It seems that in today's world we're finally able to function independently from other people. Is it true? Does the importance of more distant family and neighbours really decline? Dr Karol Kurnicki from the JU Institute of Sociology discusses the issue.
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We hire specialised companies to help us cope with everyday life. We frequently stay in touch with friends and acquaintances from outside of our local neighbourhood – it's much easier than 15 or 20 years ago, thanks to Internet and cheap mobile phones. For quite some time now, Polish sociologists have talked about the phenomenon of "sociological vacuum", i.e. the lack of identification with social groups other than close relatives and the entire nation, which diminishes people's interest in their neighbours. Some people decide to buy an apartment or house in a gated community, hoping to recreate the feeling of traditional urban life.
Nuance and regulations
Changing one's home is much more difficult than, for instance, changing one's job. That's because people have to share their immediate surroundings with others, and that requires conforming to formal and informal rules of the local community. If there were no such requirements, our lives would be full of petty squabbles and senseless malice. The inhabitants of neighbourhoods built several decades ago can often tell stories of their struggles with poorly developed infrastructure and mutual help as well as friendships that formed in these early years. Similarly, new neighbourhoods also try to organise themselves better – people set up Internet forums to exchange information and arrange cultural events. It proves that for many people it is still important to have a good relationship with the neighbours, and that such relationships can be an asset in everyday situations (babysitting, feeding animals, watering plants etc.).
The benefits of neighbourhood communities are can sometimes simply be overlooked. It's indicated by two situations which happened when we carried out our study in Kraków. During an interview, one senior citizen stated several times that he is not in any way interested in contact with neighbours, but later admitted that he often helps them with small repairs (e.g. changing a light bulb or a lock). Furthermore, immediately after the interview was over, he called his friend who also lived in that block of flats. The other situation involved two women who responded similarly to the senior in the previous case, but later it turned out that they regularly invite each other for tea and cake. Relationships with neighbours may be viewed as self-evident and natural.
It's possible that even seemingly insignificant ordinary human contact makes the entire community happier: people feel safer, informed, and supported. Naturally, it also has a downside – reduced anonymity (a privilege of those living in urban areas) and the creation of divisions within the community itself (e.g. long time residents vs. newcomers). A smile and a greeting is a "tax" we pay to make sure our neighbour will help us in our time of need. The price of this is that we cease to be "invisible" to the community and we may become the targets gossips and greater scrutiny.
The future of neighbourhoods
In the long run, neighbourhood communities might become very important social institutions in a few dozen years, affecting the people's quality of life to an even greater extent. Due to social transformations, such as population aging and changes in family models, smaller or larger neighbourhoods may become the basic reference model of social interaction: sharing resources, co-habitation, and mutual care. Large retirement communities in the Unites States are a very good example of that. Senior citizens live in a neighbourhood where they are surrounded by people similar to them, which in turn facilitates adapting the environment to their needs. However, living in such a place requires a rather sizable financial investment, so it's difficult to make it universally available.
Neighbourhood communities might become very important social institutions in a few dozen years, affecting the people's quality of life to an even greater extent.
Another good example is the "Homes That Fit" programme initiated in Helsinki, which enables young people to rent a flat in a retirement community very cheaply in exchange for spending several hours a week with the seniors. This concept is similar to the already existing concept of cohousing, which has a very strong community-related element: people of all ages live close to one another and throughout the day, they do a lot of things together. Testing these solutions is also necessary in Poland, since our country has been struggling with the decline in population growth and housing crisis. Not only do we need to design better neighbourhoods, we also need to factor in their social aspect as well.
Therefore, it's crucial to recognise the needs of neighbourhood communities and realistically assess the pros and cons of living in communities. The research we conduct at the JU Institute of Sociology, apart from purely scientific value, will also give us a lot of practical information about neighbourhood communities and people in general. We hope to implement the results of out research in designing and redesigning communities, since they will be the dominant form of urban life in the foreseeable future.
