ARTICLES
The Original Articles archives of CharacterTowns.org presents papers that discuss practical and conceptual ideas for designing, building and managing character towns and small cities that are interesting, pleasant and prosperous places for residents, businesses and visitors.
The Climate Change Series: Yale Center for Environmental Communication
“In 2007, baby oysters began dying by the millions at the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery on the Oregon coast. At first, the owners suspected bacterial contamination was to blame. Once they partnered with academics and other regional managers, they found out it was actually ocean acidification,” says Charlotte Regula-Whitefield. “Regula-Whitefield works with the Oregon Coordinating […]
The “Cloud”
More than you want to Know, But less than you need to Know. “The Cloud” is beginning to cover much of the space occupied by city planning. Knowing, understanding and using “The Cloud” as a tool and a resource is becoming more important. While the following presentation of elementary information and descriptions is both basic […]
The Collaboration Calendar 2019
CharacterTowns.org presents The Collaboration Calendar as a link in the website footer. The 2019 Calendar provides the dates and locations of the Annual Conferences of many professional and issue-oriented organizations involved in planning, designing and managing cities. The purpose of the Calendar is: FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
The “Complete Neighborhood”
THE IDEA OF “COMPLETE”. “Complete” provides the physical elements of a character neighborhood. “Complete” conveys a specific meaning when used to address urban conditions. “Complete” means that one system includes all the factors that affect that system: its designers, its users, its managers and its owners. The “complete streets” idea described in the adjacent box […]
The Creativity Checklist
Planners’ Experiences, Thoughts and Skills Measuring creativity is difficult. The Creativity Checklist presents categories of experiences, thoughts and skills that prompt a discussion; a discussion that will give one the sense, or not, that creativity is present. While this is an evaluation system, its purpose is to reveal a person’s ability to think creatively. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
The Design and Content of a Character Main Street
CENTRAL FLORIDA’S CHARACTER MAIN STREETS.The five county Orlando Region is fortunate to have many small cities and towns with character downtowns; towns that are attractivewith successful retail and civic “main streets”. A survey of nine towns reveals an instructive commonality in the length of their main street active zones, the provision of parking and the […]
The Design and Content of Character Main Streets.
The design and content of nine Central Florida’s Character Main Streets reveals important attributes that entitles these small cities to be considered character towns. The five county Central Florida Region is fortunate to have many small cities and towns with character downtowns. Each town has an attractive and successful retail and civic “main streets”. Each […]
The Design and Content of Nine Character Main Streets in Central Florida
Overview of the Towns. Population. Central Florida’s character towns are of a size and age that befits their condition. Their populations range from 20,000 to 75,000 in 2021 a far cry larger than their populations upon founding. Age. Each is a “centennial” town, being over a century old. Most were built in the era of […]
THE DOWNTOWN HOTEL: A Threshold Achievement.
Hotels. Small town tourism is a growing economic development factor. Hotels are the threshold assets that entice people to stay longer and spend more. A downtown hotel is a“proof of concept” that downtown is attractive to visitors and business travelers; because a hotel investor says so. [embeddoc url=”https://www.charactertowns.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Downtown-Hotel-10.17.18.pdf” width=”100%” download=”all” viewer=”google”] FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
The Downtown Infill and Redevelopment Process
The Downtown Infill and Redevelopment Process is useful in enticing vision-consistent developers to invest in the downtowns of small cities and towns. The process is a defined set of steps and activities used by successful small cities and towns to support private investment on main street or nearby. The concept is based on the idea […]
The Dying Mall’s New Lease on Life: Apartments
Second life: In the Lynnwood suburb of Seattle, developers are turning a big part of the 41-year-old Alderwood Mall into a 300-unit apartment complex, a grand experiment in transforming struggling malls into much-needed affordable housing. Such conversions may be the best use of vacant space across an over-retailed country, writes contributor Patrick Sisson. Before the […]
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 […]
The Florida 2030 Blueprint
Florida is now the third most populous state and by 2030, 26 million Floridians will call Florida home and 1.5 million more jobs will be needed. To prepare for this continued growth and ensure Florida remains successful, the Florida Chamber Foundation has released the blueprint for Florida’s future — Florida 2030. This two-year research program […]
The Four Freedoms
On January 1, 1941, as the Great Depression waned and the United States’ agonized over the war in Europe, President Roosevelt outlined four freedoms in his State of the Union address. The purpose was to establish the reason for civilization; to establish the foundational freedoms that drive governance and our civil interactions. As Clyde Klockhohn […]
The Future of Small Cities Institute
It is always a treat to find grassroots organizations devoted to the success of small cities and towns. The Future of the Cities Institute located in upstate New York is such a group. Their work, with excerpts from their website below, is useful as described below from their website. FoSCI is a great model to […]
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. […]
The Great Central Fair of 1864.
HISTORY The Great Central Fair took place from June 7 until June 28 of 1864[1] in the Logan Circle park in Philadelphia. It was inspired by past sanitary fairs that happened throughout the United States to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission. The main exhibit building was 200,000 square feet in size. It […]
The Great Ice Meltdown and Rising Seas: Lessons for Tomorrow
The Great Ice Meltdown and Rising Seas: Lessons for Tomorrow, As accumulating atmospheric greenhouse gases lead to further climate warming, sea level rise will accelerate, endangering coastal communities by more frequent flooding, exacerbated beach erosion, and saltwater penetration into streams and aquifers. Twentieth century global sea level rise has averaged 1.7 mm/yr, increasing to around […]
The Guggenheim Effect
Small City and Town Museums: Great Opportunities for Community Volunteers. Every town has a history, a founding story; most towns have some unique, authentic feature that can be used to celebrate the town. Museums educate and entertain residents and attract visitors for the same reason. Local museums are great sources of civic pride; they also […]
The High Line. New York City
The High Line is more than a park. It’s a public space where you can view art, walk through gardens, experience a performance, savor delicious food, or just connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of the city. Built on a historic, elevated freight line, the High Line has become a world-renowned […]