Your Town Design Workshops

Your Town: The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design is a leadership initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Arts that responds to the design needs of small towns and rural areas. It is coordinated by the Department of Landscape Architecture at State University of New York Syracuse in partnership with preservation consultant Shelley Mastran.

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A 2007 Your Town workshop in Granbury, Texas.	A 2007 Your Town workshop in Plains,Georgia.

Your Town: The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design addresses a range of critical problems that rural communities face. In some cases, the main concerns are heavy out-migration and loss of employment opportunities; in others, rapid growth from suburban sprawl, location of new facilities, or influx of retirees. These problems affect the vitality of the community, its design, and its sense of place. Your Town: The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design addresses these issues of community integrity and character through the process of design in a two-and-a-half-day participatory workshop.

For the purposes of Your Town, “community” is defined broadly: not just the town center or area within the town boundary, but also the area surrounding the town which depends on its goods and services and contributes an economic base, land for expansion, agricultural land or open space, and recreational opportunities.

The Your Town Program was awarded the 1996 National Honor Award for Design Communication by the American Society of Landscape Architects. This is the highest award given by ASLA, in recognition of exceptional contributions to the profession and society. Your Town also received the American Planning Association Public Education Award in 1997.