A Portrait of Strong Community

Forty years ago, the urban planner Jane Jacobs observed her local shopkeepers in New York City. "One ordinary morning last winter," she wrote, "Bernie Jaffe and his wife Ann supervised the small children crossing at the corner [on the way to school]…"

Jane Jacobs then tracked the host of small neighborly actions taken by Bernie Jaffe and his wife through the rest of the day. It was a long list. The couple lent an umbrella to one customer, and a dollar to another; "took custody of two keys; took in some packages for people in the next building who were away; lectured two youngsters who asked for cigarettes; gave street directions; took custody of a watch to give the repair man across the street when he opened later; gave out information on the range of rents in the neighborhood to an apartment seeker; listened to a tale of domestic difficulty and offered reassurance; told some rowdies they could not come in unless they behaved and then defined (and got) good behavior; provided an incidental forum for half a dozen conversations among customers who dropped in for oddments; set aside certain newly arrived papers and magazines for regular customers who would depend on getting them; advised a mother who came for a birthday present not to get the ship-model kit because another child going to the same birthday party was giving that; and got a back copy (this was for me) of the previous day’s newspaper out of the deliverer’s surplus returns when he came by."

Jane Jacobs was writing about the early 1960s in New York. None of the tasks she describes could be remotely listed as vitally important for the neighborhood. But taken together, what Bernie and Ann Jaffe were doing was absolutely critical for the economic and social survival of the local community – especially as other shops were doing exactly the same. It was also entirely unpaid and unmeasured.

We can imagine, without that kind of fine-mesh local support from local shops and other institutions, exactly why so many neighborhoods have been unable to resist the slow decline into crime and fear. Concepts like social capital remain controversial in economic circles, but it is clear that there is some element – whether it is trust or other kinds of social cohesion – that can inoculate neighborhoods against the kind of disintegration that so many have experienced.

What Jane Jacobs describes appears on no balance sheet, yet it clearly improves quality of life and – if it is absent – rapidly increases the costs of local living.