Sustainable Community Development: Principles and Concepts

Chris Maser, author of such books as From the Forest to the Sea and Sustainable Forestry, brings us his newest and possibly most important work. Sustainable Community Development, the sequel to his recently published book, Resolving Environmental Conflict, discusses the next step - understanding what sustainable community development actually means. Maser presents a clear picture of sustainable community development for what it truly is-a community-directed process of development that is based on human values, active learning, shared communication and cooperation, within a fluid system, void of quick fixes, integrated learning and work, that becomes a shared societal vision both culturally and environmentally. Sustainability, in the sense of community development, is the act of one generation saving options by passing them on to the next generation, and so on. This is the main thrust of Maser's book. Readers will see the importance of and the need for shifting personal consciousness from being self-centered to becoming other-centered. This book is perfect for environmentalists, conservationists and those concerned with restoration, concerned business leaders and developers, community and government leaders and policy makers, economists, and academicians.