ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the differences within and between what are loosely termed 'communities'. Policy documents largely use the term uncritically and without reference to the ways a community might be experienced very differently. The chapter shows that other groups are more likely to be monitored and surveilled by the authorities and attract more police attention. Women also appear to experience and perceive their environment differently than men, responding to different environmental cues, experiencing a vulnerability to fear which is not shared by men and avoiding certain places or activities within the residential neighbourhood which would not present similar problems to male residents. The chapter begins, however with a consideration of the differences between and within cities which give their neighbourhoods a distinct character. It then goes on to discuss the different fractures which exist within what can be considered place-based communities and the difficulties these have posed in the construction and maintenance of cohesive communities in the present day.
