The Community Development Process [antikvár]

Introduction: A New HopeThose who use the term "community development" (theirnumber is legion) are enthusiastic for vague reasons. They arestrongly in favor of "community" (whatever that may be). And theyare equally in favor of "development" (as long as this movestoward their preferred objectives).But the enthusiasts encounter difficulties when they becomespecific. They do not agree upon what "the community" is thatthey hope to develop. Their confusion reflects the fact that ordinarycitizens have lost or are losing the sense of community, the expe-rience of community. Whether the people live in older apartmentsor in new housing developments, in inner city slums or in unincor-porated urban fringes, in affluent or in not-so-affluent suburbs, insmaller cities and towns or in sparsely settled areas, in trailers orin lodgings for transients, they find neighborly relationships diffi-cult to maintain and less than satisfying.The loss of community reality and participation jeopardizes manyvalues of the democratic tradition. Those generous impulses thatgrow out of an awareness of a local common good are weakened.There is increasing conviction that one should be loyal, not to thecommon good, but to standards of dress, behavior, and belief thatare set by people beyond local control or to large-scale associationsthat stress conformity to standards set by a distant headquarters,as in labor unions and professional organizations, or even in great