Stoecker, R., & Falcón, A. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook on participatory action research and community development. Edward Elgar Publishing.

This book is laid out in six different sections.Part one explores the infrastructures that can support the integration of participatory action research (PAR) and community development (CD) effectively for community problem-solving and improvement.Part two focuses on organising communities, emphasising the importance of the community in working together towards change, making sense of community issues, and creating avenues for a systemic change.Part three explores the challenges of building organisations and empowering community by maintaining equitable and collaborative relationships with community stakeholders.Part four highlights the potential in youthdirected community level initiatives.Part Vive focuses on how power dynamics inVluence the incorporation of community development and participatory development practices, and how systematic collaborations can help respond appropriately to overcome crises.And part six illuminates the importance of covivencia, a beautiful Spanish term that describes the culture and signiVicance of living together in community, collaboration, and coexistence.Parts one, two, and three are particularly beneVicial to participatory action researchers as these sections articulate how participatory action research could be carried out in connection with community development to bring about systemic societal changes.However, part four plays a critical role in implementing PAR and CD as it illustrates the subtle nuances of collaborating with government authorities and highlights the importance of receiving funds for the interventions.Many common approaches to PAR and CD, including surveys, story-telling, interviews, case studies, exploring solutions, social mapping, and discussions, are explored throughout the book in connection with socially relevant themes such as housing conditions, neighbourhood health, community knowledge mobilisation, Cuban community development practices through arts, protecting the environment, supporting community organisers in urban planning, and epistemic justice.As a graduate student and doctoral researcher, I found these approaches highly effective as they allowed me to become familiar with their possible uses; this helped me envision how I might use these approaches within my own work.The editors also made it clear that PAR and CD can be used alongside traditional qualitative research methods.In all, the editors have curated this volume as an approachable guide for novice PAR researchers and community engagement.The editors also identify a variety of settings in which this research could take place.