Introduction
The Restoration.ICU scoring system is designed to identify California communities with genuine potential for renewal driven by stewardship, local ownership, and bottom-up investment. Unlike government frameworks that focus on demographic indicators, grant eligibility, or abstract planning goals, this rubric evaluates the real qualities that allow a town to regain its footing: heritage, affordability, entrepreneurial opportunity, distinctive districts, and the freedom to grow without institutional dominance.
This system highlights communities where individuals, families, small businesses, immigrants, tradespeople, and local investors can put down roots and build something meaningful. It favors towns with character, history, and readiness, not those shaped by centralized programs or large outside institutions. The scoring criteria reflect the conviction that restoration is something people do for themselves when given space, security, and the opportunity to use what their town already offers.
What follows is the framework that guides the identification of communities worth restoring: places where culture, affordability, enterprise, natural beauty, adaptive reuse, and human initiative intersect to form authentic districts of promise.
This system highlights communities where individuals, families, small businesses, immigrants, tradespeople, and local investors can put down roots and build something meaningful. It favors towns with character, history, and readiness, not those shaped by centralized programs or large outside institutions. The scoring criteria reflect the conviction that restoration is something people do for themselves when given space, security, and the opportunity to use what their town already offers.
What follows is the framework that guides the identification of communities worth restoring: places where culture, affordability, enterprise, natural beauty, adaptive reuse, and human initiative intersect to form authentic districts of promise.
Cultural & Industrial Heritage (CIH) – 0–10 Points
Evaluates whether a community has meaningful history, architectural bones, or a cultural story worth building upon.
High scoring communities have:
High scoring communities have:
- Distinctive heritage (rail towns, farm towns, fishing villages, Gold Rush settlements, immigrant districts)
- Surviving main streets, warehouses, mills, depots, or industrial buildings viable for reuse
- A clear sense of identity rooted in land, work, and people
Low scoring communities have generic layouts or no recognizable historic or cultural anchors.
Affordability & Accessibility (AFF) – 0–10 Points
Assesses whether ordinary people can realistically put down roots, start businesses, and invest in the community.
High scoring communities have:
High scoring communities have:
- Attainable home prices
- Affordable commercial space
- Locally owned buildings, not dominated by institutional landlords
Low scoring communities are expensive enclaves, tourist towns, or fully priced-out markets.
Entrepreneurial Soil (ENT) – 0–10 Points
Measures whether the physical form and local culture support small, locally owned business.
High scoring communities have:
High scoring communities have:
- Small storefronts and human-scale buildings
- Mixed-use blocks that encourage cafés, shops, and studios
- Immigrant and family-run businesses
Low scoring communities are dominated by big-box retail or large-footprint commercial zoning.
Districts of Promise Score (DPS) – 0–10 Points
- Areas, large or small, where cultural identity, small businesses, creativity, or adaptive reuse can take root. These districts may be compact main streets or large repurposed industrial buildings; what matters is their ability to attract investment, activity, and community life.
High scoring communities have at least one of the following:
- Heritage districts (historic main street, old town, waterfront, pier district)
- Food & beverage clusters (restaurants, breweries, wineries, cafés)
- Arts, culture, and music districts (galleries, studios, theaters, live music)
- Adaptive reuse potential (mills, canneries, depots, warehouses)
- Natural setting districts (lakefronts, riverfronts, mountain-view corridors)
Low scoring communities have no recognizable districts or clusters of life.
Institutional Distortion / Post‑Industrial Liberation (INST) – 0–10 Points
Assesses whether a community is free to define its own identity—or constrained by dominant institutions.
High scoring communities:
High scoring communities:
- Are post-industrial with new flexibility after industry decline
- Are not overshadowed by prisons, bases, mega-logistics, or single corporate landowners
Low scoring communities are dominated by prisons, military, large government complexes, or single employers that shape the town's identity.
Total Score & Tiers
Total Score = CIH + AFF + ENT + DPS + INST (maximum 50 points)
Tier criteria:
Tier criteria:
- 35–50 = Strong Tier
- 32–34 = Mid Tier
- 0–31 = Weak/Watch Tier
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