2022-2023 Academic Catalog

Nov 23, 2024

2022-2023 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

IDCE 304 - International and Comparative Analysis of Community Development

Community development is an interdisciplinary field and approachable in multiple ways, some quite abstract and spiritual, and others truly material, strongly defined by the immediate realities and physical needs of human beings in different cultural, societal, and natural settings. Current debates about post-modernity and the effects of globalization hypothesize we are on a path to communal homogeneity-asserting the gradual death of the local. Conversely, other observers of (capitalist) globalization argue that anywhere we look we see a local struggle for identity preservation, resistance and differentiation. These debates evidence a tug of war between the global forces of consumerism, which stamp our identities, attires, music, and the food we eat, and local actors which emphasize social justice and equity while defending their communities and identity. Whereas understanding these debates is critical to develop our strategic orientation as planners, they are often very distant from the analytical and applied concerns of practicing community development. In this course, we will examine some of those debates about the tensions between the global and the local from a comparative perspective. We will grapple with community development in four ways. First, we will approach community as a comparative endeavor, which has complex implications for the ways professionals, citizens, states and various kinds of institutions engage with each other in order to shape the social life of groups and their surrounding environment. Secondly, we will address community development (and underdevelopment) as various forms of exclusion, inclusion and reconstruction, especially in the post-World War II era. Thirdly, we will examine the environmental and governance challenges to democratic and sustainable community development. Finally, we will examine policy-making challenges in community development with a focus on food systems, workforce development, and local economic development.

Concentrations:

Youth Development- Urban Regeneration- Monitoring, Evaluation and Effectiveness.

Anticipated Terms Offered: various