Managing Community Growth

Despite roughly thirty years of experience with growth management programs, which are basically land-use planning tools, most U.S. communities do not plan for how best to limit or manage rapid growth; in fact, most communities do not plan at all. In the absence of planning, land-use boards, regulators, and other governing bodies simply react to initiatives from the private sector. The result is predictably haphazard and does not allow communities to achieve such goals as protecting quality of life, attracting certain types of businesses while discouraging others, conserving wildlife or preserving open spaces, and so forth. In contrast, planning by managing growth can help a town or city achieve any number of goals. But it is a complex task. This book brings the benefit of state and local experiences with growth management to researchers, students, and particularly practitioners who seek guidance in these matters. Kelly provides a much-needed context from which any community can answer the following questions: Does growth management work? Is it appropriate for the community and the particular problems that it is trying to address? Is one type of growth management program more appropriate than another for our community? Will the program in question have undesirable (or desirable) side effects?What are the likely effects of adopting no growth management program at all? This work is invaluable for the citizen volunteers who sit on land-use boards, including planning and zoning commissions, conservation commissions, and inland wetlands agencies. In addition, it can aid mayors, city managers, and city councils in interviewing and selecting candidates for town planner.

This work represents the first broad evaluation of the implications and impacts of community efforts to manage or limit rapid growth. It describes the major types of growth management programs, placing them for the first time in four categories. It also includes an evaluation of such related techniques as targeted capital investments, annexation policy, and public land acquisition. Also examined are the various costs and benefits---some obvious and some not---of growth management programs: development requirements, rate-of-growth controls, urban growth boundaries, mixed housing requirements, and regional planning. This important book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and professionals in community and regional planning; local public officials, as well as builders, developers, and others in the development community.

In this thoroughly revised edition of Managing Growth in America's Communities, readers will learn the principles that guide intelligent planning for communities of any size, grasp the major issues in successfully managing growth, and discover what has actually worked in practice (and where and why). This clearly written book details how American communities have grappled with the challenges of planning for growth and the ways in which they are adapting new ideas about urban design, green building, and conservation. Itdescribes the policies and programs they have implemented, and includes examples from towns and cities throughout the U.S. “Growth management” is essential today, as communities seek to control the location, impact, character and timing of development in order to balance environmental and economic needs and concerns. Managing Growth in America's Communities addresses all of the key considerations: Establishing public roles in community development; Determining locations and character of future development; Protecting environmental and natural resources; Managing infrastructure development; Preserving community character and quality; Achieving economic and social goals; Respecting property rights concerns. The author, who is one of the nation’s leading authorities on managing community growth, provides examples from dozens of communities across the country, as well as state and regional approaches. Brief profiles present overviews of specific problems addressed, techniques utilized, results achieved, and contact information for further research. Informative sidebars offer additional perspectives from experts in growth management, including Robert Lang, Arthur C. Nelson, Erik Meyers, and others. This new edition has been completely updated by the author. In particular, he considers issues of population growth, eminent domain, and the importance of design, especially “green” design. He also reports on the latest ideas in sustainable development, “smart growth,” neighborhood design, transit-oriented development, and green infrastructure planning. Like its predecessor, the second edition of Managing Growth in America's Communities is essential reading for anyone who is interested in how communities can grow intelligently.

Learn to manage, grow, and communicate with your online community Online community management is a growing profession and companies are investing in online communities in order to gain consumer insights into products and to test new products. An effective and dedicated community manager is essential to engage and manage a successful online consumer community. This straightforward-but-fun guide shows you how to effectively manage, grow, and communicate with your online community. Clear coverage shares tips for dealing with customers and fans through Twitter, Facebook, forums, and blogs. A practical approach shows you how to ensure that visitors to your site are satisfied, kept happy, and return. You'll explore the various types of online communities and benefit from learning an assortment of tips and tools that will help you stand out above the competition, attract more visitors and gain the attention of potential advertisers and investors. Aims at providing community managers the information they need to get a handle on their online communities and make them successful Addresses the role of the community manager, the core community management tasks, and how to create an online community Highlights ways to build relationships within your community, evaluate return on investment, and handle and respond to criticism Offers advice for establishing policies and transparency and encouraging community interaction Online Community Management For Dummies is the ideal introductory guide for making sure that visitors to your site have a good experience and return for more.

Online communities offer a wide range of opportunities today, whether you're supporting a cause, marketing a product or service, or developing open source software. The Art of Community will help you develop the broad range of talents you need to recruit members to your community, motivate and manage them, and help them become active participants. Author Jono Bacon offers a collection of experiences and observations from his decade-long involvement in building and managing communities, including his current position as manager for Ubuntu, arguably the largest community in open source software. You'll discover how a vibrant community can provide you with a reliable support network, a valuable source of new ideas, and a powerful marketing force. The Art of Community will help you: Develop a strategy, with specific objectives and goals, for building your community Build simple, non-bureaucratic processes to help your community perform tasks, work together, and share successes Provide tools and infrastructure that let contributors work quickly Create buzz around your community to get more people involved Track the community's work so it can be optimized and simplified Explore a capable, representative governance strategy for your community Identify and manage conflict, including dealing with divisive personalities

Today's marketplace is fueled by knowledge. Yet organizing systematically to leverage knowledge remains a challenge. Leading companies have discovered that technology is not enough, and that cultivating communities of practice is the keystone of an effective knowledge strategy. Communities of practice come together around common interests and expertise- whether they consist of first-line managers or customer service representatives, neurosurgeons or software programmers, city managers or home-improvement amateurs. They create, share, and apply knowledge within and across the boundaries of teams, business units, and even entire companies-providing a concrete path toward creating a true knowledge organization. In Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder argue that while communities form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential-without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable. Through in-depth cases from firms such as DaimlerChrysler, McKinsey & Company, Shell, and the World Bank, the authors demonstrate how communities of practice can be leveraged to drive overall company strategy, generate new business opportunities, tie personal development to corporate goals, transfer best practices, and recruit and retain top talent. They define the unique features of these communities and outline principles for nurturing their essential elements. They provide guidelines to support communities of practice through their major stages of development, address the potential downsides of communities, and discuss the specific challenges of distributed communities. And they show how to recognize the value created by communities of practice and how to build a corporate knowledge strategy around them. Essential reading for any leader in today's knowledge economy, this is the definitive guide to developing communities of practice for the benefit-and long-term success-of organizations and the individuals who work in them. Etienne Wenger is a renowned expert and consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice in San Juan, California. Richard McDermott is a leading expert of organization and community development in Boulder, Colorado. William M. Snyder is a founding partner of Social Capital Group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.