Building the Foundations of Community

Author +
William Pardy

Year: 2009

The Basis for a Community Development Process

Society has clearly come to a crossroads, especially so in developed countries. It is rapidly becoming evident that all growth has its limits. The very foundations of developed society and the world’s ecology have been shaken in order to expand production, consumption and fiscal wealth. The imperative for new theories, models and processes of development is indisputable.

The starting point for a new approach can be found in the original concepts of Community Development. This concept with its focus on people and community provided many of the elements and institutional components of the foundations for much of the developed world’s more advanced socio/economic concepts; latterly most have been diminished or destroyed. The basis of this essay is to explore the challenges and outline the necessity of getting back to the fundamentals of true community development to provide a framework for development that is more equitable and sustainable.

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Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • The Challenge – From the global to the local
  • A Transformation
  • Community Development – a flawed model
  • The Result
  • A Belief 
  • Community – some insights
  • Community Development – its challenges
  • The Process – its foundations
  • A Conclusion