Community capacity building and the ability to develop sustainable communities has become a major concern of governments as diverse as those of Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and other countries with severe economic disadvantages. So where does social capital fit in? A buzz word of the new millennium, social capital is said to be the key element in building urban and rural communities. An enormous resource generated from "people power," it is defined as the capacity of humans to work co-operatively 7through everyday interactions with family, friends, co-workers, and community organizations 7to solve problems. This in-depth analysis, drawing upon empirical work in Australian as well as international literature and employing both a theoretical and an empirical methodology, examines how everyday activities contribute to the store of social capital, which activities are most beneficial, which are irrelevant, and which threaten to deplete this precious resource or co-opt it for private agendas.