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Barriers to Futuristic Planning

There can be several other reasons why it may be difficult to mobilize community energy for futuristic planning. Some of these factors may be structural and some attitudinal. Structural factors include:

1. Distance. A rural area is one in which the majority of people live in the open country or in small towns and villages. Distance can be a barrier to getting together for futuristic planning (or it may simply be used as an excuse for not getting together).

2. Jurisdiction. County or regional planning efforts require that people from different townships and municipalities work together to overcome problems or anticipate future opportunities. Joint planning may require official votes by various town and village boards and this may be difficult if there are rivalries between the communities.

3. Personalities. Animosities may develop between people in a given community or between people in different municipalities and, frequently, there are long-term memories about past squabbles. As the Mayor of a Kickapoo Valley community commented: "There can be a lot of small thinking in small, rural communities."

4. Past Issues. Just as the Kickapoo Valley has had a dam project which put many other decisions "on hold" for nearly 20 years, other rural communities may be immobilized by issues from the past. If there is a history of conflict over school bonds or other community projects, it may cast a shadow over future planning efforts.

In addition to these structural factors, there are attitudinal factors which can make it difficult to mobilize community energy for long-range planning. Attitudinal factors include:

1. Self-Reliant Spirit. Rural residents are likely to exhibit a pride, independence and tenacity ("a certain kind of single-mindedness" as Garrison Keillor once said) which keeps them from reaching out to each other. This "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" philosophy helps people to make it through personal crises, but it can create blockages when it comes to collaborative efforts.

2. Guarded Communication. There is little anonymity in rural areas and there is often an effective grapevine which allows personal news to spread quickly. Since people don't want "dirty laundry to be aired in public," their communication may be more guarded; they may be less likely to share joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams with those outside the immediate circle of family and friends. Again, this makes collaboration difficult.

3. Traditionalism. In rural areas, there is often a strong sense of traditionalism, a belief that "the past is a good guide to the future." Many rural communities are finding that the past is not a good guide for the future, yet change is still slow and visionary leaders may have trouble getting residents of their community to even see that change is necessary.

4. Resources Viewed as Scarce. Residents of rural communities can often be heard saying "this community just doesn't have resources." The common perception is that most of the resources are located in urban areas and, while there may be some truth to this view, it overlooks the natural resources and the wealth of knowledge, experience, talents and skills that are woven into the very fabric of people living in the community.