Do you feel a strong sense of community in your neighbourhood?
Do you enjoy chatting with your neighbours?
Do you like your neighbourhood and hope to live there a long time?
For many people today, the answer to these questions is no. But why? What makes some neighbourhoods great and some just places to pass through to get home? That’s what we’re trying to find out.
With more and more people moving to cities, and with cities becoming more and more dense, are we squeezing the life out of our neighbourhoods? Or, are there ways that our cities can accommodate growing populations and also provide excellent neighbourhoods? Can we offer ever more people a higher quality of life in our urban environments? If so, how?
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between urban density and sense of community. While sense of community is only one aspect of a person’s quality of life, it serves as a fairly good proxy. When we feel at home in our neighbourhood and comfortable around our neighbours, it makes the good times better and the tough times easier to handle.
It’s nice to come home when you live in a great neighbourhood. We want to find out what makes great neighbourhoods great.
Want to learn more? See “Maintaining a sense of community in high-density neighborhoods” and “How does residential density relate to residents’ sense of community?” by Eric Douglas.