A community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participation may be voluntary, require a specific residency, or require participation in an intentional community. Community associations may serve as social clubs, community promotional groups, service organizations, youth sports group, community gardens, or quasi-governmental groups.

From 1968 onwards, during the Franco dictatorship, the first neighborhood associations were established in Spain under the 1964 Law of Associations of Heads of Families.