Enhance your community: Build on your existing assets
Mark M. Miller · 2017
This chapter covers a broad range of strategies assembled under the general heading of &s;asset-based strategies&s;. The practical applications of asset-based development for Economic Development (ED) are built on an expansive body of theory and methodology. The chapter attempt to map out some of those theories and methods, and provides the interested reader with beginning points for reading more deeply. Social capital theory emphasizes the networks among humans and their organizations. Economic developers are readily familiar with the concept of &s;capital&s;. The most familiar form is &s;financial capital&s;: access to money for investment in businesses, housing projects, etc. The broad concept of &s;capacity-building&s; is often applied to healthcare, resilience from disasters, and other areas of community development. &s;Sustainable livelihoods&s; is a framework for community asset analysis that emerged from the UK. Participatory research is a broad, multidisciplinary concept that includes research on an organization or a social movement in which the researcher is an active member, participant, or advocate.