They are an ode to growing up weird, trying to figure out life in a disregarded coastal town and a celebration of the character of similar towns all over Britain.
The city plan discouraged mixed-income neighborhoods and street bazaars, both vital to the character of Indian towns.
Across Europe, plans to build mosques have met resistance in traditionally Christian communities, where people worry that the growth of Islam is changing the character of their towns.
"Persons incarcerated in state and federal correctional institutions live in a separate environment, do not participate in the life of Essex County and do not affect the social and economic character of the towns," the board concluded.
When AvalonBay appears on the scene, its critics believe, it threatens a deeply rooted sense of place that long ago established the character of many towns in the state and helped give New England the cachet it enjoys.
At stake, many officials said, is the character of their towns and whether they want to look rural or suburban and whether the more powerful lights the utility is proposing will make the streets so bright that the night sky will all but disappear.
Heritage preservation maximizes the use of existing materials and infrastructure, reduces waste, and preserves the historic character of older towns and cities.
This has changed the character of many towns and led to the decay of the traditional shopping district in favor of malls.
"We have a very highly educated, very vocal citizenship who understood the major implications for the quality of life in the town and understood that the suburban character of the town would have been changed forever," said Valerie Moore O'Keefe, Mamaroneck town supervisor, noting that officials and residents took the campaign all the way to the company's home offices in Sweden.
Mr. Newhard's action has ignited an intense debate in tiny Warwick over a question reaching far beyond its borders: who gets to control the character of a town's business district, the town or businesses?
