Toward a Theory of Community Capital

Subject Areas : architecture

Hooshang  Amirahmadi ¹ (Professor of Planning and Regional Development, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, new Jersey, USA; Visiting Professor of the University of Oxford, U.K.)

Accepted : 2022-04-09 Published : 2008-12-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

     This paper argues that globalization has localized its polarization effects and operational requirements largely because of growing significance of information technology and the emergence of knowledge-based, or “learning,” communities.       This paper proposes “community capital” an organizing concept for the field of community development. While the concept of capital is not new, “community capital” is novel in that it is larger than the sum total of economic capital, human capital, social capital, physical capital, digital capital and the like.  The concept brings together the core concepts of the four disciplinary pillars of planning – matter, value, institutions, and space -- into a single interdisciplinary conceptual framework. Thus, applying the concept of community capital helps resolve a key cause of the failure of territorial planning. The paper then examines the concept of “community capital” by underscoring its key advantages.  First, “community capital” has a built-in spatial dimension, but here “space is community,” and as such it is an element of societal unity. Second, the societal concept of space allows for time-space integration, creating the context for material, social, institutional, and spiritual advancement of community life. And third, the built-in capital conception of “community capital” captures the significance of many otherwise underutilized and embedded community assets, including the non-codified knowledge that is often exchanged at various community places and gatherings.      

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