The case studies in this book are 'best-practice' community quality-of-life indicator systems implemented in various communities throughout the world. They take the reader from the initial planning stages through to the application of the data collected.

The proposed book is a sequel to volume 1-4 of Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases. The first volume, Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases was edited by M. Joseph Sirgy, Don Rahtz, and Dong-Jin Lee and published in 2004 by Kluwer Academic Publishers in the Social Indicators Research Book Series (volume 22). The second volume, Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases II was edited by M. Joseph Sirgy, Don Rahtz, and David Swain and published in published in 2006 by Springer in the Social Indicators Research Book Series (volume 28). The third and fourth volumes, Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases III and Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases IV, were edited also by M. Joseph Sirgy, Rhonda Phillips, and Don Rahtz and published in 2009 by Springer in the ISQOLS Community Quality-of-Life Indicators Best Cases Book Series (volumes 1 and 2).

This book in the context of the overall book series contains cases that reflect best practices in community indicator projects Edited by a team of experts in the field Contains latest findings on community QOL

Autorentext
M. J. Sirgy a social/consumer/organizational psychologist (Ph.D., U/Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the areas of consumer behavior, marketing communications, business ethics, and quality of life. He presently serves as an editor of the Quality-of-Life/Marketing section of the Journal of Macromarketing and co-editor-in-chief of Applied Research in Quality of Life. He co-founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies in 1995 and is currently serving as its Executive Director. He was also the president of the Academy of Marketing Science (2002-03).In 1992, he received the Distinguished Fellow recognition from the Academy. In 1997, he received the Distinguished Fellow recognition from the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies. In a recent survey of scholarly productivity in business ethics, he was ranked as 82nd among 2,371 business ethics scholars world-wide. In 2003, the board of directors of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies elected him to receive the highest distinction of the society, namely the Distinguished Quality-of-Life Researcher Award. Rhonda Phillips, Ph.D, AICP, CEcD.
Community investment and well-being comprise the focus of Rhondas research and outreach activities. With public, private and non-profit experience, she offers both practice and academic perspectives. As a professor in the School of Community Resources Development at Arizona State University, Rhonda works with faculty, staff, students and organizations to expand the reach of community-based education and research initiatives for enhancing quality of life. Her focus is community planning, development, and tourism planning as well as community indicator and evaluation systems for monitoring progress towards community development and economic development revitalization goals. Prior to joining ASU, she served nine years on the faculty at the University of Floridas Urban and Regional Planning Department where she was founding director of the Center for Building Better Communities. This outreach center provided community and economic development revitalization services throughout Florida. Her work before joining academe was in community and economic development at the state, local and regional levels; she holds dual professional certifications in urban and regional planning (American Institute of Certified Planners) and economic and community development (Certified Economic and Community Developer with the International Economic Development Council).
Rhonda`s honors include serving as the 2006 Fulbright Scholar in Northern Ireland at the University of Ulster, focusing on heritage and cultural based tourism as community and economic development strategies via The Heritage Initiative. Her work in tourism has included arts-based development as well as developing community indicator systems for tourist-based economies.

Klappentext

This book contains "best practices" of community quality-of-life indicator systems implemented in various communities throughout the world.

The cases in this volume describe communities that have launched their own community indicators programs. Elements that are included in the descriptions are the history of the community indicators work within the target region, the planning of community indicators, the actual indicators that were selected, the data collection process, the reporting of the results, and the use of the indicators to guide community development decisions and public policy.

Inhalt

Preface - Joseph Sirgy, Rhonda Phillips and Don Rahtz.- Author Biographies.- Chapter 1 Comprehensive Local Community Development via Collaborative Quality of Life Planning: Best Practices from Two San Diego Neighborhoods - Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell and Kerry Sheldon.- Chapter 2. Developing and Sustaining a Community Information System for Central Indiana: SAVI as a Case Study - David J. Bodenhamer, James T. Colbert, and Karen Frederickson Comer, and Sharon M. Kandris.- Chapter 3. Twin Cities Compass: Doing Well by Doing Good - Craig Helmstetter, Paul Mattessich, Andi Egbert, Susan Brower, Nancy Hartzler, Jennifer Franklin, and Bryan Lloyd.- Chapter 4. Quality of Life at a Finer Grain: The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership - G. Thomas Kingsley and Kathryn L.S. Pettit.- Chapter 5. Sustainable Well-being Initiative: Social Divisions and Recovery Process in Minamata, Japan - Takayoshi Kusago.- Chapter 6. The American Human Development Index: Results from Mississippi and Louisiana - Sarah Burd-Sharps, Patrick Guyer, Ted Lechterman, and Kristen Lewis.- Chapter 7. The Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project: Measuring a Diverse Region - Brian Lockwood, Jason Martin, Cathy Yinghui Cao, and Michelle Schmitt.- Chapter 8 Portraits of Peel A Community Indicators Portal Project - Srimanta Mohanty.- Chapter 9. The Development of Quality-of-Life Indicators in Rural Areas in Iran: Case Study: Khaveh Shomali District, Lorestan Province - Mohammad Reza Rezvani and Hossain Mansourian.- Chapter 10. Working for Water: A Baseline Study on the Impact of a South African Public Works Programme in Improving the Quality of life of Programme Beneficiaries - Robin Richards.- Chapter 11. Sustainable Urban Development Indicators: The Case of Zadar, a Croatian Coastal Community - Branko I. Cavric.- Chapter 12. Quality of Life in Buffalo City: The Changing Position of African Women in a Post-Apartheid City - Leslie Bank and Ellen Kamman.-Chapter 13. Changes in Living Conditions over Time: A Case Study in South Africa - Valerie Moller and Sarah Radloff.- Chapter 14. Community Indicators in Action: Using Indicators as a Tool for Planning and Evaluating the Health and Wellbeing of a Community - Melanie T. Davern, Sue West, Sally Bodenham, and John Wiseman.