Religion, Life Cycle, and Race

Abstract

The neighborhood offers its residents opportunities to interact and to build a sound community. Whether the people choose to do so depends upon the choices and constraints they face, and as the previous chapter showed, the neighborhood plays an important role in helping to create a sense of community. The neighborhood can pull people inward if the services that it offers are relatively attractive, and conversely it can push people outward and discourage the construction of community if the various aspects of the neighborhood environment do not meet the needs, wants, or desires of the residents. It is therefore not only the interaction among the residents that gives rise to the feelings that people have about place, but it is also the interplay between the residents and the neighborhood itself.