Community Development

NIMBYism in Economic Development: Citizen Engagement or Just Kvetching? By Richard Cowden

Written on November 8, 2017 at 4:35 pm, by

Economic development professionals often must serve as arbiters between ambitious developers and skeptical homeowners. They must be prepared to identify objections based entirely on self-centered biases and those reflecting the best long-range interests of the community.

Community Development in the Ghetto: a Review of Bennett Harrison’s Survey of Ghetto-Based Community Development

Written on December 9, 2015 at 5:41 pm, by

In this review, I question whether community development in deeply depressed neighborhoods involves a dynamic that further complicates success of its initiatives. That dynamic is race. More often than not, community development initiatives occur in predominately African-American low-income neighborhoods. In this article I raise the issue as to whether the residents of these neighborhoods prefer assimilation over their current neighborhood–a place that houses the “community”. What if a sizeable percentage of residents do not want to assimilate, or define their personal assimilation in such ways that render assimilation difficult. Do recent community mobilizing movements potentially affect the success of current and future community development initiatives by encouraging place-based solutions for African-Americans. Assimilation in such a context becomes a cultural cul du sac that threatens to create a perpetual ghetto.

Community Development: It’s Time to Question the Basics

Written on November 6, 2015 at 7:54 pm, by

This issue offers an unasked for critique of several community development issues/principles that reflects an outsider’s sense that this very significant economic development approach is at a crossroads. My recommendation is that community developers might rethink of a couple of long-standing conceptual pillars which have come to be dysfunctional. As a benchmark I will dredge up a perspective, now almost seventy years old, that I believe will be helpful.