Social Interaction and Sense of Community in a Master Planned Community

Abstract

Master planned communities are becoming the dominant form of new large‐scale housing development in Australia. A characteristic of these developments is the focus on community as a major promotional feature. This resonates well with buyers in a climate in which community (and social capital) has become a catch‐cry of governments and the private sector for a whole range of benefits. However, the case‐study master planned community considered in this research has been the focus of considerable effort by the developer to facilitate community processes beyond the political or marketing level. The research reported in this paper looks at the outcomes of these efforts and shows that while high levels of attachment to place and sense of community are reported by residents, actual social interaction within the master planned community is not generally extensive. While these findings can be seen as being in accord with current notions of changing community form, they have significant implications for developers wishing to facilitate community development in terms of increased social interaction.