Edge cities are settlements with a very high concentration of office, business, retail, and entertainment spaces and activities. These settlements are located outside the traditional city downtowns. Most of them are in former rural or nonurban areas, close to motorway intersections or other major streets; others are close to important international airports. Many authors consider edge cities as one of the suburbanization forms. The first examples emerged in the United States in the mid‐twentieth century: The first use of the expression “edge city,” however, dates to 1991 – by the journalist Joel Garreau in his book
Edge City: Life on the New Frontier
.
This article stresses the heuristic power of the concept of community today, with particular attention to urban sociology. The authors distinguish between a cultural and a spatial meaning, focusing on the American debate through the concepts of community (cultural) and neighborhood (spatial). They look up these concepts in many Anglo-American encyclopedias; then, they consider the works of Barry Wellman and Robert Sampson. Wellman stresses the liberation of community from a place and the importance of mapping social ties and contacts. Sampson stresses the liberation of neighborhood from the logic of primary group relationships, so neighbor- hoods are seen as more ecological than affective units. So, the American debate seems to confirm that two notions of community are required: community is connected to individuals, networks and strong ties, neighborhood is connected to socio-spatial organization and "collective efficacy".
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