Community Operational Research: OR and Systems Thinking for Community Development

✍ Scribed by Gerald Midgley, Alejandro E. Ochoa-Arias (auth.), Gerald Midgley, Alejandro Ochoa-Arias (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 366
• Series: Contemporary Systems Thinking
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Community Operational Research: OR and Systems Thinking for Community Development sets out the current concerns of Community Operational Research (Community OR for short) and explores new possibilities for its continued development. Leading Community OR writers, with international reputations in operational research and systems thinking, have contributed chapters that illuminate different aspects of Community OR theory and practice. There is a focus on the value of systems approaches, and other significant perspectives are also represented. The result is a rich mix of theories, methodologies and case studies that will be a significant resource for both practitioners and academics engaged in community development.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-viii
An Introduction to Community Operational Research....Pages 1-36
Front Matter....Pages 37-37
Community Operational Research: Its Context and its Future....Pages 39-56
Community Operational Research: Purposes, Theory and Practice....Pages 57-74
Visions of Community for Community OR....Pages 75-105
Front Matter....Pages 107-107
A Black Ghetto’s Research on a University....Pages 109-120
Housing in the Dearne Valley: Doing Community OR with the Thurnscoe Tenants Housing Co-operative....Pages 121-142
Looking Forward with a Council for Voluntary Service....Pages 143-155
Facilitation as Fair Intervention....Pages 157-174
Perspectives of Engagement in Community Operational Research....Pages 175-201
Systemic Intervention for Community OR: Developing Services with Young People (Under 16) Living on the Streets....Pages 203-252
Playing with PANDA: The CybOrg and the Rhizome....Pages 253-272
Front Matter....Pages 273-273
An Interpretive Systemic Exploration of Community Action in Venezuela....Pages 275-296
Community and Environmental OR: Towards a New Agenda....Pages 297-315
Adaptive Methodology for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health (AMESH): An Introduction....Pages 317-349
Back Matter....Pages 351-366

✦ Subjects

Operation Research/Decision Theory; Human Geography; Social Sciences, general; Sociology, general; Community and Environmental Psychology