Community Development

This book uses historical and contemporary materials to document the ways in which policy-makers, in different eras, have sought to use state powers and regulations to create better, more balanced, and sustainable communities and citizens. 

This report covers developments in 20 less popular and more problematic council estates, based on four waves of research since 1980.

It presents unique evidence of the impact of 25 years of social change and policy from Thatcher to Blair, a period in which the number of British council homes halved. 

A free pdf is available at www.jrf.org.uk

This survey is the first comprehensive account of English markets as a social space. It investigates markets throughout the country and comes to some surprising conclusions about the role they play in the world of modern Britain.

A free pdf version of this report is available online at www.jrf.org.uk

There has been considerable recent policy debate and community concern on street sex work in local neighbourhoods. This report examines how residential areas characterised as areas of female street sex work are shared by different sections of the community and considers community and policy responses. Free pdf version available at www.jrf.org.uk

The UK government has identified Faith communities as important players in community development and regeneration. But religion is also associated with conflict and division. How far is this faith in 'Faith' justified? How far should Faith communities comply? This report assesses the debate and the evidence. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk

How a neighbourhood is viewed can affect the lives of those who live there and the attitudes and behaviour of others towards them. This report examines the increasing use and sophistication of Internet-Based Neighbourhood Information Systems and considers their potential impact on how neighbourhoods are viewed. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk

Community participation is now demanded of virtually all public sector services and programmes. This handbook provides practitioners, community activists, regeneration managers, teachers and academics with the tools needed to ensure that it is effective.

A document of the results of road-testing two frameworks for assessing community participation: Active partners: Benchmarking community involvement in regeneration (Yorkshire Forward, 2000) and Auditing community participation: An assessment handbook (The Policy Press, 2000).

'Regeneration', 'mainstreaming', 'community involvement', 'evidence-based policy', 'public service reform' - terms central to the government's policy programme for tackling social deprivation. This report describes how an East London community organisation has worked to give these terms practical meaning through its Social Enterprise Zone project.

Poverty street addresses one of the UK's major social policy concerns: the gap between the poorest neighbourhoods and the rest of the country. It is an account of neighbourhood decline, a portrait of conditions in the most disadvantaged areas and an up-to-date analysis of the impact of the government's neighbourhood renewal policies.

This report explores the ways in which schools serving two economically and socially disadvantaged urban areas have attempted to balance their educational aims with growing demands to engage in community life. It focuses on the relationship between the schools and their communities and on outcomes in terms of individual and community development.

Drawing on experiences from nine UK cities, Developing people - Regenerating place analyses the views of a range of practitioners on how to achieve more effective joint working across area regeneration and social inclusion initiatives.