Vision "It is our vision to strengthen communities and to promote a prosperous and sustainable future by raising an awareness of the physical environment through research and excellence in design"

The Carl Small Town Center (CSTC) is a non-profit organization within the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. It was established in 1979, responding to its geographical position within a rural landscape and to the school's focus on the American small town.

The mission of the center is to:

• Promote good design and planning for small towns,
• Promote regional planning and cooperation between communities,
• Encourage the development of public space and life within towns and communities,
• Promote sustainable development,
• Influence public policy on the built environment,
• Provide towns and communities with an active resource center for contemporary small town design issues,
• Promote collaboration between communities, students and faculty.

The Carl Small Town Center’Äôs Challenges in Mississippi
Mississippi communities are at a crossroads today. Many towns in the past ten years have seen their population growth move from within the municipality to the county. While some mobility was always possible during the 20th century, the rise of municipalities or suburban areas outside the major historical municipality is a newer phenomenon in Mississippi. This shift mirrors patterns begun 30 and 40 years ago in larger municipalities in other parts of the country. The result of this pattern of out migration can be seen nationwide as well: sprawl, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, loss of community, economic and social segregation. We have the opportunity in Mississippi to take a different path. The preservation of many small town centers gives Mississippi an advantage to other parts of the country where the preponderance of strip centers have erased any sense of history and place. While other parts of the country are trying to recover a sense of pedestrian scale and small town life, many of Mississippi’Äôs small towns lay waiting to be revitalized with these qualities intact.

The potential of reviving Mississippi’Äôs small towns to improve quality of life is not seen by everyone. In many parts of the state the mistakes made elsewhere 30 years ago are being repeated. Sprawling development is often promoted as progress. Outlying suburban areas and municipalities are pitted against one another. The Carl Small Town Center must lead the way in the state of Mississippi by promoting regional planning and the development of sustainable communities. The Carl Small Town Center will not only search out projects that allow development of these ideas but the Center should also be the state’Äôs clearinghouse for these ideas.

To accomplish this goal, the Center will pursue work that has regional dimensions and will become more involved in the development of policies to promote economic development and the quality of the physical environment on a regional scale. This work has ’Äúbig picture’Äù implications in that the work done for one community is applicable to other communities in Mississippi and across the country.

Within small towns, the Carl Small Town Center will work to improve the quality of life and thus economic development by renewing and improving the physical environment of small towns. Historic preservation, sustainable new development and planning all have a role to play in the success of a small town. The Carl Small Town Center is committed to work with local state and national partners to look holistically at the problems of small towns to find answers.

In developing our policy, research and ultimately our design, the Carl Small Town Center is inspired by the people, landscape and buildings of Mississippi. The conditions in our state require the use of limited resources in a creative ways to both improve lives and to create beauty. We at the Carl Small Town Center are inspired by the resourcefulness and creativity of the people of Mississippi and hope to learn from their example.