Rational choice, sense of place, and the community development approach to community leisure facility planning

Abstract

This paper examines the decision‐making approach taken by rural communities when confronted with a decision to rejuvenate or decommission a recreation facility in their jurisdiction. A case study is presented that analyzes the tensions that were created in a community when an arena facility was recommended for closure in a report commissioned by the municipal council and completed by a consultant. More specifically, the article examines how that décision was reached by the consultant and municipal decision‐makers, and how other sectors of the community came to view the utility of that recommendation and the facility in question. The rational choice and sense of place models are compared and contrasted for their value in the research and decision‐making process. The subject of amalgamation of several communities into a single municipality is identified as a pervasive overlaying issue that affects the decision‐making process even though amalgamation was not the subject of this study. It is concluded that extraneous social and political factors, like the resentment of forced amalgamation in this case, need to form part of the framework for analysis in a community leisure research project. An analysis of the consultants’ report ending with a discussion about the value of a multi‐method research approach to data gathering and analysis forms the conclusion to the paper.