Growth on the Strand, Myrtle Beach, SC 2001
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With Myrtle Beach becoming the fastest-growing relocation destination in the nation, the paper gave residents a chance to try their hand at managing growth in the region with an interactive Web-based game, similar to the model pioneered by The Herald in Everett.
“Chart the Strand’s Future,” a feature introduced on the paper’s Web site in April 2002, allowed users to drop icons onto a map in order to design a growth plan, as in the popular game “Sim City.” The paper did not, however, collect and analyze the designs, as the The Herald in Everett, WA, did. Rather, the game was an end in itself, designed to give users a taste of the trade-offs and challenges city planners face when managing growth. The game included a meter by which users could see how each choice for development affected both the community’s financial health and quality of life. The paper received informal, positive feedback but could not keep track of how many people participated.
The game was one feature of the project “Growth on the Strand,” launched March 11, 2001, with a package of stories on key concerns in the growth debate. Additional stories ran through the rest of the year on issues including solid waste disposal, recycling, traffic congestion, housing trends and the environmental impact of sprawl. In April 2002, the paper co-sponsored a growth summit at Coastal Carolina that attracted 150 people, who played the Growth Game, which was launched at the conference. Participants broke into groups to discuss transportation, the environment, leadership, jobs, housing and education. Some volunteered to work on a particular area and organized follow-up meetings. Coastal Carolina took the names of volunteers for an ad hoc growth committee to address the issues raised at the summit.
Contact:
Patricia H. (Trish) O’Connor
Editor
The Sun News
914 Frontage Road East
Myrtle Beach, SC 29578
Phone: (843) 626-0316
Email: toconnor@thesunnews.com