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4 stories match “towns”

1. Politics · Public works

   The Towns That Voted to Fix Their Roads Before Building New Ones

   A “fix it first” rule sounds like common sense. In three provincial districts it rewired local politics, and not always in the way its backers expected.

   Tiago Mendes · Oct 13, 2026 · 14 min read

2. Culture · Small towns

   A Town of 900 Rebuilt Its Cinema Seat by Seat

   Each of the 112 seats has a brass plate with a name on it. Most of the names belong to people who still come on Fridays.

   Ruth Hollis · Mar 25, 2026 · 7 min read

3. Ideas · Essay

   A Brief History of Complaining About Noise

   …living to the hours between the morning and evening bells. Rules like it were common in the towns of medieval and early modern Europe, where the trades that hammered were often pushed into particular streets…

   Mika Sato · Sep 3, 2026 · 7 min read

4. Politics · Borders

   A Library That Sits on a Border

   …head librarian since 2009, which makes her the one person in the building who works for both towns at once. She is employed by the joint board that the agreement created, paid out of two municipal budgets that…

   Julien Moreau · Jun 17, 2026 · 7 min read