ST. MARY’S CITY — St. Mary’s College of Maryland President Rhonda Phillips, a city planner by training, has co-edited a new edition of a textbook used to teach how towns and neighborhoods plan their economic futures.
Phillips and Robert H. Pittman edited the third edition of An Introduction to Community Development, published by Routledge, the college announced Oct. 27. The 314-page volume carries a 2026 copyright, according to the publisher.
The book is aimed at students and practitioners who work on the ground in local development: planners, economic development staff, nonprofit leaders and elected officials. Its subject matter is the kind of work Southern Maryland governments do routinely, from housing strategies and business retention to tourism and measuring quality of life.
What changed
Routledge says the new edition expands coverage of connectedness and placemaking, quality of life, community well-being, sustainability, marketing and community enterprise, and updates content throughout with a focus on linking community development to economic development. Each chapter now includes text boxes, case studies, keywords, reference lists and skills-based exercises.
The book is organized in three parts. The first covers foundations such as community theory, assessment, leadership and community-based organizations. The second, and largest, moves into strategies including housing, human capital, business attraction and retention, social entrepreneurship, neighborhood well-being, and culture and tourism. A closing section looks at measuring community well-being, new tools and technologies, and future trends.
The editors
Phillips became St. Mary’s College’s president in July 2025. She holds a doctorate in city and regional planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and is a three-time Fulbright recipient, according to her college biography. Before coming to St. Mary’s, she was president of Chatham University in Pittsburgh and founding dean of Purdue University’s John Martinson Honors College, and earlier worked for the City of Birmingham, Alabama, and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Pittman is a consultant, teacher and author in community and economic development who has held senior management roles, including directing economic development consulting for a global engineering and advisory firm, Routledge said. The publisher says the book draws on the editors’ teaching, consulting and research experience and stresses measurable results.
The textbook is sold in hardback, paperback and ebook editions through Routledge.
