Implementing A Community-Wide Strategic Plan

Abstract

Confronted by economic, social, and political change in the 1980s, many cities decided to use communitywide strategic planning as a tool to address their problems. Rock Hill, South Carolina, successfully completed Empowering the Vision (ETV), a two-year community-wide strategic planning process, in 1989 and began implementing the 10-year plan in 1990. Did the implementation of ETV achieve its promise? Is it another example of a well-intentioned but later abandoned use of strategic planning? I argue that Rock Hill achieved five significant results by 2000: (a) managing uncertainty, (b) resolving conflict, (c) continuing citizen participation, (d) achieving tangible and intangible results, and (e) establishing a governance network for the duration of the planning period. RockHill achieved these results because of (a) the competent practice of community-wide strategic planning, (b) visionary leadership, and (c) the commitment of public leadership to the process and the plan.

Factors Explaining Government Officials' Perceptions of Citizen Engagement in the Municipal Strategic Planning Process

“…According to scholars in PPA, strategic planning is a collaborative process, and interaction between citizens, stakeholders, and government officials is critical for success (Bryson, 2011;Hendrick, 2003;Wheeland, 2003). In local governments, strategic planning processes are imperative for progressing community and democratic values (Arnstein, 1969;Bryson, 2011;Brody, Godschalk & Burby, 2003;Wheeland, 2003).…”

“…At the municipal level of government, PPA scholars have examined a variety of citizen engagement topics such as models or methods of engagement (Bryson, 2011;Brody, Godschalk, & Burby, 2003), digital democracy engagement techniques (Bonson et al, 2012;Elia, Margherita, & Taurino, 2009), and accountability or transparency of citizen engagement processes (Healey & Tordoff, 1995;Goetz & Gaventa, 2001). However, few scholars in PPA have examined citizen engagement in the strategic planning process at the municipal level of government (see Brody, Godschalk & Burby, 2003;Wheeland, 2003).…”

“…A small amount of work addresses citizen perceptions of citizen engagement processes (Goss, 1999;Lowndes et al, 2001;Mariana, 2008;Mohammadi, et al, 2017;Wilfred et al, 1973). Other work argues for the theoretical importance of citizen engagement but does not offer much empirical evidence for how it works in practice, particularly at the local level of government (Bryson, Crosby, & Bryson, 2009;Bryson & Roering, 1989;Barzelay & Campbell, 2003;Wheeland, 2003, Giraudeau, 2008.…”

“…Additional citizen engagement studies have primarily focused on more densely populated states and municipalities (Brody, Godschalk & Burby, 2003;Goss, 1999;Lowndes et al, 2001;Mariana, 2008;Mohammadi, et al, 2017;Wheeland, 2003;Wilfred et al, 1973), resulting in the necessity for additional research in large rural states (Bryson, personal communication, 2015). As a result, this study fulfills a unique gap in the PPA and citizen engagement literature by examining three states in the Inter-Mountain West with rural municipalities.…”

“…However, there is a lack of research that examines government officials' perceptions of citizen engagement at the municipal level of government (Abdel-Monem, Herian, Hoppe, Pytlikzillig, and Tomkins, 2016). Next, I review literature related to strategic planning and citizen engagement (Brody, Godschalk, & Burby, 2003;Bryson, 2011;Hendrick, 2003;Wheeland, 2003). Scholars have used CGT normatively to prescribe a process for citizen engagement (see Ansell & Gash, 2008;Emerson, Nabatchi, & Balogh, 2011;Huxham, 2003;Robertson & Choi, 2010;Reed, 2008;Papadopoulos, 2010;Silvia, 2011); this project, on the other hand, examines which CGT processes municipalities actually employ to engage citizens in their local government strategic planning processes.…”