CHAPTER 7 LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Meaning of Community
• For Zentner (1964), a community is
• a group structure that is shaped around goals,
• a collective grouping that has some collective
  identity,
• a group of people who maintain an occupied space
  or community centre, and
• a gathering of people who have a degree of local
  autonomy and responsibility.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Meaning of Community
• Active Living Canada (1993) has defined community
  as any group of people who share something in
  common geography (e.g., town, city, province,
  reserve), interests (e.g., fitness, wilderness
  tripping, politics, travel), status and life
  experiences (e.g., age, culture, socio-economic
  status), or affiliations and relationships (e.g.,
  workplace, schools, unions, clubs).

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Meaning of Community
• Hutchison and McGill (1992120) mention that
  there are four preferred ways of understanding
  community. These are
• psychological sense of community,
• community as a spatial or geographical concept,
• community as social networks, and
• associational perspectives of community.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Community Development
• The conceptual meaning of community development
  evolves primarily out of the fields of community
  development, resource development, social work
  and sociology. Despite the multidisciplinary
  origins of the conceptualization of community
  development, the underlying assumptions are
  similar. That is, community development is about
  people working together to improve not only their
  living conditions but also their quality of life.
  

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Definitions of Community Development in Leisure
  Studies
• Pat Hunt (19941) defines community development
  as the enhancement of the quality of life of a
  community through the active involvement and
  participation of citizens and concerned agencies
  within a coordinated approach. For Hunt,
  community development in leisure and recreation
  is not a passive exercise, but comes out of
  active involvement and collaborative efforts of
  leisure and recreation service providers and
  participants.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Definitions of Community Development in Leisure
  Studies
• Hunt (1995) posits that there are five key
  characteristics in defining community development
  in leisure and recreation settings. These are
• community participation,
• Partnerships,
• shared power and decision making,
• Empowerment, and
• belief in the value of collective action.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Evolution of Community Development in Canada
• The 1930s is often viewed as the decade that
  brought together community development and
  leisure (Karlis, 2002). In the 1930s, community
  owned leisure and recreation increased in
  popularity in Canada with the established of
  community leagues in Jasper and the Gyro Club in
  Edmonton. The impact of the Playground Movement
  and a philosophy geared towards keeping kids of
  the streets enticed citizens at the grassroots
  level to come together to establish
  community-owned leisure and recreation services
  (Hunt, 1994 2).

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Evolution of Community Development in Canada
• In the latter part of the 1970s, focus shifted
  once again to a greater involvement at the
  grassroots level. Increased efforts by community
  leisure and recreation personnel to listening to
  the community were initiated as it was realized
  that the community was not responding as well to
  a direct leisure and recreation provision
  approach (Hunt, 1994).
• In the 1980s and the 1990s the trend of
  increasing demand for community development in
  municipal leisure and recreation services
  continued (Allen, 1991 Connelly, 1992
  McCormick, 1991). Leisure and recreation
  services in municipalities across Canada
  increased focus and reshaped mandates to include
  community development.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Leisure Studies Research in Community Development
• The 1970s was the decade in which leisure studies
  research in community development in Canada
  started to expand. One of the first studies was
  conducted by DAmore (1977-1978). In fact, this
  study presented community development as being
  perhaps the only appropriate means for the
  delivery of leisure services.
• The 1980s saw minimal advancements in leisure
  studies research in community development in
  Canada. Some studies that did appear during this
  decade tended to focus primarily on the
  programming nature of leisure and recreation to
  community development (see Bella and Lanthier,
  1984 and Hunter, 1986) whereas others examined
  the impact of community integration on leisure
  lifestyles (see Anderes and Fortier, 1987 Sandys
  and Leaker, 1987 Kaminski-Morris, 1987).

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Approaches of Community Development
• Self-Help
• stems from the understanding that all people have
  the abilities and capabilities to be change
  agents. This approach assumes (Christenson,
  1980) that people
• come together,
• examine their situation,
• design strategies to deal with various aspects of
  their environment, and
• implement plans for improvement.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Approaches of Community Development
• Technical Assistance
• Technical assistance is a direct form of
  assistance in which those requiring change rely
  on outside help to implement community
  development.
• Technical assistance is concerned with
  transferring the responsibilities for both
  diagnosis and change from the hands of
  organizational members to the hands of change
  agents external to the organization (Karlis,
  Auger and Gravelle 1996 134).

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Types of Community Development in Leisure and
  Recreation
• Three types of community development approaches
  tend to be utilized by the leisure and recreation
  industry and in leisure studies research (Hunt,
  1994). These are
• direct services,
• indirect services, and
• self-sufficiency

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Types of Community Development in Leisure and
  Recreation
• Although it is possible for all leisure and
  recreation organizations to engage in direct
  service, indirect service or self-sufficiency
  community development, economic and other social
  factors such as size and demographics may
  determine the type experienced.
• Commercial sector leisure and recreation
  organizations tend to be large in size, consist
  of affluent memberships and have access to the
  necessary economic resources to afford direct
  service community development. The availability
  of financial capital makes it possible for many
  commercial leisure and recreation organizations
  to hire trained experts, consultants, or even
  instructors to carry out the community
  development process and subsequently implement
  desired change.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Citizen Participation
• Citizen participation is critical for the
  successful implementation of any community
  development approach in leisure and recreation
  service organization.
• Citizen participation is defined as the process
  by which individuals increasingly take part in
  decision-making within the institutions and
  environments that affect them (Arai, 1996
  27-28).
• Citizen participation is an opportunity for all
  people, whether administrators or not, to take
  place in the decision-making process. Citizen
  participation is a form of participatory
  democracy where all have a say in the decisions
  that directly affect them.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• The Benefits of Community Development
• Some of the main benefits that could be
  experienced by individuals engaging in the
  community development process and experience
  include
• The opportunity to engage in dialogues at the
  grassroots level,
• contribution to the decision-making process,
• development of personal leadership skills,
• enhancement of community or organization pride,
• building of self-identity and self-esteem,
• provision of volunteer experience,
• development of a team atmosphere,
• opportunity to contribute to group development,
• enhancement of social functioning opportunities,
  and
• contribution to development of culture and image
  of group or organization.

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CHAPTER 7LEISURE, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Healthy Individuals and Communities The Ultimate
  Purpose of Community Development
• The ultimate purpose of community development is
  to enable individuals and groups to function in a
  healthy community and environment.
• In the late 1980s, the idea of healthy
  communities was adapted in Canada after
  reflection on the experiences of several European
  cities (Berlin, 1989). As a result, the Canadian
  Healthy Communities Project was sponsored by the
  Canadian Institute of Planners, the Federation of
  Canadian Municipalities and the Canadian Public
  Health Association.
• The underlying assumption behind the
  establishment of healthy communities is that two
  main factors play a vital role in that
  communities are indeed healthy community
  involvement and partnerships (Kerr, 1990).
• The Canadian Healthy Communities Project is also
  closely linked to leisure and recreation as the
  opportunity and potential to experience leisure
  and recreation helps enhance the level of
  healthy-ness of the community.