Community by Design

Findings and speculations about the effects of physical design on social behavior in planned residential settings have accumulated without the benefit of any explicit theoretical models (Newman, 1972, 1973; Cooper, Day, and Levine, 1972; Cooper, 1975). Recent research about urban neighborhoods has included the formulation and estimation of models of community attachment, but these models do not incorporate any physical design features (Kasarda and Janowitz, 1974; Hunter, 1975). I attempt here to connect these two areas of research by developing and estimating a model of community attachment that includes the effects of physical design. The sites for the research are federally assisted, moderate income housing developments. Both physical and social features of the sites prove to have significant effects on the level of community attachment in these settings.