Community Resources

Economically resilient towns, cities, and regions adapt to changing conditions and even reinvent their economic bases if necessary. This resource features case studies from seven distinct communities and the strategies they employed to re-energize their economies.

The Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit Booklet is a resource for communities to learn about the tactics used to develop local food systems. The booklet provides an overview of 19 tactics from small to large scale implementation of local food system opportunities; these include gardening to urban farming to food hubs.

This resource is intended to help those who want to re-invigorate and strengthen neighborhood centers of economy, culture, and history through a smart growth approach to development.

Coming back from a natural disaster can be especially difficult for small rural towns, but tough times can also be an opportunity for recreating the vision of a town. This paper describes the story of Live Oak, Florida, one of CIRD’s 2013 host communities, which experienced heavy flooding in 2010

This guide by Jackson Hole Public Art outlines the nine steps required to set up a successful public art project.

This toolkit highlights successful examples of how arts and culture were utilized in multiple sectors in equity initiatives. Examples from communities both far and near provide a resource for how Dubuque could engage the community through arts and culture to make a more welcoming, inclusive community.

Creative placemaking offers the explicit recognition that arts and artists, when fully engaged with local stakeholders, are often a gel or a catalyst toward sustained community betterment and economic growth.

The guide provides clear examples of how to interpret and apply design flexibility to improve bicycling and walking conditions and presents compelling photographs, visual illustrations and technical diagrams to communicate design issues and solutions in a smaller scale setting.

The Coorinator's Manual was created by the Citizens' Institute on Rural Design™ to guide the coordinator of a CIRD workshop through all components of workshop preparation, but it can also be used for producing other community workshops. The manual walks the reader through planning a workshop, and includes exercises for setting goals, and creating plans for design, communications, and implementation.

In October of 2017, encouraged by the National consumer demand to grow and develop local food systems in both rural and urban districts in the United States, the EPA released this toolkit, which offers federal agency support aimed at community-driven planning processes.

That "Placemaking was always known to Native Americans" undergirds a new "Native American Creative Placemaking" report from HAC. The report examines a handful of established Native American creative placemaking efforts while offering a first of its kind interactive map of Native American creative placemaking projects.

Is your town or community interested in a short-term project to improve public space? Check out this toolkit, the Tactical Urbanists' Guide to Materials and Design from the Street Plans Collective. This resource is great if you have ideas for 1-7 day “demonstration” projects such as pop-up bike lanes, traffic safety upgrades, or flexible and visible parks projects.

The knowledge and experiences of community members are valuable resources for your local design projects! Learn how to identify priorities, collect community data to support your case, and create materials that advocate for your project using this guidebook by bcWORKSHOP.

Empty buildings and vacant lots are spaces of opportunity! The following guidebook by bcWORKSHOP takes you through the steps building a network of stakeholders for a community space, envisioning what that empty space could become, and making those plans happen.

The stories of local leaders and residents are what keeps the history of a community alive! Use this guide from bcWORKSHOP to learn how to capture the experiences of community residents and turn those into a testimony of your town's culture and growth.

Build community and share a love for learning by starting a local Little Free Library in your neighborhood. Learn more about the Little Free Libraries / Los Libres program and how to get started with this guidebook by bcWORKSHOP.

Case studies are a great source of placemaking knowledge! Springboard for the Arts learned from the programs of arts and arts organizations to compile a collection of how-to's for creative projects.

Sometimes all your need for community togetherness is tape and some wood! Better Block has compiled a few low-cost, high-impact "recipes" for public space activation from temporary bike lanes and parklets to a garden plaza.

Need an imaginative boost? This action-oriented report published by the National Endowment for the Arts provides best practices that define creative placemaking and case studies of Our Town projects to offer some fresh placemaking ideas.

Many rural economies are depending on local tourism and lodging, both of which were hard hit by the coronavirus. Small, independently-owned hotels would benefit from checking out this resource from Streetsense that offers guidance and recommendations for hotels to stay profitable as they look to reopen

How can rural main streets and downtown businesses bounce back from something as sudden and impactful as the coronavirus? The National Main Street Center put together this guide of tips and resources for local businesses to put together their own plan for recovery.

Amid unprecedented change due to COVID-19, retailers must get the "Back to Brick and Mortar" protocol right as public health and their business success ultimately depend on it. Recommended for Main Street projects in rural towns.

New guide for resources for creative placemaking practitioners published by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Your state arts agency offers grant funding for arts-based work including community design as well as support and resources.

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