Sense of community is often mentioned as an asset of new urbanism. The purpose of the study was to explore this claim by comparing Kentlands, a prototypic new urbanist community, with a traditional suburban development near it. Four domains of sense of community were examined, each in terms of 17 distinct aspects of the physical environment, through surveys as well as interviews with residents. The findings suggest thatKentlands residents perceive substantially greater sense of community; they express stronger attachment to their community and sense of identity with it. Natural features and open spaces play a particularly important role in sense of community and Kentlands provides a rich variety of these, fostering pedestrianism and increasing the likelihood of social interactions. The overall layout of the community and traditional architectural style, as well as many other physical features, play vital functions in achieving sense of community
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., & Silverstein, M. (1977). A pattern language: Towns, buildings, construction. New York: Oxford University Press.
2.
Appleyard, D., & Lintell, M. (1972). The environmental quality of city streets: The residents’ viewpoint. Journal of American Institute of Planners, 38, 84-101.
3.
Audirac, I. (1999). Stated preference for pedestrian proximity: An assessment of new urbanist sense of community. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 19, 53-66.
4.
Barber, G. (1986). Aggregate characteristics of urban travel. In S. Hanson (Ed.), The geography of urban transportation(pp. 73-90). New York: Guilford.
5.
Barrett-Lennard, G. T. (1994). Toward a person-centered theory of community. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 34(3), 62-85.
6.
Beauregard, R. (2002). New urbanism: Ambiguous certainties. Journal of Architectural andPlanning Research, 19(3), 181-194.
7.
Bernick, M.,& Cervero, R. (1997). Transit villages in the 21st century. New York: McGraw-Hill.
8.
Berry, B. J. L. (1985). Islands of renewal in seas of decay. In P. E. Peterson (Ed.), The new urban reality(pp. 69-96). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
9.
Brower, S. (1996). Good neighborhoods: A study of in-town & suburban residential environments. Westport, CT: Praeger.
10.
Brown, B. B.,& Cropper, V. L. (2001). Newurban and standard suburban subdivisions: Evaluating psychological and social goals. Journal of the American Planning Association, 67, 402-419.
11.
Buckner, J. C. (1988). The development of an instrument to measure neighborhood cohesion. American Journal of Community Psychology, 16, 771-791.
12.
Bye-bye suburban dream: 15 ways to fix the suburbs. (1995, May 15). Newsweek, p. 40-40.
13.
Calthorpe, P. (1993). The new American metropolis: Ecology, community, and the American dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
14.
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E.,& Rogers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
15.
Caplow, T., & Forman, R. (1950). Neighborhood interaction in a homogeneous community. American Sociology Review, 15, 357-366.
16.
Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 300-314.
17.
Cook, C. C. (1988). Components of neighborhoodsatisfaction: Responses from urban and suburban single-parent women. Environment and Behavior, 20, 115-149.
18.
Cook, J. (1983). Citizen response in a neighborhood under threat. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 459-471.
19.
Davidson, W. B., & Cotter, P. R. (1986). Measurement of sense of community within the sphere of city. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16(7), 608-619.
20.
Devine-Wright, P., & Lyons, E. (1997). Remembering pasts and representing places: The construction of national identities in Ireland. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 33-45.
21.
Duncan, J. S. (1973). Landscape taste as a symbol of group identity: AWestchester county village. Geographical Review, 63, 334-355.
22.
Eppli, M. J., & Tu, C. C. (1999). Valuing the new urbanism: The impact of the new urbanism on the prices of single-family homes. Washington, DC: ULI-The Urban Land Institute.
23.
Festinger, L., Schachter, S. M., & Back, K. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
24.
Fleming, R., Baum, A., & Singer, J. E. (1985). Social support and the physical environment. In S. Cohen & S. L. Syme (Eds.), Social support and health(pp. 327-345). Orlando, FL: Academic.
25.
Frank, K. A. (1983). Community by design. Sociological Inquiry, 53, 289-311.
26.
Fried, M. (1982). Residential attachment: Sources of residential and community satisfaction. Journal of Social Issues, 38, 107-119.
27.
Galster, G. C., & Hesser, G. W. (1981). Residential satisfaction: Compositional and contextual correlates. Environment and Behavior, 13, 735-758.
28.
Gehl, J. (1996). Life between buildings: Using public space(3rd ed.). Copenhagen, Denmark: Arkitektens Forlag.
29.
Giuliani, M. V. (1991). Towards an analysis of mental representations of attachment to the home. Journal of Architecture and Planning Research, 8, 133-146.
30.
Glynn, T. J. (1981). Psychological sense of community: Measurement and application. HumanRelations, 34, 789-818.
31.
Glynn, T. J. (1986). Neighborhood and sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 341-352.
32.
Goldsteen, J. B.,& Elliott, C. D. (1994). Designing America: Creating urban identity. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
33.
Goudy, W. J. (1982). Further considerations of indicators of community attachment. SocialIndicators Research, 11, 181-192.
34.
Guest, A. M., & Lee, B. (1983). Sentiment and evaluation as ecological variables. SociologicalPerspectives, 26, 159-184.
35.
Hill, J. L. (1996). Psychological sense of community: Suggestions for future research. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 431-438.
36.
Hummon, D. M. (1990). Commonplaces: Community identity and identity in American culture. Albany: State University of New York Press.
37.
Hummon, D. M. (1992). Community attachment: Local sentiment and sense of place. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment(pp. 253-278). New York: Plenum.
38.
Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. New York: Random House.
39.
Kaplan, R., & Austin, M. E. (2004). Out in the country: Sprawl and the quest for nature nearby. Landscape and Urban Planning.
40.
Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1995). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. Ann Arbor, MI: Ulrichs. (Original work published 1989)
41.
Kaplan, S. (1984). Postscript-affect and cognition in the context of home: The quest for intangibles. Population and Environment, 7, 5-12.
42.
Kasarda, J.,& Janowitz, M. (1974). Community attachment in mass society. AmericanSociological Review, 39, 28-39.
43.
Keane, C. (1991). Socioenvironmental determinants of community formation. Environment andBehavior, 23, 27-46.
44.
Kelbaugh, D. (1997). Commonplace: Toward neighborhood and regional design. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
45.
Keller, S. (1976). Twin rivers: Study of a planned community. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation.
46.
Keller, S. (1978). Design and the quality of life in a newcommunity. In J. M. Yinger& S. J. Cutler (Eds.), Major social issues: An interdisciplinary view. New York: Free Press.
Khermouch, G. (1995, March 13). Third places. Brandweek, 36, 36-38.
49.
Kim, J. (2001). Sense of community in neotraditional and conventional suburban developments:A comparative case study of Kentlands and Orchard Village. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
50.
Korpela, K. M. (1989). Place identity as a product of environmental self regulation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 9, 241-256.
51.
Lalli, M. (1992). Urban related identity: Theory, measurement and empirical findings. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12, 285-303.
52.
Lee, C., & Ahn, K. (2003). Is Kentlands better than Radburn?: The American garden city and new urbanist paradigms. Journal of the American Planning Association, 69, 50-71.
53.
Leibkind, K. (1992). Ethnic identity: Challenging the boundaries of social psychology. In G. M. Breakwell (Ed.), Social psychology of identity and the self concept(pp. 39-56). Surrey, UK: Surrey University Press.
54.
Lund, H. (2002). Pedestrian environments and sense of community. Journal of PlanningEducation and Research, 21(3), 301-312.
55.
Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
56.
Lynch, K. (1981). A theory of good city form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
57.
Martin, M. D. (2001). The question of alleys, revisited. Urban Design International, 6, 76-92.
58.
McMillan, D. W.,& Chavis, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: Adefinition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6-23.
59.
Mesch, G. S., & Manor, O. (1998). Social ties, environmental perception, and local attachment. Environment and Behavior, 30, 504-519.
60.
Mumford, L. (1961). The city in history. New York: Harvest Book.
61.
Nasar, J. L. (1997, May). Neo-traditional development, auto-dependency and sense of community. Paper presented at the Environmental Design Research Association Conference, Columbus, OH.
62.
Nasar, J. L.,& Julian, D. A. (1995). The psychological sense of community in the neighborhood. Journal of American Planning Association, 61, 178-184.
63.
Oldenburg, R. (1989). The great good place. New York: Marlowe.
64.
Perry, C. (1929). The neighborhood unit. In Regional survey of New York and its environs, vii (Neighborhood and community planning, monograph 1). New York: Committee on the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs.
65.
Plas, J. M., & Lewis, S. E. (1996). Environmental factors and sense of community in a planned town. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 109-143.
66.
Pretty, G. M. H., Conroy, C., Dugay, J., Fowler, K.,& Williams, D. (1996). Sense of community and its relevance to adolescents of all ages. Journal of Community Psychology, 24(4), 365-379.
67.
Reed, J. S. (1983). The social psychology of sectionalism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
68.
Rivlin, L. G. (1982). Group membership and place meanings in an urban neighborhood. Journal of Social Issues, 38, 75-93.
69.
Robinson, D.,& Wilkinson, D. (1995). Sense of community in remote mining town: Validating a neighborhood cohesion scale. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 137-148.
70.
Rothenbuhler, E., Mullen, L., DeLarell, R.,& Ryul Ryu, C. (1996). Communication, community attachment, and involvement. Journalism& Mass Communication Quarterly, 73, 445-464.
71.
Rowles, G. D. (1983). Place and personal identity in old age: Observations from Appalachia. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 299-313.
72.
Sampson, R. J. (1988). Local friendship ties and community attachment mass society: A multilevel systematic model. American Sociological Review, 53, 766-779.
73.
Schwirian, K. P., & Schwirian, P. M. (1993). Neighboring, residential satisfaction, and psychological well-being in urban elders. Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 285-299.
74.
Smith, R. L. (1985). Activism and social status as determinants of neighborhood identity. Professional Geographer, 37, 421-432.
75.
Southworth, M. (1997). Walkable suburbs? An evaluation of neotraditional communities at the urban edge. Journal of the American Planning Association, 63, 28-44.
76.
St. John, C., Austin, D. M.,& Baba, T. (1986). The question of community attachment revisited. Sociological Spectrum, 6, 411-431.
77.
Stubbs, M. (2002). Car parking and residential development: Sustainability, design and planning policy, and public perceptions of parking provision. Journal of Urban Design, 7(2), 213-237.
78.
Suttles, G. (1984). The cumulative texture of local urban culture. American Journal of Psychology, 90, 283-302.
79.
Talen, E. (1999). Sense of community and neighborhood form: An assessment of the social doctrine of new urbanism. Urban Studies, 36, 1361-1379.
80.
Talen, E. (2000). Measuring the public realm: Apreliminary assessment of the link between public space and sense of community. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 17, 344-360.
81.
Talen, E. (2001). Traditional urbanism meets residential affluence: An analysis of the variability of suburban preference. Journal of the American Planning Association, 67, 199-216.
82.
Trancik, R. (1986). Finding lost space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
83.
Twigger-Ross, C. L.,& Uzzell, D. (1996). Place and identity processes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 205-220.
84.
Untermann, R. K. (1990). Accommodating the pedestrian: Adapting towns and neighborhoods for walking and bicycling. In Personal travel in the U.S.: A report of the findings from 1983-1984 NPTS, Source Control Programs(Vol. II). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
85.
Weening, M., Schmidt, T., & Midden, C. (1990). Social dimensions of neighborhoods and the effectiveness of information program. Environment and Behavior, 22, 27-54.
86.
Willmott, P. (1963). The evolution of a community. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
87.
Zaff, J.,& Devlin, A. S. (1998). Sense of community in housing for the elderly. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 381-398.
