About Your Town

America’s rural communities are at risk from large-scale changes in the national economy, population shifts, impact of telecommunications and mass merchandising, and changes in federal land policy. In the face of these forces, rural communities struggle to maintain their sense of identity and vitality.

Design solutions can often make the difference between community survival or decay. Yet rural areas rarely have access to design assistance or applications. Furthermore, what assistance is available is usually very focused —on commercial revitalization, for example, or affordable housing— and does not deal comprehensively with the range of design issues facing rural communities.

Beginning in 1990, the National Endowment for the Arts cooperated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Department of Landscape Architecture at the State University of New York at Syracuse in a leadership initiative that responds to the design needs of rural areas. Staff at the National Trust and SUNY developed the original curriculum for Your Town, and the National Trust helped oversee the program for its first 15 years.

The Your Town program consists of two-and-a-half-day participatory workshops held in different locations around the country. These sessions bring architects, landscape architects, and other design professionals together with community members. Each year, four workshops are funded by the National Endowment.

Your Town workshops are oriented toward the following objectives:
   
●   To raise consciousness of the role of design in rural communities; 
   
●   To equip participants with the tools and techniques to identify, protect, enhance their towns and landscapes;
   
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To influence the working methods and relationships of those who are already providing assistance to rural areas on design and community development issues;

   
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To teach the fundamentals of the design process and presentation skills;

   
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To apply design processes to rural community problems and enhance the ability to develop effective solutions;

   
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To provide a forum for rural technical-assistance providers to share their professional skills and to exchange ideas and experiences with rural communities; and

   
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To build a network of design-conscious technical-assistance providers and decision makers around the country.

The goals of these activities are to address the complex and changing environment of rural communities through innovative problem solving and the highest quality of design.