Leverage and the Idea of Multiple Benefits: The Tangible Benefit of Collaborative Thinking and Doing
A thought that underlies all city strategies, plans and actions is to leverage available resources to create multiple benefits for single actions. Every action should produce more than one benefit to the city; as should every dollar spent and every regulation enacted. [embeddoc url=”http://www.theamericancity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Leverage1.pdf” height=”850px” download=”all” viewer=”google”] FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
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St. Louis, The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape
St. Louis , The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape, [2001] describes a city that was once among the “first tier” American cities that has now fallen to a lower rung; St. Louis is one of these fallen giants. Founded in 1764, incorporated in 1823, St. Louis was one of America’s ten most populated cities […]
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Best Cities for TDM
Best Cities forTDM reflects the fact that many American cities have extensive TDM programs that promote multi-modal mobility to all parts of the city. MobilityLab and the Federal Highway Administration offer programmatic discussions and examples. Denver Regional Council Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities Metropolitan Council Tucson, Pima Association of Governments Sacramento Area Council of Governments Arlington […]
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Livability.COM
Livability is a great source for information about what makes small cities great places to live. “The best downtowns foster creativity, inclusion and innovation. They showcase what is good about a community by offering a diverse array of local architecture, art, lifestyles and things to do. Great downtowns unite residents from all walks of life, […]
Character Towns in Central Florida: A Ten-Town Review
Ten “character towns” in Central Florida were selected for continuing study. . This article presents the idea of the downtowns and main activity streets in “character towns”. Subsequent studies will examine other character town traits. The summary of attributes can be used to preserve and enhance existing character downtowns and to design new ones. [embeddoc […]
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The Image of the City
The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch is one of the all-time best contributions to the art and science of city design. The Image of The City, written before 1960, contains many terms and ideas that are now clichés and accepted practices. He develops theory and language based on his study of Boston, Jersey City […]
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Community and the Politics of Place
Community and the Politics of Place by Daniel Kemmis [1990] reflects the authors orientation and base of thought coming from the perspective of a Montanan. He is a former elected official, city and state, an author and a thoughtful person with a sense of history and its relationship to contemporary politics. This short book is […]
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The Best Small to Mid-sized Cities in the U.S.
The Best Small to Mid-sized Cities in the U.S. reports the findings of Livability’s second on the subject. The criteria used to select the best cities was: amenities, demographics, economy, education,. Health care, housing social and civic capital and transportation. “As Livability’s editors and writers crisscross the U.S in search of great stories, we find that […]
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The Small Town Planning Handbook
The Small Town Planning Handbook [2007].
This Handbook is very useful for all towns, and specifically for small towns. The contents include chapters on strategy, comprehensive planning, economic development planning, neighborhoods, downtowns and special districts covering all the relevant physical dimensions of city and town planning.
The General Plan for a Character Town
The General Plan for a Character Town organizes civic action and governance by integrating the social, economic and physical activities into a coherent strategy for creating pleasant and prosperous places for people to live. The process follows a vision-strategy-action continuum. The General Plan is much more than the traditional comprehensive plan. Community vision is the driver. […]