(Re)Locating Community in Relationships: Questions for Public Policy

Abstract

This paper argues that we should think of community as being about social relationships rather than a 'thing' that is 'lost' 'found' or 'made'. The paper draws on the philosophy of Roberto Esposito and the sociology of David Studdert to highlight the overlaps in their approaches to community. Both argue that community is ontological, as unavoidably 'with us'. The paper then draws upon two empirical examples to argue that this approach could enable a different kind of public policy in relation to community. Policy would focus on existing relationships as the starting point for any efforts to effect social change. The implications for contemporary debates about localism are explored at the end of the paper.

The Resilient Bond With Zhujiajiao: (Re)making Community in a Chinese Tourism Town

“…This article has explored local residents’ (re)constructions of community under the profound changes wrought by tourism development in Zhujiajiao. Following the recent call to relocate community in relationships and practices (Neal et al, 2019; Studdert and Walkerdine, 2016a, 2016b; Wills, 2016), the article shows that, from a Chinese perspective, people may maintain a resilient bond with their community in spite of dramatic local redevelopment. While highlighting the historical and relational aspects, our research into community-making narratives and practices in Zhujiajiao also pay close attention to the material dimension of community.…”

“…Contemporary community studies have adopted a variety of approaches to (re)conceptualising community: interpreting it as being defined through daily interactions (Chavez, 2005), an ongoing process of communication (Delanty, 2010), regenerated through collective narratives of the past (Lewis, 2016), an alternative form of governance (Jensen, 2004), or made through mundane and ordinary local activities (Neal and Walters, 2008). In the context of this article, we seek to engage with the recent rethinking of community as being primarily about everyday practices and social relationships (Studdert and Walkerdine, 2016a, 2016b; Wills, 2016). Rather than being a ‘thing’, community is ‘a primary, interdependent sociality rather than the imagined, aspirational, bounded or selective community’ (Neal et al, 2019: 72).…”

“…These studies convincingly demonstrate the significance of place to contemporary communities despite increased uncertainties in everyday lives (see also Bennett, 2014; Degnen, 2016). They also shed light on repositioning community in social relationships that are multidimensional and constantly remade through ‘located and embodied performance and practice’ (Wills, 2016: 644).…”

“…Thus, the degree to which people value and draw on their material connections with the community may shift over time and across the life-course. People’s connections with the community are constantly made and remade and this is always a dynamic process constitutive of relationships (Wills, 2016). Zhujiajiao community, which has experienced waves of tourism-related development, demonstrates how the interplay between different relationships have both sustained and transformed the idea of community.…”

The idea of community and its practice: Tensions, disruptions and hope in Glasgow’s urban growing projects

“…This is critical as it directly informs not only who comes to be involved in community processes, through boundary practices, but also what activities go unrecognised (cf. Wills, 2016).…”