Asset Building and Community Development

by Gary Paul Green, Anna L. Haines

"This text provides practical insight and examples not available in other texts" -Desna Wallin, University of Georgia

The Second Edition of Asset Building and Community Development examines the promise and limits of community development. Authors Gary Paul Green and Anna Haines provide an engaging, thought-provoking, and comprehensive approach to asset building by focusing on the role of different forms of community capital in the development process. Updated throughout, this edition explores how communities are building on their key assets-physical, human, social, financial, environmental, political, and cultural capital.

New to the Second Edition "Provides a more in-depth discussion of the role of assets in local development" Students are able to make stronger connections between the theory and practice of community development."Presents a broader treatment of the community development field" Community-based organizations are explored, including faith-based organizations, youth-oriented organizations, and neighborhood associations."Traces the history of community development" Chapters on cultural and political capital have been added."Offers updated resources for students and practitioners" In addition to exercises and questions, each chapter concludes with case studies, additional references, Web sites, and videos.

Intended Audience

This is an ideal core textbook for undergraduate courses such as Community Development, Community Planning, and Urban Sociology in departments of sociology, urban and regional planning, political science, economics, urban studies, and geography.

Meet theauthors Gary Green's website www.drs.wisc.edu/greenAnna Haines websitewww.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/

Genres: Urban Planning, Textbooks

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2001

Reviews

[CTEP]

The whole point of AmeriCorps is to build community and to build community assets. This book takes a fairly systemic, though more organizational focused view of community development. Basically, it puts a lot of the various factors in context, from building financial capital in neighborhoods, to culture, environment, organizations, and politics. One thing about AmeriCorps is that we can get stuck in our niche and sometimes it is really useful to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Realizing that there are more players on the field whose actions may affect our work can make our projects more effective.

Why should other corps members read or not read this book?

If a member is interested in some of the more theoretical and historical practices of community development, then yes, they should read this book. It is an academic text, however, so it can get rather dry. But if you want to know more about what academia has to say about community development and assets, then it is a good place to start.

[Löki Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the history and components of community development and asset building. Green & Haines identify the several forms of community assets, including cultural, political, capital, and others. I found this book easy to read, albeit a little too wordy at times. The highlighted sections and case studies help to clarify points, but can often run on for a few pages making it difficult to find an appropriate place to break in the text to focus on the additional points.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an assigned book for my Intro to Community Development graduate class and it really was my intro to CD. I found it very informative with a lot of useful resources (links, other texts, organizations, case studies) and imagine I will be returning to this book a lot as I continue to learn about community development.