Building community? The characteristics of America's most civic cities

A tremendous amount is known about individual civic and political participation. Those who participate are more educated, more affluent and easier to mobilize. Yet, the social value of participation lies not in its individual impact but in democratically meaningful units such as local governments. L...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of public affairs 2016-02, Vol.16 (1), p.50-56
Main Author: Engbers, Trent A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Citizen participation
Community action
Disengagement
Group identity
Identity
Investments
Local government
Mobilization
Participation
Political behavior
Political participation
Public policy
Public spaces
Social activism
Social participation
Studies
Values
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A tremendous amount is known about individual civic and political participation. Those who participate are more educated, more affluent and easier to mobilize. Yet, the social value of participation lies not in its individual impact but in democratically meaningful units such as local governments. Little is known about why some communities display vibrant patterns of participation while others are characterized by disengagement. This paper furthers this understanding by examining what corporate, political and nonprofit leaders in 10 America's cities see as fostering their civic life. This study finds that institutional factors unite those cities with the highest levels of participation. These include a strong corporate presence, mechanisms for mobilization, a strong community identity, public spaces, good government and investment in youth. This serves as a basis for fostering pro‐civic policies. This is a practitioner‐oriented paper that while grounded in research is designed to foster policy solutions rather than prove casual mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1472-3891
1479-1854
DOI:10.1002/pa.1567