AN INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Beginning with the foundations of community development, An Introduction to Community Development offers a comprehensive and practical approach to planning for communities. Road-tested in the authors’ own teaching, and through the training they provide for practicing planners, it enables students to begin making connections between academic study and practical know-how from both private and public sector contexts. An Introduction to Community Development shows how planners can utilize local economic interests and integrate inance and marketing considerations into their strategy. Most importantly, the book is strongly focused on outcomes, encouraging students to ask: what is best practice when it comes to planning for communities, and how do we accurately measure the results of planning practice? This newly revised and updated edition includes: • increased coverage of sustainability issues; • discussion of localism and its relation to community development; • quality of life, community well-being, and public health considerations; and • content on local food systems. Each chapter provides a range of reading materials for the student, supplemented with text boxes, a chapter outline, keywords, and reference lists, and new skills-based exercises at the end of each chapter to help students turn their learning into action, making this the most user-friendly text for community development now available. Rhonda Phillips, Ph.D., AICP, is Dean of Purdue University’s Honors College, and a Professor in the Agricultural Economics Department. Formerly she served as Senior Sustainability Scientist, Global Institute of Sustainability for Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability, Professor in the School of Community Resources and Development, and afiliate faculty in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. Rhonda is author or editor of 16 books, including Sustainable Communities, Creating a Durable Local Economy (Earthscan). She is editor of the book series, Community Development Research and Practice (Community Development Society and Routledge), and serves as the President of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (www.isqols.org). Robert H. Pittman, Ph.D., founded the Janus Forum in 2009 and the Janus Institute in 2011 as a way to contribute to the economic development profession and help communities in new and innovative ways. The mission of the Forum and Institute is to apply and expand knowledge about economic development for the beneit of moving communities forward. For over 25 years, Robert has provided consulting services to corporations, states, communities, development agencies and similar organizations in the US and abroad. He is an acknowledged expert and widely published author in the areas of business location, community and economic development, real estate, market analysis, and related ields. INTRODUCTION_TO_COMMUNITY DEV.indb 1 21/07/2014 16:05