Community Development and Public Administration Theory

'Community Development and Public Administration Theory takes a rare, nuanced – yet much needed – intersectional approach to community development in PA. The text provides useful insights, for scholars and practitioners, into practical strategies that can help to foster equitable and effective policy outcomes. This text a must read for new and seasoned administrators alike.'

Tia Sherèe Gaynor, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Marist College

'Community development planning and implementation is at the core of the public sector’s impact on residents’ daily lives. Nickels and Rivera apply public administration theories and concepts to the practice of community development. Community Development and Public Administration Theory is a must-read for students, scholars and practitioners interested in local government, community development, citizen participation and economic development research and practice.'

Mohamad G. Alkadry, Professor and Department Head, University of Connecticut

'In this highly readable and practical volume, Nickels and Rivera put The New Public Service to work in creating ways to put citizens at the center of community building efforts. Based on a clearly articulated framework for understanding community development not only as a matter of economics, but also as social justice and empowerment, the authors make a compelling argument for grounding community development in authentic citizen engagement. They make theory practical by realistically exploring what works and what doesn’t and highlighting the challenges and the positive impact of citizen engagement in community development nationally and internationally. This volume will inspire practitioners and academics alike to think differently about community development and spark new and innovative approaches to making communities better.'

Janet Denhardt, Chester Newland Professor of Public Administration, Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California

'This book successfully accomplishes the very important task of bridging the gulf between the scholarship and practice of public administration/policy and community development. It does so by situating community development in models grounded in democratic governance, with a healthy skepticism for devolved and market models of community development, providing examples that show how community development can be community based, instead of organizationally based. The editors and authors are all cutting edge academics and practitioners, writing, researching, and practicing community development outside the mainstream(s). Their work takes place at margins amidst the dispossessed, discarded, and disenfranchised. They ask, and develop practices around, interrogating the systemic power and privileges that typify community development: who is at the table, who is left out, who is advantaged and disadvantaged, whose interests are favored, and how are all of these replicated and reified in practices and outcomes. They argue that community development programs and policies can be enhanced, and more successful for all involved, with a governing model that emphasizes citizen-centered accountability, empowered participation, and deliberation. Every scholar, student, and practitioner in public administration/policy should read this book.'

Cheryl Simrell King, Member of the Faculty, The Evergreen State College

'It’s fortunate that this edited volume was produced by public administration scholars and practitioners because so little research and publication in that field is directed toward local government, with even less attention given to community development as a primary governance function in terms of both policymaking and implementation. And yet, the field of community development’s literature is so tightly focused on practice, particularly through nonprofits, that its attention to policymaking gets short shrift. Therefore, putting these two literatures into conversation is important and valuable. For me, a community organizer and development practitioner who became a public administration theorist, it is particularly exciting. We need to see community development as both an arena of public policy and a practice of local governance.'

Margaret Stout, Community Development