December 2015
It seems counterintuitive.
Condo living is an opportunity to make friends. Smaller living spaces come with areas to congregate and socialize. Exercise areas, party and card rooms, and festive gatherings are opportunities to meet your neighbours and make friends. And with so many high-rise condo buildings in close proximity to each other, there are plenty of people to meet outside your building.
Yet it seems that getting to know other residents is more difficult.
In a single family dwelling people are forced to step outside. Once there it becomes difficult to avoid neighbours so conversations get started. Snow shovelling, mowing the lawn, gardening and raking leaves are all opportunities to stop and talk with neighbours.
Condo living means that all of this is done for you. It becomes easier to sit indoors watching TV, surf the Internet or use the electronic device of choice.
Condo living makes it easier to remain isolated.
One condo owner in Edmonton decided to counter this trend to isolation by creating the Glenora Gates Social Committee. He invited residents he did not know to his condo and cooked dinner for them. The group decided to plan an event to bring neighbours together and meet each other.
The Abundant Community Initiative is a more formal process for meeting neighbours supported by the City of Edmonton. They organize Block Connectors to knock on doors in condo and apartment buildings. They ask residents questions about what they want in, and can offer to, the community.
Through these conversations the Block Connectors know who reside in the area and become nodes for the network.
The purpose of this initiative is to help neighbours connect with each other.
Click here for information on The Abundant Community Initiative.
