Community development refers to planned efforts aimed at producing assets to increase the ability and capacity of inhabitants to enhance quality of life. There are many types of assets recognized in community development, including social, physical, human, financial and environmental. Community development can be considered both as a process of developing the ability to act collectively, and an outcome: 1) taking collective action and 2) the result of that action for improvement in a community in any or all realms.

A key feature within community development is the notion of social capital or social capacity, generally recognized by both researchers and practitioners as the resources embedded within relationships among people and organizations that help facilitate collaboration and cooperation. A rich history of community development shows the connection to engagement, advocacy, housing rights, anti-poverty and other socially focused concerns. The focus of planning entails the establishment of goals, policies, and procedures for a social or economic unit, such as in a city, community, region or nation. Community planning and development thus seeks to foster viable communities by promoting integrated approaches that provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expand economic opportunities for low and moderate income persons.

This four-volume set covers the wide social, economic, political, environmental and urban contexts for community planning and development. Providing both foundation contexts as well as addressing current issues, the collection brings together the most relevant overviews and critiques of community planning and development, applicable to both developing and developed countries. The set is fully indexed, and provides a comprehensive overview newly written by the editor as well as an introduction for each volume. It provides an essential work of reference, designed to be useful to scholars, students, and researchers as a vital research resource.