Description
Book SynopsisAn easy-to-use guide for local leaders working to engage their community in growing a more equitable, healthy, and sustainable future
Building Community is the easy-to-use guide that distills the success of healthy thriving communities from around the world into twelve universally applicable principles that transcend cultures and locations.
Exploring how community building can be approached by local citizens and their local leaders, Building Community features:
- A chapter on each of the 12 Guiding Principles, based on research in 27 countries
- Over 30 knowledgeable contributing author-practitioners
- Critical practical leadership tools
- Notes from the field with practical dos and don''ts
- A wealth of 25 case studies of communities that have learned to thrive, including towns and villages, inner-city neighborhoods, Indigenous groups, nonprofits, women''s empowerment groups, and a school, business, and faith community.
Building Community is essential reading for community leaders, activists, planners, policy makers, and students looking to help their communities thrive.
Strong local communities are the foundation of a healthy, participatory, and resilient society. Rather than looking to national governments, corporations, or new technologies to solve environmental and social problems, we can learn and apply the successes of thriving communities to protect the environment, enhance local livelihood, and grow social vitality.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
A Journey of Discovery
1. Challenges of Our Communities: Growing Local Leadership
Local Communities: The Foundation of Society
Challenges That Local Communities Are Facing
Community Capital: What It Is and Why It Matters
The Guiding Principles: How They Were Identified and How They Can Be Helpful
How This Book Is Organized
2. Principle A— Involve Everyone
The Cornerstone of Society
Research Corner
Why Public Participation Is Essential
Case Study: Citizen-Powered Climate Action, Keene, New Hampshire, USA
Case Study: Development without Dependency, Gran Sous, La Gonave, Haiti
Notes from the Field
3. Principle B— Work Together
Collaborative Partnerships
Research Corner
Social Capital— The Social Glue That Holds the Community Together
Leveraging Resources and Supporting Implementation
Case Study: Community Gardens: An Immigrant Story of Food Sovereignty in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Case Study: Grow Appalachia and Rural Community Gardening, Kentucky, USA
Notes from the Field
4. Principle C— Protect Resources and Promote Fairness
Community-Based Natural Resource Management
Research Corner
Natural Capital and Livelihoods
Case Study: Building a New Future for All Residents, Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico
Case Study: Reclaiming Wood, Bricks, Lives, and a Community, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Case Study: Women's Empowerment Through Sustainability in India
Notes from the Field
5. Principle D— Be Transparent
Build Credibility Through Transparency
Effective Communication and Secrets
Research Corner
Case Study: Vital Communities of the Upper Valley Region, Vermont and New Hampshire, USA
Case Study: Regenerating and Transforming a Village's Land and Water Resources, Hiware Bazar, India
Notes from the Field
6. Principle E— Support Research
Asking the Right Questions and Separating Facts from Fiction
Research Corner
Citizen Science and Citizen Technical Advisors
Local Community-University Partnerships
Case Study: Resilience to Food Insecurity, Bikotiba, Togo
Case-in-Point: An Outdoor Student Environmental Learning Lab, Keene, New Hampshire, USA
Case Study: Mobilizing the Local Voice to Support Protected Area Governance, Magombera Forest, Tanzania
Notes from the Field
7. Principle F— Delegate and Empower
Devolution and Empowerment
Research Corner
Case Study: Community-Led Sustainable Development in Northern Ghana
Case Study: Climate Change and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed: Where Will All the Water Go? Minnesota, USA
Notes from the Field
8. Principle G— Earn Trust
Building Trust is Integral to All Community Work
Research Corner
Essentials for Building Trust in a Community
Case Study: Randolph Community Forest, New Hampshire, USA
Case Study: Restoring the Strong People: The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Elwha River
Notes from the Field
9. Principle H— Embrace Feedback
Monitoring and Feedback: Using Nature as a Guide
Research Corner
Seeking Feedback: How Do I Get People to Respond?
Feedback and Accountability of Local Leaders
Case Study: Healing Products and Healthy Business: The W.S. Badger Story, Gilsum, New Hampshire, USA.
Case Study: The Conservation and Sustainable Management of an Inshore Fishery in Alanya, Turkey
Notes from the Field
10. Principle I— Practice Leadership
Critical Leadership Actions
Research Corner
Case Study: Local Community Collaboration in the Apuseni Mountains, Huedin, Romania
Case Study: Inner City Urban Recovery, South Bend, Indiana, USA
Notes from the Field
11. Principle J— Decide Together
Moving from Them to Us
Research Corner
Common Characteristics and Challenges of Deciding Together
Case Study: Bring Them Together— Young Achievers School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Case Study: Wetlands Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Ecuadorian Andes, Ecuador
Notes from the Field
12. Principle K— Strengthen the Foundation
A Strong Social Foundation
Research Corner
Community Norms— Or, What is Normal?
Building a Stronger Social Foundation for Your Community
Case Study: Getting Unstuck: A Congregation Moving From Surviving to Thriving, Norwich, Vermont, USA
Case-in-Point: Connecting Underrepresented Families to Their Local Environment, North Carolina, USA
Case Study: Creating Local Community Foundations in the Baltic Countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Notes from the Field
13. Principle L— Resolve Conflicts
Preventing Conflict
Research Corner
Understanding and Addressing Conflict
Case Study: Community-Driven Regional Land Use and Transportation Planning in Southern New Hampshire, USA
Case Study: The Hunter, His Herbs, and Community Biodiversity in Fian, Ghana
Notes from the Field
14. A Toolbox of Leadership Strategies
Collaborative Leadership and Empowerment
A Collaborative Planning Approach
Notes from the Field: Planning, Organizing, and Facilitating a Community Meeting
The Way Forward
Notes
Index
About the Author and the Contributing Case Study Authors
About New Society Publishers
