For Downtowns to Thrive, They Need Hardware and Software
For Downtowns to Thrive, They Need Hardware and Software
There is an art and science to bringing city spaces to life
Written By Adeleine Geitner
The National Town Builders' Association (NTBA), made up of developers and practitioners who are committed to building traditional neighborhoods and town centers, meet twice a year at their Roundtable conference. At one summit, speakers discussed the importance of building both hardware and software in the public square. Hardware, as you might guess, describes infrastructural projects. In the case of Hickory, North Carolina, the erection of shade structures along one edge of the downtown’s shopping promenade is a clear example of this hardware. But the hardware couldn’t stand alone. This is where software–the social planning side–came in.
Friday nights during the summer in downtown Hickory look a lot different today than they did twelve years ago. Back then, Union Square was not a destination. The construction of “The Sails”—a strip of shade structures along the southern side of the square—was criticized by many residents as a waste of money; an unused “boondoggle” of a public funds project. Bob Sinclair remembers this time well. “Everyone was fussing about the cost of the sails,” he recalls, “so I approached the city manager. If we use them a bunch, people will feel better about the investment.”
Sinclair, 64, grew up in Hickory and has lived there for much of his adult life. The Chief of Operations for an engineering company whose life is deeply intertwined with music, Sinclair has for many years hosted house concerts in his home with his wife and two daughters. From experience, he knew music would be a perfect way to utilize Hickory’s public square, so he started bringing bands to downtown for what was eventually dubbed the “Sails Original Music Series.” As he remembers it: “The city gave me four Fridays. That was twelve years ago.”
Creating repeated, accessible programming allows residents to unlock the potential of infrastructural improvements at no added cost.
Since then, the Sails Original Music Series has grown from a regular showing of 80 or so attendees to anywhere between 500 and 800. Every Friday evening in May, June, and September, a band plays under the sails. The event is 100 percent free, and residents roll or walk in from all corners of Hickory to soak up the buzz and bustle. Children run up and down the walkways. Older couples approach the stage and lead each other through a casual and wistful waltz. Neighbors mingle over a pizza from the Olde Hickory Station or tacos from beloved Taqueria Las Isabellas. When the Series first started, alcohol was prohibited outside of strict boundaries, but the rules have broadened as the years have gone on. “The brewery stepped up and said if you have music, we’ll come in and provide beer,” says Sinclair. Today, the square is a designated “Social District,” allowing attendees to enjoy local vendors like Olde Hickory Brewery and the Wine Shoppe outside while they listen.
Sinclair focuses on bringing local talent, largely from the state and Southeast. The bands, therefore, encompass a range of genres and draw a diverse crowd, and the atmosphere each night is one of hominess and regional charm. But local doesn’t mean small names. Sinclair has a knack for finding major talent before they reach the charts. At the first Sails event, popular Chapel Hill-based folk duo Mandolin Orange (now Watchhouse) performed. Other notable performances include Lake Street Dive, Dave Eggar, and Shovels and Rope. This summer, Grammy-nominated song-writer and the first African American woman to hit the Billboard Country charts in thirty years Rissi Palmer will play.
Just as software brings hardware to life, the music created a valued experience around the Sails. And that’s the big lesson: Creating repeated, accessible programming allows residents to unlock the potential of infrastructural improvements at no added cost.
The analogy also complements another that Sinclair considered when thinking through the Series. Recounting its creation, he borrows a phrase he picked up from planners in the nearby city of Asheville. “A living room was being built down there,” he says, “and the series was just part of the whole creation of the living room.” Music and vendor stands make a space comfortable and bring people together. For “public rooms” (like the square Hickory intended to create when it constructed the Sails) to draw people in, they must create space for the activities people enjoy. In many ways, the Series was not very different from the house parties where Sinclair began.
As cities consider the construction of new public amenities meant to bring people together, it’s important that city officials and residents discuss the software. A living room is functional with a few chairs and a coffee table. But for the room to be used and enjoyed, someone has to bring in the firewood, someone has to pick a board game, someone has to invite the neighbors, and someone has to turn on the music.
Adeleine Geitner is the Spring 2023 Duke Initiative for Urban Studies Fellow on Sprawl Repair and Nodal Development.
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