How to Develop a Community Plan

Community planning involves 9 main steps (figure 2).

	1. PREPARATION Organising a community planning process 2. WHERE ARE WE NOW? Identifying community assets and what people value about their community 3. WHERE ARE WE GOING? An analysis of the demographic makeup and trends in the community
	COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 4. WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE? A descriptive vision and/or preferred future of how residents want their community to be 5. WHAT DO WE NEED TO ADDRESS? The opportunities, challenges and issues residents see for their community 6. HOW DO WE GET THERE? Strategies and actions to be implemented to achieve the preferred future 7. DRAFTING AND VALIDATION 8. IMPLEMENTATION Implementation by a range of stakeholders 9. ARE WE GETTING THERE? Evaluation of progress and review	Minimum Requirements of the Local Government Act 2009

Figure 2. The Steps in Community Planning

This is an adaptation of the Oregon Model of community planning – a well accepted approach used extensively in the USA and Australia (Oregon Visions Project, 1993). It also incorporates asset-based approaches to community development (Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993).

These phases relate to the following steps in developing a community plan.