America's crown communities winners provide broad-ranging solutions.

The six winners of American City & County's 2011 annual excellence awards have created notable solutions to address problems in their communities. Their challenges are not unique, but their solutions provide models for other cities and counties to consider. The winning projects, outlined below, address environmental conservation, infrastructure improvements, succession planning, and economic development, and were chosen to showcase creative thinking in difficult economic times.

Schools Recycling Partnership Program (Cathedral City, Calif.). This program, led by the city's Environmental Conservation Division, in partnership with a non-profit Student Creative Recycling Art Project, works with local elementary and middle schools to create innovative environmental programs that help meet the city's yearly goal of diverting half of generated waste from landfills.

Chandler City Hall (Chandler, Ariz.). A central part of the city's focus on revitalizing its historic downtown was to build a new headquarters for city operations, creating an employment mass for the downtown area as well as centrally locating most municipal services.

Wastewater Collection System and Treatment Plant Expansion (Pharr, Texas). With the future of the city depending on revamping its wastewater collection system and adding capacity to the wastewater treatment plant, Pharr combined grants and a campaign to garner support for an increase in water and sewer rates to raise the money.

Vacant Property Management Strategy (Philadelphia, Penn.)...