Three approaches to Neighborhood Planning (or “models”) are: Rational Planning, Community Organizing, and Assets Based Community Development (ABCD). Each of these approaches is described with an emphasis on organizing and ABCD. Yet all are needed in different circumstances. This section contains the advice from the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative: “The heart is far more important than the head”
Issues critical to neighborhoods sometimes surface metropolitan-wide. Then political action must be organized at this level, which creates a more complex action situation. Neighborhood associations are Grass Roots Organizations. These groups must work in a coordinated way with Coalitions, Public Interest Groups, and Campaign Organizations to effect change. The stakes are high and the politics can be hard-edged. A case study describing how this can be done is in the reading list below, Report from the Trenches, Adopting the Planned Growth Strategy. The Planned Growth Strategy is covered in Topic 3 next.
Reading List
Planning Models
Subtopics inside:
Overview of planning models
Roles of planner
Neighborhood empowerment
Community organizing
Assets Based Community Development
Key Readings:
Louis Colombo, “Action Strategies for Community Development”, 2003
Reading #1 (pdf)
John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out, A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing A Community’s Assets, (Evanston: Northwestern University, 1993). “Introduction”; Chapter One, “Releasing Individual Capacities”; Chapter Two, “Releasing the Power of Local Associations and Organizations”; Chapter Five, “Asset-Based Community Development: Mobilizing an Entire Community”.
Reading #20
Medoff and Sklar, Streets of Hope, Chapter 2. “Creating the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative”, Chapter 3, “Don’t Dump On Us: Organizing the Neighborhood”, Chapter 4, “Planning the Urban Village”.
Reading #23
Report from the Trenches: Adopting the Planning Growth Strategies is divided into four parts to make downloading more convenient. The first reading is the report itself. The second and third links mostly contain newspaper articles, flyers, and mailers used during the campaign. The fourth link consists of the text of the legislation proposed and then adopted.
Louis Colombo,
– “Report from the Trenches: Adopting the Planned Growth Strategy”,
– “Report from the Trenches: Appendix 1, Part A”,
– “Report from the Trenches: Appendix 1, Part B”,
– “Report from the Trenches: Appendix 2”, 2005.NOTE: If you have difficulty in opening your readings, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.
This is a free download and simple installation. Please follow the instructions at the official Adobe website.