Whether they are "close-knit" or "fractured", no one questions that communities exist and are a good thing. According to yesterday's report by the public accounts committee, antisocial behaviour causes "misery and despair" not to individuals but to "local communities", and these are "frustrated and concerned" by the lack of court action on Asbos. Meanwhile, the government has been advocating good design as a way of instilling a sense of community. According to its new "manual for streets", planners should ensure residential areas encourage walking and informal social interaction. This means creating more spaces to linger, like pocket parks - grassy areas with benches - and fewer dead-end layouts so that streets are "permeable" for those on foot.
One of the questions posed in the article is whether it is possible to design more sociable streets as the street as a social space is in long-term decline....
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