As rural coastal communities in Nova Scotia, Canada experience a downturn in resource-based industries, community-led development initiatives may lead to revitalization. Scots Bay, Nova Scotia is a small community located at the end of a provincial highway on the Bay of Fundy and home to approximately 200 full time residents and two busy Provincial Parks. The research uncovered that tensions have recently arisen in the community for a variety of reasons and by embarking on a participatory action research project with the residents of this close-knit coastal community, sources of this unease were uncovered. Tens of thousands of tourists bring more garbage and speeding traffic but very little economic benefits. Private development proposals demand time and energy from community members but provide no tangible, enforceable positive impacts. Skyrocketing real estate prices may benefit individuals but threaten the community’s long-held social cohesion with new residents and/or absentee owners. These tensions, combined with an aging population, a lack of rural services, and a sense of political disempowerment, make resident unease palpable. However, by uniquely using the two systems-based community development frameworks of Community Capitals and Three Horizons in conjunction, the project was able to identify how connections to this place and each other ground this community’s residents and find the strengths and assets to build future plans upon. Project participants were able to share concerns and preferences about the future and brainstorm potential solutions. With this information a futures-based Community Action Plan can be created which can help this rural coastal community chart a course on the tides of change. The futures-based process may also prove useful to other rural coastal communities that would like to create their own community-led development initiatives.
KEYWORDS
Rural Community Development, Coastal Communities, Futures Planning, Community Capitals, Three Horizons, Community Action Planning, Rural Resiliency, Community-Led Development