Empowering Residents and Students to Rebuild Neighborhoods

The authors propose that ongoing community-university partnerships offer unparalleled opportunities for students, faculty, and community residents to discover innovative solutions to the pressing problems confronting the poorest communities. They argue for training urban planners, designers, and policy makers in the use of empowerment planning methods, which seek to enhance the organizational capacity of community-based groups through integration of participatory action research and direct action organizing.