There’s been a great public response to the release of the 2010 Knight Soul of the Community study, launched on Nov. 15.Headlines gracing the major newspapers reported on their residents’ love for their cities and the potential for economic growth as a result of highly attached communities. The tone of the coverage has been mostly positive with a considerable amount of introspection about what makes a community special and attractive to its residents.

Interestingly, the most press and blogger coverage has come from two communities on nearly opposing ends of the resident attachment scale – Detroit and St. Paul. The interest from Detroit has been overwhelming and mixed. Many people see the opportunity and positivity in the fact that Detroit residents value the area’s aesthetics and colleges and universities highly. Other writers pointed to findings that residents don’t feel young talent is welcome in Detroit and how that may be hurting prospects for attracting new business. To keep the conversation going, there will be a community discussion in Detroit on the Soul of the Community study results Nov. 30, in partnership with the New Economy Initiative.

The response from media in St. Paul has been strong and positive. The common theme in the headlines was that St. Paul residents love their city. And, St. Paul has good reason to be positive – its level of resident attachment increased for three consecutive years, and the community is more attached than its comparison cities of San Jose, Palm Beach and Charlotte. Moreover, commentary was more positive on the link to economic growth, which also applies to the other 25 cities in the survey.

Here’s a sampling of some of the headlines we’ve seen so far. If you’d like to submit your article about Soul of the Community, post the article headline and a link in the comments section.

• The Charlotte Observer – New Poll: Emotional Attachment could predict economic growth
• The Detroit News – Survey: Metro Detroiters Take Pride in Local Education
• The Free Press – Survey: Detroit area not alluring to young professionals for many reasons
• Centre Daily Times – Happy Valley lives up to its name: County tops in 'Soul of the Community' survey
• The Miami Herald – It’s not the money -- we love Miami for other reasons
• San Jose Mercury News – In San Jose, Hispanics feel at home, study finds; recent college grads don’t
• Crain’s Detroit Business – Passion for cities can lead to economic prosperity, study says
• Akron Beacon Journal – Poll gauges ‘soul’ of area communities.

And from the blogs:

• Future Communities – The Importance of Social Offerings, Openness and Beauty
• The Scenic America Blog – Beauty Creates Strong Community Attachment
• Ponca City, We Love You – What Makes People Love Where They Live?
• Buffalo Rising – Soul of the Community
• News Day – We Love St. Paul
• Paragon Life Blog – Detroit lacks soul? An alternative look at the Gallup poll