In a world in which social divisions are widening not lessening, it is essential for community development, or any other practice committed to social justice and sustainability, to understand how power works at every level, from grassroots projects to movements for change. This exciting and practical book is filled to the brim with useful ideas for busy practitioners. Building on the work of Paulo Freire, theories are presented in interesting and straightforward ways to provide an everyday reference for practice. Contained in these pages is all you need to give your practice a critical edge!
Beginning with the foundations of community development, An Introduction to Community Development offers a comprehensive and practical approach to planning for communities. Road-tested in the authors’ own teaching, and through the training they provide for practicing planners, it enables students to begin making connections between academic study and practical know-how from both private and public sector contexts. An Introduction to Community Development shows how planners can utilize local economic interests and integrate finance and marketing considerations into their strategy. Most importantly, the book is strongly focused on outcomes, encouraging students to ask: what is best practice when it comes to planning for communities, and how do we accurately measure the results of planning practice? This newly revised and updated edition includes: increased coverage of sustainability issues, discussion of localism and its relation to community development, quality of life, community well-being and public health considerations, and content on local food systems. Each chapter provides a range of reading materials for the student, supplemented with text boxes, a chapter outline, keywords, and reference lists, and new skills based exercises at the end of each chapter to help students turn their learning into action, making this the most user-friendly text for community development now available.
The role of economic development in communities is multi-faceted, having an array of antecedents, impacts, and implications. This volume explores the relationships between economic development and community development, focusing on the aspects that impact communities such as social capital, participation, and business development. It discusses the need for aligning the goals of community betterment more closely with economic improvement and finding ways to enhance leadership and other resources. Including both current contributions and "classics," the evolution of the relationship between’ and roles of, the two kinds of development is explored. The articles in the volume present several theoretical perspectives of development. Most common among them are sustainable economic development and social capital theories. Utilizing these theories and data from various sources, the authors are able to suggest specific development strategies for improving community economic and quality of life outcomes. The volume offers an exploration of directions for future research, including the need for more theoretical and empirical work on the role of amenity development on rural community economic and quality-of- life outcomes. Practitioners of community and economic development, along with researchers and students will find this volume useful and relevant for both theory and application. This book is a compilation of articles published in the Journal of the Community Development Society.
This text provides students of community and economic development with a theoretical and practical introduction to the field. Bringing together leading scholars, it provides both a conceptual background and contemporary approaches, with a progression from theory to practice. Included are case studies and supportive material to develop community service-learning activities.
This 50th anniversary publication provides a comprehensive history of community development. Beginning in 1970 with the advent of the Community Development Society and its journal shortly thereafter, Community Development, the editors have placed the chapters in major themed areas or issues pertinent to both research and practice of community development. The evolution of community development as an area of scholarship and application, and the subsequent founding of the discipline, is vital to capture. At the 50-year mark, it is particularly relevant to revisit issues that reoccur throughout the last five decades and look at approaches to addressing them. These include issues and themes around equity and inclusion, collective impact, leadership and policy development, as well as resilience and sustainability. Community change over time has much to teach us, and this set will provide a foundation for fostering understanding of the history of community development and its focus on community change. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Community Development.
The Community Development Reader is the first comprehensive reader in the past thirty years that brings together practice, theory and critique concerning communities as sites of social change. With chapters written by some of the leading scholars and practitioners in the field, the book presents a diverse set of perspectives on community development. These selections inform the reader about established and emerging community development institutions and practices as well as the main debates in the field. The second edition is significantly updated and expanded to include a section on globalization as well as new chapters on the foreclosure crisis, and emerging forms of community .
Margaret Ledwith is one of the UK's most highly regarded community development practitioners and academics. This book, developed from her classic text, Participating in Transformation, is an invaluable new resource for students and practitioners in the field. The book advocates a critical approach to community development that locates theory in practice, emphasising its transformative rather than ameliorative potential. Grounded in the pedagogy of Paulo Freire and drawing on feminist and other relevant theories, it helps readers to: gain an understanding of key community development theories; develop practical skills alongside the ability to analyse and reflect; situate local practice within a global context. The text is brought to life through a series of narrative case studies, drawn from the author's own experiences, which clearly illustrate how to apply the ideas, models and analyses discussed
The only up-to-date, accessibly written short guide to community development, this third edition offers an invaluable and authoritative introduction. Fully updated to reflect changes in policy, practice, economics and culture, it will equip readers with an understanding of the history and theory of community development, as well as practical guidance on how to do it. This is a key text for all students and practitioners working with communities. It includes: • a broad overview of core themes, concepts, basic practices and key issues in community development; • an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on community life and well-being, along with the implications for longer-term community support; • additional brand new content on the pressing issues of democratic decline, social fragmentation and isolation, social care pressures, technological developments and climate change.
