Six strategies of community change

This paper distinguishes among six strategies of community change: mass mobilization, social action, citizen participation, public advocacy, popular education, and local services development. It draws on extensive research in urban and rural areas in industrial and developing countries. It identifies “citizen participation” - the strategy most familiar to planners - as only one of several available approaches, challenges practitioners to fit strategy to their situation, and asks: which strategy has the most potential to empower your community?