This second-year unit Working with Communities will give students in a range of conceptual and practical tools to understand the complex idea of community and skills to work effectively with diverse communities in their professional practice. The focus is on (1) understanding the multiple lenses through which community can be understood and constructed (2) how communities respond to change and risks – such as COVID 19 and; (3) the challenges and opportunities of engaging communities in participatory planning and change processes.

Rather than engaging with the multitude disciplines, professions and theoretical frameworks engaged with the idea of community the approach here will be to present a series of propositions about the desired nature of community ( for example that a community is a place or space of security) and then interrogate them through the lens of different ‘ideal types’ of communities ( for example a gated community). This approach is designed to traverse topical aspects of the immense literature on community in a way that engages students and encourages conversation and debate.

The basic typology presented to understand the idea of community is:
(1) Communities have borders (physical or otherwise such as rules of entry on Facebook communities)
(2) Communities have specific ways of organising (such as clans or rituals)
(3) Communities have valued relations (such as trust)

The unit will encourage students to reflect on and analyse their own community(ies) experiences. By using COVID 19 we can zoom in on current issues that have close links to the idea of community – such as the role of online communities or to understand collective panic.
The unit comprises three interlinked modules:

o In search of community: The first module focuses on the concept of ‘community’. It explores the question, ‘What is community?’ This module asks students to reflect on the different communities they identify with and why. The module introduces different types of communities, common myths about communities, and poses key questions that students can use to reflect upon how different communities are defined, organised, and understood.

o Communities and change: The second module focuses on drivers of social change and how communities grapple with change processes, locally and globally. In this module we will focus on Covid 19 as a contemporary change driver in community. In this module we will look at how specific ‘ideal types’ of communities have/could/should/will respond to COVID19.

o Engaging with communities: The third module focuses on approaches, tools and communication strategies for engaging communities with a focus on two contemporary approaches, collective impact and nudging.
In this unit, students will have the opportunity to apply theory to practice via simulated professional practice scenarios (problem-based learning), interactive activities and reflections, and a project in which they apply the concepts learned to analyse how a real-world organisation works with one or more specific communities. Students will also have access to a series of short practitioner video clips in which guest speakers from a range of professional backgrounds illustrate key ideas from the unit with practical examples.