What is community

The notion of ‘community’ is multi layered and may be understood as:

• A group of people who live in a specific locality, neighbourhood –communities of place or geographic communities, with shared experience and/or shared concerns
• A group of people who have a shared identity, shared history, belief or perspective – communities of identity
• Interests or occupations that people have in common – communities of interest
• A social network of individuals who interact through virtual media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals – virtual communities

It is worth remembering that:

• People can belong to more than one community at a time
• People may move in and out of communities, depending on a range of factors including time, motivation and need
• Not everybody may identify as being part of a community
• Some people may be excluded from communities because of discrimination, or may choose to exclude themselves
• ‘Community’ can be presumed, chosen or imposed
• imposing ‘false’ communities isn’t particularly helpful if the aim is to encourage people to work together