Economic and Environmental Concerns and Local Development Policy

Abstract

Local government development policy and associated public works investments can have important long-term implications for quality of life. Therefore, citizen values and priorities should be used to guide policy decisions. The infusion of citizen values into development policy is particularly important because of the tension between economic and environmental concerns. This research articulates this tension by classifying citizens based on their combined economic and environmental values using a survey of more than 700 residents of Daytona Beach, Florida. The economy-environment classification system provides a framework for understanding community support for selected local-development strategies. This classification system allows us to look through the eyes of citizens based on their combined economic and environmental orientation to better understand the values of the host community. This research demonstrates the importance of infusing development policy with citizen values and proposes a strategy to promote economicenvironmental and citizen-professional value convergence by engaging citizens in decision-making processes.