Young people are particularly at risk today as they try to make sense of their lives in a society in which they are often isolated and poorly educated. They struggle to find constructive communities in which they are valued and expected to make a meaningful contribution. How can we awaken and cultivate their hope and commitment? How can we sustain it? These questions compelled Bliss Browne, an Episcopal priest, mother and former corporate banking executive, to create Imagine Chicago in 1992. What would it take, she wondered, to create a vision and action plan for the city's future that was owned by the people of Chicago? How would it be possible to create a city economy in which no one was wasted, in which everyone’s contributions mattered?

February 2008
Community engagement as a democratic process

The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia hosted an exciting series of facilitated discussions around New Zealand in February. The discussions were lead by Dr Geoff Fagan, of the University of Strathclyde. Geoff’s interests lie in democratic renewal, engagement as a core sustainability issue, engaging local people to make their communities more sustainable and local research as empowerment. The discussions combined elements of all of these topics and presented some specific case studies from Geoff’s work in rural communities in Scotland.