THE MAIN STREET EDITION

 Character towns, small and large, depend on having a vibrant downtown focused on “main street”. Main street has shops and restaurants, offices, civic activities, institutional buildings and residential dwellings. Downtown is the place where business meets government, residents meet their daily needs and visitors meet local culture and entertainment. 

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT IDEAS FOR DOWNTOWNS… 

• “Main Street as the City’s Holistic Center of Society”…wck. 
• “Main Street: The Ultimate Community “Third Place”…wck. 
• “Leverage Everything: Strategy for a Successful Main Street”…wck. 
• “Main Street’s Active Zones: Not Too Tall, Not Too Long”…wck. 
• “Community Theaters, “Edu-tainment” Emporiums”…wck. 
• “Main Street Special Districts: Self-Sustaining System”…wck. 
• “Nine Character Main Streets in Central Florida: Design and Content “…wck 
• “The 15 Most Beautiful Main Streets Across America”… from Architectural Digest, 2017. 
• “Main Street Innovations”…wck. 
• “What Makes a Good Main Street Work?”…from PlaceMakers, 2016. 
• “The Authentic, Engaging and Social Main Street”…wck. 
• “Starting a Village Center from Scratch”…wck. 
• “Streets Frame the Town; the “Main Drag” Establishes its Character”…wck. 

FROM THE PLANNERS’ BOOKSHELF…

• Creating a Vibrant City Center, Urban Design and Regeneration Principles, Cy Paumier, Urban Land Institute, Washington DC, 2004. 
• How Small Towns and Cities Can Use Local Assets to Rebuild Their Economies… US EPA, 2015. 
• The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, William H. Whyte, The Conservation Foundation, Washington D.C., 1980 
• Design Downtown For Women (Men Will Follow), David Feehan, Drew McLellan, Sheila Grant, Carol Becker, River Bend Publishing, Waukee IA, 2018. 
• City Hall: Masterpieces of American Civic Architecture, Arthur Drooker, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2021. 
• The Little Theatre on the Square: Four Decades of a Small-Town Equity Theatre, Ms. Beth Shervey PhD (Author), Peter PALMER (Foreword), 2000. 
• America’s Main Street Hotels: Transiency and Community in the Early Auto Age, John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle, University of Tennessee Press, 2009. 
• The Death and Life of Main Street: Small Towns in American Memory, Space, and Community, Miles Orvell, University of North Carolina Press, 2014.