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community development:
... a process that brings about social and economic changes in locations where people live, work, and share things in common. It affects vitality and sustainability--affects and is, among other things, affected by economic factors as well as growth.
Community development may seem to happen spontaneously but a society must exists and individuals need to be taking enterprising actions. Sometimes, actions involve gaining influence and working with political force. Something a simple as paying taxes to obtain government services that build and maintain community infrastructure is a passive involvement in devolvement. Infrastructure covers housing, neighborhoods, and maintenance of a community's commercial center. A place that starts out as a crossroads community with a potential to grow is forced to address transportation, utilities, and communications—see Enterprise and Economic Development; A Beginning.
Community development may be monitored, managed, or encouraged. It may reflect local wants and needs in a place and it surrounding area. Community development then blends into local area development involving government, citizen leaders, and activists as well as community development practitioners. The area of development may be recognizable because it has a transportation center; therefore, the community extends out to form a local economy, in which case the shift of focus may be to, say, community economic development.
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