This volume attempts first to take stock of the process of urbanization in Alberta and second to identify areas in which research may be required to guide urban development policies in the years ahead. Contents include the following papers: "An Economic Perspective," Eric J. Hanson; "A Goegraphic Perspective," Dennis B. Johnson…

Community building is an approach to urban poverty that rejects a programmatic approach in favor of efforts that catalyze personal relationships and social networks to improve community life. Community building analyzes urban poverty as a web of interwoven problems that can lock families out of opportunity permanently. Community building…

Argues that Neighborhood Development Organization (NDO) staffs and volunteers have a faulty understanding of the political economies of poor urban communities, and have adopted a free market orientation. Recommends an alternative "organizing-driven" model of community development. (FMW)

The first step in the effective reform of urban education is to address the failure of the urban communities of which they are a natural and necessary outgrowth. At the heart of the problem is the inner-city community of adults that has been decimated, leaving few who are capable of responding to the need or bringing meaning and guidance to young…

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…