The foundations, frontiers and future of community development—towards a critical, phenomenological and contemplative practice

Abstract This article, drawn from a keynote panel discussion at the 2026 International Association of Community Development (IACD) Glasgow Conference marking 60 years of the Community Development Journal, explores the foundations, frontiers and futures of community development practice. It pursues two interwoven arguments. The first traces the critical-radical foundations of the field—from its colonial origins through the Freirean revolution and subsequent traditions of feminist, decolonial and indigenous thinking. It then names three key frontiers: the broader context of civilizational rupture; fragmentation within the community development field itself; the persistent problem of anti-intellectualism and a lack of disciplined, theoretically conscious practice. The second argument proposes that the critical-radical tradition, while foundational and essential, is no longer sufficient to guide community development in an age of rupture. In response, the article makes a case for a renewed tri-fold praxis that brings together the critical-radical, the phenomenological, and the contemplative. It argues that phenomenological sensibilities enable practitioners to see afresh and respond ethically to the other, while contemplative practices resist the atrophying effects of machine culture and manic hyper-productivity and achievement. Together, these three orientations constitute renewed community development praxis relevant to the profound uncertainties and possibilities of the present moment.