Greetings! I am currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. I am working on a regional planning project focusing on economic development for three satellite communities outside of a 1.5 million population urban center. My director is working under a EU grant to convert, in part, old Soviet military facilities in these cities to workable economic development opportunities. However, my background is more in physical planning. Can anyone give me the basic components to include in an economic development plan? Remember, this is REALLY a grassroots effort (hence my name) so think more of starting from a VERY basic beginning. I know to include aspects such as population, current workforce skills base, etc. Just need more direction. Crazy how we take such basic things such as open availability of census data for granted in the US!?! Thanks.
What type of economic development is your area trying to achieve? Are you hoping to redevelop the base as an industrial center, airport, office park, retail area or a dense mixed use type of development? Are there educational resources like colleges and universities in the area to partner with for workforce development?
In the US there are hundreds of examples of military reuse from the 70's through today. What type of base was it?
Other items to consider that have not been mentioned that you want to include is an inventory of existing businesses in the area, SWOT analysis or the region, what is the competitive advantage of your region, entrepreneurial potential of the area, funding sources to implement the plan.
When you develop your plan make try to include small achievable steps to help build momentum. Many plans wind up being so grandiose that a grassroots organization cannot implement or they are not feasible (see
Cardinal's post) so they just sit on the shelf and collect dust.
