For my undergraduate dissertation, I examined the new development of Port Loop in Birmingham which offered a new community with Birmingham’s first new park in over 10 years and communal garden spaces, alongside community facilities of coffee shops and communal working spaces.
In order to unpack the value of this development in terms of social, cultural, and financial value I examined literature around a sense of place and community building. I find in my project work now some of this literature review is again prevalent and can be applied as a framework to keep in mind when building my own community through Nature In.
My full dissertation can be downloaded from the file link below, where you can read my literature review section from pages 10 – 16, with 14-16 focusing on sense of place/ community.
Community Building Literature – In respect of the Nature In Community:
The works of Crow and Mah (2012) suggest community to be a contested term throughout literature. However, for the purpose of developing the Nature In Community, the community will refer to a space hosting a collective mission and ideals to achieve a common goal through knowledge sharing, collaboration, and action.
I am primarily focused on concepts of online community and placemaking to develop strong social and cultural values among and for community members. These concepts will be unpacked in my following post
Bibliography
Crow, G. and Mah, A. (2012) ‘Conceptualisations and meanings of ‘community’: the theory and operationalization of a contested concept.’ Report to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Swindon, pp. 1-39.