Broader political and economic changes are dramatically reshaping rural and small-town communities in British Columbia and across Canada. Increasingly, however, much of the responsibility for community-based prosperity and survival is falling to communities themselves.

This book is drawn from a three-year participatory research project with four communities in British Columbia: two municipalities and two Aboriginal communities. The first part of the book examines historical and contemporary forces of restructuring, linking the development of rural communities with the legacy of...

Investing in Place is about creating the foundations for renewing northern British Columbia's rural and small-town economies. Markey, Halseth, and Manson argue that renewal is not about nostalgic reliance on the policies and economic strategies of the past - rather, it is about building a pragmatic and innovative vision for development, one that acknowledges both the opportunities and the challenges posed by resource development and global and technological change. The path to renewal lies in place-based development, in people working together at all levels of the community and...