Sense of community and participation in urban contexts

Abstract

Abstract This paper questions the conceptions found in the principal theoretical approaches developed within psychological and social sciences to the problem of community and psychological sense of community. Some core assumptions that are recurrent in the various definitions of the concept of community are discussed. From these assumptions stem the idea of community as a sort of ideal‐type of the forms that social relationships may take and as a type of social collectivity characterized by a high degree of homogeneity and similarity. With reference to urban contexts, a more encompassing definition of community is needed so that the city may be regarded both as a local community and a local society. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.