DILEMMA RECONCILING TOG ETHER THE CAO- _ COUNCIL IN | | | ii, Youth Programs NAAN Giving Kids Hope FG i :‘Throughout North American towns and cities, elections are punctuated with cals to be “open for business” and “business friendly” by those seeking ‘municipal office. During budget delib- erations, others often raise discussions about reducing tax burden, and support- ing the culture and needs of small bus'- nesses, There is also the constant din of the call for “reducing red tape,” creating ‘shovel roady" investment opportunities, “streamlining” processes, and improving citizen engagement. Communities are ‘expressing their desire for ways to sup- Port community and economic develop- ment; and yet, the successes oftheir cur= ‘ent methods are far too often limited, disjointed, and unsustainable, Unfortu- nately, towns and cities regularly misdi- agnose community and economic devel- ‘opment distress, and their calls for im= provement rarely result in the dialogue and strategies needed to address the challenges at their core. In fact, the ac- tions taken often create: uncertainty for investors, when streamlining is confused ‘burden and costs for services from sys- temic miscaleulations about growth; and incentives for forms of development that favour limited, short-term results at the cost of long-term benefits for quality of life, business potential, and municipal retumm on investment (ROD. ‘A broad spectrum of industries, pro- fessional associations, government agon- cies, and research institutions are point- ing municipalities in the right direction by identifying contemporary shifts in demographies, business, and cultural realities that communities need to ad- dress for success, Many of these speak directly tothe concerns identilied above For example, people are con seeking and settin ‘with high-quality sense of place; entre= preneurs and businesses are attracted to, and are leveraging, the assets of commu- nites that provide and foster divers and adaptability; business investments April 2017 by Robert Voigt UNLEASHING the POWER of PLACE An action strategy for community and economic development and land developers are attracted to ‘municipalities that create certainty with ‘well-defined and clear processes and regulations; municipal tax burdens are reduced with a built environment that is ‘human-sealed, compact, and facilitates placemaking; quality of lif is crtieally important to attracting and retaining ‘a workforce and business investment; ‘opportunities for citizens to have mean- ingful connections to their communities and active lifestyles consistently rank highest in desirability across all ages; and municipalities that focus on local at- tributes build economic, cultural, and so- ial capital with far greater suecess than ROBERT VOIGT NCIP, RPP isa professional planner, artist, and writer. He is recognized a 2 leader in community and economic ‘development and healthy. community. de sigh, He is Chair of the OPP! Planning issues. Strategy Group, Senior Project Manager with \WSP/MMM Group, and publishes , Connect with him on Twitter at @ Fobwoigt or by email at 29THINKING Aesulis Orreed ve to Challenges ENTREPRENEURIAL CREATIVITY Increased Adoptabily, Perfrmance Based and Fenble Figure 1 The Power of Place: 10 Platforms ADVANCED. LEADERSHIP System Resilience, ols Focus intentional Change DESIGN PROGRESSIVE PLANNING Steamed Processes, Investment Readiness ‘STRONG ‘NEIGHBOURHOODS Newghbourhood Empawenng Reduced Tax Burden PLACEMAKING Improved Community identity, Investment Desay, increcsed RO! DOWNTOWN ASSETBASED HEALTHY COMMUNITY. FOCUS COMMUNITY DRIVEN DESIGN Improved Community Collaborative, Cos Eective, Reduced infastuctce Costs, Desirably Vik, Product ‘Copaety Buln Al Ages Active Leste Supportive DATA ficient Use af Copto, Creates Business Opportunites, ‘Supports éconamy those that focus on attracting large-scale investment from outside, Communities need new perspectives and tactics to be able to benefit from this awareness No More Silver Bullets ‘With community and economic de- ‘velopment, we can no longer rely on the ‘methods of the past decades and expect the results we require for the 21st cen- tury. For example, seemingly endless eycles of pilot projects, and inconsistent ‘budgeting linked to provincial and fed- cral funding have never led to long-term ‘community success. I¢is time to move away from the stand-alone, “silver bul- Jet” type solutions that towns and cities hhave been implementing. They fail our communities because of their myopic scopes, imegular funding, unpredictable ‘timing, unresponsive scales, and im- ported contexts, When it comes to community and economic development, we need a new perspective, focused on the local context and dynamic tacts for action. NX 9° Cormac Russell, managing director of Nurture Development, and faculty ‘member atthe Asset Based Commu- nity Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University in Chicago provides a great starting point for this “Moving from what’s wrong to what's strong” — which is in fact the one com- ‘mon characteristic of every successful, town or city. This is what underpins the strategy below. Its place-oriented, sea- leable, sharable, and sustainable. The Power of Place Based on over 20 years of working with thousands of people and dozens of communities and experts in Canada, the U.S,, and abroad, chronic failures and ineffective silver bullet solutions are rampant. As a result, Ihave devel- ‘oped “The Power of Place,” an eas- ily understandable action strategy for 21 st-century community and economic development. ‘The Power of Place distills and in- tegrates the best and most effective ap- Gg et el METP RO proaches that communities are using for success in: community health and well- being: economic development; growth ‘and land use planning; community development; organizational capacit building: innovation; sustainability; and adaptability, It consists of 10 platforms that support creativity, growth, eom- ‘munity engagement, ROI, and self-sut- ficiency. Itis also designed to be within ‘the grasp of most communities, without the need for significant restructuring or capital investments. The Power of Place is complex with its interwoven action items; however, it is not complicated. In fact, it has been refined so that people can quickly learn its core principles and recognize ways to use it The following isa very brief de- scription of each of the interrelated platforms of the Power of Place, their key focus, and select benefits. This ‘overview will provide readers with a basic understanding of the eomponents and how the model could relate to their local context. The strategy is designed 30 MUNICIPALWORLD = Apvii 20]?to be implemented from the lowest level upward. As work is completed on the ower levels, capacity and number of supportive partnerships increase. Al- though not listed here, a community's plan of action is based on the commu- nity specific projects that are identified for each platform. This is recalibrated at regular intervals to ensure that it r= mains dynamic and projects address the evolving local context. The structure allows for merging existing efforts of local citizens, businesses, and councils into the action plans of each platform, 10 Platforms 1. Data ‘This aspect involves enhancing the underutilized capacity of GIS systems ‘and databases for spatial analysis to auide land use management, support business planning and economic devel- ‘opment, and create apportunities with ‘open data Benefits include supporting collabo- ration within the private sector, better use of existing capital and staf; ereating business opportunities; supporting eco- nomic development; and improving de cision making about municipal tax ROL and the built environment. 2. Healthy community design ‘This platform relates to upgrad- ing policies and regulations to support ‘community health and well being for all ages, particulary through the built environment. The focus ison active lifestyles, accessibility, and access to nature Benefits include reduced costs for infrastructure; increased livability; mote desirability of community; and healthier population 3. Asset-based community driven ‘This requires the crafting of action plans that leverage the local assets of people, places, events, and stories to re- ‘duce the dependency on institutional so- lutions and inerease the interdependence in community life. Benefits include being cost effective, efficient, and collaborative; reduces bur- den on municipal services; builds eapac- ity throughout community; and enhances ‘community's unique differentiators, 4, Downtown focus This involves using a multi-pronged approach (including the built environ- ment, marketing, programming, ete.) to ‘support and build the downtown as the business and cultural heart and soul of the community, Benefits include increased pro- ductivity of tax base; improved com. munity vitality and activity; improved community desirability; greater adapt- ability and resiliency; and increased business opportunity 5, Placemaking Placemaking means ereating/ adapting processes and regulations to facilitate the development of a high- quality public realm to create mean- ingful, inviting, and successful places for the community. Se eee eee Reet eee eter eee Corl to celebrate ieee an een os April 2017 MUNICIPALWORLD 31Benefits include improved desirabil- ity for businesses and people: increased ROI on development; a sense of place: leveraging local/community assets; im- proved community health; and improved all-ages friendliness, 6, Progressive planning Here, the focus is on streamlining planning processes and regulations to fi- cilitate community wealth building and ‘wellbeing, and being suecinet in support for the needs of contemporary demo- sraphic, business, and cultural shifts Benefits include cost-effective and timely processes; increased community ‘wealth and wellbeing; sensitivity 0 (re) development industry; improved certaine ty for businesses and etizens; and less adversarial planning processes. 7. Entrepreneurial creativity This refers to ereting systems fora free and open environment for citizens, businesses, and the municipality to work together to propose, test, and adapt new ideas as ways of building on the creative culture of the community eenefits include harmony with shifts in contemporary business markets; increased adaptability and resilience: focus on strategie actions; performance- 32 MUNICIPAL WORLD based and flexible regulations; and in- creased youth retention 8. Strong neighbourhoods This requires developing approaches that are focused on self-sufficiency, ‘making the best use of available com- ‘munity resources, and incremental neighbourhood-scaled improvements for community and economic develop- ment Benefits include reduced servicing, costs and inereased ROI; neighbour hhood empowerment; effective partner- ships and networks; and inereased com- munity capacity 9. Design thinking ‘This requires setting up systems for problem solving based on experimen- tation, and incremental and iterative change, to ereate more responsive pro- cesses for evaluation and recalibration. Benefits include facilitating collabo ration; results-focused outcomes; devel- ‘ops and enhances opportunites aeross diverse interests, and ongoing adaptation and improvement 10. Advanced leadership Advanced leadership relates to ere- ating systems of management and gov- April 2017 Subscribers to Municipal World magazine always have the inside edge with articles and columns each mo! « Want to see what you're missing? Catch a glimpse inside through” . MWDigest, online now, = cernance that are based on intentional ‘change, emergence, and systems think- ing. This will help cities and towns take the work done with the initiatives in all of the platforms and ensure that they are dynamic and stay relevant into the future. Benefits include ereating a dy- namic, responsive system; ereat- ing synergies; streamlining change ‘management and problem solving; maximizing beneficial outcomes; and eliminating silos. Conclusion The framework briefly described above can provide communities with effective strategies and tactics to address many of the core chal- lenges they face now and into the 2st century. Successful communities of the future will be those that rec- ognize the unique qualities of their place-based assets and take action to leverage them to their advantage for community and economic develop- ‘ment. This will require citizens and councils who are insightful and bold This new kind of approach is specifi- cally designed to unleash their power of place. MW ; i