Dr. Mindy Fullilove Glossary

Isaac Kremer/ August 30, 2026/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

Over three books, Dr. mindy Fullilove provides a doctor’s diagnosis of what ails American cities. She uses constructs drawn from medical literature such as a burn index which becomes the Community Burn Index. Sociological concepts of strong ties and weak ties are explored. And a deep critique of the US experience of urban renewal is provided, including the destruction of vital and established neighborhoods that nurtured individuals and the community. Then she prescribes the cure.

Root Shock (2004)
Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted Out Cities (2013)
Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All (2020) (2020)

According to Dr. Mindy Fullilove in her book Urban Alchemy (2013), the nine elements of urban restoration are: keep the whole city in mind, find what you’re for, make a mark, unpuzzle the fractured space, unslum all neighborhoods, create meaningful places, strengthen the region, show solidarity with all life, and celebrate your accomplishments. (Fullilove, 2013, 34-39)

In her third book, Main Street (2020), the box-circle-line-tangle over time gives a model to think about Main Street and the connectivity to the surrounding region.

box: The box of Main Street is formed by buildings, street, and sky. The buildings on either side create the “walls,” while the sidewalks and street create the “bottom” and the blue sky creates the “top.” The feeling of the box – the sense of enclosure – is fundamental to what a Main Street is. That is what puts the “there” there. Some Main Streets, like the Canyon of Heroes along lower Broadway in Manhattan, are famous for the enclosure that has been created. (Fullilove, 2020, 53) Aspects of the box include: coherent, human-scale, permeable street wall; enclosure; seating, pedestrian safety features, pedestrian signage; road width; building scale; and business mix. (Fullilove, 2020, 70)
circle: Integrity and interconnectedness of the area around the Main Street. The ways in which Main Streets are embedded in the city are important to their functioning. A Main Street with very strong interpenetration between it and the surrounding neighborhood is much more likely to flourish. (Fullilove, 2020, 55) Features of the circle include: walkable neighborhood scale; frequent local connections with clear paths; viable (i.e. populated, maintained, intact) neighborhoods; and fewer barriers separating Main Street from adjacent communities. (Fullilove, 2020, 85)
line: Main Streets are streets entering and leaving the commercial center. There is a sharp contrast between the areas that are and those that aren’t the commercial center. Inclusive of all the areas a street passes through on the way to the center and may include parks, scenic areas, other commercial districts, and homes. Lots of roads run for long distances and are dotted with commercial areas. (Fullilove, 2020, 55-56) Criteria for the line include: physical and social connections to the region; transit and road connections to the region; way-finding support for outsiders and strangers; and perceived welcome. (Fullilove, 2020, 107) The key issue of the line is that, when thinking of Main Streets, we focus on the civic and commercial center – that is, the box, usually defined as being contained within a city. But the street that passes through that commercial center must flow if the center is to prosper. Therefore, the vitality of the line is fundamental to the vitality of the box. (Fullilove, 2020, 108-109)
tangle: The lines of the roads – the underlying thicket of streets – as an unnamed entity. (Fullilove, 2020, 57)
over time: Things change with time. Stores turn over, cities undergo urban renewal, gentrification sets in, and storms blow through. Time is the fifth dimension of the box-circle-line-tangle over time construct created by Dr. Mindy Fullilove. (Fullilove, 2020, 58)

Dr. Mindy Fullilove Glossary

Glossary of Terms

Leave a Comment Cancel reply