Out of the ivory tower

And into the community.  A unique take on community involvement up at Middlebury.  It will be interesting to see what comes of this project, and if it can serve as a model for other schools in similar town/gown situations.  If I'm not mistaken, some of the sociology professors at Georgetown organized similar projects with DC residents, but the rural context of the Middlebury project caught my eye.

Developing communities--just in the plain meaning of that phrase--is more than just subdivisions, office complexes, and retail spaces.  It also means exactly what is going on in the article: having members of towns, burgs, villages, and cities speak up and talk about what direction in which they'd like to see their area head.   Showing up at public environmental impact/aesthetics/zoning meetings is one way, but in terms of an inclusive, proactive process, this method seems to have a unique advantage--and one that, with current technologies, is easy to facilitate.