Community Development

Community development, according to the United Nations, is “a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.” Collective action can take many forms. People can participate by donating their time, money, physical effort, materials, goods, or expertise. These efforts extend to almost any conceivable endeavor, such as environmental clean-up and sustainability efforts, construction or refurbishment of housing, building community-based businesses to stimulate the local economy, and offering health, educational, and training services to improve the lives of local citizens and the poor. In essence, the concept driving community development is the use of local people and resources to solve local problems and fulfill local needs.

SEE ALSO Collective Action ; Commons Problems ; Community ; Ostrom, Elinor ; Self-Governance .

Cory Jensen
Schenectady County Community College