This paper presents a case study of the market town of Hitchin, thirty miles north of London, UK. It describes a community-based planning project which aimed to outline some of the general principles for a plan of sustainable development based on the local interests of the town.
This paper from the Rockefeller Foundation uses case studies from four states in the United States (Atlanta, New York, California, and Maryland) to discuss the challenges and benefits of community building initiatives. It seeks to demonstrate how community building in poor urban communities can help to strengthen the social fabric of the communities and address the issue of urban poverty. Furthermore, it offers various institutional approaches to community development and describes five pillars of community building: leadership, patience, realistic but high expectations, community-wide capacity building, and courage and candor about race.
This document describes the proceedings of a community development and regeneration workshop conducted by the HULL Community Development Company. The workshop aimed to review and explore the connections between community development and sustainable community regeneration. It includes topics such as sustainable regeneration, community development and participation, where the gaps are, who needs to be involved, and action planning.
This paper describes the use of participatory research on violence and discusses a range of participatory urban appraisal (PUA) tools that can be used for this purpose. This includes tools that can document the perceptions of poorer groups regarding the kinds of violence (economic, social or political), the extent, causes (and the links with poverty and exclusion) and consequences of violence, as well as the strategies for coping with or reducing it. In addition, it outlines a conceptual framework on violence, poverty/exclusion, inequality and social capital, drawing on examples from Guatemala and Colombia.
This paper discusses community exchange programmes as a powerful mechanism for increasing the capacity of community organisations to participate in urban development. By enabling communities to share and explore local knowledge created through livelihood struggles, a powerful process is triggered, whereby community exchanges transform development. Through a cumulative process of learning, sharing and collective action, strong sustained and mobilised networks of communities emerge. Central to this has been the sharing of experiences between communities, first at very local levels, then in the city, then nationally and internationally. The development of this methodology by the National Slum Dwellers Association, SPARC (an NGO) and Mahila Milan (a federation of women's cooperatives) in India is described. Exchanges are located within a broader approach to community learning and people's empowerment. Benefits of the exchange process are examined, and the paper reflects on why exchanges are an effective methodology for supporting a process of people-centred development. The necessary conditions for the exchange process to be fully effective are reviewed, which consequently point to the distinct characteristics of the exchange process vis-Ó-vis other participation methodology. It concludes by drawing together some of the wider implications of this approach.
Community to community exchanges, which enable poor people to plan, control and negotiate their own development strategies, are the focus of this paper, particularly in the context of squatters/slum dwellers. These exchanges, which spread to international exchanges amongst the urban poor, have birthed a people's movement of global proportions. The paper begins by summarising the urban context in which these organisations emerged, and the scale and nature of the development challenge they face. The emergence of Mahila Milan - a network of women's savings collectives formed by women pavement dwellers in India - is described as a precursor of the initiative, while the need for new models of urban development led to a search for ways of enhancing community learning and hence, exchanges. The ways in which the network can support its members through international exchanges are identified and discussed. A concluding section considers some of the wider implications of the work of Shack/ Slum Dwellers International for people-centred development
This paper has its origins in a participatory action research project by Roofless Women's Action Research Mobilization (RWARM). The organisation seeks to consult directly with those who have experienced homelessness to seek their expertise on how to restructure the current system to effectively combat homelessness. Narratives or stories of formerly homeless women are shared in order to promote understanding of reasons why women become homeless and of issues faced by women once they are homeless.
This edition of 'Dialogue', the magazine of Homeless International, focuses on community exchanges as a learning process. These have been transformed into practices that have begun to change the way that development in informal settlements takes place. South-South exchanges have been important in this respect, and knowledge is now being shared in the UK through North-South exchange. The magazine looks at some of the exchanges that have taken place in more depth, as well giving some govenments perspectives on working in partnership.
This dissertation has two aims. Firstly, on a practical level, to carry out an assessment of the sustainability of the Battle 'Globe' group (BGG) community garden, in Reading, UK using a participatory action research approach. Secondly, on a theoretical level, to use the Sustainable rural Livelihoods (SRL) approach as a framework for analysing the community garden. The definitions and concepts behind the SRL approach are discussed. This is followed by an analysis of the community garden using parts of the SRL framework. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are discussed and alternative tools for analysis suggested. The theoretical conclusions are that the SRL framework needs to be more explicit in how to manage scale, how to analyse institutions, how to develop definitions for social capital and how this can be taught to practitioners. The practical conclusions for the BGG are that the sustainability of the group and the garden can be enhanced by participatory monitoring and evaluation, increasing links with other organisations in the neighbourhood and raising awareness of changes at higher level that could affect the garden in the future. Finally, the extent to which theoretical frameworks and participatory approaches compliment one another is addressed.
This publication, produced by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, discusses community exchanges between poor people. Horizontal exchanges provide people the space and support to explore and refine their knowledge, builds capacities to deal with the root issues of poverty and homelessness, and to work out their own means to participate in decision-making which affects their lives. Exchange builds networks and working alliances with sufficient scale and clout to strengthen representation of the poor in development debates and to expand the role the poor can play in bringing about equity and social justice. Solutions that are worked out locally potentially become the building blocks for scaling up. The report extracts some of the fundamental ideas about community exchanges, which are then examined in further detail and illustrated with anecdotes. Ideas, tips and lessons learned abound!
This video is based on the first five episodes of the Baraza ya Mji Mkongwe TV series from October-December 1999. The purpose was to facilitate public debate on the need for conservation of thousands of unique buildings in Zanzibar's historic Stonetown. The programmes were produced in a participatory way on the streets and in people's homes. They were broadcasted weekly by TV Zanzibar, each programme building on ideas from the previous one. The TV series is part of an on-going community based rehabilitation programme. The video demonstrates how local television was used in participatory urban planning in Zanzibar's Stonetown.
The paper presents guidelines for undertaking urban appraisals on violence that evolved from a World Bank funded policy focused research on community perceptions of violence in Guatemala and Colombia. By reviewing relevant conceptual frameworks, discussing the need for conducting participatory urban appraisals for research on violence and assessing the tools for appraisal, the authors show the rationale for and importance of participatory urban appraisals.
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The Kitagata Project advocates participatory settlement development in urban low-income communities in Japan. This article introduces the background, processes and methods of community participation in Kitagata. It also describes the planning process and participatory housing design. It concludes by briefly discussing issues related to settlement management.
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Urban Community Action Planning for teenagers (UCAPT), an urban Northern adaptation of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and participatory action research (PAR), provides primarily low-income teenagers with neighbourhood problem-solving and planning skills in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. UPCAT integrates indoor and field-based exercises, where young people learn community-based development and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. This article describes the context of neighbourhood conditions and how UCAPT works. It then draws on two case studies that highlight the roles of teenagers in action. The article concludes by reflecting on some of the challenges that working with teenagers poses.
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A participatory well-being needs assessment on a deprived urban housing estate on the outskirts of London in UK. The report describes how the process of using a participatory approach proved as, if not more, important as any substantive findings about the well being needs of people on the estate. What mattered most was not what was known, but who found out about it and how. The report describes the different methods and tactics employed to incorporate different voices from around the community and some of the essential outcomes. It also shows how the community set about making action plans and leaves us at the stage of some of the intial ideas being put into action.