About this Book

Sustainable development is often viewed as having three imperatives: ecological, economic, and social. A Dynamic Balance illuminates the importance of understanding the social dimension as it examines the links between social capital and sustainable development within the overall context of local community development.

Looking at case studies in both Australia and Canada, it draws upon lessons that can be learned to reconnect large urban centres and smaller communities. Given the number of small communities in both countries struggling to diversify from single-resource economies in a context of increasing globalization, the analysis touches on several critical public policy issues. The contributors argue that the key strategies for communities must be embedded in the dialectics of sustainable development. Unless this critical imperative is met, single-resource economy communities will continue to face ecological, social, and economic collapse.

A Dynamic Balance is a timely and provocative call for reconciliation and reconnection within and between communities. It makes unique links between two schools of thought, social capital and sustainable community development, showing how both are interdependent and can be mobilized by governments for greater agency in communities everywhere.