As a non-profit research organization, the purpose of the Charture Institute is to understand and clearly explain the fundamental forces – economic, demographic, social, and environmental – shaping and affecting PEAS communities, and to do so in a fact-based, non-ideological fashion.
Through its research, writing, presentations, and publications Charture’s vision is to be the foremost authority on PEAS communities. We do so by combining research, actions, and funding, tying all three together with tools and processes which not only let communities know more about themselves, but share that knowledge with the rest of the world.
The foundation of Charture’s work is accurate, objective, comprehensive, and comparative data about America’s PEAS communities. In Charture’s view, the better people understand PEAS, the better their chances of making thoughtful choices about their communities’ futures.
Boomtowns are nothing new. But what is different about the boom transforming PEAS communities is that it is based primarily on environment and lifestyle, rather than traditional economic development. As a result, PEAS communities face a unique set of pressures: the growth they enjoy is threatening the very qualities driving that growth. This challenge is made even greater by the pace and magnitude of the changes transforming PEAS, and greater still by an absence of solid information about them. It is this information gap Charture Institute was created to address; our other activities have flowed from our foundation of research.