Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Use Strategic Thinking to Build a Brighter Future, 2nd Edition

Preface

Ten years ago the world had not talked on an iPhone; communicated via YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook; learned the ins and outs of organizational politics from characters on The Office, or seen the nation's talent on American Idol. Three-dimensional printers now are making artificial limbs more compatible; dental crowns, implants, and dentures more affordable; and the prospects for new applications unlimited. No one would argue that enormous technological and social changes have not occurred during the past decade.

Unfortunately, far too much has not changed. Rates of poverty hover at the 15 percent mark, and too many Americans barely make ends meet, if at all. The world watched while Hurricane Katrina exposed our national inequities through ...