Sense of Community and Social Life in the Fishing Neighbourhood of Gurunagar, Jaffna, Sri Lanka

The role of space and neighbourhood layout in the creation of local communities have been less well undersrtood. Research has developed indices for evaluating the sense of community and social life, but has not focused on the significance of neighbourhoods. Sense of community and social life are related to social cohesion, areas of inquiry in sociology, psychology and the built environment. Social life studies focus on city centers or periphery areas; while sense of community studies of sociologists and psychologists focus on neighbourhoods. The role of the built environment on the sense of community and social life of neighbourhood however is less well understood.