By Becky McCray Need an idea for your next small town or rural business? This one would make a good side hustle: Gather and resell fruit that would otherwise be wasted. Think of all the fruit, berries and nuts that no one picks, especially in yards and public spaces in your town. You don’t have […]
Best practices for rural housing
The only housing “best practice” that really works for every town: Keep renewing your town’s core No one likes a mushy core, in an apple or a small town. Build more in the center, less on the outside. Grab a paper map of your town and a highlighter. Circle the oldest neighborhoods, the ones closest […]
What makes a small town a micropolitan or nanopolitan?
Quick Summary: A “micropolitan area” is US term for smaller metropolitan areas between 10,000 and 50,000 people. Micropolitans provide shopping and services to their core population and even more rural people in surrounding regions. About 27 million US residents live in micropolitan towns. Nanopolitans are towns with between 1,000 and 10,000 people. Nanopolitans serve as […]
Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case
Why does downtown matter? I’ve been asked why downtowns matter to small towns. Why should you invest your time and money into revitalizing your downtown? What makes it more important than any other area of town? What about that highway frontage? Or the edge of town where the discounters locate? In our Survey of Rural […]
