Peter Block clearly identifies the essential ingredients, qualities, questions, atmosphere and actions needed to creat and build vital communities filled with possibility, generosity, accountability and deep engagement.

Community; The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block was just reissued in 2018 as a second edition. The book is divided into the Welcome and Introduction, Part 1 - The Fabric of Community, and Part 2 - The Alchemy of Belonging. Part 2 in addition to individual chapters includes a section titled 'Summing Up - Six Conversations" and "In Summary - The Social Architecture of Building Community." There are also reading lists and resources to be found online, as well as detailed information about inspirations and specific projects that embody the principles described in this book. There's also a brief section on how the book design itself reflects these principles, as well as several pages of advertisements for other books and initiatives from this author and colleagues.

It's a quick read and an engaging premise. To transform society, we need to engage in transformative conversations. Block argues that modern American society creates isolation, fragmentation, and unnecessary suffering with a national narrative of individualism, personal deficiencies, self-interest, blame and fault-finding, reliance on distant leaders/experts and a fear-retribution cycle; instead, what we need is a sense of belonging, a recognition of our interrelatedness, a vision of future possibilities, personal accountability for the greater good, and a way to welcome the gifts of everyone but especially people at the margins of society. This can be achieved by small groups of people representing the full range of diversity in the local community coming together to build trust and connection and committing to cocreate a restorative rather than retributive society through a series of discussions. The physical environment of these meetings of strangers who become collaborators in building a better future is just as important as the nature of the conversations that develop over time.

Lots of small local initiatives in this style can become an emergent grassroots movement. Block describes it as a kind of fractal movement--begin as you mean to go on; each element should embody the values of the end goal: belonging, community, wholeness; each meeting of unlike people is an opportunity to create something new; each heart open to new possibilities is a doorway into a future that is different from the present and the past.

For someone looking for concrete ways to change the way institutions function and to consciously build community, I think this may be a good resource. It will be interesting to see if I can apply these principles to the volunteer organizations that are important to me. I think it is worth trying. ( )

How can a community promote a sense of belonging in its citizens? Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block lays out an ideology for transforming communities and engaging citizens through conversation. The book is challenging to read and is more focused on philosophy than implementation. However, the ideas are worth reading and worth considering as communities continue to struggle with promoting a sense of belonging in all their citizens.

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2015/12/community-structure-of-belonging.html ( )

In-speaking gobbledygook written in breathy prose, reimpregnating normally comprehensible words with new meaning, this tome comes dangerously close to proving George Orwell right. I should have taken the author's advice on page 32, and read no further. ( )

Peter Block shows, in his work and his presentations, that it doesn’t take much effort to initiate the process of building and strengthening communities—just a few people willing to gather and cross barriers they don’t normally cross so that ideas flow freely and exchanges strengthen relationships. It's all about engagement—that moment when people are drawn together by a common interest or goal and, in the process, begin to build the sort of communities which result in long-lasting and productive collaborations. "Community" is a concise, well organized, and compelling primer for anyone interested in exploring and understanding how to create, nurture, and facilitate productive communities. ( )