Sense of Community and Community Building

Abstract

Improving the quality of life through the strengthening of the social fabric of relations is an important goal for practitioners and scientists addressing all social issues whether it be for prevention, intervention, treatment, or broad social change agendas. The social and medical sciences offer a wide range of terms for that feeling of connection among people and the benefits (and costs) that come from resulting behaviors whether it be called social capital, social support, neighborhood cohesion, place attachment, or sense of community; that feeling of connectedness with others, the feeling that we are a part of community, is one of the most basic human needs. Community is the human ecology. We use the term “sense of community” to describe that perception of belonging that makes us feel good and safe. The other terms, cohesion and attachment, are variations on this same basic human experience. Social capital and social support reflect the relationships that are part of a community.