Editing Community development (section)

{{Short description|Communities taking collective action to solve common problems}}
{{Community}}
[[File:Alan Titchmarsh plants tree on Bolsover Street.jpg|thumb|[[Alan Titchmarsh]] tree planting in London, 2011]]
The United Nations defines '''community development''' as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems."<ref name="unterm">{{cite web|title=Community development|url=http://unterm.un.org/DGAACS/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/526c2eaba978f007852569fd00036819?OpenDocument|website=UNTERM|access-date=7 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714225617/http://unterm.un.org/DGAACS/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/526c2eaba978f007852569fd00036819?OpenDocument|archive-date=14 July 2014}}</ref> It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of [[Civic engagement|civic]] leaders, [[Activism|activists]], involved [[Citizenship|citizens]], and professionals to improve various aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient [[Local community|local communities]].

Community development is also understood as a professional discipline, and is defined by the International Association for Community Development as "a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and [[social justice]], through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Alison Gilchrist|author2=Marilyn Taylor|title=The Short Guide to Community Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWiZFrT-Ns8C&pg=PA2|year=2011|publisher=Policy Press|isbn=978-1-84742-689-5|pages=2+}}</ref>

Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities. These skills are often created through the formation of social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger [[Social organization|social institutions]].

''Community development'' as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries, i.e. the [[United States]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], as well as other countries in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]. It is also used in some countries in [[Eastern Europe]] with active community development associations in [[Hungary]] and [[Romania]]. The ''Community Development Journal'', published by [[Oxford University Press]], since 1966 has aimed to be the major forum for research and dissemination of international community development theory and practice.<ref>{{cite web|title=Community Development Journal- about the journal|url=http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/cdj/about.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231071327/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/cdj/about.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 December 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU. There are a number of institutions of higher education offer community development as an area of study and research such as the [[University of Toronto]], [[Leiden University]], [[SOAS University of London]], and the [[Balsillie School of International Affairs]], among others.