In this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Joshua Hopkins, the newly elected mayor of Chugwater, Wyoming, to discuss how a rodeo arena he built is benefiting his community.
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With the prevalence of online shopping, creating a compelling storefront has never been more necessary for small businesses. Here are six ways you can draw customers in with the design of your storefront.
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When trying to make a space more active and vibrant, many people focus on its individual design elements. The Musicant Group takes a slightly different approach, focusing on building strong relationships between the design elements. Here are six design relationships they recommend fostering.
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The ways that people buy coffee in American cities versus older European cities illustrates the differences in their built environments — and their priorities.
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Car companies have been talking about making cars a third place for years, and the concept has been engrained in North American culture for even longer. But can cars actually function as a third place? More importantly, should they?
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If you could ask anything from a downtown redevelopment project, what would it be? For a lot of people, it’s a place to sit. This may be surprising to some, but public seating plays an important role in creating prosperous communities. Here are a few of the reasons why.
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Starbucks built its brand on being a third place — a communal hangout that fosters communication and conversation — but in recent years, its priorities have shifted to speed of service. Now, instead of returning to its roots, the corporation is trying to redefine what a third place is.
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For successful placemaking, small, consistent investments over time matter more than grand gestures.
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Cities need more transaction-free third spaces.
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Too often, local businesses are forced to move or close their doors. What lessons can we take away after the loss of a beloved third place?
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This block in Tulsa, AZ, got a makeover in this community-led placemaking event, showing that you don’t need a lot of money to transform an empty space into a community asset.
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When a vital commuter route was scheduled for a 90-day closure, this city made the most of the situation by encouraging would-be commuters to spend time in downtown, instead.
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In Kansas City, KS, parking regulations threaten to demolish local coffee shop Kinship Cafe for a parking lot. The cafe’s owner, T.J. Roberts, joins us today on Upzoned to talk about his struggle to save his business.
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After 2.5 years of success, officials in Peekskill, NY, are threatening to open this community gathering place back up to motorized traffic—but locals aren’t taking this threat lying down.
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Oftentimes, people in rural settings drive long distances to bigger towns to find community engagement. This renovated soda fountain shop shows why it’s worth looking for that sense of community a little closer to home.
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This nonprofit is transforming pockets of St. Louis, MO, into delightful and welcoming parks—and at a low cost!
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Too often, cities invest in the storage and movement of cars rather than the movement, visibility, and interactions of human beings. But the latter is precisely what makes for communities that are worth caring about.
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The increasing presence of technology in our third places poses a challenge to collective life and collective action.
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Baltimore’s department of transportation is considering making the city’s temporary outdoor dining “parklets” a permanent fixture.
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Residents of small towns shouldn’t have to travel to a large urban downtown to get a taste of a walkable, people-centered environment.
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