A common fear of public participation in community development can be summed up in the phrase “designed by the mob.” In his article “The Wisdom of Communities,” James Suroweicki, author of the national bestseller The Wisdom of Crowds, reverses this misconception. He writes, “Collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects like town and city planning and managing development, subjects where important information is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but is diffused among myriad members of the community.”

Read the article, Speaking of Place The Wisdom of Communities on the Orton Family Foundation website.