The town of Hespeler in southwestern Ontario is an old industrial community that lost its core manufacturing businesses, its municipal status, and its civic pride in the time since the end of the Korean War. In the early 1990s, Banks and Mangan implemented a community-development, action-research project designed to rebuild and revitalize the town. This book illustrates the success of local citizens in the revival of their community and the discovery of a nascent network of mutual support among neighbours.

The authors demonstrate how inquiry, education, and action-research can...