Community Development Review

At a time of growing social, economic and environmental challenge, this book offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the connections between social work and community development and on how social workers can use a community development approach to practice in critical, creative and sustainable ways.

Founded in a perspective that speaks to the diversity of contexts and processes used across Canada, this work is nevertheless firmly grounded in theory, offering an in-depth analysis geared toward advanced study in community practice. This depth is further strengthened by the diversity of topics represented in this collective work: community work in various regions of the country exploring issues of poverty and environmental activism; community work with immigrants and refugees, and with trans communities; feminist community organizing as well as organizing with persons with disabilities and with members of linguistic communities; and, finally, artsbased community work with the elderly. This book is published in English. - S’il reflète une diversité de contextes et de processus mis en oeuvre partout au Canada, cet ouvrage est toutefois fermement ancré dans la théorie, convenant aux études avancées en pratique communautaire. La diversité des sujets que propose cet ouvrage collectif est d’un intérêt particulier, qu’il s’agisse du travail communautaire dans diverses régions du pays explorant les questions de la pauvreté et de l’activisme environnemental; le travail communautaire auprès des immigrants et des réfugiés et avec les communautés de personnes trans; l’organisation de la communauté féministe ainsi que celle des personnes handicapées ou celle des membres de communautés linguistiques, et enfin, le travail communautaire axé sur les arts auprès des personnes âgées. Ce livre est publié en anglais.

The concept of community development is often misunderstood, holding different meanings across different academic disciplines. Moreover, the concept of community development has been historically abstracted, not only in the way the concept has been conceptualized in academic studies, but also by the way in which practitioners use the term in the vernacular. Departing from traditional definitions of community development, this volume applies the New Public Service (NPS) perspective of Public Administration to community development to illustrate how public administrators and public managers can engage in community development planning and implementation that results in more equitable and sustainable long-term outcomes. This book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in public administration/management, public administration theory, community development, economic development, urban sociology, urban politics, and urban planning.