City Communities

As I was talking to one of my friends, our conversation led us to talk about the different communities we have lived in and what we looked for, etc. One thing that we talked about was the feeling of closeness in communities, and how this varies from place to place. Specifically, we talked about how a small town feels, and he mentioned how big cities lose this feel.

As we talked about this, I realized that this is a common misconception that people, especially in the Midwest, seem to have. I completely disagree with this fact. All cities have some sort of community(ies) within them. It is inherent for people to create this. Contrary to popular belief where I am, really big cities (Boston, NY, DC, LA, etc.) are not the ones that have the biggest problems creating a feeling of community. It is the mid-sized cities (Kansas City is the perfect example) that struggle the most.

Allow me to explain. Small towns are the quintessential examples of strong communities. Everyone knows everyone, and traditionally people help one another, you will walk down the street, say hello, and move about your business, etc. The assumption is that in big cities, this is lost. In actuality, I have felt stronger communities there, than almost anywhere else. The difference I find is that big cities are large collection of communities that people create for themselves. For example, when I was in DC last week, I bumped into people that I hadn't seen in years, and could only see in DC, completely on accident. I mean I was only there a few hours and walked right up to one of my long distance friends. When I walk out from my hotel room, and am walking around town, I would run into the same people at the coffee shop every morning, and even in the short time I was there, the people I would run into would act as though we had known each other all of our lives.

I think what happens is that people form communities mostly because they are close together, and want that feeling. The closer people are to one another, the easier it is to create that connection that we all so innately seek. In small towns, people live close to one another and see each other because it is necessary. When you go to town, you may only have one of each standardized location, and they all form next to one another because it is convenient to do so. In urban centers, there are so many people, they have to create centers of commerce to supply people with what they need. Often times, do to space restrictions, they are small, drawing in the most local residents. Talk to the people in L.A., and they will tell you that they rarely venture out of their little section of the city. West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, are almost foreign to one another. The same can be said in Boston, with Cambridge, Chinatown, etc. NY with the Village, Uptown, etc. You get the picture.

The problem places like Kansas City have is that they are big enough to have lost the small town feel and need, but they are still spread out, and not big enough to for people to live close to one another, nor is it pedestrian. When you have to drive 15 minutes to get anywhere, and the stores you frequent are Wal-Marts and Price Choppers that are so huge you can lose someone that you are shopping with, chances of you "conversing at the market" are rather slim.

This has gone on a lot longer than I anticipated, but suffice to say that maybe now I have a logical reason for the reason that I feel such community in the big cities I visit or live in, but miss that same feeling when I am back here in Kansas City.