COHESIVENESS WITHIN A HETEROGENEOUS URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD: Implications for Community in a Diverse Setting

Abstract

Four measures of community were used to analyze the extent of community in a relatively small, heterogeneous urban neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio: membership in formal organizations, informal “neighboring,” close ties within the neighborhood and commitment to continued residence in the neighborhood Results were compared with those of similar but More homogeneous neighborhood and the heterogeneous neighborhood was found overall to have at least the equivalent indications of community. Two sets of variables account for the &h level of neighborhood community in the heterogeneous neighborhood One set is associated with traditional bases of neighborhood cohesiveness: active neighborhood-based organizations and institutions (schools and churches) and networks of friends and kin. Another set indicates the presence of a “critical mass” of college-educated liberals who appreciate the diversity of the neighborhood and its central location