An associated event of the second annual Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development held at the World Bank, Washington, D.C., September 24-25, 1995.

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Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Communities speak -- 2. Cross-cutting lessons -- Special address -- 3. Learning from international support -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Appendixes -- Boxes.

A sustainbale community cannot be defined by legal boundaries but, rather, by relationships among its people and by their roots in a specific space. While cities may be the loci of a range of environmental problems, their communities, which face the challenges of degradation on a daily basis, are also the sources of many of the most successful solutions. This report, which is based on a one and a half day community forum entitled " Enabling Sustainable Community Development " held on September 22-23, 1994 in Washington, D.C, as an associated event of the World Bank ' s Second Annual Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development, was designed to explore this phenomenon through dialogue with community innovators, students of neighborhood dynamics, and external supporters of local initiatives. During the forum, participants agreed that broad participation is essential, that it must be inclusive, and that people must be well-informed so that their communities can make good choices and reach consensus on them. Many participants also highlighted the need for decentralization. Sustainable community development involves a change of mindset in which unsustainable economic growth and profit seeking are replaced as primary goals by people ' s progress and prosperity. Sustainable development represents a challenge to existing decisionmaking processes, sharing of power, and societal values. This report highlights the different stages of the forum from the opening address by Jeb Brugmann to Michael Cohen ' s response to the critique and summation that put the event in perspective.