What makes a good community?

I read this in the local paper a while back and it got me thinking, what makes a community?

______ was discharged from Royal Columbian Hospital earlier in the day and trying to make it home. He still had his hospital bracelet on. His strength ran out at this location after getting off the SkyTrain. Frail, coherent, pale and soft-spoken, he told me he had called a friend to come after he fell. We waited together and, after a short while, a young man arrived to take him home.

This is my Community. We stop and check on people when something looks amiss. We help when our neighbours reach out. Our community is full of caring people.

This community is close to the one I live in and the letter writer has I believed, an idealized view of his/her community. I like to walk, and when I walk if I see someone I say hi, just to be friendly. In my hometown when I walk and say hello or hi, 95% of the time I get a response back. I went for a walk in the community mentioned in the above letter. When I said "Hello, or Hi" I was met with suspicion, anger and fear. The response was such that I have not gone back to walk in this community.   The letter writer has had a different experience than I did in his/her community.

So perhaps I am being unfair for judging a community just on the friendliness of its people. What do we look all look for in a good community?

Researchers,  David McMillan and David Chavis (1986), in their analysis of previous studies about this topic, found that four factors show up as community attributes, they are:

• Membership - that feeling that we have a right to belong and feel welcome
• Influence - that sense that we have some say in the community issues that affect us and that our perspectives are appreciated and respected
• Integration and fulfillment of needs - The belief that our community has what we need to survive and be prosperous and healthy (goods, services, recreation, desirable social interaction activities etc.).
• Shared emotional connection -This is a sense of community and quality of interactions 

Another study "the Soul of the Community Project" conducted in 26 communities across the nation by the Knight Foundation and Gallup (2010) looked at those factors that facilitate "community attachment". This study found that those communities with the highest levels of community attachment also had the highest rates of growth in the local gross domestic product.

The 10 community characteristics that most influenced community attachment (in order of importance) were: social offerings, openness, aesthetics, education, and basic services,  leadership, economy, safety, social capital, and civic involvement.

So the letter writer found an attachment to his community not just based on caring but on other factors that he/she may not be aware. What do you think makes a "good community?"