The 4 Pillars of Community Belonging

Evidence of the value of belonging, from London's Camden Borough.

Posted April 22, 2025 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

Have you ever wondered why some people feel deeply rooted in their neighborhoods while others—sometimes living just doors apart—feel isolated and disconnected? Recently, we had the opportunity to explore this question through analyses of the Survey of Londoners data of London's Borough of Camden. In a previous post , I compared belonging to the city of London for inhabitants of Camden versus Westminster. In this post, I go into the specifics of belonging to Camden.

When Belonging Becomes Measurable

In collaboration with Neighbourly Lab , our team at Annecy Behavioral Science Lab (ABSL) set out to make the intangible concept of "belonging" both measurable and actionable for Londoners in general, and, more recently, specifically within London's Borough of Camden. Using machine learning to analyze data from the Survey of Londoners (2021/22), we identified key factors that correlate with community connection in this particular context and the groups most likely to report feelings of disconnection.

Important note: Our analysis reveals correlations, not causation. While we found robust associations between certain factors and feelings of belonging and while we can control for many variables in our model, we cannot definitively state that one causes the other. Additionally, these findings are specific to Camden and should not be automatically generalized to other communities with different histories, demographics, and geographies. And while these findings offer valuable insights for consideration, they should not be interpreted as guaranteeing that modifying any single factor will enhance belonging or that identical patterns would emerge in different neighborhoods.

Why does this matter? Because belonging isn't just a nice feeling. It's associated with better mental health, increased civic participation (yes, we found this for Camden as well!), and greater trust in local institutions. Yet public policy often overlooks it, considering it too abstract to address directly.

Four Factors Associated with Community Connection

Our research revealed four factors that showed strong correlations with belonging in Camden:

Working Status and Daily Routines. People who are employed (full or part-time) reported significantly stronger community connections. This isn't necessarily causal; it may be that employment itself creates connection, or that both employment and connection relate to some third factor. Perhaps it is regular routines that coincide with more opportunities for interaction, like the daily pattern of buying coffee from the same cafe or seeing familiar faces during a commute correlates with what sociologists call " weak ties "—casual but meaningful connections that accumulate over time.
Housing Stability Shows Strong Association. Residential stability emerged as strongly correlated with belonging. Residents who had lived locally for 5-10 years and those with secure housing arrangements (homeownership or long-term leases) reported much stronger connections. Interestingly, the relationship wasn't entirely linear; even lifelong residents sometimes reported lower belonging than those who had moved in more recently but had actively built local connections. This suggests complex dynamics at play rather than a simple causal relationship.
The Correlation with Neighbor Interaction. One of our most interesting findings was the correlation between regular neighbor interaction and reported belonging. In general, more neighbor interaction is related to higher belonging. However, residents who exchanged even brief greetings with neighbors 2-3 times weekly reported higher belonging scores than those with only monthly contact. What's curious is that monthly interaction was associated with even lower belonging than no interaction at all—suggesting a complex relationship rather than a simple "more interaction equals more belonging" pattern.
Public Space Usage and Community Feelings. The fourth factor with a strong correlation to belonging was public space usage. Residents who visited local parks, libraries, or community centers on a weekly basis showed significantly higher belonging scores. These "third places" (neither home nor work) coincide with stronger community connection, though we cannot determine whether the spaces themselves create belonging or whether people who already feel connected are simply more likely to use these spaces.

Groups Reporting Lower Belonging

Our research also identified several groups reporting lower levels of belonging:

The multiple correlations also point to something encouraging: Because belonging appears to be associated with multiple factors, there may be several potential entry points for exploring how to foster connection.

Camden's Existing Community-Building Approaches

It's important to recognize that Camden is already pioneering impressive community-building approaches that align with our research findings. Their Neighbourhoods programme has established initiatives like Kentish Town Connects and One Kilburn , which bring together residents, organizations, businesses, and stakeholders to support community-led projects.

What makes Camden's approach particularly noteworthy is its focus on relationship-building rather than predetermined agendas. Their mantra of "spending time with people, in place" demonstrates a commitment to letting connection develop organically, recognizing that community work "can only move at the speed of trust." This philosophy mirrors many of the correlations we found in our data.

A Hybrid Model: Learning from Paris, Building on Camden's Context-Specific Approach

While Camden has created strong institutional foundations for community connection tailored to its specific context, the Hypervoisins movement in Paris (which I have written about before ) offers complementary grassroots strategies that might be adaptable—though not directly transferable—to Camden's unique environment. Starting in 2017 with a simple street banquet and a commitment to saying "bonjour" to neighbors, this initiative transformed 50 ordinary city streets into a vibrant village-like community through weekly neighbor-led meetups, outdoor activities, and digital connections.

What makes this case interesting is how it activates similar factors to those associated with belonging in our Camden research—regular interaction, public space use, community routines—but through bottom-up citizen action rather than institutional support.

A context-sensitive hybrid model might combine:

This approach could be thoughtfully adapted for other communities by:

The beauty of this approach is that it rejects one-size-fits-all solutions in favor of data-informed, context-sensitive strategies. Communities with strong institutions can learn from grassroots activation techniques, while those with strong citizen initiatives can benefit from more institutional support for inclusivity and sustainability—all while recognizing that the specific manifestation will necessarily vary based on local circumstances.

Building Context-Appropriate Architectures of Belonging

What might we learn from these Camden-specific correlational findings when considering our own lives and communities? Several approaches worth exploring emerge, recognizing that their specific implementation would need to be tailored to local contexts:

The data from Camden shows clear correlations: In this borough, belonging is associated with regular interaction, shared spaces, and community rhythms. By understanding these relationships within their local context, communities might create environments in which more people feel at home, while recognizing that the specific factors and their relative importance may vary considerably across different neighborhoods, cities, and countries. Though causation remains to be established through further research, and locality-specific analyses are essential before implementation, these correlational findings offer promising avenues for exploration.

What small step could you take this week to strengthen belonging in your own neighborhood?

This post is a shorter version of a technical article Prakhar Srivastava and I wrote for LinkedIn .

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Hans Rocha IJzerman, Ph.D., is Founder and Director of the Annecy Behavioral Science Lab (ABSL) in France and is a Research Affiliate at the University of Oxford.

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