Sustainable development is often viewed as having three imperatives:ecological, economic, and social. A Dynamic Balanceilluminates the importance of understanding the social dimension as itexamines the links between social capital and sustainable developmentwithin the overall context of local community development.

Looking at case studies in both Australia and Canada, it draws uponlessons that can be learned to reconnect large urban centres andsmaller communities. Given the number of small communities in bothcountries struggling to diversify from single-resource economies in acontext of increasing globalization, the analysis touches on severalcritical public policy issues. The contributors argue that the keystrategies for communities must be embedded in the dialectics ofsustainable development. Unless this critical imperative is met,single-resource economy communities will continue to face ecological,social, and economic collapse.

A Dynamic Balance is a timely and provocative call forreconciliation and reconnection within and between communities. Itmakes unique links between two schools of thought, social capital andsustainable community development, showing how both are interdependentand can be mobilized by governments for greater agency in communitieseverywhere.