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- Info
Managing growth in America's communities
| Author: |
Porter, Douglas R. |
| Date: |
1997 |
| Periodical: |
Washington, DC: Island Press |
| Abstract: |
Communities of all shapes and sizes across the nation are practicing growth management, adopting and implementing policies and regulations to guide the location, quality, and timing of development. Programs and techniques that have been evolving over decades are being employed in company with federal, state, and regional policies and programs that also influence community development. Through these efforts, public decision makers and their constituents attempt to improve the quality of life in the places where we live, work, and relax. In the process, professional and citizen planners are broadening their understanding of the vital linkages among development, the environment, and social and economic conditions of everyday life. The primary purpose of this publication is to draw on these community experiences to describe proven strategies, policies, programs, and techniques for managing growth in American communities. This book traces the emergence of a new paradigm for guiding community development, one that builds bridges across traditional divisions among physical, economic, social, and governmental regimes, and brings cohesion to typically segmented professional, academic, and citizen perspectives on community growth and change. The term "growth management" encompasses public efforts to resolve issues and problems stemming from the changing character of communities, whether they are rapidly growing small towns and suburbs or mature and even declining communities. All must cope with change to retain valued qualities of community life. All must establish public policies to guide new development. As we grow increasingly concerned about the sustainability of development on this planet, we understand the importance of developing our communities in ways that respect the natural ecosystems they occupy. Managing community growth and change, therefore, is part and parcel of managing sustainability. In this spirit, the book identifies and explores a variety of growth management approaches and mechanisms to help clarify the public discussion of what to do and how to do it. |
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