Community Development free essay sample

Development Planning Lecture 1: Understanding the key concepts of Community, Community Development Economic Development Course Learning Outcomes †¢ Explain the key concepts of social infrastructure in spatial planning †¢ Analyze social infrastructure issues in spatial planning †¢ Identify the various challenges of social infrastructure in spatial planning practices Community †¢ Various definitions: ? People who live within a geographically defined area and who have social and psychological ties with each other and with the place where they live (Mattessich and Monsey, 2004) ?A grouping of people who live close to one another and are united by common interests and mutual aids (National Research Council 1975) †¢ These definitions refer to people and the ties that bind them, then only to geographic locations †¢ It means, without people and the connections/ties, community will be only a collections of buildings and streets. †¢ However community does no t necessarily means â€Å"living physically close to one another†.It also refers to social connections at other than living place such as workplace, sports centre, clubs or groups, or political affiliations. We will write a custom essay sample on Community Development or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page †¢ Community can also be created through special interest or conditions such as disability, gender, belief †¢ In this era of social media (such as FB, Twitter) madness, communities can be created on virtual platform. Community Development (CD) †¢ Community Development is defined and described as.. – the process of developing stronger communities of people and the social and psychological ties they share. The educational process to enable citizens to address problems by group decision-making – Involvement in a process to achieve improvement in some aspect of community life – All these processes will result in an outcome which is the improvement of community capital. Community Capital Human Capital †¢ Labour supply, skills, experience, capabilities Physical Capital †¢ Buildings, streets, infrastructure Financial Capital †¢ Community financial institutions, micro loan funds, community development banksEnvironmental Capital †¢ Natural resources, weather, recreational opportunities Social Capital Social Capital †¢ Social Capital refers to the ability of residents to organize and mobilize their resources for the accomplishment of consensual defined goals †¢ It refers to the extent to which members of a community can work together e ffectively to develop and sustain strong relationships, solve problems and make group decisions, and collaborate effectively to achieve common goalsSocial Capital †¢ Some scholars make distinction between bonding capital and bridging capital †¢ Bonding capital refers to ties within homogenous groups (e. g. races, gender, people with the same economic background) †¢ Bridging capital refers to ties among different groups Community development chains Capacity building process Developing the ability to act Social capital Ability to act Community development outcome Taking action Community improvement Development ready communityEconomic development †¢ Community development and economic development is highly sinergistic. †¢ Community development – a planned effort to produce assets that increase the capacity of residents to improve their quality of life. The assets include: physical, human, social, financial, environmental †¢ Economic development †“ the process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services. The definitions are clearly parallel : community development is to produce and improve assets, economic development is to mobilize these assets which will bring greater benefits for the community ie. more goods, services, jobs etc. †¢ Both types of development are highly dependable on each other as most businesses will look for development-ready communities that are equipped with strong and established communities, good infrastructure, abundant supply of labour, safety, telecommunication etc.Community and economic development chains Community development outcome Taking action Community improvement Development ready community Economic development outcome Job creation Increased income and wealth Increased standard of living Capacity building process Developing the ability to act Social capital Ability to act Economic development process Creating and maintaining ED programs Mobilizing resources The end