Sustainable Community Development, Networks and Resilience (original) (raw)

Social capital: a necessary and sufficient condition for sustainable community development?

Community Development Journal, 2008

Research in Canada and Australia has shown that social capital is a necessary condition for sustainable community development as it enhances linking ties that increase access to resources outside the community. Social capital in and of itself, however, is not always sufficient to sustain and develop local community initiatives, as infusions of economic and human capital are often necessary; the larger 'social safety net' can play a critical role in local community development initiatives. More importantly, government policy alignment may be critical to establish a stable environment within which organizations can sustain and increase the scale of their operations. Governments have a critical leadership role to play by realigning policies and incentives to complement the existing social capital network formation by strategically targeting their interventions at pivotal points in the evolution of local organizations to optimize their access to outside economic and human resources. The role of government is explored in a case study outlining the actions of a local community initiative in a marginalized neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada.

Building sustainable & resilient communities: a balancing of community capital

Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2008

Working toward sustainable community is a complex task for communities especially given the ambiguous nature of implementing the concept of sustainable development. However, by working to understand the nature of community capital, administrators can begin to move beyond bottom line thinking toward a more comprehensive and collective view of community. This paper presents a theoretical framework that helps municipal decision makers begin collecting information they need to help them build sustainable and resilient communities.

Building the Sustainable Community: Is Social Capital the Answer?

Sociological Inquiry, 2001

Over the past decade, environmental sustainability has emerged as a prominent theme in the community development literature. In fact, the concept has become a standard feature of most economic and social development plans. Most models of sustainable community development stress the importance of widespread participation in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, community studies document numerous barriers to broad involvement and the high level of activeness envisioned by proponents of sustainable community development. In searching for ways to overcome these barriers, scholars and policymakers have embraced the idea that we can enhance efforts to create more sustainable communities by increasing the local stock of social capital. We examine this line of reasoning in light of what we view as the most important conceptual issues surrounding the relationship between social capital and sustainable community development. We conclude that before social capital is endorsed as a central component of public policy, much work remains to be done in terms of developing a more precise definition of the concept, situating it within extant theories of community, constructing better measures of social capital, documenting the activities and networks most important in building social capital, and gaining a better understanding of the forms of social capital that are most important in developing sustainable communities.

Enhancing Community Resilience through Social Capital and Social Connectedness: Stronger Together!

The National Academies Press, 2021

The Resilient America Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened the Committee on Applied Research Topics for Hazard Mitigation and Resilience to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in reducing the immense human and financial toll of disasters caused by natural hazards and other large-scale emergencies. FEMA asked the committee to identify applied research topics, information, and expertise that can inform action and collaborative priorities within the natural hazard mitigation and resilience fields. The committee, in consultation with the Resilient America Program, selected two large-scale themes within which to identify applied research topics: Social Capital and Social Connectedness for Resilience, and Motivating Local Action to Address Climate Impacts and Build Resilience. Citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2021. Enhancing Community Resilience through Social Capital and Social Connectedness: Stronger Together! . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26123.

The myth of social capital in community development

Housing Policy Debate, 2001

This article argues that contemporary interest in social capital by community development theorists, funders, and practitioners is misguided and needs to be thoroughly rethought. It argues that social capital, as understood by Robert Putnam and people influenced by his work, is a fundamentally flawed concept because it fails to understand issues of power in the production of communities and because it is divorced from economic capital. Therefore, community development practice based on this understanding of social capital is, and will continue to be, similarly flawed. The article further argues that instead of Putnam's understanding of social capital, community development practice would be better served by returning to the way the concept was used by Glenn Loury and Pierre Bourdieu and concludes with a discussion of how these alternative theories of social capital can be realized in community development practice.

Operationalizing Social Capital: A Strategy to Enhance Communities' "Capacity to Concert

International Studies Perspectives, 2002

This article addresses a concern increasingly being voiced in the donor establishment: fifty years of development assistance programs have failed to produce conclusive evidence that they can foster sustainable economic and social development in poor countries. The nature of donor programs is such that it emphasizes economic remedies and orients aid to finite projects. Yet recent evidence suggests that sustained development may be more a continued civic process whereby communities form their capacity to come to their own understandings about public ways of behaving and relating, whereby they develop their capacity to concert. 1 This translates into a practical capability to pinpoint underlying problems, assess alternative approaches, and devise solutions most likely to be sustained. This micro capability may also have important macroeconomic implications in terms of institutional predictability andthrough it-in terms of scale economies, transaction costs, transparency, incentive to innovate, and climate to implement public policies. The article suggests an alternative approach to development assistance and offers concrete recommendations to donors.

Social capital in vulnerable urban settings: an analytical framework

Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 2018

Social capital has been identified as crucial to the fostering of resilience in rapidly expanding cities of the Global South. The purpose of this article is to better understand the complexities of urban social interaction and how such interaction can constitute 'capital' in achieving urban resilience. A concept analysis was conducted to establish what constitutes social capital, its relevance to vulnerable urban settings and how it can be measured. Social capital is considered to be constituted of three forms of interaction: bonds, bridges and linkages. The characteristics of these forms of interaction may vary according to the social, political, cultural and economic diversity to be found within vulnerable urban settings. A framework is outlined to explore the complex nature of social capital in urban settings. On the basis of an illustrative case study, indicators are established to indicate how culturally specific indicators are required to measure social capital that are sensitive to multiple levels of analysis and the development of a multidimensional framework. The framework outlined ought to be adapted to context and validated by future research.

Social Capital and Community Resilience

Despite the ubiquity of disaster and the increasing toll in human lives and financial costs, much research and policy remain focused on physical infrastructure-centered approaches to such events. Governmental organizations such as the Kingdom's Department for International Development continue to spend heavily on hardening levees, raising existing homes, and repairing damaged facilities despite evidence that social, not physical, infrastructure drives resilience. This article highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic. We look at definitions of social capital, measurement and proxies, types of social capital, and mechanisms and application. The article concludes with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and nongovernmental organizations for increasing resilience to catastrophe through strengthening social infrastructure at the community level.

Social capital and community development

Community Development Journal, 2000

The opinions expressed in this publication do not reflect the official view of the APO. For reproduction of the contents in part or in full, the APO's prior permission is requested.

Social Innovation Systems for Building Resilient Communities

Urban Science

Social innovation-while not a new practice in itself-has re-emerged since the global financial crisis in 2008 as an approach to solving our collective intractable global challenges. Despite its renewed popularity, there is no common definition for the phenomenon, not least in the context of its application when planning the built environment or civic infrastructures. This paper seeks to position the practice of social innovation as a means for holistic collaboration between disciplines to develop sustainable social ecologies and systems that provide for resilient communities. It tests a hypothesis that social innovation develops over phases (feedback loops)-that of the network, framework and architecture phase-to design for social, environmental and economic resilience. It looks to theories emerging in other subject areas like sociology and technology, that can inform its application in a planning context, such as Actor-Network and Adaptive Complexity theories. It explores the mechanisms that provide for resilience through action research and engagement with a number of international case studies and scenarios. Lastly, the paper identifies further avenues of research pertaining to networks, frameworks and architectures to develop models of best practice for inclusive, sustainable and iterative community development.