Nothing seems more quintessentially American than Main Street, European towns and cities have their piazzas, fountain squares and former Medieval walls and towers. The America Main Street is the product of an open town, a location that never had to be walled in for its own protection, because very few battles in North America ever involved siege warfare. Even during America's colonial history, farmers usually did not live in town and commute to their fields. Once the Native Americas were subdued or push out of the frontier the farmers rushed in to fill the vacuum; they built their houses on the farm and only came to town when they had to. The American town became the outpost of commerce and more of a place for people to meet at than to live in.
Main Street evolved out of the technologies of the industrial revolution and nearly died with the development of mass produced automobiles, paved roads and cheap gasoline. This made life in the suburbs possible for the middle class and created an opportunity for large retailers to build the shopping mall and big box stores away from Main Street. Lower prices, free parking and the fact that the middle class had moved out of town totally change the location of where people did their business.
So? Where is the most visited location in the United States?
That's right -Main Street Disneyland. And every Disneyland Park has a Main Street. It does not matter what attractions you visit at any of the parks, eventually everyone is drawn to Main Street. That fact hasn't escaped the community planners at Disney.
Outside of Disney World in Orlando Florida is the town of Celebration.
The town of Celebration was conceived and build by Disney corp. Seen as return to small town values in a safe and walkable community. Some critics call it "The Stepford Wives" of planned communities but almost all of the 8,000 residents who live there, like it there. As one person said "nothing much bad happens in Celebration but then nothing much spontaneous happens there either".
In Celebration the car is not king and parking is difficult to come by. The housing lots are purposely small and every house is built with a porch. One feature that universally comes up is how easy and safe it is to walk or bike in Celebration. Like any other planned community all the residents have to follow the rules of a homeowners association. Such associations regulate and restricted almost anything that can be seen from the sidewalk. This includes any outside decorations, the color of the curtains, wind chimes, political signs. I find this very restricting but for the people in Celebration they find it liberating they don't have to drive everywhere for everything. A little later on I want to get back to the idea of "walkable space".
This is an picture from 1952 of a real small town in America. In past posts I mentioned that I live near two towns in Pennsylvania, Pottstown and Phonixville. Both towns were once blue collar work-a-day towns, dependent on heavy industry and manufacturing. About 30 years ago the steel mills in both towns closed and practically every other manufacturer packed up and left. As the cost of transportation went down many towns and industrial centers lost their economic advantage.
Both towns suffered tremendously but Phoenixville has recovered and Pottstown is still in a downward spiral. The two places are less than 10 miles (15 km) apart and if anything Pottstown is the larger community with more potential resources. Why the big difference?
I think it all come back to walkable space. One of the great cliches of the suburbs is that they are boring -but like all cliches it has some ironic truth to it. Many of my neighbors are busy all week, do the yard work and chores on Saturday and it's church and football on Sunday. Phoenixville has capitalized on people's need to be social.
About twenty years ago Phoenixville tried to save it downtown shopping district on Bridge Street by promoting it as "Antique City" . There were around a dozen second hand shops that opened and they were a modest success.
At that same time and almost totally under the radar a non-profit group took over and began to renovate the Colonial movie house, making it an art house theater.
Then Jane Tucker opened up the Steel City Coffee House. It wasn't just a cafe but a venue for live music.
It took time for the Colonial and Steel City to establish themselves but just after a new restaurant or two came to Bridge Street it was suddenly like a flood gate opened. In five years over two dozen new businesses came to a four block section of Bridge Street and every second hand shop eventually closed up and moved away.
My theory is the most important segment of the market is twenty-something adults. Twenty-something adults are not saving up for their retirement, they're looking to be in a relationship. Any relationship starts of with three dates and twenty-something adults are willing to spend money on a date. If your town's Main Street has at least three nice places to go on a date, it will attract those young adults. And those twenty-something adults will attract everyone else because other age groups like being around young attractive and vibrant people.
Now look at other towns. What is on their Main Street? If it can be summed up with something like a hot dog vendor, a dollar store and a smoke shop -well then it's safe to assume this is a dying town. You're probably not interested in walking that street.
The future of small and medium towns in America is entertainment, arts and culture. It's providing a walkable space where people from the suburbs can go and experience things, instead of just killing time watching TV or shopping on-line.
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