Call for Papers: Inner-City Empowerment and Revitalization Community Development

Posted by on May 23, 2011

Call for Papers on the theme

Inner-City Empowerment and Revitalization Community Development
The Journal of the Community Development Society

Theme Editors
Robert Mark Silverman
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University at Buffalo
Rms35@buffalo.edu

Kelly L. Patterson
School of Social Work
University at Buffalo
Klp27@buffalo.edu

Paper proposals are being accepted for a collection to be presented in an issue of Community Development. The collection focuses on strategies for inner-city empowerment and revitalization. The edition will highlight papers that describe, analyze, and interpret innovative strategies to develop public policies that link social and physical development in inner-city neighborhoods.

There are a number of unique challenges associated with the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods. Some are tied to the built environment, such as: decaying infrastructure, obsolete buildings, industrial pollution, brownfields, poorly maintained parks, and vacant commercial and residential property. Others stem from institutional barriers linked to public and nonprofit service providers with limited capacity to address physical, economic, and community development needs. Inner-city revitalization is also compounded by historic patterns of neglect and discrimination that have disempowered the poor, minorities and others who reside in inner-city neighborhoods. To address the cumulative effects of these barriers, public policies must empower inner-city residents through a community development process that focuses on the social and physical revitalization of neighborhoods.

This collection examines a variety of approaches to public policy that address the nexus between community empowerment and revitalization in major metropolitan areas. Papers will be included which examine the following topics:

* The role of community organizing and public participation in neighborhood planning.

· Innovative approaches to community development that promote sustainability and empower residents, such as: linkages between economic and workforce development, the establishment of community benefits agreements (CBAs), community land trusts, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs).

* The role of social infrastructure, social welfare, nonprofits, schools, and other neighborhood-based institutions in empowering communities.

· Collaborations between urban schools, local government, social welfare agencies, faith-based organizations, organized labor, higher education, and neighborhood-based organizations.

· Grassroots initiatives that link physical and social development in inner-city neighborhoods, such as: community gardens, public arts projects, urban agriculture, community health programs, restorative justice, and community-based public safety programs.

· Studies of public policy focused on promoting community reinvestment, fair housing, economic justice, and the elevation of poverty and racial discrimination in inner-cities.

· Community development strategies to address issues surrounding neighborhood decline and revitalizations on inner-city communities, such as: gentrification, residential displacement, abandoned and vacant property, noxious facility siting, and other not-in-my backyard (NIMBY) issues.

If interested in contributing, please send an abstract, not longer than 500 words outlining the topics to be addressed, methodologies used, and how the paper will contribute to the general theme of the supplemental edition to: Robert Silverman (rms35@buffalo.edu) by July 1, 2011. When submitting include “CD-INNER-CITY EMPOWERMENT” in the subject line. Authors will be notified by August 1, 2011 as to whether they will be
invited to prepare a full paper.

Final submissions of the papers will be expected by January 15, 2012 and then will be submitted through the usual refereeing process used by Community Development. For additional information about the journal, see
http://www.informaworld.com/rcod.