Why do we live where we live?
What factors make the place where you live the place where you want to live?
You’re probably thinking because it’s pretty, with a great beach, a thriving art scene, or a great night life. Perhaps good schools for kids, or amazing job opportunities.
A recent study looked at significant drivers which make people love where they live. They are:
- Basic Services
- Economy
- Education
- Leadership
- Openness
- Civic Involvement
- Social Offerings
- Safety
- Social Capital
- Aesthetics
Of all the drivers studied, the 3 most important stayed pretty much consistent across the US, with 43,000 people interviewed.
- Openness: How open or welcoming a community is to different types of people
- Aesthetics: How visually appealing it is (such as physical beauty and green spaces)
- Social Offerings: What types of opportunities there are for people to interact with one another (such as entertainment venues and places to meet)
Drivers like these cause what’s called resident attachment, which is how emotionally connected someone is to where they live. Attached residents have a strong pride in their community, a positive outlook on its future, and the sense that it’s the perfect place for them. And the more attached a person is, the less likely they are to leave, and this makes for a more talented workforce, a growing population, and general satisfaction and pride in community. In addition, residents who like where they live are generally more successful, which leads to a growing local neighborhood.
The researchers found the results of their study to be surprising because they expected that people would value things like basic services more than aesthetics. But as Richard Florida notes in his book The Rise of the Creative Class, “[The] findings actually make a great deal of intuitive sense…Because we expect basic services to be provided, we end up valuing aesthetics a little higher.” They also expected that people would be intolerant of living around people unlike themselves, however, as the level of tolerance rose towards groups such as families with children, racial/ethnic minorities, gays, immigrants, the poor and young singles, the overall happiness of the community increased. The one group that communities were the least open to was recent college graduates looking for work – isn’t that splendid! -.-
The following video outlines what the Knight Foundation hopes to achieve with their research –
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/44252805″>Soul of the Community – Overview</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/knightfdn”>Knight Foundation</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
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