ABSTRACT
DEFINING ‘NEIGHBOURHOOD’ AND ‘COMMUNITY’ Throughout this volume the terms ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘community’ are sometimes used together, sometimes separately. The reason for this is partly pragmatic: both terms are widely used in policy documents issued by government and by research and social care practitioners. Although there are differences in emphasis and attributes at one level both concepts convey the same idea – that of a spatial environment, a bounded locality in which people may or may not feel some sense of affinity, attachment and recognition. Neither term is used in this volume in ways that assume the existence of
By the end of this chapter you should:
j Understand why neighbourhoods and communities are essential arenas for practice
j Be familiar with definitions of ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘community’
j Know the research findings on ‘neighbourhood effects’ – how neighbourhoods impact on service outcomes and people’s well-being
j Be familiar with the major community and neighbourhood focus of government policies for public services
j Begin to think how social work and social care practice can adapt in order to engage communities and neighbourhoods.
