What is your neighborhood?

Keep It Local, by Barbara Lawrence – June 20, 2012

What is your neighborhood? Some people think first of the particular housing development, or a broader community. There have always been changes in post office locations, so in some cases the post office name was the neighborhood. It is worth some thought, because if you don’t really know your neighborhood, something is missing about the sense of place.  Do you identify with the local gas station/convenience store, the local church, a restaurant or diner, the local volunteer fire department, or perhaps the major company nearby? Along the Catawba River, maybe there are families that think in terms of the river cove they live on.  Where are your social connections?

Nichols on Hwy 74 at Old Dowd Road

The east side of the Catawba River District

I took a ride along the east boundary of the Catawba River District, which happens to be the most western portion of Mecklenburg County and touches the City of Charlotte occasionally. Older communities usually have some road network or location that lets you know there is a "place" there where people gather. Much of this land was in family farms, and you can see a few scattered new housing developments on land changing use. I asked at Nichols gas station/convenience store at Hwy 74 and Old Dowd Road what they called this "place."  Some refer to it is West Mecklenburg, some Southside, and some use the names of recent housing developments. One thing is certain, Nichols is the location for fried chicken, taters, and other conveniences for the families and workers in the area.

From Mountain Island Village to Catawba Village to Nichols, residents form and identity of place.  What community assets do you identify as having special meaning to building relationships in your neighborhood?  

Great restaurant space at Mountain Island Village

Sonic Drive-in at Catawba Village Shopping Center

Place: food for thought 

Richard Florida is one of the world’s best-known urban theorists. In an online article by Andrew Price published by the news site Good.is, Florida states, “Every time we come back to these neighborhoods that are exciting, that are great, there’s a long history behind them. We can make the new ones better, but it’s hard to think about a neighborhood that we’ve invented from scratch that has made the list of America’s best neighborhoods. There’s no formula; it may just take a lot of trial and error and evolution to make a great neighborhood.”

Local businesses, churches, recreation spots, big work centers and the people who gather at these places enhance our sense of place and the value of our community. 

Donovan Rypkema of Washington, D.C.-based Place Economics, …(provided) a powerful set of criteria for what should constitute sustainable economic development. These criteria, backed by his firm’s work and research, laid out a model for economic development driven by local assets and identity, long-term thinking and a commitment to small local businesses.  Rypkema also noted that since the recent recession began, large corporations have continued to shed jobs, and the recovery in employment has been due almost exclusively to hiring by small businesses. (speech, 2012)

It is important to identify the community assets that set your "place" apart. Local people and local business workers can help pass along some local stories, building new relationships.  Otherwise, we become "anywhere" – those places that you don't know where you are unless there is a road sign.

About Barbara Lawrence – Barbara has a background in economic development and real-estate research. Her work has included revitalization of downtown Boone, downtown Gastonia and now Mount Holly.