Community development is a process and a system of change that responds to changing needs. It is a process and a system of change that is driven by people, in a democratic fashion, or is guided by people that are trained technical assistants and/or community developers. The intent of community development is to respond to changing needs, while taking the needs of the people affected by change into consideration. Thus community development is a system of change by the people for the people.

This book introduces community development as a system and process of change for recreation and sport. The purpose of this book is to introduce community development and the role it plays and can play in the provision of recreation and sport activities. To fulfill the purpose of this book, this book is divided into nine chapters. Each chapter commences with learning objectives and wraps up with concluding thoughts. Below is an overview of the main content that appears in each chapter.