Planning and community development: case studies

Planning and Comunity Development: Case Studies, presents the findings of the inter-university Seminar held on 28?29 July 2011 and organized by researchers from the Technical University of Madrid and the University of California, Berkeley, who were fortunate to have the presence of the renowned Professor John Friedmann. Professors, researchers and PhD students from our research groups presented their works as scientific communications that were enriched by the debate among the different researches who attended the Seminar. All of them appear in the picture below in front of the gate of Haviland Hall at UC Berkeley. This book analyses the concept of planning and its evolution so far, leading to the conceptualization of governance as an expression of the planning practice. It also studies the role of social capital and cooperation as tools for the community development. The conceptual analysis is complemented by the development of six case studies that put forward experiences of planning and community development carried out in diverse social and cultural contexts of Latin-America, Europe and North America. This publication comes after more than 20 years of work of the researchers that met at the seminar. Through their work in managing development initiatives, they have learned lessons and have contribute to shape their own body of teaching that develops and analyses the role of planning in public domain to promote community development. This knowledge is synthesized in the model Planning as Working With People, that shows that development is not effective unless is promoted in continuous collaboration with all the actors involved in the process

Fair Trade as a Community Development Initiative: Local and Global Implications

This paper examines fair trade as a community development initiative that challenges unjust global trading conditions. On a local level, fair trade aims to create a sustainable livelihood for farmers, to strengthen agricultural cooperatives, and to fund community-based projects. Fair trade also purports to engender global solidarity through linking Southern producers and Northern consumers in a concerted effort to direct the market towards social aims. The paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of fair trade as a social welfare intervention. Recommendations are provided to strengthen the fair-trade movement in light of social work values

Toward a Central American Fair Trade Agreement

The paper presents an argument for the political potential of civil society in the formulation of international trade agreements and the role social workers can play in facilitating civil and political participation. It uses the case of the debate over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in Costa Rica to illustrate both the political problems free trade agreements engender and the forms of political participation emerging in response. The paper’s fundamental claim is that while free trade treaties can erode human economic and political rights, civic and political rights can be strengthened through direct participation in the formation of “fair” trade agreements

The Childhood Obesity Epidemic as a Burgeoning Site of Social Stratification

This article deconstructs the childhood obesity epidemic, examining the anthropological, social, and political meanings of the constructs of fatness, obesity, and epidemic. It chronicles the emergence of a speciously objective obesity construct that preserves the underlying moral significance of a fatness construct. The political deployment of the obesity construct marginalizes certain groups, such as low socioeconomic-status (SES), racial-minority, and ethnic-minority families, in ostensibly scientific terms. So too, the political deployment of the epidemic construct secures the ascendancy of childhood obesity on the policy agenda. The article argues that social workers are obligated to deconstruct the constructs of obesity and epidemic

Not for Members Only: Cooperatives and Community Development in Costa Rica

This study explores the role of coffee cooperatives in providing for the social welfare of Coto Brus, a rural Costa Rican county. The research explains how, to what extent, and why these cooperatives have become involved in development and organizing projects that benefit not just their members but also the community. Data were gathered by ethnographic immersion in the community over 8 months. Sources included published government reports; interviews with cooperative managers and employees, cooperative members, and community members; participant-observation in community and cooperative events; and administrative records from cooperatives. The research suggests that cooperatives are reflective of a social development approach to social work practice by attempting to harmonize economic, social, and political aims. At first, cooperative members coalesced around meeting economic needs for the community. They, then, engrained a commitment to providing social goods. Recently, they have also spearheaded a coalition of community organizations to engage in political, non-partisan advocacy. In sum, they promote community welfare through the economic, social, and political realms. The cooperatives' involvement in the community is not wholly virtuous, and there are gaps between discourses and practices, which obviate their potential to promote community welfare. In spite of these gaps, the two cooperatives have served as engines of development in the county. The paper concludes by considering ways in which cooperatives can be strengthened to maximize their potential for social development