Getting Along With the Neighbours? Neighbourliness, Unneighbourliness and Community in a London Suburb

Abstract

This chapter examines patterns of neighbouring in the small Essex town of ‘Eastside’, located in London’s eastern suburban periphery. Drawing on qualitative interviews, two groups of resident interviewees are discussed: established, long-term, white British residents who have lived in Eastside for many years, and ethnically diverse newcomers who have recently moved to the area. This chapter focuses on patterns of neighbouring – both positive in the form of ‘neighbourliness’ and negative in terms of ‘unneighbourliness’ – and considers whether neighbouring provided the basis for residents to develop a sense of community. Basic neighbouring activities, such as saying ‘hello’ and the mutual provision of support, were commonplace, although proactive intervention and socialising with neighbours were more limited. Only a minority of both long-term and incoming interviewees identified a sense of community based upon neighbouring. The dominant aspect of the former’s sense of community was a ‘narrative of decline’ in which they lamented the loss of the more intense neighbourliness that they recalled from the past. Unneighbourliness was also evident, for example, in relation to noise, and various reasons for this are analysed including deficiencies within the physical environment, tenure prejudice, and established/newcomer resident tensions.

Citation

Watt, P. (2022), "Getting Along With the Neighbours? Neighbourliness, Unneighbourliness and Community in a London Suburb", Cheshire, L. (Ed.) Neighbours Around the World: An International Look at the People Next Door, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-476-720221010