Cities suffering from significant population losses are sometimes referred to as “shrinking cities.” Most notably, the City of Detroit has lost 25 percent of its population from 2010 to 2000. When comparing the City’s peak population of 1.8 million in 1950 to today, the population has decreased more … Read more

There is a popular notion that people find living near energy generation facilities undesirable.  There are concerns about health, odor, and aesthetics, to name a few.  But does living near electricity generation impact property values? Recently, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laborat … Read more

Yesterday, Sept 4th, community leaders, elected officials, school administrators and a team from Self-Help gathered in NE Central Durham to celebrate the opening of a revitalized historic asset. The historic YE Smith School, a 54,000 square foot building originally constructed in 1910, is the new ho … Read more

Last week, I spent an afternoon “clamming” in a Massachusetts estuary with my family. After a few hours of futile “raking,” a local resident told my dad and me that a commercial fisherman swept the area just the week before, and we were unlikely to find very many clams. He directed us toward an area … Read more

Vacant buildings, condemned residences, underutilized commercial property – all are familiar characteristics of many downtowns throughout eastern North Carolina’s small towns.  Ironically, these characteristics are becoming all too familiar in towns experiencing tremendous growth. Within one North C … Read more

Local governments may find opportunities for economic development through energy programs and energy installations.  Some communities have even used energy installations to turn otherwise undesirable properties into economic opportunities. The town of Hull, Massachusetts is located on a peninsula in … Read more

The work of community development is very much tied to place. Even though today we speak of virtual communities or communities of practice that are disconnected from place, when we speak of community development we are talking about developing the capacity of local communities–neighborhoods, towns, … Read more

  A historic, downtown building on Main Street has been vacant for the last 30 years. Once an iconic hotel for the Town, today the building is empty, other than a few occupied tenants filling retail space on the ground floor. The small Town has a tier 1 designation and is working hard to suppor … Read more

Something is brewing in small towns throughout North Carolina. Far outside the city limits of Beer City U.S.A. (also known to North Carolinians as Asheville), craft breweries are opening up in and around distressed downtowns throughout the state. Part industrial facility, part retail space, part bar … Read more

Energy and sustainability programs can be important economic development initiatives for governments.  Governments interested in initiating energy efficiency and renewable energy programs for their business and industry should first learn about how those businesses and industry sites use energy. Two … Read more