Visionaries, designers, planners, policymakers, and project managers abound. Strategists are rare.
As a result, regenerative efforts most often fail due to 1) bad strategy, and 2) no strategy.
Let’s start by clarifying strategy’s role in the scheme of things:
- Visions guide actions to the desired outcomes;
- Strategies adaptively guide actions to success;
- Policies enable strategic actions;
- Plans organize actions
- Projects are actions;
- Programs perpetuate actions.
Of those six action elements, the plan—which often takes longest to produce and approve—will likely be obsolete the soonest. Complex systems (e.g. cities, ecosystems) resist rigid, imposed order.
All of these action elements are essential, but one is usually missing: strategy. That’s why so many urban revitalization and landscape-scale environmental restoration programs are unsuccessful.
Read the full article on the Revitalization News website here.

From Municipal Trash to Community Treasure: The Beckley Landfill Project
In the midst of all this uncertainty, one thing remains steady for the NBAC staff: our commitment to our projects, communities, and partners. We miss interacting with you and visiting your sites and events, but we remain hard at work and available to you as needed.
Read More
NBAC Seeking Applications for Economic Redevelopment Specialist
The West Virginia University Research Corporation (WVURC) seeks to hire an Economic Redevelopment Specialist in the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University. This position will ...
Read More
Brownfields Assistance Center Accepting Applications for Technical Assistance Grants to Eradicate BAD Buildings
Communities throughout the Mountain State trying to eradicate abandoned, vacant and dilapidated buildings may apply for technical assistance awards through the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West ...
Read More