The purpose of this thesis is to develop a planning approach to meet the needs of small communities that intend, first of all, to deepen the relationship among its members. The first step towards that goal was to analyse the role planning plays in human life, trying to evaluate the characteristics that are suitable to be developed in complex and conflictive situations which are vey common nowadays, even in small communities. It has been observed that among the principal requirements of planning are the intention to modify the environment (pro-active position) and the need to specify the values shared by the different actors, which will serve as a basis for the establishment of criteria to evaluate the long-term consequences of the actions. Those characteristics form the foundation of adaptative planning which aims to be a synthesis of rigid and comprehensive planning conceptions and non-planning and tries to overcome the main criticism to those approaches. During the development of this thesis, concepts of the two principal lines of adaptative planning were used, namely System Normative Redesign and System Non-synoptic Change, taking into consideration certain aspects of the approaches to Articulated Incrementalism, Appreciative Regulation and Normative Incrementalism, which are appropriate to deal with the problems of small communities. The next step was to study the concept of community as a mean to break the isolation of men and women in society, which is not the object of study of individualist or collectivist alternatives. It is shown that the idea of community in the Catholic Social Thinking, especially in the Social Doctrine of the Church, refers to the privileged place to practice the great principles of this Doctrine, and also that the construction of solidarity communities is a constant aim, especially in recent Christian perspectives. The methodology used to develop this work was action research, which is the most compatible to adaptative planning. The author was a researcher in a catholic community which is being formed, called Communication Encounter, to which he also belongs. This community aims to enrich the relationship among its members and to transmit this lifestyle, which is based on Christian values and a deep communication among people. The considered assumption was that the incorporation of adaptative planning and community formation concepts should be useful to overcome many of the common difficulties in small communities, considering the fact that the expectations of the members in the case of Communication Encounters problematique. As a result of this body of research, a planning approach was developed that intends to deal with the principal problems of these communities, such as the tendency to self-isolation, the creations of factions and the resistance to change. This approach also aims at reducing conflicts, motivating authentic relationships and encouraging negotiation and appreciation, and replacing legalism by self-regulation. The proposed approach, which was tested and approved by the members of the mentioned community, is based on the constant definition and re-definition of a desired future as the starting point to the elaboration and revision of a plan to be implemented in steps and evaluated throughout. The main contributions of this work are the result of the articulation of the concepts of planning and small communities, establishing bases that lead not only to a better systematization and structuring of these communities but also to turning its members vision into reality, by emphasizing ways of overcoming the identified problems.