by Kyle Bailey
I’m always surprised, when visiting communities throughout the Commonwealth, by how many of them don’t have historic districts within their downtown or Main Street boundaries. After working with an historic preservation focused organization, I always felt that Design, whether I called it that or not, was the place to start the community revitalization process.
Most know that revitalization and Main Street is so much more than physical improvements and preservation, but to me, the Design functions are what I see as the foundation building of revitalization efforts that your community can grow a movement around. More literally, Design is the actual foundation of your community - your built environment is the stuff your community is physically made of.
Design and preservation projects, while certainly worth doing alone, are better used as tools and catalysts to inspire volunteers and serve as launch points for future efforts. They also make the earliest and most immediate impacts on a community which can help to improve a community’s image and identity.
In communities that are taking their first steps towards revitalization, a building and property inventory is a great place to start. Getting a stock of the properties, both historic and non-contributing, as well as their businesses or occupants, will lay the foundation for future development and revitalization. By identifying historic assets and taking steps towards establishing a historic district, you and your community can improve your understanding of the community’s unique past, not in attempt to recreate it, but to celebrate what has made your community unlike any other.
Beyond the structures and preservation, however, we also know that people will not spend time in a community that is not safe or clean. These functions, while they now have their own point in the Main Street Approach, have been, and still are in many communities, performed as functions of Design.
Good Design, whether the projects are focused on preservation, streetscape improvements, or Safe, Clean, and Green will keep community members on the streets and ensure that they are spending time in your business districts. As a subsidiary nonprofit for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The National Main Street Center recognizes that the roots of the Main Street Approach are preservation, a function of Design and Design committee. This relationship reinforces the importance of the role that Design plays in our communities. So, while the functions of Design are diverse and encompassing, I look back at where Main Street came from. For me, Design is all about knowing what you were, in order to understand what you are now, so that you can plan for what you want to be.