A neighbourhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community located within a larger city,
town or suburb.
North America
In Canada and the United States, neighbourhoods are
often given official or semi-official status through neighbourhood
associations, neighbourhood watches, or block watches. These
may regulate such matters as lawn care and fence height, and they
may provide such services as block parties, neighbourhood parks, and community security. In some other places the equivalent organisation
is the parish, though a parish may have several neighbourhoods within it depending on the
area.
In localities where neighbourhoods do not have an official status, questions can arise as to where one neighbourhood begins
and another ends. Many cities may use districts and wards as official divisions of the city, rather than
traditional neighbourhood boundaries.
Balkan States and Ottoman Empire
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China
In the mainland of the People's Republic
of China, the term is generally used for the urban administrative unit usually found immediately below the district level,
although an intermediate, subdistrict level exists in some cities. They are also called streets (administrative terminology may
vary from city to city). Neighbourhoods encompass 2,000 to 10,000 families. Within neighbourhoods, families are grouped into
smaller residential units or quarters of 100 to 600 families and supervised by a residents' committee; these are subdivided
into residents' small groups of fifteen to forty families. In most urban areas of China, neighbourhood,
community, residential community, residential unit,
residential quarter have the same meaning: 社区 or 小区 or 居民区 or 居住区, and is the direct sublevel of a subdistrict (街道办事处), which is the direct sublevel of a district (区), which
is the direct sublevel of a city (市). (See Political divisions of China)
United Kingdom
The term has no official or statistical purpose in the United Kingdom, but is often used as a generic term to refer to a small
area within a town or city. The label is commonly used to refer to organisations which relate to such a very local structure,
such as neighbourhood policing[1] or Neighbourhood watch schemes.
In addition, government statistics for local areas are often referred to as neighbourhood statistics, although the data
themselves are broken down usually into districts and wards for local purposes.
Over and above these general and individual country definitions, neighborhoods have several advantages as an area for policy
analysis as well as an arena for social action:
1. Neighborhoods are common, and perhaps close to universal, since most people in urbanized areas would probably consider
themselves to be living in one.
2. Neighborhoods are convenient, and always accessible, since you are already in your neighborhood when you walk out your
door.
3. Successful neighborhood action frequently requires little specialized technical skill, and often little or no money. Action
may call for an investment of time, but material costs are often low.
4. With neighborhood action, compared to activity on larger scales, results are more likely to be visible and quickly
forthcoming. The streets are cleaner; the crosswalk is painted; the trees are planted; the festival draws a crowd.
5. Visible and swift results are indicators of success; and since success is reinforcing, the probability of subsequent
neighborhood action is increased.
6. Because neighborhood action usually involves others, such actions create or strengthen connections and relationships with
other neighbors, leading in turn to a variety of potentially positive effects, often hard to predict.
7. Over and above these community advantages, neighborhood activity may simply be enjoyable and fun for those taking part.
But in addition to these benefits, considerable research indicates that strong and cohesive neighborhoods and communities are
linked –quite possibly causally linked – to decreases in crime, better outcomes for children, and improved physical and mental
health. The social support that a strong neighborhood may provide can serve as a buffer against various forms of adversity.
Good starting places for documentation of these effects can be found in the evidence reviewed by Robert Putnam in Bowling
Alone (Simon & Schuster, 2000), and by Robert Sampson in the Annual Review of Sociology, 2002.
For all these reasons, both social scientists and activists may be rewarded by neighborhood study and involvement. For further
description of community benefits, plus guidance for and examples of successful neighborhood action, see also the section on
Promoting Neighborhood Action (Chapter 26, Section 12) in the Community Tool Box, online at http://ctb.ku.edu.
See also
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