The Community Development Process I: Contact-making, Analysis and Planning

Abstract

In considering the notion ‘community’ Willmott (1989) emphasises two main points. First, communities can either be of a geographical nature, or they can be ‘communities of interest’ where the link between people is something other than locality. This link can be as diverse as belonging to the same ethnic minority, being a woman, supporting the same football club or having a particular kind of handicap. Second, there is both attachment and interaction between the members of a community. I will use the term community of interest to describe these non-geographical communities both where they already exist or where they potentially exist, in that interaction and attachment are not yet present.