Stories

Urban and rural communities are increasingly acknowledging areas of interdependence and common interests. Here are four examples of partnerships capitalizing on the unique assets of both rural and urban places to infuse creative energy into community development.

The unique culture of Oregon County, MO played an integral role throughout their workshop, which was dedicated to creating a vision for the Co-Op’s expansion into a vacant building-- from a presentation of the Ozarks’ vernacular architecture that kicked off the workshop, to the live folk and country music that ended each day of great work— to the designing itself.

As many of our readers know, the decline of Main Streets is not just an urban or suburban phenomenon, but one that confronts rural communities across America as well. In this blog, Gary Toth and Fred Kent from Project for Public Spaces describe how Placemaking provides a powerful set of tools and strategies for improving Main Streets.

Communities of any size can create celebrated public spaces. I know it’s true because I’ve seen it first hand – this month I had the pleasure of participating in the recent Smart Growth Tour put on by the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute. During this tour, I got to explore some of Colorado’s Front Range communities that have made major investments to become more walkable and livable.

On September 12th, we arrived in Alton, Missouri, and stepped into the warm, eclectic and fresh-baked pie scented space of the Oregon County Food Producers and Artisans Co-Op to plan their November workshop-- which will cover vernacular architecture, local food production, regional food security, green building design, and Co-Op development.

Many rural counties are experiencing “brain gains” as newcomers age 30-49 move in. This migration is keeping small towns alive and contributing to a new narrative about rural places.

This past July we sent out a request for stories of rural communities fighting the decline of their main streets and town centers. Berwick, Maine told us their story of their town's revival, and how they incorporated different strategies, including community-wide engagement and visioning in the wake of the closing of their leather tannery, and the vacant site it left behind.

Good design impacts tourism, jobs, property values and quality of life. What can we do to bring good design to small towns and rural communities? Here are a few inspiring examples.

Now more than ever, creative professionals are turning their attention to community development. While this trend toward good design is exciting, it’s harder to find in rural community development. Here are a few ideas from the forefront of rural design.

Last November, Live Oak, FL hosted a CIRD workshop on how to rebuild their downtown. Eight months later, we are so impressed with how much the town has already improved, and has turned the guidance and ideas from the workshop into major strides towards revitalization.

Here are four strategies from cities and towns committed to inclusivity—offering opportunities for people from all backgrounds to participate fully in building and improving their community.

The National Solidarity Programme has vastly improved Afghanistan's rural infrastructure and communities by giving Afghan citizens an active role in government to "identify, plan, manage, and monitor their own development projects"--demonstrating the power of community-driven change.

On May 8, Ben Muldrow of Arnett Muldrow & Associates will join CommunityMatters® and the Citizen’s Institute on Rural Design™ for an hour-long webinar on community branding. Ben will share his experience in working with small towns and rural places to create a strong brand that supports community and economic development outcomes.

We are very excited to have recently discovered The Art of the Rural, an organization entirely devoted to “elevating the rural arts” through their digital platform and on-the-ground projects that preserve and revive rural arts across the country. We closely examined a few of their many initiatives to explore: How does integrating art improve and impact rural communities?

Community leadership is about the dynamic relationship between people when they work together to achieve a common objective. What better way to grow leaders than to start with ourselves? Here are seven books, articles and guides on community leadership to add to your reading list.

Much of community leadership is recognizing the big and small contributions of all people in making their city or town a better place. Perhaps the biggest challenge of community leadership is to understand what kind of leaders your town needs based on your unique local context.

Emerging trends in philanthropy are turning antiquated perceptions of rural right side up, demonstrating that small places are worth investing in and that, yes, there is funding for rural America.

If you live in a small town you are used to doing a lot with a little. Sometimes though, you need to raise cold, hard cash to make larger community design and development projects happen. Join us January 9 for an informative and lively call where our speakers will quite literally show you where the money is.

Brendan Crain of Project for Public Spaces joined CommunityMatters and the Citizens' Institute on Rural Design for our December conference call, A Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Approach to Community Action. Fundamentally, “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper” (LQC) is about taking an experimental path to low-cost, high-impact results.

Join us and CommunityMatters® on December 12, from 4 - 5 Eastern time, for a conference call with Brendan Crain, Director of Communications at Project for Public Spaces, Inc., on Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper community action.