Community and Propinquity

An e-mail

“Dear Kareem,

Thanks very much for letting me know about the typographical error in my book. Its much appreciated.

best wishes

Gill Valentine”

Community and Neighbourhood

• Valentine Ch 3 esp. pp. 117-123

• Issue of “Propinquity”– Nearness– Particularly in the residential sense

• Does community have to be localised to a neighbourhood?

Chicago School

• Argued that “community” was closely connected to neighbourhood

• Residential “nearness” is required for community

• Community and neighbourhood virtually the same– both localised and territorial

Spatial Texture

• Neighbourhood, community may have a finer, more localised spatial texture in the inner city compared to the suburbs

Role of Institutions

• Neighbourhood & community are promoted by many institutions:– faith communities– schools, libraries– charities– community organizations

Role of Place

• Place design may foster community:– Gathering places

• buildings

• community spaces

Melvin Webber (1963)

• “Americans are becoming more closely tied to various interest communities than to place communities”– social clubs and organizations– college and workplace friends

Melvin Webber (1963)

• Technology allows interest communities to be decentralised and scattered, – people don’t need to be close to each other any

more

• “Community without Propinquity”– “place-free” and “stretched-out” communities

Castells “Space of Flows”

• In past 2 decades: – Global and information economy emerges

• Two types of space emerge:– Space of Spaces (people still bound to place)– Space of Flows (networked subculture of

managerial elite)– Space of Flows comes to dominate Space of

Spaces

Chinese Diaspora

• Phone calls cheaper in Canada than in China

• Chinese in Canada phone their families (including those in China) more often than when they lived in China

• “Community” closer without propinquity

Airworld

• Coined in Walter Kirn (2001) Up in the Air

Community without Propinquity

• Community can flourish without residential “nearness”

• People live in a scattered fashion, but participate in a community

Examples

• International lawyers working on the Pacific Rim– constitute a scattered professional “community”

Examples

• The North-American Family Reunion

Examples

• Church attendance in Toronto– most Catholics still attend locally– Protestants frequently have long-distance

commutes to church– church-going people move house but often

don’t change churches

Community without Propinquity

• Often requires a meeting place or gathering point– permanent– occasional– virtual

Southern California New Beetle Club

Krispy Kreme

• Marketing strategy includes:– promoting itself as a

destination for community groups, clubs

– including car clubs• communities without

propinquity

Sacramento CA

PT Cruiser club at Mississauga Krispy Kreme

PT cruiser owners ordering

Electronic Gathering Places

• TV described as an electronic gathering place

• Similar concept with the Internet

• Does communication equal community?

IT and Community

• Information technology might– connect us via virtual communities– disconnect us from real community– re-connect us to community both real and

virtual

Disconnection

• Survey of 2035 WebTV users:– the more time on-line the less time on social

activities

Reconnection: Netville

• “Netville” a 1990s wired subdivision in USA– Residents of Netville used wired and

conventional means to interact with their neighbours

Netville

• Netville residents more socially interactive with neighbours than similar unwired families– neighbour recognition up 300%– neighbour visiting and conversation up 200%– neighbour phoning up 500%

Community

• Depends on opportunities for social interaction– Cyberspace facilitates this– Common spaces (front porches etc.,)– Common institutions

Knowledge Gaps

• Some communities better able to access knowledge than others– better able to use it

• Some communities find cyberspace easier to use

Propinquity without Community

• Most western “neighbourhoods” lack real community feeling

Loss of Community

• Concern that contemporary urban social life lacks community

Chipping Sodbury UK

• Commuter village near Bristol UK

• Childhood home of J K Rowling

• Known as bland and boring– Sodding Chipbury

Bradley Stoke UK

Henry Miller

“America is full of places. Empty places. And all these empty places are crowded. Just jammed with empty souls. All at loose ends, all seeking diversion. As though their chief object of existence was to forget.” - Henry Miller (1945) The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

Community through Propinquity

• High-tech clusters– these technology-based activities should be able

to decentralise– but they tend to cluster

Little Indias

Oakwood Village Festival

Oakwood Village: Eritrean Orthodox Church

Do suburbs have “community”?

• A place of anomie?

Suburban Anomie

Do suburbs have “community”?

• Nuclear families trying to get ahead

• Privacy more important than community?

Muller’s Typology (for USA)

• Exclusive, upper-income suburbs– little contact between neighbours– communality via golf & country club, churches

etc.,

Muller’s Typology (for USA)

• Middle-class family suburbs

• Nuclear families trying to earn money, accumulate possessions

• Limited neighbour-to-neighbour contact

• Most communality revolves around children: Schools, Scouts etc.,

Muller’s Typology (for USA)

• Working-class suburbs

• Intensive use of outdoor communal space, lots of social interaction

• Permanent ties to place and neighbourhood

Do suburbs have “community”?

• Loose-knit but it does exist