Measuring Success in Communities: Understanding the Community Capitals Framework

For example, when money is invested in a new factory in the community, the system is affected either positively or negatively; more jobs, increased populations, increased pollution, decrease in unemployment, new housing developments, increased crime rates, and new immigrant populations are just a few of the new issues to be dealt with. From an economic development perspective, bringing a new factory to town seems like a great solution, but it must be understood that it will have an impact on other facets of the community. Communities actively looking to the future can use community capitals to measure current resources and identify the potential for improvements. Researchers have listed seven types of community capital that can be used as a gauge of how community resources are being used: