I belonged to a community garden as a teenager in Palo Alto and had an allotment in London, so it’s easy for me to see the story behind this story in the New York Times. Things don’t always work perfectly between people, even in the garden. (Remember that the Biblical creation story is set in a garden?) While we start with good intentions and visions of melons and mesclun, other things can interfere–not only weather and weeds but work and domestic pressures. I remember, guiltily, the inconsistent attention I gave to my London plot. So think of the human issues that those devoted to preserving New York’s community gardens face, along with issues of language, and officialdom:

If a group of gardeners does lose its license or walks away from a plot, the neighborhood should be offered an opportunity to keep that garden running. The Parks Department should reach out to the local City Council member, the community board and nearby gardening groups, and allow 180 days for other people to apply to take over the garden.

All notices relating to gardens should be written in English, Spanish, Chinese and any other language the community requests.

In order to encourage new gardens, the city should let the public know when city-owned land becomes vacant and no specific use is envisioned.

via Op-Ed Contributors – Constant Gardens for New York – NYTimes.com.

Isn’t this just an upmarket variation on the package holiday, rather than anything one can really call community?

. . . they have a ready-made social life waiting for them. There is dinner in the local osteria with 15 families they have got to know well, or wine tastings and music festivals, to the entire village celebrating the annual olive harvest every November.

via Feel at home abroad – Telegraph.

I live in a tourist and second-home area, the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. No language barriers, but the divisions between natives or locals (born and raised here), incomers like me who live here year-round, and second-home owners is profound. This is one of the things I’ll be writing about in A Smaller Circle.

Interesting take on how geography affects community life,  in “Small town brings sense of community.” I’m sure there are many other factors, but the shape of our physical environment does affect how we connect and stay connected:

In our small town of Spencer, the teenagers know what they’re doing after school or after work – and they’re all doing the same thing. They’re going to eat downtown and walk around the square then they’re going to the Robey Theatre to take in a movie. They might drive around the Walmart parking lot or hang out at the park. Teenagers don’t drive 40 miles in any direction at the turn of a dime around here. We don’t have flat, straight roads.

I was surprised by how quickly, within a few months of leaving home, my son looked back on his teenage years here and realized what he’d had – a tightly knit community and a shared experience teenagers in other parts of the country (the flat, straight parts) don’t know still exists. The disconnection from community and shared experiences was shocking to him. He missed the limits of the hills that brought people together.

via Small town brings sense of community  – Country Living – Charleston Daily Mail – West Virginia News and Sports -.

The loss of a sense of community is by no means a British problem–it’s a global challenge. This article makes me more appreciative than ever of “my” London neighborhood, Camberwell, where I frequently dropped in on people, and where I, years later,  continue to socialize with my (former) neighbors. From “The rise of the next door stranger”:

Everybody needs good neighbours – but millions of Britons distrust theirs and are more friendly with online friends, new research has revealed.

More than one quarter (27%) admit to feeling suspicious of those who live near them, while almost half (44%) feel they do not share the same values as them, the poll showed.

Most people (59%) believe they have little in common with their neighbours, making it unsurprising that the majority (61%) never socialise with them.

The study, called Next Door Strangers and carried out by Legal & General, paints a picture of a nation whose sense of community is disappearing.

via The Press Association: The rise of the next door stranger.

Here’s an aspect of community economics, in a speech by Nancy Pelosi, that I want to look at more closely:

“Today, again, we will create over 300,000 jobs or save them—not just any jobs, but jobs that are the most significant in our country, a sense of community that our teachers, our police, and our firefighters, and our health care workers bring.”

via Pelosi Remarks at Enrollment Ceremony for Jobs Legislation — WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –.

An example of one day’s Google Alerts for “sense of community.” Almost all American, one from the U.K. These are helpful as I think about how to cover all the different aspects of community in a mere 16 chapters.

News 9 new results for “sense of community”

Pisgah Village, feeding the spirit in Highland Park Los Angeles Times (blog) It’s a cultural potluck that builds dignity and a sense of community for residents. Keep reading to see more from Pisgah … Photo: The village hosts a … See all stories on this topic »

Comic-Con: Nerd and Geek Community Psychology Today (blog) Most folks I talked to cited the sense of community as a reason they came to the convention; that is, they wanted to be with other like-minded folks. … See all stories on this topic » Psychology Today (blog)

One Book One New Orleans picks Louis Armstrong’s 1954 memoir of the city as … NOLA.com … owe its success to the fact that, Charles said, “Our literary culture here is so rich — and more important, our sense of community here is so strong. … See all stories on this topic » NOLA.com

Free yoga for the community on Public Square in downtown Cleveland NewsNet5.com “It’s important for everyone to have a sense of community and a sense of connection,” said Romeo. “I think yoga provides that for us. … See all stories on this topic » NewsNet5.com

Back to the future with Victorian-style model towns The Guardian If so, that lost sense of community is being linked to health and well-being issues. Worse still, those homeworkers hibernating away from human contact. … See all stories on this topic » The Guardian

SD community improves with gardening, building Gaylord Herald Times Building a sense of community is important to drive change, he added. If the landowners do something — plant flowers, paint a fence — residents sense that … See all stories on this topic »

Fiesta parade draws thousands downtown The Daily Sound Enjoyed by tourists and locals alike, the Fiesta Parade embodies Santa Barbara’s sense of community. Michael Farenswhorth, a Santa Clara resident, … See all stories on this topic » The Daily Sound

Miss Asian America Pageant comes to SF abc7news.com And this is about a sense of community. This really is more than a beauty pageant, this is about social relevance. The pageant is Saturday night in the … See all stories on this topic »

Volunteers build Hastings playground in a day Grand Island Independent “It’s really impressive — the strong sense of community they have here,” she said. MacConnell is from Tarrytown, NY, where Kool-Aid is managed. … See all stories on this topic »

Not only a matter of environmental concern (think of the resource demands, and the waste), but an alarming outlook in terms of social connections and community:

More than half of China’s existing residential structures will be demolished and rebuilt in the coming 20 years, according to a senior researcher from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, a claim that has sparked fresh questions about the short lifespan of Chinese buildings.

via ‘Most homes’ to be demolished – Nation – China Daily eClips.

I haven’t begun to research the social impact of even temporary displacement yet, and this outlook constitutes something more like “community in disaster,” a subject that has got some attention, after Hurricane Katrina, for example.

INTERPERSONAL DIVIDE is a thoughtful book about community and the online world, and I’ve just discovered that the author, Michael Bugeja, has put sample syllabi on his website. And beautifully organized – I am impressed! Would love to hear from anyone who’s used these materials.

Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb: Strict new rules on resale shops threaten local assets; Goodbye, Half-Price Books?.

I came to Great Barrington because I wanted my two children “to be from somewhere.” There are many times I have told myself what a mistake that was, that I chose the wrong place, that I should have stayed in London, or moved on when I realized how alien I felt here, knowing that that was bound to affect them. But maybe it’s worked out, in spite of me. Here’s something I wrote for the book, and below it is what happened yesterday:

Unlike my family in the Silicon Valley when I was a kid, I know my neighbors. Alex has lived next door since the summer we moved here, 15 years ago, and our kids used to run back and forth through the gap in the fence. Liz and I both love to garden. Diane and I met at yoga class. When I’m away, I can ask them to feed my cats, and when I’m here I turn to them for local gossip. In the spring we visit one another’s gardens, and at Halloween the neighborhood is packed with children trick-or-treating. When my kids were small, they walked to the little school in the center of town. Friends still report to me when they see Rachel (now 21) crossing Main Street with an open book in her hand.

Rachel grew up as “the girl who’s always reading,” but you might well think I am exaggerating when I say that people I know keep an eye out for her. Yesterday I saw a friend, talked about online publishing for a while, and as I was leaving she said, “Oh, I saw Rachel crossing Main Street the other day – ” I waited for the usual punchline. “And she wasn’t reading! She didn’t even have a book in her hand. She was looking around, paying attention. I almost didn’t recognize her.”

This is community, isn’t it?