Community sustainability is a broad and often discussed topic. ICMA has identified the following focus areas related to our past and present work on sustainability:
- Citizen Engagement and Community Building – Engaging community members and building community capacity are keys to long-term sustainability.
- Livable Communities – Healthy, active, and livable communities help attract residents.
- Public Libraries – Public libraries are at the heart of communities. Today, libraries provide a wide range of services and local government managers play a critical role in securing the assistance that libraries need to provide these new services.
- Smart Growth – Smart growth promotes compact, mixed-use, walkable development patterns that help communities to grow sustainably, preserve open space, and maximize use of their existing resources.
- Technology - To meet the service delivery needs of their residents, local governments are increasingly turning to new technology applications, such as geographic information system (GIS) and constituent relationship management (CRM) software.