(re)thinking rural

Abstract

A community has seven community assets: physical, environmental, cultural, social, financial, political, and human. Together these assets affect how a community develops, grows, and changes. This presentation, entitled (re)thinking rural, analyzes how the decision by Greensburg, Kansas to build sustainably affected its community assets, the city, and its citizens for the better. Additionally, it could be argued that a campus community operates much in the same way a city community operates. Thus, (re)thinking rural can be translated to a university scale. The presentation shows an example of how to approach sustainability comprehensively by improving community assets. The presentation shows the importance of social relationships and networks in sustainable decision-making processes. Second, it offers practical solutions to improve sustainability implementation by changing and developing the campus community comprehensively.