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.
Trees and Tree Canopies
OBJECTIVE. Every community in America is concerned about increasing its tree canopy for its aesthetic, environmental and real estate value. Attention is being paid to the importance of trees. Trees offer many benefits at a very low cost. A target for tree canopy coverage in cities is gaining in popularity and programming. RESOURCES. There is […]
U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022
Wind turbines stand in fields near Palm Springs, Calif, March 22, 2023. Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday, March 27, 2023. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
Uber Turns to Autonomous Vehicle Startup Nuro for Eats Deliveries
Uber will use Nuro autonomous delivery vehicles to shuttle meals and other goods to its Eats customers as part of a 10-year commercial deal between the two companies. The partnership, which kicks off this fall, will start in Houston and Mountain View, California and eventually expand to other areas, including the greater Bay Area, according […]
Underserved communities could miss out on access to electric vehicles.
“To meet climate goals, many states and utilities are investing in electric vehicle chargers. But only a few are working to ensure that underserved communities have access to charging and benefit from the cleaner air that electric vehicles provide. “That’s according to a report by Peter Huether of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. […]
Urban Designer, Jan Gehl
Jan Gehl is a practicing Urban Design Consultant and Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has extensively researched the form and use of public spaces and put his findings to practice in multiple locations throughout the world. His company, Gehl Architects — Urban Quality Consultants, creatively reimagines the […]
Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements.
FROM CHARACTERTOWNS.ORG… This work may be a bit too academic for direct application to the issues facing small cities and towns; but, it introduces the idea of experimentation! Civic entrepreneurs are curious, innovative and somewhat daring in their experiments with new ideas and innovations. With “smart city” initiatives, “green” technology, the coming intrusion of automated […]
Urban Forest Master Plan
Excerpts from Published Works… The City of Tallahassee completed an Urban Forest Master Plan in 2018. The plan is a guide for the future of our community’s tree canopy, to improve this vital city asset as our community grows and changes in the coming years. Improvements to the quality of our canopy are necessary in […]
Urban Infrastructure. A Holistic System of Smart, Green Facilities.
THE IDEA OF INFRASTRUCTURE. Character towns have strong, well-funded infrastructure systems. Potable water supply, wastewater disposal, solid waste collection and disposal, electricity, natural gas, stormwater management, roads and bridges, transit, sidewalks, parks, schools, hospitals, and the myriad of other systems that support our well- being go mostly unnoticed, until they break. FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail
Urban Open Space
Leverage the Open Space System to Unify the City and Save the Environment. THE IDEA OF AN “URBAN OPEN SPACE” SYSTEM. Character towns have extensive areas and lands devoted to parks and open spaces; sometimes these are organized into systems. When systematically organized, the collection of parks and open lands becomes a holistic, integrated system […]
Urban Open Space: Leverage the Open Space System to Unify the City
THE IDEA OF “URBAN OPEN SPACE” SYSTEMS. Character towns have extensive areas and lands devoted to parks and open spaces. When systematically organized, the collection of parks, plazas, school grounds, stormwater ponds, protected wetlands, lakes, streams, private lawns and gardens becomes a holistic, integrated system of lands and waters devoted to the city’s health and […]
URBAN PARKS: Programming Areas and Facilities.
The Vision of an urban park. Urban parks are places of significant size and location that offer respite to city dwellers in the form of natural or artful aesthetic beauty, recreation and education be it cultural, historic or wellness. The Olmstedian idea of urban parks as cultural oases for a person’s renewal from urban pressures […]
Urban Street Design Guide
Sidewalks play a vital role in city life. As conduits for pedestrian movement and access, they enhance connectivity and promote walking. As public spaces, sidewalks serve as the front steps to the city, activating streets socially and economically. Safe, accessible, and well-maintained sidewalks are a fundamental and necessary investment for cities, and have been found […]
Urban tissue and the character of towns
From Semantic Scholar This paper is concerned with the question of identifying and describing the general and historical character of human settlements. Beginning with a brief overview of the subject, the paper examines some basic issues concerning the perception of character and its historical dimension, highlighting a number of fundamental principles. The central argument of […]
Urban tissue and the character of towns
CharacterTowns.org is always looking for definitive ways to describe and define community character and its inherent systems. “Urban Tissue” is an interesting approach that draws upon the connective features of the body as an analogy for the urban systems, the tissue, necessary for the city to function socially, economically and physically. Healthy Communities also drew […]
US firm agrees to sell 24 mini nuclear reactors to UK customers
CT.org has long supported the use of Small Modular [Nuclear] Reactors, SMRs, as supplements to primary energy systems based on wind and solar power. SMRs are smaller [read cheaper], 24/7 regardless of weather and daylight, produced in a factory to better control quality, replicable in that each SMR is not a one-off and more maintainable […]
US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty
SUMMARY. Every family should be able to live in a neighborhood that supports well-being and boosts children’s chances to thrive and succeed. Yet today too many low-income families and families of color live in neighborhoods that lack resources and instead amplify the effects of growing up poor. We lay out a proposal for a coordinated […]
Vanishing yet vital: Western U.S. butterflies in decline
When the Edith’s checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha) reaches its next flower, a few of the tiny flecks of pollen stuck to it will be left behind, pollinating the flower. However, Edith’s checkerspot is one of many butterfly species in decline, and some of its subspecies are currently listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species […]
Vibrant Downtowns; Dynamic and Multi-‐Faceted Centers for Social and Commercial Engagement
Vibrant downtowns define character towns. People seem to enjoy life in certain small town downtowns and special places with bigger cities. A vibrant main street is where society, commerce and tourism meet in a rich setting of active engagement. The interactions are enables by the quality of the street itself, the inviting-nature of the sidewalks, […]
Vibrant Downtowns; Dynamic Multi-‐Faceted Centers for Social and Commercial Engagement
Vibrant Downtowns are essential features of character towns. They are the dynamic setting for social and economic discourse with physical settings that facilitate conversations and gathers; places such as cafe’s, restaurants, libraries, post offices, plazas and parks. People seem to enjoy life in certain small town downtowns and special places within bigger cities. Main street is the place where society, commerce and tourism meet and flourish. The features of the […]
The Olmsted Conference
Beginning on American History TV, C-SPAN, aired a conference on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, founder of American landscape architecture. The video presents Laurie Olin discussing FLO’s influence on the landscapes of college campuses across the country including Stanford. Landscape architect Mark Hough discussed Olmsted’s work on the Duke University […]