Community Sustainable Development
Eight Steps to Take Towards Promoting Economic Renewal
Oct 4, 2008
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development (DANRD) offers professional development coursework aimed at educating the future leaders of rural Alaska. One effort the University pursues is to encourage sustainable development within rural communities. This issue is especially significant with the growing threats of high energy costs, urban flight, and failing infrastructure faced by small towns across the state.
The School of Alaska Native and Rural Development has forwarded some insights into what constitutes sustainable development through development of their Creating Healthy Communities Handbook written by Professor Larry Dickerson.
What is Sustainable Development?
Sustainable development within a community redefines prosperity. It weighs the value of community character, quality of life, and the environment along side economic development. Sustained development seeks what could be considered true development, recognizing that bigger isn't always better. It understands the importance of long-term stewardship of community resources. Healthy communities pursue self-reliance and a more democratic approach to decision-making, placing community interests ahead of personal ones. Approaches that stress diversity, resilience, and individual approaches are favored in true sustainable development.
The Four Principals of Economic Renewal
Sustainable development depends on making strides in economic renewal efforts. The principles of economic renewal are simple, but pose major effects on the local economy:
- Plug the leaks. Encourage development of businesses that keep money within the community
- Support existing local businesses
- Encourage the development of new locally based business enterprises
- Recruit only outside businesses that are compatible with the community vision
Envisioning Community Economic Renewal Processes
A healthy community needs to take time to envision its future and delineate the structure economic renewal will follow there. There are eight steps that a community can take to develop a plan of sustainable economic renewal:
- Mobilize stakeholders within the community
- Ask the stakeholders to envision the community's future
- Identify community strengths, weaknesses and resources
- Discuss and discover new community opportunities
- Have stakeholders generate project ideas
- Evaluate the feasibility of these project ideas
- Select project ideas appropriate for the community
- Develop project action plans to make the project ideas generated realities
Successful public development of sustainable economic renewal depends on an engaging public facilitation process. One way to accomplish this is the follow procedures presented in the Creating Healthy Communities Handbook developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Community advocates would be well served by taking the distance delivered courses in rural development offered by the UAF Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development. Class enrollment is not limited to only Alaska residents and DANRD offers both bachelors and masters degree programs in rural development that can be completed from almost any location.
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