Essay Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

How many cards to hold?
The benefits of community asset ownership and management
Though it is often assumed that community ownership of assets contributes to the development of strong communities, little is known about the actual benefits of community asset ownership. Petra has spoken to ten communities to identify the benefits (view essay) of asset-based community development in general, and the benefits of ownership in particular.

Rural Community Gateway

Valiant but resilient: community landlords during the economic downturn
Stories about the impact of the recession on High Street banks, house sales, shopping patterns and charity recur daily. Even so, we have heard little about the impacts of the economic downturn on community enterprises who manage land and buildings and how they cope with the economic downturn.
Petra Vergunst has spoken to eight community landlords to find out.

Other articles on Rural Community Gateway:

• Banchory wishes to transform town hall into civic centre
• Durris explores opportunities of forest assets

Academic Publications

• Vergunst, P. 2008. Social integration: re-socialisation and symbolic boundaries in Dutch rural neighbourhoods. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34(6): 917-934.
• Vergunst, P., in press. Whose socialisation? Exploring the social interaction between migrants and communities-of-place. Population, Space and Place.
• Vergunst, P., 2007. Seasonal agricultural migrant labour in Scotland – the need for improved understanding. AA211 Special Study Report to SEERAD. Scottish Agricultural College, Aberdeen.
• Vergunst, P., 2006. Community cohesion: constructing boundaries between or within communities-of-place? In: The Rural Citizen: Governance, Culture and Wellbeing in the 21st Century. University of Plymouth, Plymouth.
• Vergunst, P., 2003. Liveability and ecological land use – the challenge of localisation.
  PhD thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.