The question came to mind while driving in Western Massachusetts. I
stopped in Northampton, home of Smith College. Northampton reminded me of
Moscow in lots of ways: it's a college town with links to agriculture,
it's not too big but seems to be a regional shopping and entertainment
hub, it appears to be a progressive community (with the varieties of
meaning *that* can have), and so on. Where Northampton did not look like
Moscow was in its downtown. The city's center seems to be a live,
vibrant, pedestrian-thronged core. There were a number of coffee shops
and bakeries which served as magnets; I saw no large national chain
stores. Folks genuinely appeared to be downtown because they wanted to
be, not simply to swoop in, shop and leave.
Interestingly, the Smith campus is quite close to downtown Nothamptown
(3-4 blocks from Administration Building to the Coffee Connection);
however, all the people I saw thronging the streets were by no means
Smithies. Lastly, I observed a number of galleries, bookshops and
theaters (both movie and performance). How much does the attractiveness
of the arts add to Northampton's allure?
I bring this story because I wonder how much zoning and forethought
resulted in the picture of a real *center* I saw in Northampton. It seems
to me that y'all are asking lots of questions important to the shaping of
the Moscow of the future. Part of that questioning (as in the Farmers'
Market photo idea) could well be a look at similar communities.
...Lewis