Creating an Economic Development Action Plan: A Guide for Development Professionals

Recent economic conditions in the United States and Canada, particularly periods of recession and high unemployment rates, have made economic development a more important and widely recognized activity of local government. But as the need for economic development professionals has increased, many positions have been filled by individuals with no background in economics, a situation which, along with high unemployment, has caused economic development to focus solely on generating jobs. In this planning guide for development professionals, Thomas Lyons and Roger Hamlin argue that more thought must be given to the secondary and long-term effects of local development, and to how economic development plans fit within the broader perspective of community development.The book provides a framework for formulating an economic development plan for a community, and is organized to follow the steps of the planning and management processes. Chapter one looks at the objectives of economic development planning and suggests a broader conception of them than is typically employed. In chapter two, Lyons and Hamlin discuss the data required to evaluate progress toward objectives, list the basic information about the community organized according to needs, and examine the information necessary to analyze the needs of the local economy. The third chapter provides a framework within which specific programs can be designed, discussing organizational structures and defining public-private partnerships and methods for establishing them. Chapter four relates how to transfer objectives and data into a program of action, and the fifth chapter presents a description of program evaluation. The book concludes with a summary chapter and a selected bibliography. This guide book will be a welcome resource to professionals in the field of economic development and municipal government, and to students of urban planning and public administration. It will also be a useful addition to both public and academic libraries.