Networking can be used to develop the well-connected community, but why are networks such a ubiquitous and useful aspect of community life? We have seen that networks are especially effective modes of organisation in managing change in complex situations. Community networks are based on relationships, not simply connections, which are sustained through interactions and reciprocal exchanges between individuals. The personal, emotional dimensions are important. So are flexibility and informality. Networking is a holistic process, involving a strategic interweaving of knowledge, skills and values. It is a vital aspect of community development, as well as supporting multi-agency partnerships and alliances. This chapter uses complexity theory to present a model of interactive networks creating the conditions for the evolution of new and adaptive forms of organisation.

Networks serve an important function in society, as we saw in Chapter 1, and patterns of interaction and connection are strongly related to what is generally understood by the term ‘community’. Thriving communities are characterised by informal interactions across many-tiered and multifaceted connections in a mobile, often delicate lattice of diverse relationships and serendipitous encounters. This has important implications for community development as an intervention for managing social complexity and strengthening the web of interpersonal connections. The idea of ‘community’ continues to reflect core values associated with a socially just and sustainable civil society, namely respect, equality, mutuality, diversity and, more recently, cohesion. Why does the desire for ‘community’ persist and seem so prevalent across all societies (Somerville, 2016)? How does networking contribute to the development and survival of a wellfunctioning ‘community’, equipped with the capacity for organising collective responses to shared problems?

Chaos in the community

Communities can be seen as complex social environments characterised by interpersonal connections that comprise fluid networks and smallscale, self-help groups alongside more formal ‘anchor’ organisations (Thake, 2001) and cultural practices (Blokland, 2017). Ideas from complexity theory may help us to understand some of the more puzzling features of our social and organisational world (see, for example, Gilchrist, 2000; Mitleton-Kelly, 2003; Wheatley, 2006; Byrne and Callaghan, 2014; Pflaeging, 2014; Kenny et al, 2015).