Community Resource-Concept of Community Resource. Lecture 1

Community Resources Lecture 1

Olaide B.Alabi (PhD)

Concept of Community Resource

At the end of the lecture, you should be able to

· Define community
Mention the reasons for the existence of a community
State different types of communities
· Define resources
· State different types of resources
· Define community resources
· Mention community resources in Nigeria

Concept of Community

A community is a collection of a group of living things that have things in common, in human settlement, a community is the coming together of people of like minds who desire the well beings of each member of the group.

They have such harmony of being united in custom, mode of worship, standard of living, traditions, and character. Members of a community could be bounded together by geographical location.

Other communities could be virtual or biological communities, In this study, the focus is on the physical community.

Reasons for the community?

A community is a place where people are united together in purpose.
Cordial relationship always exists between the people of a community
People living in a community may decide to have common aims goals and objectives
To avoid danger in the life of the member of a community people could come up with safety modalities for the well-being of the members
It makes it easy for people to have an identity.
It makes members strife and gets the means of contributing their quotas to the whole system
It provides a common front for people to cherish the culture that binds people together.
It could encourage bonds among people and such bonds could settlement of other people
The coexistence of different peaceful communities could lead to the advent of a country or the formation of a continent
The emergence of the community could lead to a powerful and responsible administration

Types of community

The three main types of communities are rural, urban, and suburban.

Other communities to derive from the above communities include., Neighbourhood, Suburb, National community and global community.

The focus of this presentation is going to be centred on the three main types of communities

Rural community.

A rural community is an open expanse of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not very many people. Rural communities are placed where the houses are spread very far apart.

Many people think of rural communities as farmland, this might be true that most rural communities engage in farming, in most cases, farming could be a major source of occupation.

Another feature of the rural community is that they are in most cases surrounded by wildlife, at times people in rural communities live in a scattered pattern of settlement because their houses are built afar from one another.

People in rural areas have better access to natural resources, and their food and interaction are always centred around natural food and some form of natural activities in their social interactions.

They always have a scanty population, and few or no industries are found in rural areas. In some parts of the world, some rural areas lack pipe-borne water so they rely on streams and rivers to get water. In most cases, there is the absence of electricity which means some of them are far from modern civilisation.

They might not have or enjoy formidable health services. The marketing system could be periodic markets based on the trading of local products.

Rural communities could metamorphose into suburban or urban communities, especially when the needs of the people are taken into consideration and some means of comfort are provided. With the presence of required amenities, people would be attracted to settle in rural communities, which could lead to transformation into suburban or urban centres.

Suburban community

A suburban community normally consists of many people living in single-family accommodations, quarters or lodgings, the kind of structure found in a suburban area composed of buildings erected together for communal living.

A sub-urban area is an intermediary between rural and urban, some levels of amenities provided could differentiate them from rural areas.

Amenities like pipe-borne water at the different centres of the communities and some standard of electricity could be provided for suburban centres. In suburban centres, there could be the presence of health centres small factories, passable roads and some daily marketing transactions. Suburban areas are not as developed as urban, they are the mix of urban and rural.

Urban community

An urban community is somewhat seen as, an area with a high density of people, with the availability of basic requirements.

Urban communities are located in cities, Urban communities provide their members with all the required amenities that would make life comfortable for a living. In urban communities, there are luxuries for people's comfort, constant and regular electricity, good road, pipe-borne water, and all level of educational institutions.

There are good means of transportation like rails, road transportation, and transportation by air- in essence, there is the presence of good bus terminals rail stations, airports, seaports and so forth. In urban centres all sorts of media are found for ease of communication, media centres like radio stations, televisions station, telecommunication, big and major markets, big factories and industries.

In urban centres, life might be very easy but the standard of living is very high and almost everything is expensive.

Definition of resources

A resource is any physical material comprising of different natural substances contain on the earth's surface that nature had provided for human need, value and usage.

Natural materials become resources when humans value them.

Resources are valued by different societies for different reasons. Natural resources are found all over the place on the planet Earth, they could be sparsely available in some locations or numerously available in other locations, in some cases they are found in a place through natural and chemical reactions.

Whatever the values placed on natural resources, the most important thing is that they are available for human benefit.

Apart from natural resources, there are man-made resources. It should be realised that most of these man-made resources were come by after a careful study of natural resources. Any resources available in a given location could determine the quality of life and the term of the educational ambition of the people in the place. This therefore called for the term Community resources

Definition of Community Resources

The term 'community resources' encompass an extensive array of things that could assist the community in a wide range of activities. Both human and non-human resources available in a given location, especially those that could be accrued and traced to a given environment are regarded as the community resources within that location.

They are those resources which are accessible to all the members of that community they could be people, places, activities and things.

These include heroes or heroines or other important personalities in society, public parks, playgrounds, hills, lakes, rivers local ponds, special trees, national buildings, Arts and entertainment centres, Community or civic centres, Day-care centres, Fitness centres or gyms, Banks, Convenience store, Fire station, Laundry or a dry cleaner.

They could also be businesses, public service institutions and charitable organizations that provide assistance and services to residents. Community-owned resources include grazing grounds and burial grounds.

Community Resources in Nigeria

The followings are some of the community resources in Nigeria:

Learning Resource Centre, Kaduna
National Theatre at Iganmu
Obasanjo Library Abeokuta
Slave trade relics at Badagry
National Heritage Museum
National Stadium at Surulere
Whispering palm at Badagry
Tafawabalewa Square
Eagle Square at Abuja
Airports
Seaports
Bar beach at Leki
Sultan Beach at Badagry
Zoological Garden at Ibadan
Olumo Rock Abeokuta
Obudu Cattle Ranch
Ikogosi waterfalls
Dangote Refinery at Epe Axis
Yankari game reserve
Kings’ palaces
Opa Oranmiyan at Ife
Factories
Banks
Shrines
Train Stations
First Mosque Nigeria-Shitta bey Mosque Martin Ereko Street Lagos Island
First-story building in Nigeria at Badagry
The first church in Nigeria-St. Peter Church Ake completed in 1898
The first primary school in Nigeria-St. Thomas Anglican Primary School was established in 1845.
Media Houses
First secondary Schools-C.M.S. Grammar School Akoka. Bariga, Lagos
Mapo Hall in Ibadan
Aso Rock in Abuja
Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Mambilla Barracks Junction, Asokoro, Abuja.
Educational Resource Centres Ojodu Lagos
Police Station
Industries
Police and Army barracks
Institutions of higher learning
National and International Highways