In 2007, a massive tornado, the initial EF5 ever documented, hit Greensburg, Kansas. Twelve individuals lost their lives. Ninety-five percent of structures, nearly 1,200 in total, were either obliterated or severely harmed.

Presently, a revitalized Greensburg is arguably the most eco-friendly community in the United States. The new school, hospital, city hall, arts center, and even the John Deere dealership have all achieved LEED certification — the nation’s highest concentration per capita. Streetscapes enhance walkability, support indigenous plantings, and gather stormwater for irrigation. The city-operated electrical grid is energized by wind turbines.

“Wind destroyed Greensburg,” notes Patty Heyda, professor of urban design and architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. “Now the wind is being utilized.”

In Rebuilding the American Town (Routledge, 2025), Heyda and co-author David Gamble, an urban design lecturer at MIT, profile nine small municipalities, each with populations under 50,000, that are tackling local and global issues with innovative, creative, and flexible design.

“Urban studies often concentrate on large cities,” says Heyda. “Small towns are frequently overlooked. Yet a significant portion of the American landscape consists of small towns.”

While towns are often described in geographic or economic terms — hill town, river town, mining town, farming town — Heyda and Gamble suggest alternative classifications based on spatial relationships in their book. For instance, constellations are groups of towns that function interdependently. Satellites exist on the fringes of larger metropolitan areas; metroposts are embedded within them. Outposts emerge independently, with economies usually tied to the land.

“We’re fascinated by urbanization patterns and how they vary contextually,” Heyda explains. A satellite town and a rural outpost, even if of comparable sizes, “will exhibit very different dynamics regarding employment, population, regional leadership, and access to capital.”

In Traverse City, Michigan, an outpost of 15,000 located on Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan, Heyda and Gamble document the transformation of a former state hospital into affordable housing — simultaneously maintaining a significant historic complex, increasing population density, and preserving surrounding areas. Caldwell, Idaho — a vibrant satellite of Boise — generated new communal spaces by revitalizing Indian Creek, a key waterway long concealed beneath downtown streets.

In San Ysidro, California — a metropost nestled between San Diego and Tijuana — local nonprofits are striving to alleviate the spatial, cultural, and health repercussions of a colossal, car-centric border crossing. “It’s an instance of urban design and community participation that’s hyper-local in setting,” Heyda remarks, “yet at the core of global movements.”

Back in Greensburg, the recovery from the tornado was facilitated by a broad coalition that included farmers, environmental advocates, government representatives, local business owners, passionate high school students, Kansas State architecture students, a Discovery Channel film crew, a motorcycle club, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

For Heyda, the triumph of that coalition, along with its collective sense of mission, challenges perceptions about political divisions between red and blue states. “Urban design strategies aren’t dictated by political party,” she asserts. “Greensburg is a small, religious farming community that rebuilt in the most progressive manner possible. The residents there have a deep connection to the land. They comprehend responsibility. They are mindful of planning for the future.”

“Towns take necessary actions to care for their communities,” Heyda observes. “In a small town, accountability operates on an entirely different level. If you enact a new program or policy, you know exactly who it will affect by name.”

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