Trends and Issues in Community Development: Building Sustainable Communities

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Trends and Issues in Community Development
Building Sustainable Communities

• Presented to Community Development Institute -
  East
• September 25, 2006

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Issues in Community Development

• How do you involve residents in building
  community?
• How do you address conflicting desires and goals?
• How do you secure support for community
  development in an age of competing interests and
  limited resources?
• How do you bring about long-term success?

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Economic

• Disparity in income
• 1. declining middle class
• 2. wage gap
• Economic restructuring
• 1. industrial to entrepreneur
• 2. knowledge economy
• Infrastructure
• 1. telecommunications
• 2. entrepreneur ready
• Workforce Development
• 1. job readiness skills
• 2. problem solving ability
• Other?

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Social

• Health care
• 1. access
• 2. affordability
• 3. obesity
• Population change
• 1. baby boomers
• 2. increase in minorities
• 3. change in family unit
• Faith and State
• Social amenities in housing, recreation,
  transportation and arts

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Social

• Education
• 1. equity in K-12
• 2. college preparedness
• 3. family values
• Telecommunications
• 1. access/quality
• 2. affordability
• Addictions
• 1. Drug Alcohol Dependency
• Diversity
• Other?

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Environmental

• Land use patterns
• 1. urban sprawl
• 2. farmland preservation
• Preservation of natural areas
• Water quality and quantity
• Air quality
• Waste management
• Endangered species
• Conservation
• Climate Change
• Alternative Fuels
• Other?

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Trends in Community Development
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Four Trends

• Community Development is moving to
• intentionality through shifts toward
• Holistic Approach
• Community of Interest
• Asset Based
• Sustainability

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Trend One

• Holistic Approach to Community Development
• Components of community development are
  interlinked

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Support Infrastructure

• Health Care
• Ed and Info Systems
• Retail Sector
• Recreation and Parks

• Financial Sector
• Housing
• Law Enforcement
• Cultural Arts
• Labor Force
• Religious Institutions

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Community Capitals
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Causality vs. Intentionality

• Causality
• The belief that the improvement to one basic
  sector will result in an automatic benefit to all
  other related sectors

• Intentionality
• Purposeful design of equitable benefit for each
  sector in connection with all other sectors

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Trend Two

• Emerging Redefinition of Community

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Community of Place

• West Virginia
• Charleston
• Neighborhoods
• Blocks
• Streets

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Community of Interest
ECOLOGICAL
ECONOMIC
SOCIAL
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What would be priorities for aperson who thinks
of community as an economic place?

• ECONOMIC

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What would be priorities for a person who
thinks of community as a social place?

• SOCIAL

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What would be priorities for a person who
thinks of community as an environmental place?

• ECOLOGICAL

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Thinking Regionally

• Regions are the new basic unit of financial
  capital, natural capital, cultural capital, human
  capital, social capital, political capital, and
  built capital
• 1. Flexible boundaries
• 2. Evolving clusters and networks
• Drabenstott and Flora, 2005

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Trend Two

• Emerging redefinition of community
• Networking We connect with each other
• informally by community of interest
• 2. Expands centers of authority from simply
  political jurisdictions to include relationships
  across geographical lines

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Trend Three

• Asset Based Approach to Community Development

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Problem Solving

• Traditional community development focuses on
  identifying and solving problems

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Asset Based

• Asset based community development
• Discovers and leverages a communitys unique set
  of assets and ideas
• 1. Emphasis is on building from existing
  strengths
• 2. Focus on solutions for the future built
  upon best practices
• 3. Grassroots based as starting point
• Inclusionary

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Trend Four

• Movement Toward Building Sustainable Communities

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Sustainability

• Development which meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own needs.
• Brundtland Commission 1987

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Intentionality

• Purposeful design of equitable benefit for each
  sector in connection with all other sectors

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Characteristics of Sustainability

• Interconnected
• Economy, Society, Environment
• Long term focus
• Inclusionary
• Multidimensional

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Interconnected

• Equity
• Sustainability seeks fair distribution of
  benefit within and between the three sectors of
  community

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Inclusionary

• Residents bring their assets to bear
• Empowered residents decide
• Barriers to participation are reduced
• Go to where people gather

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Lasswells Wheel

• LASSWELLS
• VALUE/
• INSTITUTION CATEGORIES
• Harold D. Lasswell, POLITICS WHO GETS WHAT,
  WHEN, HOW, Meridian Books, THE WORLD PUBLISHING
  COMPANY, Cleveland and New York, 1958, p. 202
• Revised by Bill Grunkemeyer and Myra Moss, OSU
  Extension

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Long-Term Focus

• Consideration of future
• generations
• 1. Consider impact of decisions made today on
  grandchildren and great grandchildren
• 2. Develop a shared vision 50 years into the
  future

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An Indicator

• Tells us
• Where we are
• Where we are going
• How far we have to go

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Multi-Dimensional Indicators

• Number of jobs created
• Jobs that pay a living wage
• Jobs that do not decrease the quality of the
  areas aquifer
• Creation of jobs that pay a living wage and do
  not decrease the areas aquifer

• Economic
• Social
• Environmental
• Combined (Multi-Dimensional)

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City Council Action

• Very small town in heavy forested area
• Largest/primary employer is a paper mill
• Paper mill will close unless it gets a state loan
  and local tax incentives from the city council
• Conservation group wants to purchase the
  companys land. Local chapter is heading the
  effort by asking the council not to approve the
  loan and tax incentives
• As a city council what action will you take ?
• What community social, economic or environmental
  priority are you supporting by your decision?

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Summary

• Community Development is moving
• towards an approach that links
• Holistic Thinking
• Community of Interest, not just Place
• Asset Based Approaches
• Sustainability Concepts

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Contact Information

• Ohio State University Extension
• Myra Moss
• Extension Specialist, Sustainable Economic
  Community Development Extension Center at Lima
  Co-Leader, Extension Sustainable Development
  Center moss.63_at_osu.edu
• Bill Grunkemeyer
• Interim Director, Extension Center at Wooster
• Co-Leader, Extension Sustainable Development
  Center grunkemeyer.1_at_osu.edu