Community Development Overview

Principles

Definition

Community development is an interdisciplinary academic field and a participatory methodological approach focused on understanding and facilitating processes of collective action and social change within diverse communities. It investigates power dynamics, resource mobilization, and local capacities to address inequalities and enhance community well-being, emphasizing empowerment and sustainable, self-directed progress.

Ontological type

Core Methods

Theoretical Foundations

Governance and Power

Key developments

Key Figures

Asset-Based Community Development era

David M. Chavis [1], affiliated with Vanderbilt University [3] and New York University [4], helped shape asset-based community development in this era. His key contribution was articulating the definition and theory of sense of community in the 1986 paper Sense of community: A definition and theory [7], a milestone that linked social capital, trust, belonging, and collective identity to outcomes in health, safety, and urban planning within this era. Julian Rappaport [2], affiliated with the University of Rochester [5] and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [6], contributed to organizing empowerment frameworks in community psychology during this period. His 1987 paper Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology [8] advanced an empowerment-centric view that emphasized participatory decision-making and prevention, shaping practice and research in the asset-based development era.

Participatory Governance era

Robert D. Putnam [1], affiliated with Harvard University [3] and the University of British Columbia [4], helped shape participatory governance in this era. In Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community (2000) [7], Putnam argued that declines in civic engagement and social connectedness reframed how communities mobilize and sustain participatory planning and cross-sector collaboration in this era. Ade Kearns [2], affiliated with University of Glasgow [5] and Sheffield Hallam University [6], contributed to the understanding of community processes in this era. In Social Cohesion, Social Capital and the Neighbourhood (2001) [8], Kearns and co-authors highlighted how local networks and everyday interactions influence capacity-building and inclusive decision-making within local institutions, reinforcing the era's focus on learning within communities of practice.

Data-Driven Place-Based Co-Creation era

Nina Wallerstein [1], associated with Harvard University [3] and University of California, San Francisco [4], embodies the community-based participatory research ethos in the Data-Driven Place-Based Co-Creation era. Her key contributions are captured in the 2010 paper Community-Based Participatory Research Contributions to Intervention Research: The Intersection of Science and Practice to Improve Health Equity [7], which helped translate local knowledge into actionable health interventions and anchored health equity within intervention research, a cornerstone for data-driven co-creation. Bonnie Duran [2], with affiliations to University of Washington [5] and University of New Mexico [6], represents another pillar of CPBR in this era. Her contributions, as highlighted in the same 2010 paper Community-Based Participatory Research Contributions to Intervention Research: The Intersection of Science and Practice to Improve Health Equity [7], emphasize integrating community knowledge into co-design and policy translation to advance neighborhood health and resilience.