Recently, a variety of debates and discussions among community development professionals, academics, and practitioners concerning the current state of community theory have pointed to the need to explore the issue more systematically. In response, a special issue of Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Societywas produced in 2009 to bring together a wide range of theoretical and empirical articles that expand our theoretical understanding of community in contemporary life. This special issue proved widely popular, with articles being used extensively in both education and practice settings. More importantly, this special issue further ignited the call for significant theoretical advances to meet rapidly changing environment in which our understanding of community exists. This book is an extension of that jounal issue.