8 Future prospects
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Alison Gilchrist
Abstract
COVID-19 has demonstrated the risks associated with predicting the future. Prior to 2020, few could have imagined the global crisis that it has created. And even as countries took steps to contain its spread, hardly anyone expected these measures to be required for so long. As vaccinations begin to provide some protection and restrictions ease, we can perhaps allow ourselves to see a post-pandemic future. But we are conscious that, by the time this Short Guide is published, the wheel will have turned again. We do not yet know what this will mean. However, in some respects, the pandemic has simply served to expose or accelerate underlying trends. This chapter considers how these trends are likely to affect local communities in the coming years, what community development can offer and how, in turn, prevailing conditions are likely to change the nature or focus of work with communities.
The first edition of this Short Guide was published shortly after a Coalition government had come to power in the UK, with the incoming government pledging to give communities more powers and devolve decision-making and responsibilities downwards. But since that time, the commitment to empowering communities has wavered. The community development infrastructure has been seriously hollowed out and those working with communities have faced new challenges posed by austerity and widening inequalities as well as the entrenched divisions exposed by the Brexit referendum and its longer-term consequences. As we write, the UK, along with many other countries, faces a likely economic downturn as well as the unknown effects on mental health of social isolation and interruptions to education that have accompanied the pandemic, especially for adolescents whose rites of passage into adulthood have been disrupted.
Abstract
COVID-19 has demonstrated the risks associated with predicting the future. Prior to 2020, few could have imagined the global crisis that it has created. And even as countries took steps to contain its spread, hardly anyone expected these measures to be required for so long. As vaccinations begin to provide some protection and restrictions ease, we can perhaps allow ourselves to see a post-pandemic future. But we are conscious that, by the time this Short Guide is published, the wheel will have turned again. We do not yet know what this will mean. However, in some respects, the pandemic has simply served to expose or accelerate underlying trends. This chapter considers how these trends are likely to affect local communities in the coming years, what community development can offer and how, in turn, prevailing conditions are likely to change the nature or focus of work with communities.
The first edition of this Short Guide was published shortly after a Coalition government had come to power in the UK, with the incoming government pledging to give communities more powers and devolve decision-making and responsibilities downwards. But since that time, the commitment to empowering communities has wavered. The community development infrastructure has been seriously hollowed out and those working with communities have faced new challenges posed by austerity and widening inequalities as well as the entrenched divisions exposed by the Brexit referendum and its longer-term consequences. As we write, the UK, along with many other countries, faces a likely economic downturn as well as the unknown effects on mental health of social isolation and interruptions to education that have accompanied the pandemic, especially for adolescents whose rites of passage into adulthood have been disrupted.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- What is community development? 13
- The changing policy context 35
- Theoretical concepts 53
- Effective and ethical community development 81
- Community development in action 107
- Challenges for practice 137
- Future prospects 161
- References 177
- Index 201
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and boxes vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- What is community development? 13
- The changing policy context 35
- Theoretical concepts 53
- Effective and ethical community development 81
- Community development in action 107
- Challenges for practice 137
- Future prospects 161
- References 177
- Index 201
