Volunteer Experiences of Place-making for Sustainable Community Development

Description

This thesis explores the experiences of volunteers who came together to redevelop an
abandoned convent into The Mount Community Centre (The Mount) for the purpose of
sustainable community development. The goal of the research was to explore the
relational processes of place-making at The Mount, to be achieved through two
objectives: first, to describe the nature of collaboration among volunteers in place at The
Mount; and second, to understand the experience of volunteers through their narratives
and descriptions, with respect to the influence of The Mount as a place. Methods
employed were participant observation and key-informant interviews with 24 participants
conducted using a video-documentary approach. The result was a community-based,
qualitative case study comprised of volunteer voices, in their collective narrative of
experience of The Mount’s development trajectory. A thematic analysis of volunteer
narratives indicated patterns of connectivity and the expansion of relational networks of
place, implicated in strategic approaches in three experiential phases of Daring, Erring,
and Groundswell along the development’s trajectory. In demonstrating how place
influences community organization to address needs, The Mount provides an example for
future inquiry that contributes to the advancement of knowledge in discussions of
voluntarism, place, and sustainable community development.
Keywords: Voluntarism, place-making, sustainable community development,
community-based research
Author Keywords: community-based research, Non-profit sector, Place, Place-making, Sustainable-community development, Voluntarism