PSY3140 Developing Sustainable Communities (FOSCI)

Units 1.0 (Psychology) Band 1

Pre-requisite: PSY2010

Synopsis

The course is designed to introduce students to key concepts and practices in community change and development, including perspectives that have emerged from health, social, organizational, and environmental psychology. A central theme will be the theory and practice of sustainable community development including strategies such as assessment of community readiness for change, asset-based community mapping, facilitating sense of community and motivation for change, fostering intersectoral collaboration, and methods for evaluating community change programs. Considerations of empowerment, social justice, and valuing diversity will be addressed, along with broader ethical issues pertaining to change at social and community level within an increasingly globalised world. A broad range of community psychology contexts will be considered including planned communities, promoting change in settings such as schools and workplaces, and rebuilding communities after natural and man-made disasters.