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 Idea of “Complete”
The idea of “Complete” is using an ordinary word to describe holism of a system. “Complete” is an ordinary word used in a specific way to describe comprehensiveness, contextualism and holism. Complete, in a city planning context, means viewing the entire picture, including all the elements of the subject at hand, taking everything connected to […]
The Idea of Cultural Corridors.
THE BASIC IDEA. The idea of a physical corridor along a street that connects cultural venues is a narrow approach to a “cultural corridor”. A more expansive approach considers the corridor as a string of connected venues that “anchor” the corridor including entertainment, educational, cultural and recreational destination venues. The “anchor” venues prosper with accessible […]
The Importance of Being the Best
The Importance of Being Best is an often overlooked economic development tool. The magazine listings of “the best city in America for whatever quality is the subject of the month” can be important. Small cities and towns of character fit this mold nicely and can exploit the circulation of the respective journals to advertise their […]
The Importance of High Schools
In the early decades of the 20th century, a nationwide movement formed around high school education…who knew there was a “high school movement” a hundred years ago? With the industrial revolution came the need for better trained workers and workers disciplined into the regular workday. High schools had the mission of imparting information and indoctrinating […]
The Innovative, Tech-Driven Main Street.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS: A SAMPLER. Technological innovations are washing over society at an unprecedented pace. Previous generations may have felt the same, but it does not matter, since today it feels overwhelming. The current generations are confronted with constant changes, “upgrades” and ways ofmoving about, buying and selling, communicating and interacting that are fundamentally different from […]
The Kuhn Cycle
CT.org continues to be interested in the methods and processes of other disciplines, believing they have application to community planning and the social sciences. In this case, J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D. [gerry.purdy@mobilocity.biz] offers the Kuhn Cycle as a way to look at how progress is made; how progress is made through revolutionary change rather than […]
The Main Street Hotel, A Threshold Achievement.
Hotels for Tourists and Businesses. Character towns have places for people to spend the night: hotels, inns and B&Bs. Small town tourism is a growing economic fact. Hotels are the threshold “proof of concept” that the “Boomers” are traveling; looking for small cities and towns as they travel the country. Tourists and business travelers are […]
The Main Street Hotel, A Threshold Achievement
Hotels for Tourists and Businesses. Small town tourism is a growing economic development fact. Hotels are the threshold “proof of concept” that the city or town is attracting visitors and perhaps a few business travelers. The “boomers” are traveling; looking for character and authenticity in small cities and towns as they travel the country. Tourists […]
The Maitland Ballfield Complex
The Maitland Ballfield Complex in the City of Maitland married two ideas in 1990: a park and a fire station. The City had surplus land at the Keller Road Public works site, home to their water plant [2] and Fire Station #47 [1]; and they needed a little league field for residents. The result of […]
The Mercantile Library
Specialty Libraries. Public libraries have been presented as places that provide a wide range of community, entrepreneurial and economic development services to a wide range of people. Specialty libraries are a bit different. While generally open to the public, many are “members only”. A more distinguishing feature is the focus of the library’s materials and […]
The Metropolitan Revolution
Mr. Katz and Ms. Bradley have constructed a great and thoughtful book about innovation and the coming predominance of cities and metropolitan areas in the world of the New Economy. Federal and state governments are receding in their ability to be useful participants in international trade and in their capacity to fund local innovation and […]
The Milne Ice Shelf
“Milne Ice Shelf: Satellites capture Arctic ice split” The Planet Earth-observation company has just released new imagery of the broken Milne Ice Shelf in the Arctic. Located on the northern margin of Canada’s Ellesmere Island, the ice platform split on 30/31 July to form a free-floating bloc some 80 sq km (30 sq miles) in […]
The Mind Boggling History of City Recycling
Ever wondered about the history of city recycling? As someone who oversees your local community recycling programs, it’s good to know where you’ve been, so you can see where you’re going. The coronavirus pandemic has brought many things into sharp focus for Public Works Directors, and other leaders who work to keep our cities clean […]
The Most Important Global Meeting You’ve Probably Never Heard Of Is Now
Countries are gathering in an effort to stop a biodiversity collapse that scientists say could equal climate change as an existential crisis. As 20,000 government leaders, journalists, activists and celebrities from around the world prepare to descend on Glasgow for a crucial climate summit starting late this month, another high-level international environmental meeting got started […]
The Multiple Benefits of Co-Located Infrastructure
CONCEPT. “Multiple Benefits” is a great concept in normal times; in times of economic stress, it is an exceptional concept. The basic idea is that a single action can produce more than one benefit. One dollar of expense, if thoughtfully expended, can produce more than one dollar’s worth of value, or benefit. Consider: Much like […]
The Multiple Benefits of Co-Located Public Venues.
CONCEPT. “Multiple Benefits” is a great concept in normal times; in times of economic stress, it is an exceptional concept. The basic idea is that a single action can produce more than one benefit. One dollar of expense, if thoughtfully expended, can produce more than one dollar’s worth of value, or benefit. Consider: “Killing two […]
The Multiple Benefits of Co-Located Public Venues
CONCEPT. “Multiple Benefits” is a great concept in normal times; in times of economic stress, it is an exceptional concept. The basic idea is that a single action can produce more than one benefit. One dollar of expense, if thoughtfully expended, can produce more than one dollar’s worth of value, or benefit. Consider: Much like […]
The Multiple Benefits of Collaboration among the Community Education Venues.
COMMONALITY OF MISSION. Community education venues, i.e., schools, theaters, museums, galleries and parks, all have an education mission. Entertainment, exercise and socialization are undoubtedly part of the picture and in some cases even primary. But the commonality of their shared missions leads to common participants, facilities, networks and funding sources. What if the distinct educational, […]
The National Climate Assessment
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) deliver a report to Congress and the President no less than every four years that “1) integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program…; 2) analyzes the effects of global change on the naturalenvironment, agriculture, energy production and use, […]
The National Public Housing Museum Eyes a 2021 Opening
The museum will tell the history of American public housing in a remnant of a 1930s public housing complex on Chicago’s Near West Side. When you’re working to establish a museum with such contested subject matter as the National Public Housing Museum (NPHM), it pays to have a few shorthand expressions within easy reach, lest […]