What do you mean by 'the community'?
At the start of every project, there will inevitably be a discussion about who you want to involve.
Sometimes our clients will tell us they simply want to engage ‘the community’.
"Yes, and what do you mean by 'the community'?", we’ll ask.
Some frown and blink. Others go "Oh, huh, well, I'm not sure," before thinking out loud and eventually finding the answer.
Very few have a clear definition in their mind at the outset.
And that's okay.
The word ‘community’ can be confusing. Often, you might think of community as a physical place, but it's so much more than that.
In this blog post, we'll discuss four types of communities and why it's important to define what you mean when you're talking about ‘community’ at the start of your engagement and collaboration projects.
4 types of community
Before we dive in, we should explain two things.
First, these definitions are not 'mutually exclusive’. This means a community might fit several of these definitions at once.
Second, these definitions are not the 'be all and end all'. You might want to combine some of them or add your own categories.
Image shows two adjacent apartments with their front doors next to each other. Image by @glerenmeneghin
Community of Place
This is what most people think of when they talk about community.
Community of place refers to a group that exists in a certain geographic area. It might be a suburb. Neighbours in a street. People in a city. Students at a school. These people form a community because of their physical closeness to each other.
Image shows two pairs of hands holding video-game controllers. There is a game going in the background. Image by @jeshoots
Community of Interest
This type of community exists based on shared interests rather than location.
It could be for people who love the same hobby. People who work in a certain industry. Bloggers who write about the same topic.
That shared interest is the reason for their community's existence.
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Community of Practice
This type of community is based on shared practices rather than interests. This can include people with common goals, values and skillsets coming together to learn from one another. It's focused more on what you do, rather than what you believe.
A good example is the Codesign Club convened by Kelly-Ann McKercher, who you can find out more about on Episode 14 of Beyond Consultation. This community brings together people with different interests, skills and locations who are all practising codesign in their work.
Image shows two women in traditional dresses dancing in the street. Image by @srz
Community of Identity
This type of community is based on a shared identity rather than interests or practices. It might be based on your gender, religion, ethnicity or any other factor that defines who you are.
Why does this matter?
There are two main reasons why it’s important to clarify what you mean by your “community”.
Firstly - overly broad definitions of a community can cause offence or distrust.
One example springs to mind.
In the aftermath of the Christchurch mosques terrorist attack on 15 March 2019, I heard the media talking about “the muslim community”.
This sparked some tense debate on social media. Many people of Muslim faith pointed out that there is no such thing as “the muslim community”. People of Muslim faith are diverse - with different ethnicities, beliefs, backgrounds and cultures. Lumping all people of muslim faith into one “community” betrayed this diversity and showed a lack of understanding - thereby creating distrust and frustration.
Secondly - broad definitions of community lead to generic ‘one-size-fits-all’ engagement
Broad definitions of community lead you to focus on the quantity of engagement rather than the quality of engagement.
If we continue the example of the supposed “muslim community” in Christchurch, there are in fact dozens of different aspects of this community. Each with their own language, customs and practices. And each will benefit from a different engagement approach.
But if you lump them all together, you create a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, which will suit only a small sub-set of those people you want to engage.
All of this underscores why the ‘People’ section is the largest on our engagement planning tool - the Engagement Canvas.
If you’ve ever been in a meeting where someone talks about ‘building community’, and it seems like they have no idea what the word means, you are not alone. The key takeaway here is to understand which type of communities your organisation wants to engage with before starting out to ensure success.