Living in our neighbourhood is a very personal experience. Though it’s a place that bridges the gap between the privacy of our own home and the world beyond, it usually feels more private than public. Yet the neighbourhood is more than personal. It’s not just about your experience, or my experience. It’s about our experience. Living in a neighbourhood is a shared experience.Certainly, our neighbourhood stories are unique, but as a reality it’s an experience common to all. The neighbourhood—people living in close proximity to other people—knows no political, social or cultural boundaries. Of course, it looks and feels altogether different from one place to another, but it’s everywhere: from the makeshift shanty towns of Cape Town, South Africa, to the upscale neighbourhoods of Manhattan, New York; from the sprawling suburban edges of Sydney to the ancient fishing villages of coastal Europe, and everything else in between. And in all its forms, it plays host to one of the most longstanding of social relationships.
Indeed, beyond the family, the neighbourhood is one of the most common and immediate bases of social life in any society. Not only is the neighbourhood universal, it’s timeless or not bound by any particular era of human history. While the neighbourhood has changed in all manner of ways through time, it persists as a basic reality of residential life.
What neighbourhoods have you lived in?
Which did you like the best?
Why?
No comments:
Post a Comment