Article Response

This article helped me define community while also enabling me to shape and sharpen my conception of a neighborhood. As Cater and Jones explain, “A simple approach for distinguishing between the two terms is to link neighborhoods with a geographic location and communities with social interaction,” (1989).

Comparing and contrasting many different definitions of community and neighborhoods aided my own definitions. “Mumford (1961) defined neighborhood as an area in which people share certain common facilities necessary to domestic life.” “Lynch (1981) referred to neighborhood as a local unit in which people are personally acquainted with each other by reason of residential proximity.” “Cater and Jones (1989) defined neighborhood as local urban space bounded by the occupants’ self-definitions and practices.” In my own personal experience, I have found these definitions to be in and of themselves accurate.

There are many different components to a neighborhood that shape the community within it such as sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, geography, urban and rural planning, and community development and housing. People come from different backgrounds, have different preferences, and act differently. A neighborhood accommodates these many different people while still bringing them together as a community. A community is a network of social interaction and bonding, usually based on mutual interest.

The building codes listed in the other article help guide builders to create these functional spaces

that condone good health within the community, both structurally and culturally. With all of these social

and physical constructs working together cohesively the neighborhood community is destined to succeed.