Notes

Chapter One: The Lost Art of Staying Put

move long distances: a job: In 2013, 4.2 million Americans completed long-distance moves of more than two hundred miles; 2.1 million, or just more than half, attributed their move to an “employment-related reason.” The other major reasons were family (cited by 1.1 million) and housing (cited by 874,000). See U.S. Census Bureau, “Table 27: Distance of Intercounty Move, by Sex, Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, Poverty Status, Reason for Move, and State of Residence 1 Year Ago: 2013 to 2014,” in “Geographical Mobility: 2013 to 2014,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/migration/data/cps/cps2014.html.

11.7 times before he or she dies: U.S. Census Bureau, “Calculating Migration Expectancy Using ACS Data,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/migration/about/cal-mig-exp.html.

“a move to a new place”: Gretchen Rubin, Better Than Before (New York: Crown, 2015).

“care if I died”: Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

with 36 million players: U.S. Census data indicates that in 2013, 30,960,000 Americans moved. See U.S. Census Bureau, “Table 1: General Mobility, by Race and Hispanic Origin, Region, Sex, Age, Relationship to Householder, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Nativity, Tenure, and Poverty Status: 2013 to 2014,” in “Geographical Mobility: 2013 to 2014,” https://www.census.gov/hhes/migration/data/cps/cps2014.html. For information on average annual migration rates—a moving target—see Alison Fields and Robert Kominski, “America: A Nation on the Move,” Random Samplings: The Official Blog of the U.S. Census Bureau, December 10, 2012, http://blogs.census.gov/2012/12/10/america-a-nation-on-the-move/.

pulling up stakes: National League of Cities, “The 30 Most Populous Cities,” http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities-101/city-factoids/the-30-most-populous-cities.

the past five years: Neli Esipova, Anita Pugliese, and Julie Ray, “The Demographics of Global Internal Migration,” Migration Policy Practice 3, no. 2 (April–May 2013), http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/free/MigrationPolicyPracticeJournal10_15May2013.pdf.

35 percent of us have: Fields and Kominski, “America: A Nation on the Move,” http://blogs.census.gov/2012/12/10/america-a-nation-on-the-move/.

gigs around the country: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Tenure Summary,” September 18, 2014, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm.

or Omaha, Nebraska: Sam Roberts, “Slump Creates Lack of Mobility for Americans,” New York Times, April 22, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/us/23census.html?_r=0, and Annalyn Censky, “America’s Most Recession-ProofCities,” CNN.com, September 16, 2010, http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/15/news/economy/recession_proof_cities/.

to get them there: The Segmentation Company/Yankelovich, “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities,” report prepared for CEOs for Cities, May 8, 2006, http://www.centerforhoustonsfuture.org/cmsFiles/Files/Attracting%20College-Educated%20Adults%20to%20Cities.pdf. Cited in Ania Wieckowski, “Back to the City,” Harvard Business Review, May 2010, https://hbr.org/2010/05/back-to-the-city/sb1, and explained well by Matt Carmichael, “Do People Really Move for Better Cities?” Livability, January 7, 2015, http://www.livability.com/blog/demographics/do-people-really-move-better-cities.

still in Portland: Holly Doggett, in conversation with the author, September 2014. You can find out more about Holly and Daryl’s cross-country road trip at their website, Cheese Deluxe, http://www.cheesedeluxe.com/roadtrip/index1.html.

In 2012, he did: Ben Bristoll, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

“knows what I mean”: Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss (New York: Twelve, 2009).

seven hundred thousand of us do: National Association of Realtors, “Vacation Home Sales Surge in 2013, Investment Property Declines,” press release, April 2, 2014, http://www.realtor.org/news-releases/2014/04/vacation-home-sales-surge-in-2013-investment-property-declines.

crowing about America’s cities: City-Data’s self-reported monthly visitors via http://www.city-data.com/contacts.html. For comparison, the statistic about TED.com’s monthly visitors comes from Alexa rankings, accessed April 3, 2015, Alexa.com.

viewed 1.2 million times: “Houston vs. Dallas,” Texas forum, City-Data, http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas/39529-houston-vs-dallas.html, accessed March 2015.

from San Jose, California, did: Raj Chetty et al., “Where is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129, no. 4 (2014): 1553–623. See also Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren, “The Causal Effects of Growing Up in Different Counties on Earnings in Adulthood,” Equality of Opportunity Project, http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org. Why do outcomes differ so vastly from place to place? Chetty points to five factors: residential segregation, income inequality, school quality, social capital, and family structure. Only the last has little to do with where you live.

to help struggling communities: Tara McGuinness, senior advisor White House Office of Management and Budget, speaking at the White House Convening on Rural Placemaking, November 2015.

“zip code shouldn’t decide their destiny”: CBS News, “Obama: ‘A Person’s Zip Code Shouldn’t Decide Their Destiny,’” July 11, 2015, http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/obama-a-persons-zip-code-shouldnt-decide-their-destiny/.

like New York or Chicago: David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy, “How Your Hometown Affects Your Chances of Marriage,” New York Times, May 15, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/15/upshot/the-places-that-discourage-marriage-most.html.

say, Youngstown, Ohio: Gallup-Healthways, “State of American Well-Being: 2014 Community Well-Being Rankings,” http://www.well-beingindex.com/.

just sixty-four years old: Haidong Wang, Austin E. Schumacher, Carly E. Levitz, Ali H. Mokdad, and Christopher J. L. Murray, “Left Behind: Widening Disparities for Males and Females in US County Life Expectancy, 1985–2010,” Population Health Metrics 11, no. 8 (2013), http://www.pophealthmetrics.com/content/11/1/8.

like cancer and asthma: For more on how this works, watch Bill Davenhall’s excellent TED Talk. Bill Davenhall, “Your Health Depends on Where You Live,” talk given at TEDMED conference, October 2009, http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_davenhall_your_health_depends_on_where_you_live?language=en. Also see Harvard School of Public Health, The Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project Monograph, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/thegeocodingproject/, and Ed Hess, “The Role of ‘Place’ in Patient Care,” Health IT Outcomes, December 2, 2014, http://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/the-role-of-place-in-patient-care-0001.

follow-up appointment: Shigehiro Oishi and Ulrich Schimmack, “Residential Mobility, Well-Being, and Mortality,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98, no. 6 (2010): 980–94.

than “Stayers”: J. Patrick Seder and Shigehiro Oishi, “Friendculture: Predictors of Diversity in the Social Networks of College Students,” poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, N.M., February 2008, as described in Shigehiro Oishi, “The Psychology of Residential Mobility: Implications for the Self, Social Relationships, and Well-Being,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 5, no. 1 (2010): 5–21.

“give him confidence, rootedness, and stability”: Victoria Derr, “Children’s Sense of Place in Northern New Mexico,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 22 (2002): 125–37.

statewide well-being levels: Dan Witters, “Alaska Leads U.S. States in Well-Being for First Time,” Gallup, February 19, 2015, http://www.gallup.com/poll/181547/alaska-leads-states-first-time.aspx.

never left their hometown: Paul Taylor, Rich Morin, D’Vera Cohn, and Wendy Wang, “American Mobility: Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home?” Pew Research Center, December 29, 2008.

headline from the Onion: “Unambitious Loser with Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives in Hometown,” The Onion, July 23, 2013, http://www.theonion.com/article/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still-33233.

content where they are: Richard Florida, Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life (New York: Basic, 2009), and “Why People Stay Where They Are,” CityLab, September 22, 2014, http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/09/why-people-stay-where-they-are/380583/.

“need of the human soul”: Simone Weil, The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971).

connected to one’s environment: Peter H. Kahn, Jr., and Patricia H. Hasbach, eds., Ecopsychology: Science, Totems, and the Technological Species (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2012), 256.

or “at-homeness”: For a nice summary of different ways to describe person-place relationships, see Mark S. Rosenbaum, James Ward, Beth A. Walker, and Amy L. Ostrom, “A Cup of Coffee with a Dash of Love: An Investigation of Commercial Social Support and Third-Place Attachment,” Journal of Service Research 10 (August 2007): 43–59.

whose neighbors didn’t move away, either, had more friends: Daniel Tumminelli O’Brien, Andrew C. Gallup, and David Sloan Wilson, “Residential Mobility and Prosocial Development within a Single City,” American Journal of Community Psychology 50 (2012): 26–36.

less likely to complain about ailments: Cari Jo Clark, et al., “Neighborhood Cohesion Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Stroke Mortality,” Stroke (May 2011): 1212–17; Eric S. Kim, Nansook Park, and Christopher Peterson, “Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Stroke,” Social Science and Medicine 97 (2013) 49–55; A. M. Ziersch, et al., “Neighborhood Life and Social Capital: The Implications for Health,” Social Science and Medicine 60 (2005): 71–86; Lisa Wood and Billie Giles-Corti, “Is There a Place for Social Capital in the Psychology of Health and Place?” Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 (2008): 154–63; Jennifer W. Robinette, Susan T. Charles, Jacqueline A. Mogle, and David M. Almeida, “Neighborhood Cohesion and Daily Well-Being: Results from a Diary Study,” Social Science and Medicine 96 (2013): 174–82.

shot up by an additional 6 percent: Ayako Morita, et al., “Contribution of Interaction with Family, Friends and Neighbours, and Sense of Neighbourhood Attachment to Survival in Senior Citizens: 5-Year Follow-Up Study,” Social Science and Medicine 70 (2010) 543–49.

a general sense of well-being: Gene L. Theodori, “Examining the Effects of Community Satisfaction and Attachment on Individual Well-Being,” Rural Sociology 66, no. 4 (2001): 618–28. See also R. Araya, et al., “Perceptions of Social Capital and the Built Environment and Mental Health,” Social Science and Medicine 62, no. 12 (2006): 3072–83.

the town prospered economically: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “Knight Communities Overall,” Knight Soul of the Community 2010. Why People Love Where They Live and Why It Matters: A National Perspective (Miami: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 2010), http://knightfoundation.org/sotc/overall-findings/. I’ll explain more about the Knight Foundation study in chapter 5, including its finding that GDP increased in well-loved cities.

how we fit in with our cities: Eva Kahana, Loren Lovegreen, Boaz Kahana, and Michael Kahana, “Person, Environment, and Person-Environment Fit as Influences on Residential Satisfaction of Elders,” Environment and Behavior 35 (2003): 434–53; and David R. Phillips, et al., “Person-Environment (P-E) Fit Models and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Persons in Hong Kong,” Environment and Behavior 42, no. 2 (2010): 221–42.

“as a personal relationship”: Katherine Loflin, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

three to five years after moving: Ibid.

with action or behavior: Setha M. Low and Irwin Altman, “Place Attachment: A Conceptual Inquiry,” in Place Attachment, ed. Setha M. Low and Irwin Altman (New York: Plenum Press, 1992).

(ultimately makes you happier): Tara L. Kraft and Sarah D. Pressman, “Grin and Bear It: The Influence of Manipulated Facial Expression on the Stress Response,” Psychological Science 23, no. 11 (2012): 1372–78.

communities more livable: The nonprofit Project for Public Spaces is credited with originally popularizing the term “placemaking” in the 1970s to describe its efforts at revitalizing towns’ public squares, plazas, parks, and streets. Ethan Kent, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

as return on investment: To learn more about Hsieh’s project, visit http://www.downtownproject.com/ or read Sara Corbett, “How Zappos’ CEO Turned Las Vegas into a Startup Fantasyland,” Wired, January 2014, http://www.wired.com/2014/01/zappos-tony-hsieh-las-vegas/.

“I enjoy being around”: Susan Berfield, “Tony Hsieh Is Building a Startup Paradise in Vegas,” Bloomberg Business, December 30, 2014, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-12-30/zappos-ceo-tony-hsiehs-las-vegas-startup-paradise.

into downtown revitalization: Joann Muller, “Gilbertville: A Billionaire’s Drive to Rebuild the Motor City,” Forbes, October 20, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2014/09/29/gilbertville-a-billionaires-drive-to-rebuild-the-motor-city/.

“an extension of themselves”: Ethan Kent, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“where the magic is”: Carol Coletta, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

Chapter Two: Lace Up Your Sneakers

10 percent happened on foot: U.S. Department of Transportation, Summary of Travel Trends: 2009 National Household Travel Survey, by Adelia Santos, et al. (Washington, D.C.: Department of Transportation, 2011), 19.

to only 35 percent: National Center for Safe Routes to School, How Children Get to School: School Travel Patterns from 1969 to 2009, November 2011, http://safe routesinfo.org/sites/default/files/resources/NHTS_school_travel_report_2011_0.pdf.

walkable, bikeable neighborhoods: National Association of Realtors, “National Community Preference Survey,” October 2013, http://www.realtor.org/sites/default/files/reports/2013/2013-community-preference-analysis-slides.pdf.

ones in Copenhagen and Paris: Andrew Simmons, “In Indianapolis, a Bike Path to Progress,” New York Times, March 4, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/travel/in-indianapolis-a-bike-path-to-progress.html.

number of bike lanes since 2006: Transportation Alternatives, “Bike Lanes,” http://transalt.org/issues/bike/network/bikelanes.

“Cyclists have more sex”: VÉLO North Loop brochure, http://issuu.com/alphatheory/docs/velo_residential_book_102913_ebook?e=6978238/7358267.

scamper through it later: “Tolman, Edward,” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 8, ed. William A. Darity, Jr. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008), 386–87.

in advance wandered, lost: Emil W. Menzel, “Chimpanzee Spatial Memory Organization,” Science 182, no. 4115 (1973): 943–45.

get directions almost daily: Larry Shannon-Missal, “Different Priorities in Smartphone vs. Computer Use, but Some Common Ground,” Harris Poll, no. 1 (January 3, 2013), http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1132/Default.aspx; and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, “2014 Mobile Behavior Report,” http://www.exacttarget.com/sites/exacttarget/files/deliverables/etmc-2014mobilebehaviorreport.pdf. See also Marcello Mari, “Top Global Smartphone Apps: Who’s in the Top 10,” GlobalWebIndex, August 2, 2013, https://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/top-global-smartphone-apps.

“pick them back up later”: Julia Frankenstein, “Is GPS All in Our Heads?” New York Times, February 2, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/is-gps-all-in-our-head.html.

a sense of local geography: Sarah Goodyear, “Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don’t Know Where They’re Going,” CityLab, May 7, 2012, http://www.citylab.com/commute/2012/05/kids-who-get-driven-everywhere-dont-know-where-theyre-going/1943/.

who rode public transit: Andrew Mondschein, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Brian D. Taylor, “Going Mental: Everyday Travel and the Cognitive Map,” Access 43 (Fall 2013).

“rather a new way of looking at things”: Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch (New York: New Directions, 1957).

“other animals around you”: E-mail to the author, dated January 27, 2015, from Jeff Speck, author, Walkable City (New York: North Point Press, 2012).

“that is where I met my love”: Alexander McCall Smith, Love over Scotland (New York: Anchor, 2007).

“unique visitors on the site”: Eric Meltzer, “Matt Lerner and Walk Score: Put a Number on It,” Creative Live, August 7, 2014, http://blog.creativelive.com/matt-lerner-walk-score-put-number/.

“‘the most important criterion’”: Josh Herst, “Over 8,000 Sites Now Using Walk Score Professional,” Walk Score Blog, April 18, 2011, http://blog.walkscore.com/2011/04/over-8000-sites-now-using-walk-score-professional/#.VcQZCZNVikp.

“does not pay off”: Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey, “Stress That Doesn’t Pay: The Commuting Paradox,” Scandinavian Journal of Economics 110, no. 2 (June 2008): 339–66.

are less freaked out: Andrew Clark, “Want to Feel Less Stress? Become a Fighter Pilot, Not a Commuter,” Guardian, November 29, 2004, http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/nov/30/research.transport.

fallen in love: Adam Martin, Yevgeniy Goryakin, and Marc Suhrcke, “Does Active Commuting Improve Psychological Wellbeing? Longitudinal Evidence from Eighteen Waves of the British Household Panel Survey,” Preventive Medicine 69 (December 2014): 296–303.

better at creative thinking: Marily Oppezzo and Daniel L. Schwartz, “Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 40, no. 4 (2014): 1142–52; and Ferris Jabr, “Why Walking Helps Us Think,” New Yorker, September 3, 2014, http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/walking-helps-us-think.

trust their neighbors: Shannon H. Rogers, John M. Halstead, Kevin H. Gardner, and Cynthia H. Carlson, “Examining Walkability and Social Capital as Indicators of Quality of Life at the Municipal and Neighborhood Scales,” Applied Research in Quality of Life 6 (2011): 201–13.

diabetes or high blood pressure: Alliance for Biking and Walking, Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2014 Benchmarking Report, 69–72, http://www.bike walkalliance.org/resources/benchmarking.

every last one of its neighborhoods by 2025: City of Vancouver, “Environments to Thrive In,” Vancouver, Canada, city website, http://vancouver.ca/people-programs/environments-to-thrive-in.aspx.

by launching Open Streets initiatives: Open Streets Project, http://openstreetsproject.org/.

up to seventy-five thousand pedestrians: Aaron Bialick, “After 50 Events, Sunday Streets Director Departs to Spread the Word,” Streetsblog SF, August 25, 2014, http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/08/25/after-50-events-sunday-streets-director-departs-to-spread-the-word/.

and thus more expensive: Josh Herst, “A Look Back and a Look Ahead,” Walk Score Blog, October 22, 2014, http://blog.walkscore.com/2014/10/look-back-look-ahead/.

“one way to do so”: Joe Cortright, Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Home Values in U.S. Cities, CEOs for Cities, August 2009.

“closer to your place of work”: “How to ‘Thrive’: Short Commutes, More Happy Hours,” interview with Dan Buettner conducted by Neal Conan, Talk of the Nation, NPR, October 19, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141514467/small-changes-can-help-you-thrive-happily.

to cross those tracks: Matt Tomasulo in discussion with the author, August 2014.

“you get people and places”: Fred Kent, “Streets Are People Places,” Project for Public Spaces, June 1, 2005, http://www.pps.org/blog/transportationasplace/.

Walks must be interesting: Speck, Walkable City, 71–72.

(to increase its walkability and bikeability): New York has doubled its number of bike lanes since 2006, according to the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives, “Bike Lanes,” http://transalt.org/issues/bike/network/bikelanes.

eighteen hours a day: Cole E. Judge, “The Experiment of American Pedestrian Malls,” Fresno Future, October 11, 2013, http://downtowndevelopment.com/pdf/americanpedmallexperiment.pdf.

Great American Cities: Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Vintage, 1961). The book is a readable, nonacademic classic of urban planning. I recommend reading it for more ideas on what makes cities thrive—and people thrive in cities.

South of Market district: Emily Peckenham, “Talking Public Space and Urban Intervention with San Francisco’s Rebar Studio,” Inhabit, June 10, 2014, http://inhabitat.com/talking-public-space-and-urban-intervention-with-san-franciscos-rebar-studio.

dozens more around the world: Pavement to Parks program, http://pavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/map-sf.html.

until the meters expired: PARK(ing) Day, http://parkingday.org/about-parking-day/.

I sometimes forget they exist: You can see photos of my Walk [Your City] signs at MelodyWarnick.com.

not starving enough?: Peter Wallenstein, “Early Blacksburg, 1740s–1840s,” in A Special Place for 200 Years: A History of Blacksburg, Virginia, ed. Clara B. Cox (Blacksburg, Va.: Town of Blacksburg, 1998).

making the journey, alone and on foot: Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder, “Mary Draper Ingles’ Return to Virginia’s New River Valley,” Blue Ridge Country, March 1, 1998, http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/mary-draper-ingles/.

errands under a mile: For ideas on how to do this, see Andrew R. Cline, “The 1-Mile Solution,” Carbon Trace (blog), http://isocrates.us/bike/the-1-mile-solution/.

Chapter Three: Buy Local

“activity generated by moves”: Sam Roberts, “Slump Creates Lack of Mobility for Americans,” New York Times, April 22, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/us/23census.html?_r=0.

move cost $12,230: Worldwide ERC, “2011 U.S. Transfer Volume and Cost Survey,” http://www.worldwideerc.org/Resources/Research/Documents/TVCS_2011.pdf.

“stay out of their stores”: Richard C. Schragger, “The Anti-Chain Store Movement, Localist Ideology, and the Remnants of the Progressive Constitution, 1920–1940,” University of Virginia Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series, Paper 21, 2005.

JCPenney, and Sears: Philip Bump, “The Parts of America Big Box Stores Haven’t Devoured Yet,” The Wire: News from the Atlantic, December 9, 2013, http://www.thewire.com/politics/2013/12/where-small-business-really-thrives-america-mapped/355927/.

eliminates 1.4 jobs locally: David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, and Stephen Ciccarella, “The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets,” Journal of Urban Economics 63 (2008): 405–30.

drives down wages citywide: Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester, and Barry Eidlin, “A Downward Push: The Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits,” Research Brief, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, December 2007, http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/2007/walmart_downward_push07.pdf.

business district into ruin: Kenneth E. Stone and Georgeanne M. Artz, “Revisiting Wal-Mart’s Impact on Iowa Small Town Retail: Twenty-Five Years Later,” Working Paper No. 12010, Iowa State University Department of Economics, May 2012, https://www.econ.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/papers/p15202-2012-05-31.pdf.

only $3.50 did: Civic Economics, “Indie Impact Study Series: A National Comparative Survey with the American Booksellers Association,” Summer 2012.

communities where they work: The American Independent Business Alliance has a helpful primer on the local multiplier effect at its website, http://www.amiba.net/resources/multiplier-effect/.

works in town, not at headquarters: Civic Economics, “The San Francisco Retail Diversity Study,” May 2007, http://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/SFRDS-May07-2.pdf.

from a nearby farmer: Civic Economics, “Indie Impact Study Series: A National Comparative Survey with the American Booksellers Association,” Summer 2012.

extra $500 million in revenue: Civic Economics, “Indie Impact Study Series: A National Comparative Survey with the American Booksellers Association,” Summer 2012.

thirty-seven-year-old King’s English Bookshop: David Grogan, “Study Finds Shopping Local Generates Almost Four Times the Economic Benefit,” Bookselling This Week, American Booksellers Association, September 6, 2012, http://www.bookweb.org/news/study-finds-shopping-local-generates-almost-four-times-economic-benefit.

“prevent that from happening”: Jeff Milchen, in conversation with the author, May 2014.

a higher regional GDP: David A. Fleming and Stephan J. Goetz, “Does Local Firm Ownership Matter?” Economic Development Quarterly 25, no. 3 (August 2011): 277–81.

“what creates community fabric”: Jeff Milchen, in conversation with the author, May 2014.

It’s now a Foot Locker: Jeremiah Moss, “2014 Vanishings,” Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York (blog), December 30, 2014, http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-vanishings.html.

each month in New York City: Kate Rogers, “#SaveNYC: A Push to Keep New York’s Character,” CNBC.com, March 12, 2015, http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/11/savenyc-a-push-to-keep-new-yorks-character.html.

“people won’t want to go there anymore”: Anonymous comment on Jeremiah Moss, “Shakespeare & Co.,” Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York (blog), September 4, 2014, http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2014/09/shakespeare-co.html.

refusing to renew a lease: You can read about the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, sign the petition, or volunteer at the website of TakeBackNYC, the political lobbying group that is pushing the bill: http://takebacknyc.nyc/sbjsa/.

in certain parts of the city: East Village Community Coalition, “Preserving Local, Independent Retail: Recommendations for Formula Retail Zoning in the East Village,” May 2015, http://evccnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2015_Preserving_LocalInd_Retail.pdf.

“strong protections for the city’s small businesses”: Jeremiah Moss, “Master List, 2001–2013,” Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York (blog), December 30, 2013, http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/12/master-list-2001-2013.html.

Strands of Sunshine jewelry shop: Judy Hill, “Calendar Features ‘Shop Dogs’ of St. Pete,” St. Petersburg Tribune, October 27, 2013.

maple-glazed apple bacon donut: San Franciscans can buy the card at http://livelocalcard.com/.

Dirty Bastard beer: Michiganders can learn more at the Local First website, www.localfirst.com.

lauding their favorite endangered retailers: You can add your own photo or video at #SaveNYC, http://www.savenyc.nyc/.

campaign boosted their business: Stacy Mitchell, “2013 Independent Business Survey,” Institute for Local Self-Reliance, February 2013, http://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-Survey.pdf.

“it takes grassroots engagement”: Jeff Milchen, in conversation with the author, May 2014.

make property more affordable for small-business owners: Rebecca Melançon and the Local Business Conference Leadership Circle, “2014 Local Business Conference: Austin Independent Business Alliance Presentation of Goals and Proposals,” August 24, 2015, http://www.ibuyaustin.com/indie-biz/documents-and-files/advocacy/23-conference-goals-presentation-to-eoc/file.html.

it went viral: Andrew Samtoy, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

under an hour: Campbell County Chamber of Commerce, “Cash Mob: FCA Country Store,” Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccccwyo/sets/72157633402945186.

oldest five-and-dime store: “‘Cash Mobs’: Flash Mobs Go to Bat for Small Local Businesses,” NBCNews.com, February 14, 2012, http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/14/10400367-cash-mobs-flash-mobs-go-to-bat-for-small-local-businesses.

on six continents: Andrew Samtoy, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

“she’s already read it”: Stacy Mitchell, “Why We Can’t Shop Our Way to a Better Economy,” talk given at TEDxDirigo, Lewiston, Maine, October 20, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6rAgHcuYtE.

“solving problems and innovating”: Stacy Mitchell, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

local grocery store, Fitch’s IGA: Jay Leeson, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

one dismal February alone: Valarie Honeycutt Spears, “Wilmore’s Residents Work to Save Its Grocery Store,” Lexington Herald-Leader, May 3, 2011, http://www.kentucky.com/2011/05/03/1728346/wilmores-residents-work-to-save.html.

“he’s still offering neighborliness”: Jay Leeson, “Letter to the Editor: Wilmore’s Identity Rests on IGA’s Future,” Central Kentucky News, March 2, 2011, http://articles.centralkynews.com/2011-03-02/jessaminejournal/28648358_1_wilmore-fitches-neighborliness.

store’s operations and pricing: Jonathan Kleppinger, “Wilmore Group Fitch’s Neighbors Turns Out to Help Longtime Grocer,” Central Kentucky News, May 11, 2011, http://articles.centralkynews.com/2011-05-11/jessaminejournal/29534610_1_wilmore-community-fitchs-iga-paint.

service to Fitch’s: Leonard Fitch, in conversation with the author, May 2014. Also, Jonathan Kleppinger, “Wilmore Group Turns Out to Help Longtime Grocer,” Jessamine Journal, May 12, 2011, http://www.kypress.com/excellence2011results/tearsheets/w3-c04-3.pdf.

“change this town forever”: “Fitch’s IGA Documentary,” YouTube, July 19, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzJr75p1yzI.

“make your town stronger”: Jay Leeson, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

above eighty thousand square feet: Blacksburg Town Ordinance 1450, passed May 29, 2007.

in favor of the town: Edward Hale, et al., v. Board of Zoning Appealings for the Town of Blacksburg, et al., Record No. 081000, Virginia State Supreme Court, February 27, 2009, http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1081000.pdf.

unfriendly to business: Mike Gangloff, “First & Main Moving Past the Pain, New Ownership Team Says,” Roanoke Times, April 6, 2014, http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/blacksburg/first-main-moving-past-the-pain-new-ownership-team-says/article_5aea3b84-bb64-11e3-890e-0017a43b2370.html.

“keeps those businesses around”: “The 3/50 Project: Saving the Brick and Mortars Our Nation Is Built On,” http://www.the350project.net/look_local_home.html.

generate $42.6 billion in revenue: Ibid.

15 percent of their total budget: Jay Leeson, “Letter to the Editor: Wilmore’s Identity Rests on IGA’s Future,” Central Kentucky News, March 2, 2011, http://articles.centralkynews.com/2011-03-02/jessaminejournal/28648358_1_wilmore-fitches-neighborliness.

a multimillion-dollar impact: Civic Economics, “Indie Impact Study Series: A National Comparative Survey with the American Booksellers Association,” Summer 2012.

on that day alone: National Federation of Independent Business and American Express, “First Annual Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights,” November 26, 2012, https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/small-business/shop-small/about/.

“our community to support us”: Laureen Blakemore, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

than chain stores: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, “The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses vs. Chains: A Case Study in Midcoast Maine,” September 2003, http://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/files/midcoaststudy.pdf.

and Madison, Wisconsin: Amy Cortese, in conversation with the author, June 2012.

Chapter Four: Say Hi to Your Neighbors

never quite felt like home: Sloan Mandler, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

“about to start kindergarten”: David Ihrke, “Reason for Moving: 2012 to 2013—Population Characteristics,” U.S. Census Bureau, June 2014, https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p20-574.pdf.

“even in a farming community”: Lynita Delaney, in conversation with the author, January 2014.

members of their extended family: D’Vera Cohn and Rich Morin, “Who Moves? Who Stays Put? Where’s Home?” Pew Research Center, December 17, 2008, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/12/17/who-moves-who-stays-put-wheres-home/.

go where the jobs are: E. G. Ravenstein, “The Laws of Migration,” Journal of the Statistical Society of London 48, no. 2 (June 1885): 167–235.

better for you financially: Alden Speare, Jr., Frances Kobrin, and Ward Kingkade, “The Influence of Socioeconomic Bonds and Satisfaction on Interstate Migration,” Social Forces 61, no. 2 (December 1982): 551–74.

to make the move worthwhile: Michael S. Dahl and Olav Sorenson, “The Social Attachment to Place,” Social Forces 89, no. 2 (2010): 633–58.

getting an £85,000 raise: Nattavudh Powdthavee, “Putting a Price Tag on Friends, Relatives and Neighbours: Using Surveys of Life Satisfaction to Value Social Relationships,” Journal of Socio-Economics 37, no. 4 (2008): 1459–80.

just fourteen years earlier: Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 106.

too occupied for extracurricular socializing: Jena McGregor, “Average Work Week Is Now 47 Hours,” Washington Post, September 2, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/09/02/the-average-work-week-is-now-47-hours/.

“replaced by a kind of detachment”: Marc J. Dunkelman, The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community (New York: W. W. Norton, 2014), 130. Dunkelman’s comment echoes the work of Harvard Medical School psychiatrists Jacqueline Olds and Richard S. Schwartz, in The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-first Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 2009), 21.

28 percent know no one at all: Aaron Smith, “Neighbors Online,” Pew Research Center, June 9, 2010, http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/06/09/neighbors-online/.

“The End of Neighbours” in 2014: Brian Bethune, “The End of Neighbours: How Our Increasingly Closed-Off Lives Are Poisoning Our Politics and Endangering Our Health,” Maclean’s, August 8, 2014, http://www.macleans.ca/society/the-end-of-neighbours/.

“bothered to speak to them”: Rosa Silverman and Agencies, “Snub Thy Neighbour: Millions Are Feuding with People on Their Street,” Telegraph (London), August 5, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10223144/Snub-thy-neighbour-millions-are-feuding-with-people-on-their-street.html; “The Neighbourhood,” Swinton Insurance, January 3, 2014, http://www.swinton.co.uk/home-insurance/guides/britains-greatest-neighbour; SKV Communications, “Neighbours Survey Reveals Surprising Results,” press release, August 6, 2013, http://www.skvcommunications.co.uk/press-releases/neighbours-survey-reveals-surprising-results/.

“his wife put the paper back”: Misfit Rebel, Twitter post, September 4, 2014, 6:28 p.m., https://twitter.com/MisfitRebel1/status/507671459678785536.

“saying ‘I hate kids’”: Desiree stinyard, Twitter post, May 14, 2014, 4:32 p.m., https://twitter.com/Desiree_Stin/status/466692662695718912.

“knowing my name anyway”: “Do people in your neighborhood socialize? (adults, college, neighbors, business),” Non-Romantic Relationships Forum, City-Data.com, January 26, 2013, http://www.city-data.com/forum/non-romantic-relationships/1781470-do-people-your-neighborhood-socialize-adults-4.html.

less likely to suffer a heart attack: Eric S. Kim, Armani M. Hawes, and Jacqui Smith, “Perceived Neighbourhood Social Cohesion and Myocardial Infarction,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 68, no. 11 (November 2014); also James Hamblin, “Always Talk to Strangers,” Atlantic, August 19, 2014, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/social-cohesion-heart-attack-prevention/378694/.

less likely to suffer a stroke: Eric S. Kim, Nansook Park, and Christopher Peterson, “Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Stroke,” Social Science and Medicine 97, no. C (2013): 49–55.

survival chances went up significantly: Cari Jo Clark, et al., “Neighborhood Cohesion Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Stroke Mortality,” Stroke 42 (2011): 1212–17.

in tight-knit neighborhoods: Louisa M. Holmes, “Behavioral, Physiological and Psychological Stress Among Legal and Unauthorized Brazilian Immigrants: The Moderating Influence of Neighborhood Environments,” dissertation, University of Southern California, 2014, UMI: 3609902; Hiroshi Murayama, Yoshinori Fujiwara, and Ichiro Kawachi, “Social Capital and Health: A Review of Prospective Multilevel Studies,” Journal of Epidemiology 22, no. 3 (2012): 179–87.

less connected part of the city: Fran E. Baum, Anna M. Ziersch, Guangyu Zhang, and Katy Osborne, “Do Perceived Neighbourhood Cohesion and Safety Contribute to Neighbourhood Differences in Health?” Health and Place 15 (2009) 925–34.

play with neighbor kids: James Garbarino and Deborah Sherman, “High-Risk Neighborhoods and High-Risk Families: The Human Ecology of Child Maltreatment,” Child Development 51, no. 1 (March 1980): 188–98.

act out in class: Jennifer S. Silk, et al., “Neighborhood Cohesion as a Buffer against Hostile Maternal Parenting,” Journal of Family Psychology 18, no. 1 (March 2004): 135–46.

less negatively to them: Jennifer W. Robinette, Susan T. Charles, Jacqueline A. Mogle, and David M. Almeida, “Neighborhood Cohesion and Daily Well-Being: Results from a Diary Study,” Social Science and Medicine 96 (2013): 174–82.

spouse or a good friend: Ibid.

“appropriate ceremonies and activities”: Jimmy Carter, “National Good Neighbor Day, 1978,” U.S. Presidential Proclamation 4601, September 22, 1978, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=23733.

live among people who are like us: Kyle Crowder, Jeremy Pais, and Scott J. South, “Neighborhood Diversity, Metropolitan Constraints, and Household Migration,” American Sociological Review 77, no. 3 (2012): 325–53. See also Stephanie Pappas, “Blacks and Whites Favor Same-Race Neighborhoods,” Live Science, May 31, 2012, http://www.livescience.com/20663-black-white-segregated-neighborhoods.html.

“Pretty warm for May”: Jay Walljasper, in conversation with the author, July 2011.

painfully old-fashioned: Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).

is its Block Party Trailer: Jeff Martin, in conversation with the author, November 2014. For more information about the Block Party Trailer, see its website at http://www.surpriseaz.gov/index.aspx?NID=869.

like Rock Hill, South Carolina: “Rock Hill Council of Neighborhoods,” City of Rock Hill website, http://www.cityofrockhill.com/departments/housing-neighborhood-services/more/housing-neighborhood-services/neighborhood-empowerment/rhcn.

ward off crime: For more information on how to organize or attend a National Night Out, visit https://natw.org/.

playgrounds, festivals, and tournaments: “Neighborhood Matching Fund,” Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle website, http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/neighborhood-matching-fund.

“better crime prevention strategy”: Saguaro Seminar, “About Social Capital: Factoids,” Harvard Kennedy School of Government, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/saguaro/about-social-capital/factoids.

were all in Detroit: Kate Abbey-Lambertz, “Most Dangerous Neighborhoods: Detroit Home to 3 Most Violent Areas in America,” Huffington Post, May 2, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/most-dangerous-neighborhoods-america-detroit_n_3187931.html.

claimed only #8, #9, and #11: “NeighborhoodScout’s Most Dangerous Neighborhoods: Top 25 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods in America,” NeighborhoodScout, http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/25-most-dangerous-neighborhoods/.

the palliative effects: Lauren E. Johns, et al., “Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a Community-Based Sample: Findings from the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study,” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 47 (2012): 1899–1906.

become less stressful: Barbara Brown, Douglas D. Perkins, and Graham Brown, “Place Attachment in a Revitalizing Neighborhood: Individual and Block Levels of Analysis,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 23 (2003): 259–71.

invest in their community: Ronald O. Pitner, Mansoo Yu, and Edna Brown, “Which Factor Has More Impact?: An Examination of the Effects of Income Level, Perceived Neighborhood Disorder, and Crime on Community Care and Vigilance among Low-Income African American Residents,” Race and Social Problems 5 (2013): 57–64.

invest where they are: Jesslyn Chew, “Neighborhood Residents with Lowest Incomes Most Likely to Care About Their Communities, MU Researcher Finds,” University of Missouri News Bureau, July 1, 2013, http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2013/0701-neighborhood-residents-with-lowest-incomes-most-likely-to-care-about-their-communities-mu-researcher-finds/.

to solve problems: “Every Neighborhood Has a Future: Mike Duggan’s Neighborhood Plan,” Duggan for Detroit Campaign, http://www.dugganfordetroit.com/wp-content/themes/duggan/DugganNeighborhoodPlan.pdf.

struggled to find steady work: Belva Davis, in conversation with the author, July 2011.

allowed Belva to stay in her home: Nancy Brigham, in conversation with the author, July 2011.

“get a new stoplight put in”: Marc Dunkelman, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

violence in the neighborhood went down: Robert J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Felton Earls, “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy,” Science 277 (August 15, 1997).

less likely to be depressed, use drugs, or be victimized by violence: Jennifer Ahern and Sandro Galea, “Collective Efficacy and Major Depression in Urban Neighborhoods,” American Journal of Epidemiology 173, no. 12 (2011); Christopher Browning and Kathleen Cagney, “Neighborhood Structural Disadvantage, Collective Efficacy, and Self-Rated Physical Health in an Urban Setting,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43 (December 2002): 383–99; Abigail Fagan, Emily Wright, and Gillian Pinchevsky, “The Protective Effects of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on Adolescent Substance Abuse and Violence following Exposure to Violence,” Journal of Youth Adolescence 43 (2014): 1498–1512.

attached to where they live: Nicole Comstock, et al., “Neighborhood Attachment and Its Correlates: Exploring Neighborhood Conditions, Collective Efficacy, and Gardening,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30 (2010): 435–42.

“unofficial mayor of the street”: Marc Dunkelman, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

“Heaven will look like”: Tonya Beeler, e-mail to the author, December 2014.

Chapter Five: Do Something Fun

“first thing that comes to mind”: North Star Destination Strategies, “Sierra Vista Understanding and Insights,” presentation, April 23, 2015.

“communities is all we do”: Kelley Brackett, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

“the freedom we all crave”: Samantha Shankman, “A Brief History of ‘What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas,’ The Week, October 1, 2013, http://theweek.com/articles/459434/brief-history-what-happens-vegas-stays-vegas.

wonderland of excess and anonymity: Ed Komenda, “How One Ad Campaign Changed the Face of Las Vegas,” Vegas Inc, April 6, 2014, http://vegasinc.com/news/2014/apr/06/how-one-ad-campaign-changed-face-las-vegas/.

the vanilla to hipper neighbor Pasadena’s chocolate: Brittany Levine, “Glendale to Get ‘Animated’ in Image Makeover,” Glendale News-Press, November 30, 2011, http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2011-11-30/news/tn-gnp-1130-glendale-to-get-animated-in-image-makeover_1_brand-boulevard-north-star-destination-strategies-new-logo; and Xavier Sibaja, “Glendale Struggles for Attention: City Aims to Become a More Hip Location,” Examiner: Glendale Community Issues, July 30, 2012, http://www.examiner.com/article/glendale-struggles-for-attention-city-aims-to-become-a-more-hip-location.

studios in town: Don McEachern, in conversation with the author, December 2014; and North Star Destination Strategies, “Glendale, California, City Branding Study,” North Star website, http://www.northstarideas.com/case-studies/glendale-california.

“‘Less Ghetto Than You Think’”: Scot Lowe, Twitter, March 5, 2013, 7:11 p.m., https://twitter.com/tropicostation/status/309108925901443073.

“There’s an art to it”: North Star Destination Strategies, “Petersburg, Alaska, Case Study,” North Star website, http://www.northstarideas.com/sites/default/files/petersburg.pdf, and “Green County, Wisconsin, County Branding Case Study,” North Star website, http://www.northstarideas.com/case-studies/green-county-wisconsin.

“the way residents feel about the town”: Don McEachern, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

the writer Emily St. John Mandel: Emily St. John Mandel, “Long Trains Leaving,” in Good-bye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York, ed. Sari Botton (Berkeley, Cal.: Seal Press, 2013), 177.

“of human perception, use and response”: Quoted in Philip L. Fradkin, Wallace Stegner and the American West (Oakland: University of California Press, 2009), 189.

map the change over time: Katherine Loflin, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

effectiveness of local police: Gallup and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “Knight Foundation Questionnaire 2010,” Soul of the Community study, 2010.

“on a global scale,” she told me: Katherine Loflin, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

showed the same result: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Knight Soul of the Community 2010: Why People Love Where They Live and Why It Matters: A National Perspective (Miami, Fla.: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 2010), http://knightfoundation.org/sotc/overall-findings/.

GDP growth per capita than cities that weren’t: Ibid.

“feel, think, and act about something”: Katherine Loflin, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

“that is the paradigm shift”: Carol Coletta, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

“can’t see our employees living [in Oklahoma City]”: Ryan Holywell, “OKC Mayor Urges Cities to Have ‘High Standards,’” The Urban Edge, blog of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, July 1, 2015, http://urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu/2015/07/01/okc-mayor-urges-cities-to-have-high-standards/#.VdNya1NViko.

“on why place matters”: Katherine Loflin, “Place Matters: The Emerging Role of Place in the Success of Communities,” presentation given to Nova Scotia Planning Directors Annual Conference, 2012, http://www.nspda.ca/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,/gid,612/task,doc_download/.

among cities its size: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, “Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment—June 2015,” news release, July 29, 2015, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/metro.pdf.

“than vice versa,” says Cornett: Mick Cornett, “Oklahoma City Invests in New Urban Infrastructure,” American Infrastructure, Summer 2012, http://americaninfrastructuremag.com/summer-2012-24.php.

“need to invest in themselves”: Ibid.

bigger, more amenity-rich cities: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Knight Soul of the Community 2010.

strongest neighborhood ties and rootedness: Maria Lewicka, “Ways to Make People Active: The Role of Place Attachment, Cultural Capital, and Neighborhood Ties,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 25 (2005): 381–95.

Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University: Mary Nelson, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

bike the Huckleberry Trail: NextThreeDays, Twitter, November 21, 2014, 3:18 p.m, https://twitter.com/Next3Days/status/535905030537510912, and BlacksburgStuff, Twitter, November 21, 2014, 3:35 p.m., https://twitter.com/BlacksburgStuff/status/535909386452209664.

#1 attraction in Blacksburg: “Lane Stadium reviews,” TripAdvisor.com, http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g57513-d7195060-Reviews-Lane_Stadium-Blacksburg_Virginia.html.

graduate to insider status: For an example, see Miyoun Lim, Angela Calabrese Barton, “Exploring Insideness in Urban Children’s Sense of Place,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30 (2010): 328–37.

You say, “We won”: Nyla R. Branscombe and Daniel L. Wann, “The Positive Social and Self Concept Consequences of Sports Team Identification,” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 15, no. 2 (1991): 115–27.

an old-school arcade: Suban Nir Cooley, in conversation with the author, May 2014.

“at Chicago’s Millennium Park”: Anthony Flint, “Wait Your Turn for the Swings at Boston’s Adult Playground,” CityLab, September 17, 2014, http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/09/wait-your-turn-for-the-swings-at-bostons-adult-playground/380355/.

stop and play chess: Barrett Lawliss, “Game On! Game Boards, Free Wi-Fi Added to Zane Square,” Lancester Eagle-Gazette, June 28, 2014, http://archive.lancastereaglegazette.com/article/20140627/NEWS01/306270015/Game-Game-boards-free-Wi-Fi-added-Zane-Square.

on her street in Hutto, Texas: Christine Bolaños, “Little Free Library Coming to Hutto,” Hutto News, April 16, 2014, http://www.thehuttonews.com/news/article_187e4f8c-c565-11e3-a830-0019bb2963f4.html.

best part is that they’re cheap: Emily Munroe, panel discussion at National Main Street America Conference, Detroit, Michigan, May 2015.

hammocks became an event: Hammock Initiative, http://hammockinitiative.tumblr.com/; Camille Forlano, “Hammock Initiative Wants Public to Hangout,” North Dakota State University Spectrum, October 2, 2014, http://ndsuspectrum.com/hammock-initiative-wants-public-to-hangout/; and Becky Parker, “Hanging Out: Hammock Initiative Fargo,” WDAY 6 News, July 22, 2014, http://www.wday.com/content/hanging-out-hammock-initiative-fargo.

have meaning to you: To learn more about the Power of 10+, read “The Power of 10+: Applying Placemaking at Every Scale” at http://www.pps.org/reference/the-power-of-10.

then share it with others: Any future Blacksburg tourists can find my Google map of Blacksburg assets at my website, MelodyWarnick.com.

Chapter Six: Commune with Nature

best city to find a job: Richie Bernardo, “2015’s Best and Worst Cities to Find a Job,” WalletHub.com, http://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-jobs/2173/.

to raise a family: Daniel D’Addario, “The Best Places to Raise Kids 2013,” Bloomberg Business, December 18, 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/slideshows/2012-12-17/the-best-places-to-raise-kids-2013#slide2.

“the greatest city on the planet”: Jessica Misener and Arielle Calderon, “37 Reasons Miami Is the Best (and Weirdest) City in the U.S.,” BuzzFeed, April 29, 2013, http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/37-reasons-miami-is-the-best-and-weirdest-city-in-the-us#.jnlV0p3OV; CLEally, “25 Reasons Why Cleveland Is the Best,” BuzzFeed, August 6, 2013, http://www.buzzfeed.com/itslynnotline/25-reasons-why-cleveland-is-the-best-dfpl; Zoe Tsiris, “16 Reasons Why Pittsburgh Is the Greatest City on the Planet,” BuzzFeed, August 3, 2013, http://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetsiris/18-reasons-why-pittsburgh-is-the-greatest-city-on-d56b#.iuVWdyKVW; Tanner Greenring, “24 Reasons Fort Collins, Colorado Is the Greatest City on Earth,” BuzzFeed, June 12, 2014, http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/24-reasons-fort-collins-colorado-is-the-greatest-city-on-ear#.apJ6rRQj6.

declaring a top one hundred: “Top 100 Best Places to Live,” Livability, http://www.livability.com/best-places/top-100-best-places-to-live/2015.

fifty best places to live in America: “Best Places to Live 2015,” Money, October 2015, http://time.com/money/collection/best-places-to-live-2015/.

“all random anyway, right?”: Jeremy Singer-Vine, “Generate Your Own Definitive List of America’s Best Cities,” BuzzFeed, August 6, 2014, http://www.buzzfeed.com/jsvine/generate-your-own-definitive-list-of-americas-best-cities#.slnNPWlKb. I hit refresh three times. Denton, Texas, Carmel, Indiana, and Vallejo, California, all came up winners. It was like a slot machine.

in the country to retire: William P. Barrett, “The 25 Best Places to Retire in 2014,” Forbes.com, January 16, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2014/01/16/the-best-places-to-retire-in-2014.

“started poking around”: Jonah Ogles, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

“this is where I want to be”: Larry Burke, “Where the Outsiders Belong,” New Mexico Magazine, January 2014, http://www.nmmagazine.com/article/?aid=84440#.VdSlKlNViko.

twenty thousand votes on Facebook: Jonah Ogles, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

(readership is around seven hundred thousand): “Circulation,” Outside Media Kit, http://www.outsidemediakit.com/audience_circulation.php.

made it a hard sell: John Myers, “2013–14 Is Duluth’s Second-Coldest Winter on Record,” Duluth News-Tribune, February 28, 2014, http://www.duluthnews tribune.com/content/2013-14-duluths-second-coldest-winter-record.

tweets poured in from Minnesota’s senators: Al Franken, Twitter, June 17, 2014, 8:39 a.m., https://twitter.com/alfranken/status/478894615848685568; Amy Klobuchar, Twitter, June 16, 2014, 9:43 a.m., https://twitter.com/amyklobuchar/status/478548380772093953.

“won this contest 20 years ago”: Don Ness, Facebook, June 15, 2014, https://www.facebook.com/ness.duluth/posts/10203620817175048.

Wilson calls “biophilia”: Edward O. Wilson, Biophilia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984).

New York, or Buenos Aires: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, “World Urbanization Prospects: 2014 Revision, Highlights,” http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf.

bear a higher price tag: Jake Mooney, “New York’s Tiny Squares Offer Breathing Room,” New York Times, October 15, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/realestate/17cov.html.

“choose one city over another”: Amanda Burden, “How Public Spaces Make Cities Work,” talk given at TED conference, March 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_burden_how_public_spaces_make_cities_work?language=en.

park per capita in America: Joseph Clancy, “What Makes a Biophilic City?” Landscape Architects Network website, July 4, 2014, http://landarchs.com/biophilic-city/.

for every one thousand residents: Ibid.

“to roadways to riverfronts”: Timothy Beatley, “Biophilic Cities: What Are They?” Biophilic Cities website, http://biophiliccities.org/biophiliccities.html.

urban trails, as in Minneapolis: “The 16 Best Places to Live in the U.S.: 2014,” Outside website, August 12, 2014, http://www.outsideonline.com/1928016/16-best-places-live-us-2014.

improves immune system function: Qing Li, “Effect of Forest Bathing Trips on Human Immune Function,” Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 15, no. 1 (January 2010): 9–17.

lowers blood glucose levels in diabetics: Yau Ohtsuka, Noriyuki Yabunaka, and Shigeru Takayama, “Shinrin-yoku (Forest-Air Bathing and Walking) Effectively Decreases Blood Glucose Levels in Diabetic Patients,” International Journal of Biometeorology 41, no. 3 (1998): 125–27.

cognitive functioning and concentration: Patrik Grahn and Johan Ottosson, “A Comparison of Leisure Time Spent in a Garden with Leisure Time Spent Indoors: On Measures of Restoration in Residents in Geriatric Care,” Landscape Research 30 (2005): 23–55.

strengthens impulse control: Frances E. Kuo and Andrea Faber Taylor, “A Potential Natural Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence from a National Study,” American Journal of Public Health 94, no. 9 (2004): 1580–86.

tend to be thinner: Ramesh Ghimire, et al., “Green Space and Adult Obesity Prevalence in the United States,” paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, January 31–February 3, 2015.

more likely to be clinically depressed: J. Maas, et al., “Morbidity Is Related to a Green Living Environment,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 63, no. 12 (December 2009): 967–73.

a view of a brick wall: Roger S. Ulrich, “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery,” Science 224, no. 4647 (April 27, 1984): 420–21.

made people less stressed: Roger S. Ulrich, et al., “Stress Recovery during Exposure to Natural and Urban Environments,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 11 (1991): 201–30.

to want to spend it on others: Netta Weinstein, Andrew K. Przybylski, and Richard M. Ryan, “Can Nature Make Us More Caring? Effects of Immersion in Nature on Intrinsic Aspirations and Generosity,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35, no. 10 (2009): 1315–29.

develop in tight-knit neighborhoods: Jolanda Maas, Sonja M. E. van Dillen, Robert A. Verheij, and Peter P. Groenewegen, “Social Contacts as a Possible Mechanism Behind the Relation Between Green Space and Health,” Health and Place 15 (2009): 586–95.

better sense of community: Frances E. Kuo, William C. Sullivan, Rebekah Levine Coley, and Liesette Brunson, “Fertile Ground for Community: Inner-City Neighborhood Common Spaces,” American Journal of Community Psychology 26, no. 6 (December 1998): 823–51.

who live farther away: Deborah A. Cohen, Sanae Inagami, and Brian Finch, “The Built Environment and Collective Efficacy,” Health and Place 14, no. 2 (June 2008): 198–208.

with the sparest vegetation: Frances E. Kuo and William C. Sullivan, “Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?” Environment and Behavior 33, no. 3 (May 2001): 343–67.

between greenery and human health: “Green Environments Essential for Human Health,” press release, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, April 19, 2011, http://news.aces.illinois.edu/news/green-environments-essential-human-health.

who can afford to live there: “Park City Home Prices and Values,” Zillow, http://www.zillow.com/park-city-ut/home-values/.

“open spaces and access to them”: Cheryl Fox, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

likely to protect it: For studies that connect environmentalism with place attachment in some form, see: Leila Scannell and Robert Gifford, “The Relations Between Natural and Civic Place Attachment and Pro-Environmental Behavior,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30 (2010): 289–97; Sarah Schweizer, Shawn Davis, and Jessica Leigh Thompson, “Changing the Conversation About Climate Change: A Theoretical Framework for Place-Based Climate Change Engagement,” Environmental Communication 7, no. 1 (2013): 42–62; and Nicole M. Ardoin, “Exploring Sense of Place and Environmental Behavior at an Ecoregional Scale in Three Sites,” Human Ecology 42 (2014): 425–41.

that helped preserve it: Michelle A. Payton, David C. Fulton, and Dorothy H. Anderson, “Influence of Place Attachment and Trust on Civic Action: A Study at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge,” Society and Natural Resources 18, no. 6 (2005): 511–28.

washing dishes to conserve water: Jerry J. Vaske and Katherine C. Kobrin, “Place Attachment and Environmentally Responsible Behavior,” Journal of Environmental Education 32, no. 4 (2001): 16–21.

major environmental impacts there: Marit Vorkinn and Hanne Riese, “Environmental Concern in a Local Context: The Significance of Place Attachment,” Environment and Behavior 33, no. 2 (March 2001): 249–63. Another study on a similar subject is Patrick Devine-Wright, “Explaining ‘NIMBY’ Objections to a Power Line: The Role of Personal, Place Attachment and Project-Related Factors,” Environment and Behavior 45, no. 6 (2013): 761–81.

“when one is still at ‘home’”: Daniel B. Smith, “Is There an Ecological Unconscious?” New York Times Magazine, January 27, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magazine/31ecopsych-t.html.

the motivation to fight: Ibid.

“a total celebration of place”: Liam Barrington-Bush, “Naomi Klein: ‘We’re Not Who We Were Told We Were,’” Contributoria, October 2014, https://contributoria.com/issue/2014-10/53ee2ec2dadce9eb43000043.

“understanding a sense of place”: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Protection Agency, 2002).

Denver Botanic Gardens: Cara Marie DiEnno and Jessica Leigh Thompson, “For the Love of the Land: How Emotions Motivate Volunteerism in Ecological Restoration,” Emotion, Space and Society 6 (2013): 63–72.

“climate change wherever they are”: Jessica Thompson, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

“did that we’d be fine”: Liam Barrington-Bush, “Naomi Klein: ‘We’re Not Who We Were Told We Were.’”

“‘to visit, but not to live’”: Jon Montgomery, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

“the water around you”: Abe Streep, “How Water Makes Us Healthier, Happier, and More Successful,” Outside website, July 22, 2014, http://www.outsideonline.com/1926656/how-water-makes-us-healthier-happier-and-more-successful.

happiness bump near water: George MacKerron and Susana Mourato, “Happiness Is Greater in Natural Environments,” Global Environmental Change 23, no. 5 (2013): 992–1000.

of the University of Sussex: Zachary Slobig, “Mind Your Body: The Brain Aquatic,” Psychology Today website, July 1, 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201408/mind-your-body-the-brain-aquatic.

compared to 14.4 in Kentucky: David G. Moriarty, et al., “Geographic Patterns of Frequent Mental Distress: U.S. Adults, 1993–2001 and 2003–2006,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 36, no. 6 (2009): 497–505.

occasional vantage points: The first to propose this theory was the ecologist and ornithologist Gordon Orians; see Gordon H. Orians, “Habitat Selection: General Theory and Applications to Human Behavior,” in The Evolution of Human Social Behavior, ed. Joan S. Lockard (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1980), 49–66, and “An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach to Landscape Esthetics,” in Landscape Meanings and Values, ed. Edmund Penning-Rowsell and David Lowenthal (London: Allen and Unwin, 1986), 3–22. For more recent work on the subject, see John H. Falk and John D. Balling, “Evolutionary Influence on Human Landscape Preference,” Environment and Behavior 42, no. 4 (2010): 479–93.

parks, backyards, and even shopping malls: Edward O. Wilson, Biophilia.

photos of England’s Lake District: Andrew Lothian, “Lake District Landscape Quality Project Summary,” 2013.

results emerged time and again: Andrew Lothian catalogs dozens of these studies and their outcomes in an unpublished paper called “Findings of Landscape Preference Studies,” but for a few examples, see G. Fry, et al., “The Ecology of Visual Landscapes: Exploring the Conceptual Common Ground of Visual and Ecological Landscape Indicators,” Ecological Indicators 9, no. 5 (2009): 933–47; Melvin D. Williams, “Water, Power and Human Nature: In Search of Humans Evolving,” Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems 21, no. 1 (1998): 7–18; Yvonne de Kort and Femke Beute, “Let the Sun Shine!: Measuring Explicit and Implicit Preference for Environments Differing in Naturalness, Weather Type and Brightness,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 36 (2013): 162–78; Shmuel Burmil, Terry C. Daniel, and John D. Hetherington, “Human Values and Perceptions of Water in Arid Landscapes,” Landscape and Urban Planning 44 (1999): 99–109; Ian D. Bishop and David W. Hulse, “Prediction of Scenic Beauty Using Mapped Data and Geographic Information Systems,” Landscape and Urban Planning 30, no. 1 (1994): 59–70; and JoAnna Ruth Wherrett, “Natural Landscape Scenic Preference: Techniques for Evaluation and Simulation,” dissertation, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, 1999.

prospect and refuge: Andrew Lothian, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

a similar landscape later on: Anna A. Adevi and Patrik Grahn, “Attachment to Certain Natural Environments: A Basis for Choice of Recreational Settings, Activities and Restoration from Stress?” Environment and Natural Resources Research 1, no. 1 (December 2011): 36–52.

“where you’re supposed to be”: Susan Auten, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

high was below thirty-five degrees: Neil Irwin, “The Giant Retirement Community That Explains Where Americans Are Moving,” New York Times, March 26, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/upshot/the-giant-retirement-community-that-explains-where-americans-are-moving.html.

“at home again on the mountain”: Johanna Spyri, Heidi (Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1922), 215.

or a pond in Massachusetts: L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Go read them right now.

“And the peach trees stitched across the land”: Both lovely songs, one by James Taylor and the other by the Indigo Girls.

who grew up in Colorado: James Sullivan, “National Seashore Marks Milestone: Cape Cod Preserve Created 50 Years Ago,” Boston Globe, August 7, 2011, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/08/07/cape_cods_national_seashore_celebrates_a_half_century_mark/.

“the smell of the sea”: Jenna Sammartino, “Place Where You Live: Cape Cod, Massachusetts,” Orion Magazine, January 19, 2015, https://orionmagazine.org/place/cape-cod-massachusetts/.

“the Scenic Seven this year”: New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, “New River Valley Scenic Seven,” http://www.scenicseven.com/.

“often become embedded in the place”: Gerard Kyle, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

Chapter Seven: Volunteer

something to brighten their day: Robyn Bomar, in conversation with the author, May 2012.

written about for a women’s magazine: You can read about the delightful Birthday Project and about Robyn Bomar’s day of birthday kindness at her website, TheBDayProject.com: http://www.thebdayproject.com/the-original-38-random-acts-of-birthday-kindess-post.html.

propitious for a July seventeenth birthday: Now that everyone knows my birthday, I have a feeling the next one is going to be really, really good.

made them feel better: United HealthGroup, “Doing Good Is Good for You,” 2013 Health and Volunteering study, http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/SocialResponsibility/Volunteering.aspx.

better social skills: Abby S. Letcher and Kathy M. Perlow, “Community-Based Participatory Research Shows How a Community Initiative Creates Networks to Improve Well-Being,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 37, no. 6S1 (2009): S292–99.

less anxious and depressed: David Mellor, et al., “Volunteering and Its Relationship with Personal and Neighborhood Well-Being,” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 38 (2009): 144–59.

lower blood pressure: Rodlescia S. Sneed and Sheldon Cohen, “A Prospective Study of Volunteerism and Hypertension Risk in Older Adults,” Psychology and Aging 28, no. 2 (June 2013): 578–86.

healthier hearts: Hannah M. C. Schreier, Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, and Edith Chen, “Effect of Volunteering on Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” JAMA Pediatrics 167, no. 4 (2013) 327–32.

less likely to die . . . than non-volunteers: Sara Konrath, et al., “Motives for Volunteering Are Associated with Mortality Risk in Older Adults,” Health Psychology 31, no. 1 (2012): 87–96.

“creates mood elevation”: Meredith Maran, “The Activism Cure,” MORE, March 2009, http://www.more.com/health/wellness/activism-cure.

“invest, spend, and hire there”: National Conference on Citizenship, “Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds,” 2012 issue brief, http://ncoc.net/unemployment2.

an estimated $173 billion: Corporation for National and Community Service, “Dollar Value of Volunteering for States,” http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/pressroom/value_states.cfm.

“most pressing local challenges”: New York City Office of the Mayor, “Mayor Bloomberg, Nashville Mayor Dean and Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin Announce the Next Ten Cities to Receive Cities of Service Leadership Grants,” press release, June 30, 2009.

“that has increased dramatically”: Laurel Creech, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

“take care of our home”: Cities of Service, “Flint Community Toolshed and Blue Badge Volunteer,” video, May 8, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT6EePTPxP0&feature=youtu.be.

“will be proud of him”: This is one of those quotes that is widely attributed to Abraham Lincoln but has never been traced back to the source. Still, it’s nice to think that he would have said it. See Thomas F. Schwartz, “Lincoln Never Said That,” Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, https://www.illinois.gov/ihpa/Research/Pages/Facsimile.aspx.

twenty-second place for volunteering: Corporation for National and Community Service, “Volunteering and Civic Engagement in Nashville, TN,” http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/TN/Nashville.

quarter of Americans volunteered: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Volunteering in the United States, 2014,” February 25, 2015, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm.

less philanthropic than Stayers: Douglas Perkins, Barbara Brown, and Ralph Taylor, “The Ecology of Empowerment: Predicting Participation in Community Organizations,” Journal of Social Issues 52 (1996): 85–110, and Robert Wuthnow, Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004).

tend to have more volunteers: Anil Rupasingha, Stephan J. Goetz, and David Freshwater, “The Production of Social Capital in U.S. Counties,” Journal of Socio-Economics 35, no. 1 (2006): 83–101. Lili Wang and Elizabeth Graddy, “Social Capital, Volunteering, and Charitable Giving,” Voluntas 19 (2008): 23–42.

another animal shelter after you move: Becky Nesbit, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

“reconnecting to volunteering”: Rebecca Nesbit, “Packing and Unpacking Philanthropy: How Moving Affects Volunteering,” unpublished paper, May 2015.

more new move-ins than move-outs: Debra O’Connor, “St. Paul, Minneapolis See Population Gains, Say Met Council Estimates,” Twin Cities Pioneer Press, May 22, 2014, http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25818482/St.-paul-minneapolis-see-population-gains-say-met; U.S. Census, “U.S. and World Population Clock,” http://www.census.gov/popclock/.

in 2013, 35.8 percent did: Corporation for National and Community Service, “Volunteering and Civic Engagement in Minneapolis-St Paul, MN,” http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/mn/minneapolis-st-paul.

Gallup-Healthways’ well-being poll: Dan Witters, “Provo-Orem, Utah, Leads U.S. Communities in Well-Being,” Gallup, March 25, 2014, http://www.gallup.com/poll/167984/provo-orem-utah-leads-communities.aspx.

more physically active than most of the nation: American College of Sports Medicine, “Actively Moving America to Better Health: Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas,” 2012 report, http://americanfitnessindex.org/docs/reports/2012_afi_report_final.pdf.

more well-read: John W. Miller, “America’s Most Literate Cities, 2013,” Central Connecticut State University, http://web.ccsu.edu/americasmostliteratecities/2013/.

more likely to feel safe: Jeffrey M. Jones, “Minneapolis–St. Paul Area Residents Most Likely to Feel Safe,” Gallup, April 5, 2013, http://www.gallup.com/poll/161648/minneapolis-paul-area-residents-likely-feel-safe.aspx.

kits for the children’s hospital: KARE11, “Speed Volunteering at the Great Minnesota Get Together,” December 10, 2013, http://www.kare11.com/story/life/family/eleven-who-care/2013/08/19/speed-volunteering-at-the-great-minnesota-get-together/3846579/.

“a close-knit community”: Patricia Garcia, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

the center’s special projects director: Meghan Morse, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

“Have you driven on our roads?”: Kristin Schurrer, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

“distance to the Canadian border”: Robert Putnam, “Social Capital: Measurement and Consequences,” Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, http://www.oecd.org/innovation/research/1825848.pdf.

three blocks from Minnehaha Creek: Jenny Friedman, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

crime is not uncommon: Minneapolis Police Department, “Neighborhood Statistics, January–August 2015,” http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@mpd/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-148628.pdf.

cajoling them about their grades: Brian Mogren, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

bought a place in Jordan anyway: Don Samuels, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

where Davies grew up: Louisa Addiscott, “Glyncoch Community Center,” Spacehive, http://spacehive.com/glyncochcc.

“something transformative is going on”: Rodrigo Davies, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

started in Liberty, Missouri: Fran Bussey, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

whether they were homeowners: Angela M. Eikenberry and Jessica Bearman, “The Impact of Giving Together: Giving Circles’ Influence on Members’ Philanthropic and Civic Behaviors, Knowledge and Attitudes,” published by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, and the University of Nebraska Omaha (May 2009), available at givingforum.org.

they attend school here: Becky Nesbit, in conversation with the author, September 2015.

(Educated people volunteer more often): Danielle Kurtzleben, “New Data Show Women, More Educated Doing Most Volunteering,” U.S. News and World Report, February 27, 2013, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/02/27/charts-new-data-show-women-more-educated-doing-most-volunteering.

makes a difference in the world: United HealthGroup, “Doing Good Is Good for You: 2013 Health and Volunteering Study,” http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/SocialResponsibility/Volunteering.aspx.

but wackier and more creative: Jennifer Prod, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

to read the next one: You can see the full, delightful list of Jennifer Prod’s Random Acts of Happiness at her blog, Studio Kindred. See http://www.studiokindred.com/random-acts-of-happiness/.

as urban activist Majora Carter has said: Majora Carter, as quoted in Joanna Gangi, “You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One,” Yes! Magazine, May 11, 2011, http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/majora-carter-how-to-bring-environmental-justice-to-your-neighborhood.

to guide your contributions: Kathy LeMay, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

Chapter Eight: Eat Local Food

high-end camera store in Minneapolis: Sarah Sutton, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

revolves around eating and drinking: Christopher Muther, “Culinary Boom in Portland, Maine,” Boston Globe, October 4, 2014, https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2014/10/04/portland-culinary-boom/vihcaqFHkeQM3BAZegxCGM/story.html; and Suzanne MacNeille, “Portland, Me.: Locavore in Menu and Décor,” New York Times, August 29, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/travel/portland-me-locavore-in-menu-and-decor.html.

head start on the local food trend: Kate McCarty, in conversation with the author, September 2014. See also Kate McCarty, Portland Food: The Culinary Capital of Maine (Charleston, S.C.: American Palate, 2014). Sam Hayward was the first Maine chef to win a James Beard Award for best chef, in 2004, for his farm-to-table restaurant Fore Street.

than San Francisco: Whit Richardson, “Does Portland Have More Restaurants per Capita Than San Francisco?” Mainebiz, August 18, 2009, http://www.mainebiz.biz/article/20090818/NEWS02/308189995/does-portland-have-more-restaurants-per-capita-than-san-francisco?

“foodiest small town”: Andrew Knowlton, “Portland, Maine—America’s Foodiest Small Town 2009,” Bon Appétit, August 31, 2009, http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/the-foodist/article/portland-maine-america-s-foodiest-small-town-2009.

one in ten jobs in the United States is in a restaurant: National Restaurant Association, “Facts at a Glance,” 2015, http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance.

“rank locations for livability”: Ray Routhier, “Portland Excels at Making the List,” Portland Press Herald, August 13, 2012, http://www.pressherald.com/2012/08/13/portland-excels-at-making-the-list_2012-08-13/.

mentions by Gourmet.com: “Food Truck Favorites from Coast to Coast,” Gourmet Live, August 8, 2012, http://www.gourmet.com/food/gourmetlive/2012/080812/best-US-food-trucks.html.

Food and Wine: “America’s Best Lobster Rolls,” Food and Wine website, http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/americas-best-lobster-rolls.

Yelp’s top one hundred in America: Dan Frank, “Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. for 2015,” Yelp Official Blog, January 22, 2015, http://officialblog.yelp.com/2015/01/yelps-top-100-places-to-eat-in-the-us-for-2015.html.

where her family lived later: Bonny Wolf, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

for Baltimore schoolchildren: Bonny Wolf, “Baltimore Coddies,” American Food Roots, December 14, 2012, http://www.americanfoodroots.com/recipes/baltimore-coddies/.

local foods were their favorites: Luis L. Cantarero, “Human Food Preferences and Cultural Identity: The Case of Aragón (Spain),” International Journal of Psychology 48, no. 5 (2013): 881–90.

“wide open spaces”: Gwendolyn Blue, “If It Ain’t Alberta, It Ain’t Beef: Local Food, Regional Identity, (Inter)National Politics,” Food, Culture and Society 11, no. 1 (March 2008): 69–85.

“the land has to offer”: Rowan Jacobsen, American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012).

word of the year: Oxford University Press, “Oxford Word of the Year 2007: Locavore,” OUPblog, November 12, 2007, http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore/.

to land on our plate: Sarah DeWeerdt, “Is Local Food Better?,” World Watch Magazine 22, no. 3 (May–June 2009), http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6064.

milk, sugar, and strawberries: Rich Pirog and Andrew Benjamin, “Calculating Food Miles for a Multiple Ingredient Food Product,” Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, March 2005.

greenhouse gas emissions: Sarah DeWeerdt, “Is Local Food Better?” See also Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews, “Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States,” Environmental Science and Technology 42, no. 10 (2008): 3508–13.

and (horror of horrors) withering flavor: One of my favorite books about how long-distance shipping is altering the taste of foods we eat for the worse is David Mas Masumoto’s Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm (New York: HarperOne, 1996).

$6.1 billion local food market: Stephen Vogel and Sarah A. Low, “The Size and Scope of Locally Marketed Food Production,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, February 2, 2015, http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015-januaryfebruary/the-size-and-scope-of-locally-marketed-food-production.aspx#.VgmZaY9Viko.

“where human sustenance is concerned”: Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (New York: Harper Perennial, 2008).

pay attention to where you are: Ibid., 36–39.

“I’d never felt so at home”: Vicki Robin, “Perspectives: The 10-Mile Diet,” Nourish, December 2012. See also her book Blessing the Hands That Feed Us: What Eating Closer to Home Can Teach Us About Food, Community, and Our Place on Earth (New York: Viking, 2014).

almost 500 percent increase: U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, “Number of U.S. Farmers’ Markets Continues to Rise,” August 4, 2014, http://ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/detail.aspx?chartId=48561&ref=collection&embed=True&widgetId=37373.

and the store itself: Tracie McMillan, “Where Does Your Grocery Money Go? Mostly Not to the Farmers,” CNN.com, August 8, 2012, http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/08/08/where-does-your-grocery-money-go-mostly-not-to-the-farmer/.

“at the Community Farmers Market”: Diane Holtaway and Carol Coren, “Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Participation in Community Farmers Markets,” Rutgers University study, 2010.

spend their earnings in town: Robert P. King et al., “Comparing the Structure, Size, and Performance of Local and Mainstream Food Supply Chains,” USDA Economic Research Report ERR-99, June 2010, www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err99.aspx.

new income for area farms: Eric S. Bendfeldt, et al., “A Community-Based Food System: Building Health, Wealth, Connection, and Capacity as the Foundation of Our Economic Future,” Virginia Cooperative Extension, May 2011.

the farmers’ market as an event: Ted R. Sommer, Robert Sommer, and John Herrick, “The Behavioral Ecology of Supermarkets and Farmers’ Markets,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 1, no. 1 (1981): 13–19.

as they did in supermarkets: This was quoted in Bill McKibben’s wonderful book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (New York: Times Books, 2007).

“sense of shared learning”: Richard McCarthy, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

“‘fit in in this town’”: Ibid.

more conventional supermarkets: Brian K. Obach and Kathleen Tobin, “Civic Agriculture and Community Engagement,” Agriculture and Human Values 31 (2014): 307–22.

Under the Green Umbrella: Learn more about the delightful people who sell food at the Blacksburg Farmers Market at the market’s website, http://www.blacksburgfarmersmarket.com/vendors.

higher levels of neighborhood attachment: Nicole Comstock, et al., “Neighborhood Attachment and Its Correlates: Exploring Neighborhood Conditions, Collective Efficacy, and Gardening,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30 (2010): 435–42. See also Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan, “Preference, Restoration, and Meaningful Action in the Context of Nearby Nature,” in Urban Place: Reconnecting with the Natural World, ed. Peggy F. Barlett (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005), 271–98.

telling me about his CSA: Sean Hagan, in conversation with the author, September 2014. In the off-season, Sean’s a graphic designer; find his beautiful website at http://leftfieldmaine.com/.

60 farms nationwide operated CSA programs: Steven McFadden, “The History of Community Supported Agriculture, Part II: CSA’s World of Possibilities,” New Farm, Rodale Institute, http://www.newfarm.org/features/0204/csa2/part2.shtml.

more than 12,600 farms did: U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Table 43—Selected Practices: 2012,” in 2012 Census of Agriculture—State Data (Washington, D.C., National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2014), 558. http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_2_US_State_Level/st99_2_043_043.pdf.

who won’t leave the yard: Steven M. Schnell, “Food Miles, Local Eating, and Community Supported Agriculture: Putting Local Food in Its Place,” Agriculture and Human Values 30 (2013): 615–28.

I want you to succeed here: Ibid.

“happen to have a house that you live in”: Steven Schnell, in conversation with the author, September 2015.

when he studied microbreweries: Steven M. Schnell and Joseph F. Reese, “Microbreweries, Place, and Identity in the United States,” in The Geography of Beer: Regions, Environment, and Societies, ed. Mark Patterson and Nancy Hoalst-Pullen (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2014).

purchase his greenhouses: Katherine Cutko, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

waved off our payment: Jason Pall, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“wanted to give us half”: Molly Wizenberg, Delancey (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), 177, 223–24.

Bite into Maine’s success: Sarah Sutton, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

terms a “third place”: Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (Boston: Da Capo, 1999).

“‘membership’ in a third place”: Ibid., xxiii.

chicken chipotle salad: Mark Rosenbaum, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

nameplates on “their” table: Mark Rosenbaum, “Exploring the Social Supportive Role of Third Places in Consumers’ Lives,” Journal of Service Research 9, no. 1 (August 2006): 59–72.

“So I did”: Ibid., 59.

increased by 10 to 15 percent: Nickey Friedman, “McDonald’s and Burger King Want You to Come In and Stay Awhile,” Motley Fool, April 20, 2014, http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/20/mcdonalds-and-burger-king-want-you-to-come-in-and.aspx.

affection toward a place: Edward T. MacMahon, “The Place Making Dividend,” Planetizen, December 22, 2010, http://www.planetizen.com/node/47402.

“the more it is theirs”: Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place.

called Within One Mile: Helms Jarrell, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“community [to be] confirmed”: Lisa Waxman, “The Coffee Shop: Social and Physical Factors Influencing Place Attachment,” Journal of Interior Design 31, no. 3 (2006): 35–53.

social eatery: I got the term “strEATing” from the Charleston-based placemaking organization Enough Pie. You can read more about it at its website, http://enoughpie.org/streatweekly/.

with his 500 Plates project: Learn more about 500 Plates and download a free tool kit at 500plates.com.

a positive review on Yelp: Jessica Esch, in conversation with the author, September 2015.

Chapter Nine: Get More Political

cities that host such courses: Rick Morse, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

gear works of their town government: Ibid.

“see how hard they work”: Heather Browning, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

the same of the federal government: Justin McCarthy, “Americans Still Trust Local Government More Than State,” Gallup, September 22, 2014, http://www.gallup.com/poll/176846/americans-trust-local-government-state.aspx.

who studies citizens academies: Rick Morse, “Citizens Academies Database,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government.

famously surveyed its citizens about their happiness in 2011: A nice article about it is John Tierney, “How Happy Are You? A Census Wants to Know,” New York Times, April 30, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/us/01happiness.html.

“making people happier”: City of Somerville, “Somerville, Massachusetts: A Report on Well-Being,” August 2011, http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Somerville_Well_Being_Report.pdf.

the more civically involved they were: Gene Theodori, “Community Attachment, Satisfaction, and Action,” Journal of the Community Development Society 35, no. 2 (2004): 73.

thrive on that involvement: A great study about the ways place attachment and place identity foster civic engagement is by Lynne C. Manzo and Douglas D. Perkins, environmental psychologists at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Vanderbilt University, respectively, who write, “Affective bonds to places can help inspire action because people are motivated to seek, stay in, protect, and improve places that are meaningful to them. Consequently, place attachment, place identity, and sense of community can provide a greater understanding of how neighborhood spaces can motivate ordinary residents to act collectively to preserve, protect, or improve their community and participate in local planning processes.” Lynne C. Manzo and Douglas D. Perkins, “Finding Common Ground: The Importance of Place Attachment to Community Participation and Planning,” Journal of Planning Literature 20, no. 4 (May 2006): 335–50.

good ol’ boy network: Mike Maciag, “The Citizens Most Vocal in Local Government,” Governing, July 2014, http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-national-survey-shows-citizens-most-vocal-active-in-local-government.html#data.

“really enjoying its assets”: Sam Colville, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

(Family Circle, and Kiplinger best places lists): Dick Goodman, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

“but in general our town”: Emily Rogan, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

going to college: Jeff Coates, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

prioritizing close-knit, walkable neighborhoods: “Vision and Perspective,” Matt Tomasulo, Raleigh City Council 2015, http://www.mattforraleigh.com/perspective_vision.

O’Charley’s and Cracker Barrel by conservatives: Reid J. Epstein, “Liberals Eat Here. Conservatives Eat There,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/05/02/liberals-eat-here-conservatives-eat-there/.

drive Ford Mustang convertibles: Mary M. Chapman, “Party Affiliations in Car-Buying Choices: A Thorny Patch of Consumer Analysis,” Wheels (blog), New York Times, March 30, 2012, http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/party-affiliations-in-car-buying-choices-a-thorny-patch-of-consumer-analysis/.

“both geographic and social”: Michael Dimock, Jocelyn Kiley, Scott Keeter, and Carroll Doherty, “Political Polarization in the American Public: How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday Life,” Pew Research Center, June 12, 2014, http://www.people-press.org/files/2014/06/6-12-2014-Political-Polarization-Release.pdf.

place attachment in the Soul of the Community study: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “Overall Findings,” Knight Soul of the Community 2010. Why People Love Where They Live and Why It Matters: A National Perspective (Miami: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 2010), http://knightfoundation.org/sotc/overall-findings/.

Democrat living in Hoboken, New Jersey: “Best Cities for Liberals, 2014,” Livability.com, http://www.livability.com/top-10/political-cities/best-cities-liberals/2014.

Republican living in Benton, Arkansas: “Best Cities for Conservatives, 2014,” Livability.com, http://www.livability.com/top-10/political-cities/best-cities-con servatives/2014.

Was “maybe” good enough?: You can take an abbreviated version of the Big Five personality test yourself; find a link on my website, MelodyWarnick.com.

from his or her zip code: Jason Rentfrow, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

in certain regions of the United States: Richard Florida, Rise of the Creative Class—Revisited (New York: Basic Books, 2014).

clustered geographically: Peter J. Rentfrow, et al., “Divided We Stand: Three Psychological Regions of the United States and Their Political, Economic, Social, and Health Correlates,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 105, no. 6 (2013): 996–1012.

increases by 25 percent: Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, “Social Contagion Theory: Examining Dynamic Social Networks and Human Behavior,” Statistics in Medicine 32 (2013): 556–77.

“on your daily experiences”: Jason Rentfrow, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

what makes us happy: Dan Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness (New York: Vintage, 2007).

seemed more legit: You can find a link to this test at my website, MelodyWarnick.com, or at http://www.claritycampaigns.com/townrank/.

“they’re out of a job”: Benjamin Barber, “Why Mayors Should Rule the World,” TEDGlobal conference, June 2013, http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_barber_why_mayors_should_rule_the_world?language=en.

a “steward of place”: American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Stepping Forward as Stewards of Place (Washington, D.C.: AASCU, 2002). See http://www.aascu.org/programs/ADP/ for more about the American Democracy Project.

a good civic engagement gut check: National Conference on Citizenship, “Civic Health Questions Collected by Census Bureau.” For more about the NCOC’s Civic Health Index project, see http://ncoc.net/45.

feel rooted where you live: Michael C. Grillo, Miguel A. Teixeira, and David C. Wilson, “Residential Satisfaction and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Causes of Community Participation,” Social Indicators Research 97, no. 3 (2010): 451–66.

eligible voters cast a ballot: “2012 Voter Turnout Report,” Bipartisan Policy Center, November 8, 2012, http://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/2012-voter-turnout/.

turnout was in the single digits: Devin McCarthy and Rob Richie, “FairVote Report: Low Turnout Plagues U.S. Mayoral Elections, but San Francisco Is Highest,” FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy, October 24, 2012, http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/blog/fairvote-report-low-turnout-plagues-u-s-mayoral-elections-but-san-francisco-is-highest/.

operate in an “equilibrium state”: Mike Maciag, “Voter Turnout Plummeting in Local Elections,” Governing, October 2014, http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-voter-turnout-municipal-elections.html.

in the city in real time: Code for America, “New Orleans,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/governments/neworleans/.

offer incarceration alternatives: Code for America, “Louisville,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/governments/louisville/, and Code for America, “Jail Population Management Dashboard,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/apps/jail-population-management-dashboard/.

help users map public art: Code for America, “Public Art Finder/ArtAround,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/apps/public-art-finder/.

locate social services: Erine Gray, “Aunt Bertha: Why We’re Coding for America,” Code for America, October 26, 2012, http://www.codeforamerica.org/blog/2012/10/26/aunt-bertha-why-were-coding-for-america/.

where to get a flu shot: Code for America, “Flu Shot Finder,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/apps/flu-shot-finder/.

Google Maps images of their street: See the website http://blockee.org.

name your city’s neighborhoods: See the website http://click-that-hood.com.

National Day of Civic Hacking: Find events at HackforChange.org.

(now MySidewalk): Emily Olinger, vice president of client experience, MySidewalk, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

without leaving the house: “Nick Bowden,” National Conference on Citizenship, August 8, 2013, http://ncoc.net/NickBowden.

to express an opinion: Mike Maciag, “The Citizens Most Vocal in Local Government.”

“typically younger and wealthier”: Ben Armstrong, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“‘and it’s happening’”: Emily Olinger, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

pizza, soda, and beer: Ben Schoenfeld, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

private, hyperlocal Facebook pages: Sarah Leary, vice president of Nextdoor, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

Does anyone know a carpenter?: Anne Clauss, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

collective efficacy towns need: Marc Dunkelman, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

crime dropped by 15 percent: Bob Moffitt, “Sacramento Police Chief Says Crime Down 15 Percent,” Capital Public Radio News, June 26, 2014, http://www.capradio.org/articles/2014/06/26/sacramento-police-chief-says-crime-down-15-percent/.

neighborhood emergency response team: Sarah Leary, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

more transparent and welcoming: Code for America, “Digital Front Door,” https://www.codeforamerica.org/our-work/initiatives/digitalfrontdoor/.

Chapter Ten: Create Something

Cobbling together resources was what he did best: Rip Rapson, “Creative Placemaking: The Next Phase for ArtPlace,” address to the ArtPlace Summit in Los Angeles, published at Kresge Foundation, President’s Corner blog, March 4, 2014, http://kresge.org/about-us/presidents-corner/creative-placemaking-next-phase-for-artplace. Also helpful were Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, in conversation with the author, February 2015, and Aidan Flax-Clark, “Creative Placemaking: What It Is and Why It’s Important for Communities,” Aspen Idea (blog), October 31, 2014, www.aspeninstitute.org/about/blog/creative-placemaking-what-it-why-its-important-communities.

“how they change over time”: Peter R. Orszag, et al., to Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, “Developing Effective Place-Based Policies for the FY 2011 Budget,” White House memorandum M-09-28, August 11, 2009, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-28.pdf.

“the arts at the community development table”: Jason Schupbach, in conversation with the author, December 2015.

in cities all over the country: Tara McGuinness and Victoria Collin, White House Office of Management and Budget, in conversation with the author, December 2015.

your tax dollars are at work: Shaun Donovan, “Here’s How the Federal Government Is Working with Local Communities to Create Change, in One Map,” White House blog, August 26, 2015, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/08/25/heres-how-federal-government-working-local-communities-create-change-one-map.

writing curriculum in Missoula, Montana: The National Endowment for the Arts has a stunning website where you can read about Our Town recipients. Go to https://www.arts.gov/exploring-our-town/showcase.

in all fifty states and Puerto Rico: Jason Schupbach, in conversation with the author, December 2015.

white paper that inspired the program: Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

stage operas based on local oral histories: Those particular projects took place in New York City, Cincinnati, and Houston, respectively. ArtPlace America posts descriptions of all its placemaking projects at its website. Go to www.artplaceamerica.org/grantees?search_api_views_fulltext.

outdoor performance space and urban farm: Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, “The Facade,” http://lpccd.org/featured/church-facade-conceptual-plan/.

“‘Take all my money’”: Lyz Crane, in conversation with the author, July 2014.

tie-dyed, hand-lettered banner: Prattsville Art Center and Residency, “About Us,” Prattsville Art (blog), August 6, 2012, http://prattsvilleart.blogspot.com/2012/08/about-us.html.

“and everything would stop”: Nancy Barton, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

“people who are like them”: Maggie Bernadette, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

“how will you know when to stop?”: Jamie Hand, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

health problems forced her hand: Kate Milo, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

bring urban public spaces to life: Southwest Airlines, “Southwest Airlines Introduces Heart of the Community,” press release, PR Newswire, April 3, 2014, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/southwest-airlines-introduces-heart-of-the-community-253757211.html.

wriggle their toes in the sand: Project for Public Spaces, “Heart of the Community,” www.pps.org/heart-of-the-community, and Philip Winn, “Placemaking’s Ripple Effect: How a Beach Downtown Is Making Waves in Detroit,” Project for Public Spaces, September 26, 2014, www.pps.org/blog/placemakings-ripple-effect-how-a-beach-downtown-is-making-waves-in-detroit.

“when Southwest came to us”: Ethan Kent, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

placemaking events at libraries nationwide: Redbox, “Outside the Box,” www.redbox.com/outside-the-box, and Elena Madison, “Placemaking: Coming Soon to a Library Near You!” Project for Public Spaces, June 30, 2014, www.pps.org/blog/placemaking-coming-soon-to-a-library-near-you.

“Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper”: Project for Public Spaces, “The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Transformation of Public Spaces,” www.pps.org/reference/lighter-quicker-cheaper.

less litter sullied the streets: Edi Rama, “Take Back Your City with Paint,” TEDx Thessaloniki, May 2012, https://www.ted.com/talks/edi_rama_take_back_your_city_with_paint?language=en.

clean drinking water or safe streets: Kevin M. Leyden, Abraham Goldberg, and Philip Michelbach, “Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness in Ten Major Cities,” Urban Affairs Review 47, no. 6 (2011): 861–88; and Ariel Schwartz, “Forget the Suburbs: Living in Beautiful, Well-Designed Cities Makes People Happy,” Co.Exist, February 8, 2012, http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679263/forget-the-suburbs-living-in-beautiful-well-designed-cities-makes-people-happy.

to activate a neglected neighborhood: Jason Roberts, “How to Build a Better Block,” TEDxOU, February 2012, http://betterblock.org/better-block-at-tedx.

League of Creative Interventionists: League of Creative Interventionists, “Interventions,” http://www.creativeinterventionists.com/.

“transcend the ‘place’ to forefront the ‘making’”: Susan Silberberg, et al., “Places in the Making: How Placemaking Builds Places and Communities,” white paper, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013.

for his eponymous law firm: James Creekmore, in conversation with the author, February 2015.

“they were just as happy, thank you very much”: Susan Mattingly, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

“a place for everyone in the project”: Kate Nevin, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

Chapter Eleven: Stay Loyal

one of the most toxic places on earth: Holly Morris, “Ukraine: A Country of Women,” More, April 2011, http://www.more.com/chernobyl-women-nuclear-holly-morris. For haunting pictures of Chernobyl and Pripyat, see Lane Turner, “The Big Picture: Chernobyl Disaster 25th Anniversary,” Boston Globe, April 25, 2011, http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/chernobyl_disaster_25th_annive.html; “Chernobyl Then and Now: 28 Haunting Images from Nuclear Disaster,” RT.com, April 26, 2014, http://www.rt.com/news/155072-chernobyl-images-now-then/; Daniel Dalton, “Chilling Photos of Chernobyl 28 Years Later,” BuzzFeed, April 25, 2014, http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/chilling-photos-chernobyl-28-years-later#.nfA4eyOb4; and “Last Season’s Fruit,” Laughing Crow Permaculture (blog), June 6, 2010, https://laughingcrowpermaculture.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/last-seasons-fruit/.

in a sterile Kyiv high-rise: Holly Morris, in conversation with the author, March 2015; and Holly Morris, “Ukraine: A Country of Women.”

“are dying of sadness”: Holly Morris, “Why Stay in Chernobyl? Because It’s Home,” talk delivered at TEDGlobal 2013, June 2013, https://www.ted.com/talks/holly_morris_why_stay_in_chernobyl_because_it_s_home?language=en.

“their world was abruptly taken away”: Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It (New York: Ballantine, 2005).

“This is so very real and raw for them”: Holly Morris, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

then quickly recover normalcy afterward: For a good overview of 100 Resilient Cities’ mission, see 100 Resilient Cities, “What Is Urban Resilience?” http://www.100resilientcities.org/resilience#/-_/.

“failed to understand the stresses it was facing”: Andrew Salkin, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“huge range of issues that each city is dealing with”: Victoria Salinas, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

from zero to almost 10 percent: Ben Dooley, “Community Bonds, Not Seawalls, Key to Minimizing Deaths: 3/11 Study,” Japan Times, April 16, 2014, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/16/national/community-bonds-not-seawalls-key-to-minimizing-deaths-311-study/#.

Each town’s level of social connection: Daniel P. Aldrich and Yasuyuki Sawada, “The Physical and Social Determinants of Mortality in the 3.11 Tsunami,” Social Science and Medicine 124 (2015): 66–75.

“before the disaster strikes”: Daniel Aldrich, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

about their chances of handling future disasters: The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, “Two Years after Superstorm Sandy: Resilience in Twelve Neighborhoods,” http://www.apnorc.org/PDFs/Sandy/Sandy%20Phase%202%20Report_Final.pdf.

can build social capital and resilience: Center for Resilient Cities, “Badger Rock Center,” http://www.resilientcities.org/projects-programs/badger-rock-center/.

“space for individuals to contribute”: Victoria Salinas, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

ills of the inner city: Emaleigh Doley, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

neighbors into caring about each other: Malcolm Gladwell describes the broken windows idea of policing in depth in The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Back Bay, 2002).

“if you participate in this project”: You can learn more about Grow This Block at the Doleys’ website, the W Rockland St. Project, http://rocklandstreet.com/.

“can create a lot of energy”: Depending on your neighborhood, you may need city permits to put planters on the sidewalk. Call your city’s planning and building office to find out.

“the scales would have tipped to the point of no return”: Emaleigh Doley, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

where Sandy’s ravages were most devastating: The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, “Two Years After Superstorm Sandy.”

“It’s not all like this”: Beth Riley, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

Kübler-Ross stages of grief in reverse: Christine Bowenkamp, “Coordination of Mental Health and Community Agencies in Disaster Response,” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health 2, no. 3 (2000): 159–65.

envision themselves living on the beach someday: Stacy Jones, “3 in 5 Want to Retire Somewhere Else,” Bankrate, March 23, 2015, http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/survey-who-wants-to-retire-elsewhere.aspx.

feel depression lowering like a scrim: Bruce Tolar, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

less poverty than the ones they left: Corina Graif, “(Un)natural Disaster: Vulnerability, Long-Distance Displacement, and the Extended Geography of Neighborhood Distress and Attainment after Katrina,” Population and Environment, published online ahead of print, August 2015.

impossible to reenter their old lives: David S. Kirk, “A Natural Experiment on Residential Change and Recidivism: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina,” American Sociological Review 74 (June 2009): 484–505.

better off than those who returned: Malcolm Gladwell, “Starting Over,” New Yorker, August 24, 2015, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/24/starting-over-dept-of-social-studies-malcolm-gladwell.

herculean effort to return to their hometown: Raj Chetty, et al., “Where Is the Land of Opportunity?: The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States,” Working Paper No. 19843, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2014, http://www.nber.org/papers/w19843.

“This is my home”: Emily Chamlee-Wright and Virgil Henry Storr, “‘There’s No Place Like New Orleans’: Sense of Place and Community Recovery in the Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina,” Journal of Urban Affairs 31, no. 5 (2009): 615–34.

a lawyer in town named Alwyn Luckey: Alwyn Luckey, in conversation with the author, December 2014.

yet 8.4 million Americans are still happy to live there: Marc Yearsley, “New York City Has Been Destroyed 34 Times On Screen,” Gothamist, March 19, 2014, http://gothamist.com/2014/03/19/new_york_city_has_been_destroyed_34.php.

“drove the process of resilience there”: Daniel Aldrich, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

has a very bad day once in a while: Beth Riley, in conversation with the author, January 2015.

“foundational building block” for towns: Jeff Coates, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

family letters, newspaper clippings, and journal entries: The biographies on Virginia Tech’s We Remember site were particularly helpful. See https://www.weremember.vt.edu/.

he wandered home: Scott and Joyce Hendricks, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“just a community feeling”: Joyce Hendricks, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

Chapter Twelve: Settle Down

between May and August: United Van Lines, “Americans Move to Chicago, Washington D.C. and Atlanta,” news release, September 9, 2014, http://www.unitedvanlines.com/about-united/news/summer-long-distance-moving-trends-study.

hurtling toward my third anniversary in Blacksburg: Katherine Loflin, in conversation with the author, November 2014.

“its perfection was not working for my narrative”: Ibid.

general sense of geography-related unworthiness: Greg Tehven, in conversation with the author, September 2014.

three-mile loop of closed downtown streets: Rory Beil, in conversation with the author, August 2014. Look at http://www.dakmed.org/cass-clay-alive/streets-alive/ for details.

in a derelict downtown alleyway: Look at AlleyFair.com for more details.

Communal living for entrepreneurs: See http://www.fargostartuphouse.com/.

dinners for city visitors: See DinnerTies.com.

“it just happened in the last ten years”: Mike Williams, in conversation with the author, August 2014.

creating the city where they live: Ethan Kent, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“the weird kid among my friends”: Nick Arnett, in conversation with the author, September 2015. Also Adrienne Westenfeld, “Charting Vision: 20-Year-Old Community Developer Nick Arnett’s Journey,” Das Fort, http://www.dasfort.com/nick-arnett/.

die-hard place fan would be hard to find: Kyle Sandler, “Twelve Cities Founder and Thiel Fellowship Liason [sic] Nick Arnett on Three Themes for Building Great Cities,” Serious Startups, August 6, 2013, http://seriousstartups.com/2013/08/06/twelve-cities-founder-thiel-fellowship-liason-nick-arnett-themes-building-great-cities/.

but they moved anyway: Tonya Beeler, in conversation with the author, March 2015.

probably move on from West Rockland Street: Emaleigh Doley, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

“never thought the equation was worth it”: Susan Mattingly, in conversation with the author, May 2015.

“Why not try another?”: Helen Nearing, Loving and Leaving the Good Life (White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green, 1993), 119.

For further resources, visit MelodyWarnick.com.