MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA, 1981-1982
Project Description
A small town in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Manteo found itself failing when a new bridge diverted traffic and commerce to other areas. In desperate need of revitalization and economic development, the town also feared losing its character to an onslaught of tourism. Randy Hester, a landscape architect, was brought in to help the community identify its most important places and elements of character, and to develop ways to protect those from development. The process resulted in a map of the places and physical elements most sacred to residents—dubbed the “sacred structure” of Manteo by one resident. Hester defines that as the “places that are so essential to residents’ lives through use or by symbolism that the community collectively identifies with them” (Hester 1996). Those places were considered off-limits to development, even though they might not have been identified as important in traditional planning processes. (Fig. 1.8.).
Finance and Support
The Town of Manteo commissioned and supported the project.
An early map was marked by citizens to
indicate their favorite places. Citizen
opinions and behaviors were later correlated to create a comprehensive map.
ESRI.com
Stakeholders
All community members were considered stakeholders. Hester interviewed a random subset at the beginning of the project; toward the end, all residents had the opportunity to participate by responding to a newspaper survey. The Mayor and Board of Selectmen provided additional input and feedback during the process.
Methods
Hester was originally hired to redevelop the community’s waterfront, one of the most important and rapidly disintegrating parts of the Town. Quickly realizing that Manteo needed more than just an economic strategy for one portion of the Town, Hester renegotiated the plan and began to consider a comprehensive community design process. The re-designed process began by surveying community residents about the values and aspects of community character most important to them, which included attributes like friendliness and walkability, along with specific places like the waterfront. Hester felt that these answers did not truly represent the essence of the town, so he began a process of behavior mapping, which involved sitting in various locations around town and taking notes on people’s movements and behaviors. This process identified a different network of places and patterns in the community—important rituals and spaces that did not appear in the interviews or surveys.
While
observing community behaviors, Hester noted people’s movements, where they
spent time, and which activities seemed most important. Image: ESRI
Hester evaluated a number of the places identified through behavior mapping with the town leaders, and then published a survey in the local newspaper. The survey asked residents to rank the importance of places he identified, and also to consider which places should be inviolable, which could be changed, and which could be sacrificed to development for tourism. The survey responses confirmed many aspects of the behavior mapping process, and allowed Hester to create a map of important places in the community, shaded to represent their various levels of sanctity. The map included many “hole-in-the-wall” sites and elements that would never have been identified by architects or planners—an empty gravel parking lot behind the post office where the Town installed its Christmas tree every year; marshes surrounding the town; handmade signs; and a decrepit downtown soda fountain—but that townspeople considered sacred to their daily lives and the character of the town.
Hester describes the significance of his methods in identifying non-traditional aspects of character, “Historic preservation legislation had protected only two places in the Sacred Structure. Zoning law had protected only a few, and less than half of the sacred places were identified as significant in a Kevin Lynch-based image survey!!!” (Hester 1996). When completed, the map was presented to the planning board for incorporation into town decisions.
In retrospect, Hester identifies four things that were critical to the identification of Manteo’s sacred sites:
- The town was threatened, along with many of the important places in it
- The places were legitimized by the process, despite their shabby appearances and non-traditional importance
- Residents received “a collective picture of the valued places” in the form of the map, list of places, and even the name, Sacred Structure
- Residents consecrated the places by separating important sites from unimportant ones; the process required sacrifice—at times of economic or redevelopment value, and at times of nostalgic value
Outcomes
The project resulted first and foremost in the construction of a map and list of sacred sites for the community, validated by social science research techniques and by the opinions of residents themselves. The project also created a Guide for Development for Manteo, which was used significantly in negotiations with developers and decisions by the Planning Board. Citizens used the list of sacred sites when evaluating seven different proposed plans for downtown redevelopment, and also for ongoing reviews of zoning and development proposals.
Physically speaking, the process has resulted in numerous measurable changes to the community. Unemployment rates (once as high as 20% seasonally) have been cut in half and commercial vacancies (once at 25% downtown) are now nearly non-existent. Manteo has a re-developed boat launch, a commercial boat-building industry that showcases a traditional local trade, and the downtown is now a vibrant center that draws shoppers, walkers, and community spirit. In addition, a survey of the list of sacred sites identified in the early ‘eighties indicates that most are undeveloped, protected, or perhaps improved. Hester estimates that preservation of the Sacred Structure cost the town more than $500,000 in 1996 in foregone retail sales , but the community felt, and found, that short-term economic losses could be offset by long-term gains.
Evaluation
There has been unofficial evaluation of the planning process in Manteo. Hester returned to the region to meet with important community leaders, survey residents, and evaluate the status of important sites and community benchmarks. A number of the outcomes mentioned above indicate positive growth and important protection of community character for Manteo, while conversations and informal interactions confirm the trend for Hester.
Innovative Ideas
The most innovative aspect of the project was its ability to find the community’s most sacred spaces – those that weren’t identified by traditional processes used in planning (image surveys, interviews, community surveys) or even protected by the tools (historical preservation ordinances, zoning) that are designed specifically for that task. The combination of impartial observation by observers (behavior mapping) and participatory planning (surveys) appears to identify elements that neither process alone can pick out.
SACRED SITES AT A GLANCE
COMMUNITY TYPE
Rural
AREA
1.8 square miles
POPULATION
1,052 (2000 census)
LOCATION
Coastal North Carolina
PROCESS
Sacred Site Mapping
Comprehensive Planning
PROJECT LEADERS
Town of Manteo
Randall Hester, Jr.
PROJECT THEMES
Community Character
Tourism and Development
Poverty