Community visioning is based upon principles that maximize group participation in a creative problem-solving process. The process itself is structured to solicit and use the full range of interests and expertise within a given community to develop an implementation plan that specifically addresses the needs of the community and that fosters change…

Criticisms of rational synoptic planning are that it is elitist, simplistic, and supportive of existing power relationships. An alternative, people-centered community planning, views the population to be studied as ideological and historical beings, uses knowledge of and by the people as a base, requires interpersonal as well as analytical skills,…

Economic growth and development have many implications that need to be considered so that informed decisions regarding the community can be made. Although expansion of an existing establishment or a newly located plant or business are the primary means by which communities seek economic growth, growth can also occur when the new industry is…

The National Executive Education Program for Native American Leadership and the Center for American Indian Economic Development developed a method to help tribes create a long-term strategic community-development plan. Based on integrated analysis of six community subsystems, the method includes extensive interviews, secondary research, a workshop…

In order to determine the relevance and provide suggestions for needs assessment in western Kansas, this document examines 81 theses that are relevant to the topic. The implications of the study are as follows: (1) programs within schools and communities in western Kansas are having little effect on important populations; (2) restructuring within…

The evaluation of three Ford Foundation supported Community Development Corporation (CDC) programs with performance relative to output targets (milestones) that are both identifiable and quantifiable are presented in this paper. The milestone targets, developed in 1973 for the following year, are targets over which the CDC would legitimately be…

As the concept of community is changing, emphasis in community analysis is changing from a geographic focus to examination of interest clusters within a geographic location. Village communities are declining while town-country communities are becoming more numerous. The suburban community is a recent development, and although it develops its own…

For many years, developers have placed near total reliance on increased productivity in agriculture, greater exploitation of natural resources, and the addition of new manufacturing industries as strategies for community economic development in nonmetropolitan areas. The concentration on expanding goods producing industries is unnecessarily…

This is an extensive bibliography of publications dealing with the quest for community in the United States. Listed are publications from a number of academic disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, political science, architecture, and city and regional planning. The largest section is devoted to books, which are listed…

The demonstration research project initiated in 1966 sought to identify community needs through interviews with local citizens and county and municipal officials, and through distribution of 800 mailed questionnaires. Following a review of the project's accomplishments to date, the document presents a report of the 1975-77 Statewide priorities…

The main purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which community consensus existed regarding a variety of major changes in Pittsburgh and the extent to which widely differing perspectives of community leaders might contribute to conflict, or at least significant difficulties, on these issues. A pragmatic secondary objective was to…

Small town community improvement planning is often subjected to urban type analysis. When concepts applicable to the largest cities are grafted onto small towns, a misunderstanding of small town problems and prospects is often the result. Social ecology offers a framework for understanding what a small town is, how it functions, and what is…