Understanding community economic growth and decline : strategies for sustainable development / Gerald L. Gordon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gordon, Gerald L., author.

Contributor:

Class of 1932 Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Regional economics.

United States.

Community development--United States.

Community development.

Sustainable development--United States.

Sustainable development.

Urban economics.

Regional economics--United States.

Physical Description:

xvii, 363 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2018.

Summary:

This book presents a fully comprehensive look at what all communities - large and small, urban and rural - can do to grow and sustain their local economic bases. It examines the causes of economic decline for localities as well as the economic "product" being marketed to employers, the promise of growth, and the means of sustaining economic growth over time. Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of communities and hundreds of leaders around the United States, Understanding community economic growth and decline outlines the various strategies that have or have not worked to enable or support a general local economic recovery. Exploring many facets of growth and re-growth following periods of economic decline, and offering practical, real-life tactics that have been successfully employed in local and regional economies across the US, this book is required reading for community planners and administrators, those currently working in public administration, and students studying regional planning or economic development.

Contents:

Part I. An examination of existing theories of community economic growth and decline

Competing theories of community economic growth and decline

A brief history of economic growth and decline

Growth versus development

In search of a new understanding

Part II. Why local economies must grow: causes of increasing demand

Economic stasis: "We don't want to grow; we want to stand still"

Global forces on local economies

National and state forces that impact local economies

Over-dependence on a single company or a single industry: case studies

Part III. The impacts of insufficient local growth

Impacts on the secondary and tertiary economies

Reaction times and waiting until it is too late

Community and citizen responses

Part IV. Enhancing the local "product"

Preparing and selling the product

Physical requisites for economic development

Matching communities to optimal business development: the "right kinds" of jobs

Institutional growth and economic development

Building amenities to drive growth

Rural communities and small town economic development

Part V. The process: initiating and sustaining local economic growth

Vision, planning, and selling the plan

The timing of the process

Team-building, budgeting, and professionalism

Creating strategic alliances for growth

Image, awareness, and selling communities to employers

Managing internal expectations

Managing inter-jurisdictional relationships

Business incubation and entrepreneurialism as an economic growth generator and state development programs

Part VI. Sinclair Lewis redux: it can happen here

Preparing communities for economic development

Conclusions and actions/recommendations.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1932 Fund.

ISBN:

9781138556249

1138556246

OCLC:

991641709