The Creative Communities Blog is pleased to feature a guest blog by Queen's Law student Bob Parker.  Through funding from the North & Central Hastings and South Algonquin CFDC, Bob was able to work with local businesses to help improve their marketing expertise.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to be able to work with some great businesses and people in beautiful Comfort Country.

Creative Communities is please to offer an article by guest blogger Andrew Redden, Economic Development Manager for Hastings County.

 A few short years ago I was working with the Township of Stirling-Rawdon on their downtown facade and signage improvement program. 

In my urban geography courses at Queen's University, the impact of big box retail stores on the community always guarantees a heated debate. The naysayers claim that there is no evidence that big-box retail stores affect historic downtowns, but their argument seems akin to those of people who still claim that there isn't evidence of global warming.

Creative Communities is pleased to present the second in a two-part series on the Creative Economy for small cities.

Part One of this series, explored how livability and sustainability foster the Creative Economy in small cities as much as the traditional “3 T’s”: tolerance, technology, and talent.  It is equally important to note that many of the growth strategies associated with the creative model have been perceived as less successful in smaller Canadian cities than in their metropolitan counterparts.