Community Development - Research

This book presents a lively challenge to the existing thinking on community development, and proposes ways forward for community building.

"London Voices, London Lives" addresses a question of great current importance for urban policy: what kind of a place is London in the 21st century, and how does it differ significantly from other parts of urban Britain? It addresses these questions in a unique way: over one hundred ordinary Londoners provide their answers in their own voices.

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. 

'Community' is a much used yet little understood term. Through a set of detailed case studies of communities in action this book examines the sources of community activism, the ways in which communities define themselves, and are defined by outsiders, and the nature of the interface between communities and public agencies via partnerships.