Small Cities Thinking Big

Many cities with a population of 150,000 or less struggle to compete with their larger neighbors and often have trouble attracting residents and new businesses. This book explores the numerous ways these cities can compete on a larger scale without sacrificing their small-town character. It utilizes experiences from other cities, as well as from the author's time revitalizing Augusta, Maine (pop. 19,000). Featuring chapters that focus on organizing volunteers, adhering to aesthetics, marketing, urban planning, and more, this book tackles key paths every small city should follow when attempting to redevelop its image.

Many cities with a population of 150,000 or less struggle to compete with their larger neighbors and often have trouble attracting residents and new businesses. This book explores the numerous ways these cities can compete on a larger scale without sacrificing their small-town character. It utilizes experiences from other cities, as well as from the author's time revitalizing Augusta, Maine (pop. 19,000). Featuring chapters that focus on organizing volunteers, adhering to aesthetics, marketing, urban planning, and more, this book tackles key paths every small city should follow when attempting to redevelop its image.

How can small cities make an impact in a globalizing world dominated by ‘world cities’ and urban development strategies aimed at increasing agglomeration? This book addresses the challenges of smaller cities trying to put themselves on the map, attract resources and initiate development. Placemaking has become an important tool for driving urban development that is sensitive to the needs of communities. This volume examines the development of creative placemaking practices that can help to link small cities to external networks, stimulate collaboration and help them make the most of the opportunities presented by the knowledge economy. The authors argue that the adoption of more strategic, holistic placemaking strategies that engage all stakeholders can be a successful alternative to copying bigger places. Drawing on a range of examples from around the world, they analyse small city development strategies and identify key success factors. This book focuses on the case of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a small Dutch city that used cultural programming to link itself to global networks and stimulate economic, cultural, social and creative development. It advocates the use of cultural programming strategies as a more flexible alternative to traditional top-down planning approaches and as a means of avoiding copying the big city. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Today, there is a tremendous mismatch between the available housing stock in the US and the housing options that people want and need. The post-WWII, auto-centric, single-family-development model no longer meets the needs of residents. Urban areas in the US are experiencing dramatically shifting household and cultural demographics and a growing demand for walkable urban living. Missing Middle Housing, a term coined by Daniel Parolek, describes the walkable, desirable, yet attainable housing that many people across the country are struggling to find. Missing Middle Housing types—such as duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts—can provide options along a spectrum of affordability. In Missing Middle Housing, Parolek, an architect and urban designer, illustrates the power of these housing types to meet today’s diverse housing needs. With the benefit of beautiful full-color graphics, Parolek goes into depth about the benefits and qualities of Missing Middle Housing. The book demonstrates why more developers should be building Missing Middle Housing and defines the barriers cities need to remove to enable it to be built. Case studies of built projects show what is possible, from the Prairie Queen Neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska to the Sonoma Wildfire Cottages, in California. A chapter from urban scholar Arthur C. Nelson uses data analysis to highlight the urgency to deliver Missing Middle Housing. Parolek proves that density is too blunt of an instrument to effectively regulate for twenty-first-century housing needs. Complete industries and systems will have to be rethought to help deliver the broad range of Missing Middle Housing needed to meet the demand, as this book shows. Whether you are a planner, architect, builder, or city leader, Missing Middle Housing will help you think differently about how to address housing needs for today’s communities.

We tend to associate small town economic development with the decline of the rural United States--empty houses, shuttered shops and rusting factories. A common diagnosis of sluggish small town recovery is their lack of lifestyle amenities that attract new residents and businesses. Yet many small towns have shown progress and potential in recent years. This collection of recent articles by experts presents stories of small-town America's struggle and describes innovations and practices behind successful revivals.

The timeless and practical advice in The Magic of Thinking Big clearly demonstrates how you can: Sell more Manage better Lead fearlessly Earn more Enjoy a happier, more fulfilling life With applicable and easy-to-implement insights, you’ll discover: Why believing you can succeed is essential How to quit making excuses The means to overcoming fear and finding confidence How to develop and use creative thinking and dreaming Why making (and getting) the most of your attitudes is critical How to think right towards others The best ways to make “action” a habit How to find victory in defeat Goals for growth, and How to think like a leader "Believe Big,” says Schwartz. “The size of your success is determined by the size of your belief. Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. Remember this, too! Big ideas and big plans are often easier -- certainly no more difficult - than small ideas and small plans."

The bestselling author of "Less Is More" reveals how great companies blend the ambitions of a giant with the humility and focus of a start-up.

The Only Innovation Guide You Will Ever Need--from the Award-Winning Minds at Mayo Clinic A lot of businesspeople talk about innovation, but few companies have achieved the level of truly transformative innovation as brilliantly--or as famously--as the legendary Mayo Clinic. Introducing Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast, the first innovation guide based on the proven, decade-long program that’s made Mayo Clinic one of the most respected and successful organizations in the world. This essential must-have guide shows you how to: Inspire and ignite trailblazing innovation in your workplace Design a new business model that’s creative, collaborative, and sustainable Apply the traditional scientific method to the latest innovations in "design thinking" Build a customized toolkit of the best practices, project portfolios, and strategies Increase your innovation capacity--and watch how quickly you succeed These field-tested techniques grew out of the health care industry but are designed to work with any complex organization. Written by three Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation insiders--Dr. Nicholas LaRusso, Barbara Spurrier, and Dr. Gianrico Farrugia--the book offers a wealth of transformative ideas and strategies. The concise, easy-to-implement methods can help jump-start your employees' creative potential, involve them in the collaborative process, and pave the way to the future of sustainable innovation. You get step-by-step advice on building leadership teams, accelerator platforms for speeding up results, and fascinating case studies of innovation in action from the files of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation. In today's fast-moving world, it's innovation that drives success. This book gives you the keys. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THINK BIG, START SMALL, MOVE FAST: "Truly great organizations do not just achieve great results; they are also relentless in the pursuit of continual improvement. This book offers both methods and motivation to leaders in any industry who understand that the pursuit of excellence is never-ending." -- Donald Berwick, M.D., MPP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "Do you want your organization to deliver a shockingly better customer experience? Here is Mayo's method that transformed the patient experience by making innovation systemic, the human side of innovation." -- Scott Cook, Cofounder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit "A powerful set of actionable, yet importantly nonprescriptive, principles for transformative change that will inspire and challenge all of us to reenvision a system that delivers health, not just care, for all our patients." -- Rebecca Onie, Cofounder and CEO, Health Leads "This book should serve both as a how-to guide for medical professionals and an inspiration for other innovators all over the country." -- T. R. Reid, reporter and author of The Healing of America "Powerful insight on how to deliver meaningful innovations time and again." -- Frans van Houten, CEO, Royal Philips "Leaders who seek to accelerate new innovation competencies can benefit from this hands-on guide." -- Sarah Miller Caldicott, great grandniece of Thomas Edison, and CEO, Power Patterns of Innovation "Read this book. . . . Copy its practices. It will save you years of misery and missteps as you build your own innovation revolution." -- Larry Keeley, Cofounder, Doblin Inc., and Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP