Placemaking Placemaking helps define a community’s identity and contributes to a unique sense of place that differentiates it from other areas of town and the region. Placemaking combines branding, beautification, and functional infrastructure to create new draws to the community, encouraging formal and informal social interactions. Examples of placemaking efforts by the Town include banner signs, decorative streetlights, planters, and public art on Jones Avenue and S White Street in Downtown. The Town should continue these efforts to incorporate placemaking elements. Public gathering spaces such as plazas and parklets should be used in combination with decorative signage and lighting, seating areas, planters, and other beautification elements to create cohesive and inviting destinations.
Key Recommendations | Grow the Town’s art community and reputation as a regional arts destination with a Downtown focus. | Explore the potential of constructing a recreational destination facility with a regional draw. | Develop annual Tourism Economic Impact Reports to help quantify progress made in Wake Forest’s tourism sector and identify trends, issues, and opportunities that can help Town staff prioritize future investments. | Support the Wake Forest Area Chamber to create and market a local visitor’s center as a public resource hub for the Town’s attractions, events, and businesses for visitors. | Leverage Wake County’s Room Occupancy Tax to build, finance, and create new establishments or run events related to tourism, allowing the Town to capitalize on its success in drawing hotel occupants.
| Create a community-wide wayfinding plan to improve sense of place and signage that directs visitors and residents to Town destinations. | Continue to support Wake Forest Downtown Inc. (a Main Street America accredited program) in meeting the National Accreditation Standards of Performance as outlined by the National Main Street Center. | Continue to participate in the NC Main to Main Trail program, a network that connects the State’s Main Street America communities, and leverage this designation in the Town’s marketing strategy. | Investigate hiring consultants to provide a comprehensive evaluation of Town events and provide recommendations for improved programs. | Explore the creation of a social district, where customers can carry and consume food and drinks purchased from businesses outside in a designated zone.
CASE STUDY RIVER DISTRICT DANVILLE, VIRGINIA
Danville, Virginia is a city located approximately 40 miles northwest of Greensboro, North Carolina that has done a commendable job branding itself for tourism and development. In 2013, the City released design guidelines for a new River District that covered aspects like historic and new buildings, sidewalk dining, outdoor displays, signage, awnings, streetscaping, open space, and maintenance. In 2015, the City launched a new branding strategy for the River District with a logo and modern color scheme—this is featured on the numerous banners that line the District’s streets and on wayfinding signage that points visitors towards key destinations and routes. The River District is further completed with new sidewalks with brick pavers, decorative lamps, benches, landscaping features, public Wi-Fi, a plaza, bike parking, and a trailhead. The City also offers economic incentives in the form of grants, loans, and fast-track permitting processes, and tax incentives for historic renovations, job creation, niche retailers, upscale restaurants, and unique eateries.
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TOWN OF WAKE FOREST | COMMUNITY PLAN
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