a vibrant startup culture. A visionary entrepreneur himself, Case believes that great entrepreneurs can be found anywhere, and can thrive with with the proper support and investment.