Fusing Technical and Political Rationality in Community Development: A Prescriptive Model of Efficiency-Based Strategic Geographic Targeting

Recognizing the challenges and shortcomings of community-based development to date, funders are increasingly requiring communities to target revitalization resources to achieve greater impact. Studies of one type of targeting approach—efficiency-based strategic geographic targeting—have demonstrated that it can restabilize a neighborhood's housing market, making it possible to remove revitalization resources and direct them to other neighborhoods. However, communities are still reluctant to use this approach. Analysis of several case studies of efficiency-based targeting efforts reveals the barriers to political stakeholder alignment around this type of resource targeting and suggests technical program features that may create the basis for stakeholder alignment. Using these findings, we propose a prescriptive model of efficiency-based strategic geographic targeting that funders might use to encourage this fusion of technical and political rationality.