by Terry L. Besser
Assistant professor and extension sociologist
Iowa State University Extension to Communities
The editors of Fortune and Money magazines think they know what makes a town livable. Every year they publish a list of the best places to live in the country -- and the world. Not everyone agrees with the Money and Fortune rankings, however. For example, Everett Smith, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Oregon, thinks that the writers of most of the articles and books that rank cities dismiss, or do not understand, the positive features of small town living.
As a result, Smith has developed his own rating system. In an article entitled "Decent Places off the Beaten Path" in the magazine Small Town, Smith lists those qualities which make for a good place to live. They are:
-- Pleasant appearance. The town should be pleasing to the eye. It might be oriented around a historic district or a prominent environmental feature, a lake, river, mountain, forest or prairie. There should be a visual distinction between the town and the country side, and between the town and other towns.
--Ease of getting around. ItÕs important that roads, parking lots, public facilities and residential areas be easily assessable and not congested. A person should be able to comfortably walk or bicycle throughout the town.
--Facilities to meet the basic needs of individuals, families and the larger community. The town should have medical, entertainment, economic, recreational, governmental, educational and shopping facilities. Local services, quality of life and population increase or decrease are interwoven in cycles that can represent major challenges for small towns. Suppose, for example, that town population declines. A loss of people makes it difficult to keep important services such as retail stores, medical facilities, schools and recreational opportunities in town. Yet without them, the quality of life declines for those remaining encouraging them to leave also. In addition, a lower quality of life makes it harder to attract new residents or sources of economic activity to the town, depressing population even more.
--Relatively stable population. The town should not have experienced a large percentage increase of decrease in population since the 1950s and less than 20 percent change since 1980. A large change in population can cause infrastructure strain and social problems which require time to remedy.
--Court house and/or hospital. These facilities are essential, according to Smith, because they help meet the basic needs of local citizens and provide a source of stable, middle income jobs. Furthermore, they attract people into town from other communities who will then use services or purchase goods form other local businesses.
--Diverse economic base. One-industry towns such as mining towns or logging towns are subject to greater swings in prosperity and depression. Also, dependence on one employer or industry may give that employer undue power in community matters. This in turn may discourage the town from undertaking community betterment projects that could provide broad benefits within the community.
--Independent from metropolitan areas. Communities should be located at least 80 miles from a city of a million or more people, and at least 50 road miles from a smaller metropolis of 50,000 or more people. Smith claims that close proximity to a metropolitan area threatens a communityÕs autonomy and self government.
--Population of 2,000 to 5,000 people. In SmithÕs thinking, towns smaller than 2,000 are not able to meet the basic needs of citizens and, therefore, do not meet his criteria for a decent town. Those larger than 5,000 have started to hollow out. That is, the shopping areas and community services have moved to the outskirts of town leaving the downtown to deteriorate. Without an identifiable, active downtown sector, Smith believes community spirit declines.
Using this guideline, Smith has identified 479 decent small towns in the United States. Iowa is home to 37 of them, second only to Texas which had 55. Considering the difference in size of the two states, Iowa is the hands-down winner of the award for the state with the most decent small towns per square mile.
Many of us would disagree with at least some of SmithÕs ideas about what constitutes a decent place to live. For example, I think Smith left some things out and was too concerned about the physical features of communities. Still, so long as he prompts people to think about the quality of life in small towns, how to preserve it and how to improve it, he has made a positive contribution to small town life.
Contacts:
Terry L. Besser, ISU
Extension Sociology, (515) 294-6508
Del Marks, ISU Extension
Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807
