ENERGIZING PLACES TO ACTIVATE PEOPLE.
A new approach to entrepreneur-led economic development, Spark Towns applies emerging research in zoning, social capital, placemaking, and ecosystem building to put energy behind the innovative people already living in your community.
The research is clear. Communities grow more jobs when they invest in their local entrepreneurs. This is a big shift from decades of site planning and tax incentives focused on luring outside businesses to town. We can help you make that shift!
Strengthen innovation, attract a stronger workforce, revive historic downtowns, support remote work, grow your maker movement, all through the simple approaches you’ll learn as you become a Spark Town!
AS Featured by…
WE CREATE GENIUS!
Genius is best understood in its foundational and ancient sense, describing the specific and underlying quality of a given place, as in the Latin genius loci, the spirit of a place; it describes a form of meeting, of air and land and trees, perhaps a hillside, a cliff edge, a flowing stream or a bridge across a river. It is the conversation of elements that makes a place incarnate, fully itself.
from Consolatons by David Whyte
WE evaluate place at three levels, BUILDING A STRATEGY to maximize your LOCAL GENIUS.
We work at the neighborhood level to imagine friction zones of high interaction where the best ideas bump into one another.
We work at the building level to imagine power houses that invite people into the ecosystem while providing them resources.
We work at the regional level to evaluate your energy grid, maximizing the flow of power and ensuring equity and access.
Place JUST isn’t what it used to be!
People live and work in different communities. They learn without stepping foot inside of schools. They manufacture products without any of the raw materials nearby. Place just isn’t what it used to be.
New economies are exercises in social capital. The most magnetic communities are creating access points for personal interaction. People aren’t buying products and services anymore. They are buying memberships and memories.
Spark Towns leverages your favorite places to help you build this energy. We make your most innovative people feel part of something bigger!
METER READINGS
Get started with our unique asset-mapping tool! Spark Towns will spend time in your community talking to your people and learning how your energy flows. We will leave you with a clear map of both your bright spots and your biggest opportunities.
Spark Towns is supporting the City of Detroit Lakes, MN as they launch both a new arts & culture commission and a new nonprofit focused on quality of life and entrepreneurship. Click on the adjacent images to access those Meter Readings!
Additional SERVICES
Wishing you already lived in a Spark Town? Missing the support you need to bring your big idea to fruition? Spark Towns works directly with innovators to provide idea development and change management services. We love being an extra brain for you as you navigate the change that will take you to the next level. Reach out with projects and proposals and we will work with you to design a program that gets you where you should be.