I <3 NL

How to build communities we love

Saturday, March 02, 2013

2pm - 3:30pm, Reception to follow at Rocket Bakery, 272 Water Street

What makes a place-any place-a place where people want to live, work, raise families, visit, start a business, move to, or grow old? Dr. Katherine Loflin, a leading expert on the concept of Placemaking and self-described "City Doctor," is coming to St. John's to talk about the importance of place, and the things that make people feel attachment to, even love for, a community.

In a multi-year, multi-city study led by Dr. Loflin called "The Soul of the Community," nearly 43,000 people in 26 communities across the United States indicated the three main factors that describe why they have become attached to, and stay in, a community. The three factors are aesthetic beauty, the opportunities for socializing that the place provides, and its openness. This attachment improves a community's economic prospects-people who are more attached to a place tend to work harder, spend more locally, and are more entrepreneurial, and places worth attaching to are able to attract and retain a more talented workforce, which in turn attracts more business.

Happy City, in partnership with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development, and TRACT Consulting, present Dr. Loflin in a discussion about the concept of Placemaking and how we, as communities across the province, can continue to build on our strengths as a means to turn our communities into places worth living-into places worth loving.

Local panelists Neil Dawe of TRACT Consulting / VIRDIS place branding, and Sheldon O'Neill of the provincial Office of Immigration, will add a perspective from their work making our communities more beautiful and open.

Rocket Room, Upstairs, Rocket Bakery, 272 Water Street
Saturday, March 2, 2013, 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
Reception to follow. Free Admission.

Presented in partnership with:
Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development, and Tract Consulting.

Supported by Town of Torbay and Rocket Bakery.

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