Continuities and discontinuities of place

Early studies and observations of working-class communities reveal the phys ical environment itself as a very meaningful aspect of urban social life, a finding strongly borne out by the study of the relocation of several thous and people from the West End of Boston (1958-1961). Attachment to place is a characteristic feature of life in many poor, ethnic, immigrant communitie s. The development of a sense of spatial identity is a critical component o f attachment experiences in such local areas. As a consequence of such spatial identity, built on the convergence of phys ical places and social relationships, displacement from the community entai ls widespread grief and mourning. But life, even in these relatively stable and enclosed communities, is not simply continuous: people change, communi ties change, social discontinuities are inevitable. And the stable forms of attachment which are so highly adaptive to the first or second generation ethnic community inhibit progression to new urban environments and to new c onditions of social life when these become desirable or necessary. While co mmunity ties are often of importance at all social class levels and serve a s stabilizing forces, the transition to new statuses, wider opportunities, and new conditions of life implies a more attenuated form of place attachme nt. However, many people remain addicted to encompassing forms of continuit y in community attachments. Spatial identities which are highly functional at one point can thus become dysfunctional. These commitments can become th e basis for contagious violence and bloodshed especially after the demise o f long-term autocratic controls which leave a political hiatus and present us with pathologies of community attachment, visible in the territorial con flicts of recent decades. (C) 2000 Academic Press.