Community Development has a long history in the United Kingdom and has evolved and changed over time. With roots in voluntary and community responses to the poverty and hardship experienced in cities, such as Birmingham, that grew rapidly during the industrial revolution. Later it became an approach for preparing for countries' independence from the former British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s. Then shifting focus to UK-based anti-deprivation programmes, again focused on large cities experiencing economic decline, with approaches influenced by emerging social justice movements in the 60s and 70s.

We recommend two excellent essays that give a complete picture of the history of community development in the UK and the social and political contexts that shaped it.

The more recent essay is by pioneering social thinker David Boyle and commissioned by Local Trust. You can read it here

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An earlier article is hosted at Changes Foundations by Alison Gilchrist, an independent consultant and research fellow at the University of Birmingham. She has worked for almost four decades in community development as an activist, practitioner, trainer, researcher, policy advisor and manager.

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