Neighbourhood – Noun.
A district or community within a town or city.
The area surrounding a particular place, person, or object.
Our understanding of neighbourhood is inexplicably linked to our experiences of society and the communities we grew up in. For instance, most of my own childhood was spent in Devon’s green, open landscape. Where towns and communities were on the whole small enough to know a majority of people. This was perhaps helped by my Father’s job – as a Priest-in-Charge to 4 parishes he knew many of the families in those communities. Also being Devon towns and villages it was, on the whole, much more trusting and full of a communal comradery. This is possibly slightly less present as we have moved into an age where we can be more suspicious and self involved. When I was young we would leave the house unlocked, and knew our neighbours. Now, I live in a city terrace, with doors and windows firmly locked and couldn’t point our my neighbours if I saw them in the street. This saddens me, and I am sure is not the case for everyone. Yet somehow the busyness of life and the focus on my friends and my life has just meant I’ve never properly met my neighbours. There are things from our upbringing, the design of areas, and in their population which affect our experience of neighbourhoods. If we consider neighbourhoods as places, and more than a space or zone in a city, we begin to recognise how emotional responses and relational ties have an impact on the success of communities. Social cohesion does affect positive behaviours. When a community willingly puts effort into fostering its relationships and traditions it can not only be a force to be reckoned with but a much pleasanter place to inhabit. Look at the street parties held for the Jubilee, or the 2012 London Olympics and you will find snapshots of happiness. Where communities pulled together to celebrate, and muck about. Allowing themselves to know their neighbours and invest in their friendship. If we know our neighbour do we not feel more secure. Aware we could ask for help, take in a postal delivery or go round for coffee.
Having recognised the importance of relationships in forming communities can we then discuss the importance of architectural design. Do the boundaries and connection details that affect our perception and experience of space, affect how neighbourhoods operate at a social level.