In Defense of Urban Community Development—the Venezuelan Case

Abstract

Until recently there appears to have been an unfortunate division be? tween development economists and community development practi? tioners in the thinking about urban development problems. This division is partially explained by the economist's emphasis on overall planning and development as opposed to the community developer's traditional emphasis on rural communities. The economist's thinking about urban problems is an implicit part of his more comprehensive views of the economy where he concentrates on the long-term allocation of resources within the urban area and his social and economic policy recommenda? tions which have the aim of eventually eliminating certain problems or raising standards. The economist, because of his preoccupation with large scale, long-term planning often argues that urban community devel? opment is irrelevant to problems of the magnitude of those caused by urban migration.1 Thinking about the short-run urban problems, where it exists, tends to advocate what Edgar and Jean Cahn call the Pro? fessional Service Orientation.2 This approach assumes that services should be given to the poorer communities by the professionals but that the beneficiaries should not be consulted either as to the services being offered or as to the way they are to be administered. In this article we argue that community development in the urban setting is not necessarily a short-run opiate, nor a form of organized charity, but that it can be an integral part of the realization of long-term development plans. It is of aid to the economist for it helps to overcome and take into consideration the objections to long-range comprehensive planning that have been suggested by Albert O. Hirschman and Charles E. Lindblom.3 That is, we suggest that urban community development can recognize that strategies employed for the short-run allocation of resources determine the optimum long-range allocation of resources. Urban community development can be an important mechanism both for ensuring an efficient short-run allocation of resources and for provid 130