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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Positive Communities: Dimensions for Assessment and Intervention

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description

This chapter presents the construction of dimensions to assess people’s satisfaction with life in the community and makes a proposal to identify positive communities for future assessments. In the first place, this chapter provides a definition of the concepts related to a positive community and additionally, identifies the elements which people value in community life. Satisfaction with life in the community implies a personal perception of the degree of satisfaction in relation with different aspects of community life: community equipment, social services (health, education), public policies, public transportation, safety on the streets and in public places, housing, employment opportunities, leisure and sports, neighbor social support, community organizations and citizenship participation. The existence of third places is described and analyzed as positive spaces in urban communities. Finally, the author presents a list of dimensions to identify positive communities and concludes that communities are considered “positive” by their members when the inhabiting experience makes people happier and provides them with more freedom and higher possibilities of development.