A couple pieces today make the case that well-to-do neighborhoods have a reduced sense of community vis-a-vis more middle-class and low-income neighborhoods. True?
From a Wall Street Journal blog (see the comments)…
I’m always amazed at how the richest neighborhoods are also among the most empty.
And from Playborhood…
The fact is that, overall, the owners of these 2+ million dollar homes are not very “neighborly,” at least when they’re compared to owners in other neighborhoods with much less expensive homes.
Posted in: Community Building, Local Online, Neighborhood, Real Estate, social capital
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
I’ve noticed a similar phenomenon in the UK. There are some villages that have become commute homes for wealthy city workers; all local amenities have closed. One place I’m thinking of had a local pub, that was it. Food could only be bought by driving to the nearest town 20 miles away. (I recall this because I was backpacking at the time and wanted something to eat – there was nothing!)
Interesting: no social capital, but also such areas don’t draw attention to themselves through any particular social ill. They’re just… eerily dead.