Our Research

The CDI maintains a clear focus on research and on providing access to valuable resources toward the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding and building capacity around community, regional, and economic development. Our goal is to balance both applied and basic work so as to maintain academic credibility and to be of practical relevance to communities.

The information in this section is organized by topic. Please contact us if you need help finding information or have a question about any of the research or resources included here.

  • Innovation Towards Smart Service Provision

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2010

    By Laura Ryser and Greg Halseth

    This presentation explores three types of smart service delivery models that can provide a foundation for community development and sustainability. We begin with a brief introduction about the impacts of rural restructuring, including the operational challenges faced by service providers in small places.  Drawing upon examples from northern BC, we explore opportunities and challenges linked to three types of ‘one-stop’ service delivery models: portals of collated information, sites with expanded services, and sites shared by multiple service providers.

  • Northern Rockies Partnership: Building the Region Together!

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2009

    Two research institutes at UNBC, together with the Fraser Basin Council, are working to assist the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) with the development, establishment, and initial implementation of a proposed “Northern Rockies Partnership: Building the Region Together!”

    Over the last four decades, the Northern Rockies region of northeastern British Columbia has experienced economic ‘boom’ and ‘bust’ situations due to the growth and decline of numerous resource development activities. The Community Development Institute (CDI) and the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC are assisting with the creation of a more integrative and collaborative dialogue approach to community and resource development that will bring together regional First Nations communities, natural resource industries, the provincial government, and the NRRM.

    The Northern Rockies Partnership – Building the Region Together! presents a significant opportunity for the First Nation communities, the oil and gas sector, the provincial government, and the NRRM to work together to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for the region. The partnership signifies a special kind of collaborative process that could result in substantive benefits to each of the parties. Initial work began in April 2009, and already there are several initiatives underway to start this partnership dialogue process.

  • Distance Education Lessons: The case of McBride - Prince George BC

    • Community Services Provision
    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation
    • Workforce Deployment and Development

    2007-2009

    Under the direction of visiting scholar Dr. Rosemary Raygada-Watanabe, the CDI is examining the video education linkage between McBride Secondary School and DP Todd Secondary School in Prince George. Given the challenge that rural and small town places have with providing services, it is crucial that new information technology be investigated as a possible source of assistance. This project examines the case study with a view to identifying lessons on the application of distance teaching video technologies.

  • 'North First' Community Dialogue Project

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2007-2009

    The purpose of this project is to conduct community-based interviews in UNBC’s service region. Across community landscapes that are experiencing increasing pressures from social, demographic, economic, and political change, part of UNBC’s mandate has been to provide needed education and research services. This project is being undertaken at the request of UNBC’s Vice-President and Provost as part of an initiative to better connect UNBC’s activities with the needs of its service region. Two basic questions drive the interviews; “what do our communities need to know?” and “what would they like the university to do?”

    Project Report

  • Trusts Governance Review

    • Community and Economic Development and Transformation

    2007

    At the request of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition, the CDI completed a review of various regional trusts within BC and around western North America. Products included a summary of key features and issues faced by each of the reviewed trusts. A ‘Trusts Review’ report summarizes information on over 17 regional trusts, while a ‘Trends Report’ outlines emerging issues in the structure and organization of trust governance.

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