Community of place
A community offers many appealing features of a broader social relationship: Safety, familiarity, support and loyalties as well as appreciation.
With these advances, barriers have been lifted and distance is no longer such a great factor in anchoring the flow of people, goods or information.
German Sociologist and Philosopher Ferdinand Tönnies spoke of these components as evolutionary terms in his theoretical essay Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft[4] (translated to Community and Society).
The material form is physicality of the place, whether it be artificially made like a building belonging to an institution or establishment or a natural from, such as a well known land mass.
As stated before, place is not only conceptualized as a location but by the meanings, functionality and qualities people assign to the social stuff that are there.
"Place-Stratification" is a consequence of such identity creation: public or private, rich or poor, black or white, safe or dangerous, etc.
Social arenas that are inviting and successfully make visitors feel comfortable – like, but not limited to, parks, libraries, and plazas – help to reinforce engagement among community members.
Take neighborhoods that are closed off by gates or are further in distance from city centers, where access is limited by traveling at high speeds to and from in a private vehicle.
Invisible barriers such as price of property and proximity to stores, workplaces and civic centers work as well as agents of social stratification – usually based on things such as race, ethnicity and/or gender.
Place can work as a catalyst for collective action – social movements, protests, formation of labor unions, etc.
Researchers and their efforts have seen this phenomenon occur across multiple social movements and have dissected it so much so, they have pinpointed how proximity and solidarity has affected the response of collective action.
The attachment begins through biographical experiences: traumatic, fulfilling, even secret events that happen to individuals personally at that place.
Other research explains that attachment is developed through proximity and shared cultural process like living in the same building and emotional meanings of hanging out and having a good time in a local coffee shop.
Place inscribes cultural norms, ethical beliefs and values in its members as well as shapes ideology around what is considered deviant or criminal behavior.
