Adjusting New Ruralism: The ‘soul’ of Waddington, N.Y. and placemaking at the Water's edge

Abstract

Despite significant contributions to the multidisciplinary literature in rural development, U.S. planning scholarship has tended to privilege an urban focus given challenges accompanying globalization, the migration of people from rural to urban areas, as well as cultural-practice perceptions of ‘rural’ within the profession. As a result, frameworks have prevailed that are designed to improve livability in cities, including two dominant conceptualizations -- New Urbanism (NU), and New Ruralism (NR), the latter consisting of approaches that preserve or enhance rural-urban edges for the benefits of urban areas. Often overlooked are deep rural areas and their unique development challenges enabled by geographic isolation and compounded by population decline. In this relative vacuum of attention, the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA) drew on its experience to recommend a counterpoint to NR, calling for an adjusted New Ruralism ([a]NR) framework to better assess and guide planning and development in more remote rural areas to create places in which people can thrive. The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to introduce the framework as part of the scholarly literature; second, to suggest the placemaking activities evident in Waddington, N.Y, a small village near the Canadian border along the St. Lawrence River, not only contribute to the community's “soul,” but also makes the community an ideal case study among those NNECAPA is collecting to further define its [a]NR conceptual umbrella. Finally, in undertaking our documentation in this task, we answer the regional chapter's call to help improve its scaffolding. Through the nexus of practical placemaking and the broader rural studies knowledge front, we suggest three major adjustments, represented visually as a model of intersecting restructured mindsets and corresponding, more specified strategies for further deliberation.