"The greatest asset that a city can have is something that's different from every other place." – Jane Jacobs.
“The people make the place” – Every person who’s ever loved where they live
There’s no question that placemaking, talent, and innovation are becoming an ever present part of the national economic development and community building conversation right now. Communities across the country are beginning to believe in themselves and their potential. The collective confidence that is emerging is resulting in a major shift in the way we think about our cities. Interesting things are happening everywhere.
The new reality of economic development focuses energy toward attracting and retaining a talented workforce and making places people want to be. The HR department is involved more than ever before in steering business re-location and expansion decisions. Placemaking and strategic community investments in infrastructure and amenities are critical components of attracting talent. Deliberately working to shape the future of a community to create great places will create economic opportunities for cities as they aspire to self-actualize.
Great places define great cities. The great places that exist and are emerging are redefining community distinctiveness. To reflect on what Jane Jacobs said, one important component of becoming a great city is to have a unique identity.
What makes your place distinct?
This question comes up frequently. Quantifying community distinctiveness, an altogether subjective notion, is a challenge. People have tried. There are “weirdness indexes” that attempt to calculate type and share of various recreational activities in comparison with other places. The “culture to cable ratio” proposed by CEOs for Cities theorizes that the more people a city has that participate in cultural activities relative to the number of people with cable television subscriptions can help define distinctiveness.
These and other attempts to quantify a place’s unique identity miss the fact that the very definition of the word “distinctive” and everything it implies as it relates to placemaking and city building defies measurability. What makes a place can’t be replicated and very often dies when local entities attempt to institutionalize it. Simply put, intangibles don’t exist in quantifiable terms.
In successful places a zeitgeist oriented toward optimism and possibility exists that seems to be a common denominator. Some people call it a “vibe.” You can’t measure it, but by spending time in any of the numerous places around the country that are realizing success in creating place you will recognize a palpable aura of sorts. People make place.
Chattanooga, TN is a notable example. A few years ago Chattanooga had success in attracting a new Volkswagen plant to their community. When asking Chattanooga officials about this success, every person I talked to said the reason Volkswagen ultimately moved to Chattanooga was due to the “intangibles.”
Today many places are growing in a way they haven’t before. Growing industry employment sectors center around knowledge and innovation. At the same time, we appear to be entering into a new post-employment age where increasing degrees of specialization create unlimited opportunity for the entrepreneurially oriented. These trends are partially responsible for driving people to seek out great places.
All this adds up to a complicated equation that is difficult to quantify and even harder to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it first-hand. Many things combine to give a great place the “something that’s different from every other place” that Jane Jacobs was referring to. Perhaps most importantly the collective of personalities and attitudes that exist within the place.
We know it. We feel it. We carry it with us every day as we all contribute in our own way to make our places distinctive. Our cities’ best days are in front of us. As these distinctive cities continues to define themselves we must be able to tell the story; tell our story. The Zen of City Building is about embracing the vibe that is driving change in your community. We… all of us… make place. Let’s work to make them better.