ABSTRACT
People live in a physical and cultural context that shapes their lives. It is important that community development workers understand this context and its impacts, and have strategies to help ‘make life more liveable’. To this end we discuss the following:
The world is divided into elements of space that are controlled by institutions and government organisations in their own interest
This process of controlling spaces is termed by de Certeau as ‘strategies’
How we interact with these spaces (or are prevented from interacting) shapes our understanding of the world and how we see ourselves
In responding to the way spaces are organised, we developed a set (repertoire) of personal ‘tactics’
Tactics are usually individualised and can be personally functional or dysfunctional, socially progressive or repressive
Tactics can often be transgressive, and again these can be personally functional or dysfunctional, socially progressive or repressive
Community development can help people understand the effect of space, and facilitate the development of more functional and socially progressive tactics
By understanding the above, community development workers are better equipped to help people understand how to respond to the world around them.
