A Community of place or place-based community is a community of people who are bound together because of where they reside, work, visit or otherwise spend a continuous portion of their time. Such a community can be a neighborhood, town, coffeehouse, workplace, gathering place, public space or any other geographically-specific place that a number of people share, have in common or visit frequently.

Concepts

Many prevailing theories of community such as those proposed by the Project for Public Spaces, BetterTogether.org and a host of other Community building efforts suggest that place is among the most critical aspects of community development and civil society. The concept is that combining a sense of community with a sense of place forms a stable, resilient and cohesive local community adding to the well-being of the larger society. In theory, when an intentional community forms in a certain place, especially within towns and cities, another dimension of effectiveness can be realized, thus making improvements in architecture, civil engineering, planning, zoning, government and many other areas of civil society.

Criticisms

There has been much criticism within urban planning, geography and urban design about whether concepts such as 'community', 'place' and therefore 'place-based communities' are wholly positive phenomena. Notions of community tend to require the creation of members and non-members. Place can be used in an essentialising way that stereotypes and fixes place identity, limiting change. Linking the two concepts together reinforces beliefs that certain territories and people belong together, giving the right to exlcude others on the basis of age, class, sexuality, ethnicity and other perceived deviations from a given community standard. A proliferating example of these negative tendencies related to ideas about community and place, manifest through urban design, are gated communities.

See also

• Social geography
• Urban planning
• local community
• Neighbourhood character
• Place identity
• Sense of community

External links

• Social Capital in Tampa Bay (University of South Florida)
• Ray Oldenburg's Project for Public Spaces (PPS)
• Community - a review of the theory (Infed.org)
• BetterTogether.org an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America at Harvard University
• Community Woodlands Association