Experts agree: an effective development strategy builds on local
strengths, adjusts for local weaknesses, recognizes market
realities, and attempts to achieve development that can be
sustained for the foreseeable future. In addition, such a
development strategy attempts to meet local residents' objectives,
since local support is necessary for implementing most development
strategies.
Local strengths and weaknesses vary from place to place. A
community's strengths may include an education system that produces
a highly skilled labor force or natural amenities that attract
tourists and future residents. Local weaknesses may include
inadequate infrastructure, lack of a highly skilled workforce, or a
housing shortage.
Market realities also vary from place to place. For example,
where there is unmet demand, the potential to increase supply, and
suitable transportation infrastructure, some communities may find
it economically advantageous to focus on developing local or
regional foods or renewable energy industries. Communities
lacking one or more of these economic requirements may not find
this approach economically feasible.
Rural development strategies have both costs and benefits. For
example, communities have historically tried to attract or retain
industry through the use of tax incentives and other economic
concessions. While in some cases such an approach may be cost
effective, in others the costs may outweigh the benefits.
Strategies are Evolving
- Traditional approaches include industrial
recruitment (mentioned above), often aimed at diversifying the
economy; transforming into regional centers that
specialize in providing goods or services to the surrounding region
or bedroom communities that provide basic services to the
families of workers who commute to work in cities; and
amenity-based development, such as attracting tourists,
retirees, and recreationists to a place that features desirable
natural or cultural amenities.
- Nontraditional approaches include small
business and entrepreneurial development that uses venture
capital and other means to promote self-supporting networks of
entrepreneurs;cluster-based development that builds on the
economic advantages of collaborative and competitive networks of
existing local or regional businesses and institutions; rural
innovation and knowledge-based development that enlists the
aid of local educational and research institutions and high-tech
firms to develop innovative products and
services; attracting the creative class (highly
educated or skilled individuals) responsible for the development of
many new and innovative businesses, by enhancing local quality of
life demanded by such individuals. (See Rural Wealth Creation:
Concepts, Strategies, and Measures, ERR-131, March 2012).
How Can Communities Identify the Best Strategies?
The most effective strategies will vary from place to place,
building on local economic strengths and addressing the most
pressing local community and economic problems. For example,
in places experiencing long-term population decline, efforts might
be made not only to create jobs, but also to improve local
amenities and quality of life, since amenities and quality of life
issues are in many places the main limitation to growth (See Nonmetropolitan
Outmigration Counties: Some Are Poor, Many are Prosperous,
ERR-107, November 2010). In contrast, in places with high
rates of growth, strategies may be more concerned with the need to
mitigate growth-related problems, such as traffic and sprawl (See
Development at the Urban Fringe and Beyond: Impacts on Agriculture
and Rural Land, AER803, June 2001).
Communities may find it advantageous to employ decision-making
aids, such as strategic planning and research-based industrial
targeting or cluster analysis, to guide them in identifying and
implementing local-based development strategies. Outside
facilitators are often employed to assist in these efforts, but
local officials still make the decisions based on local objectives
and resources. (See Rural Wealth Creation: Concepts, Strategies, and
Measures, ERR-131, March 2012).
Regional approaches can enable small communities with limited
staff or expertise to capitalize on the region's more ample pool of
resources, such as universities, airports, broadband access, and
amenity attractions. Such approaches also can focus on the
creation and nurturing of regional networks of firms,
organizations, and communities. Regional approaches can also
more effectively address negative externalities (problems
originating from surrounding areas) such as pollution, crime, and
traffic congestion. Regional planning and collaboration may
be informal, through mutual agreements among locally elected
officials, or formal, through regional (multicounty) organizations,
which generally have economic development staff and ready access to
Federal funding sources (See Impacts of Regional Approaches to Rural Development:
Initial Evidence on the Delta Regional Authority, ERR-119, June
2011).