Building Community: Collaborative Individualism and the Challenge for Building Social Capital

Abstract

Mixed-tenure developments, such as master-planned communities and urban villages, often presuppose that the design will build community and enhance social capital, thus mitigating the negative social impacts of suburban sprawl. However, research highlights the difficulties associated with creating community within such developments, citing demographic mix and service provision as both positive and negative elements. This paper explores the extent to which social capital exists in a planned, mixed-tenure development, from the perspective of residents living in low to medium-density dwellings in the estate. The results from a quantitative study examining sustainable community development on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Australia, suggest that planned mixed–tenure developments have an equal a chance of providing options for demographically diverse stakeholders as any other kind of development including the traditional suburban format. Outcomes such as increased levels of social capital appear to depend upon the combination of residents and their inclinations towards individual or altruistic benefits for their families, neighbourhoods, or communities. Inevitably, it seems that no amount of planning can provide a formula that will be effective in all instances