06/08/2026
City of Clarksburg, WV
“Why would you move here?”
“Why would you want to start a business here?”
“Why would you renovate a building here?”
I hear these questions in a lot of places I visit. People asking them of their own community, about their own home.
That’s not pessimism or realism either, but low civic self-esteem and it’s plaguing too many of our places.
The problem with low civic self-esteem is that it can’t be fixed with the typical approach. There are no technical solutions that lift self-esteem. All the grant money in the world can’t make a community like itself. Even the best plans can’t force a town to believe in itself.
Cities don’t behave like machines. They behave like people. Because cities are made of people, not parts.
