1 the Role of Assets in Community-Based Development 3
The Role of Assets in Community-Based 1 Development ommunity development’s intellectual roots are in several academic C disciplines, including sociology, economics, political science, planning, social work, and even architecture. The interdisciplinary approach of com- munity development has many advantages, but it also presents some ana- lytical problems. It lacks a common language, a conceptual framework, and a set of agreed-upon issues or problems. Community development also is frequently driven more by practice than by theory. There also is distributeconsiderable debate among practitioners whether community development is primarily a process or an outcome. or Community development has always had a diverse set of objectives: solv- ing local problems (e.g., unemployment and poverty), addressing inequalities of wealth and power, promoting democracy, and building a sense of com- munity (Rubin & Rubin, 1992). As a result, it has been defined in a variety of ways, including local economic development,post, political empowerment, service provision, real estate development, comprehensive planning, and job training. In this book, we do not overcome these ambiguities, but we define some of the major concepts and issues for which there is considerable agree- ment in the community development field today. We believe the asset approach offers the best potentialcopy, for providing a common conceptual basis for community development theory and for practitioners. We begin with one of the most slippery terms—community. not BOX 1.1 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FACTS •• RacialDo and ethnic minorities account for 83% of the growth in metropolitan areas. •• One out of eight Americans is an immigrant, and half of the foreign born live in a few of the largest metropolitan areas.
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