H&S Implementation Guide: Enhancing Local Character

Resource Description

A town’s local character, a compilation of its unique attributes and overall distinct essence, differentiates a town from its neighbors. A town’s individual quirks and eccentricities give locals something to celebrate, inciting civic pride and a special sense of place. Local character also inspires economic vitality, as visitors are often drawn to a town because of its uniquely distinct attributes. 

This implementation guide outlines several methods to enhance and maintain local character in a town, first identifying goals such as understanding local character, and enhancing public spaces. This guide then provides tools to achieve these goals, such as methods to improve the look and feel of Main Street, or use mapping to identify community values. Through case studies and specific examples, this resource provides towns with detailed methods to draw out the unique attributes of their community.

This is one in a series of Heart & Soul Community Planning Implementation Guides, which outline the steps to implementing numerous community goals and provide a resource for towns to actively plan their futures. The Orton Family Foundation created these Guides to accompany the Heart & Soul Community Planning Handbook, helping communities to achieve an inclusive, enduring, long-term plan following the Foundation’s Heart & Soul principles of values-based, citizen-driven community planning.