In an era of increasing complexity, the majority of local land-use decisions in the United States are made by volunteer citizen planners. Often these elected or appointed volunteers enter their positions with a passion for their communities but without appropriate background training. The Michigan Citizen Planner Program was developed to address…

Community problem solving as an aspect of continuing education is traced from the colonial period to the present. This review shows that educational programs to help adults identify and solve community problems are not a recent innovation. (Author/JOW)