Rapid change in small towns: when social capital collides with political/bureaucratic inertia

Abstract

Successful community development is usually constructed with “bottom-up” capacity and “top-down” public policy. The synergy between these approaches has been hampered by the transition from a Keynesian to a neoliberal public policy framework. Under the stress of rapid change from major industrial projects, this article examines community development responses in the small town of Kitimat, British Columbia. Using a social capital lens, our findings suggest that despite limited senior government responses, local stakeholders have been using local and non-local network structures to: improve communication and understanding of protocols and procedures, improve awareness of community needs, access a broader range of financial and in-kind supports, transfer skills and broaden access to human resources, broaden access to infrastructure, and rapidly develop and deploy new supports. By formalizing network structures and working to strengthen local capacity, local stakeholders have been able to address many social and economic development pressures. Over the longer term, however, social capital and social cohesion among voluntary and non-profit sector organizations will require the assistance of senior government policy, financial, and program supports to be sustainable.

Keywords:

• Boomtowns
• rural
• social capital
• community development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Place-based development concerns nurturing and mobilizing local assets such as location; natural amenities; physical, communications, and social infrastructure; human capital; social capital (through trust, networks, and partnerships); cultural heritage; and more (Markey, Halseth, & Manson, 2012).

2. All oil and gas projects described are at time of writing just proposed projects. While some are in various stages of the approval process, none have completed their final investment decision and moved forward to implementation.