What holds people together long enough to discover their power as citizens is their common inhabiting of a single place…. Before they become citizens, then, these people are neighbors; this is a neighborly citizenship. But by that I do no mean simply that it is folksy or friendly. The word neighbor, in its Old English rendition, meant something like “near dweller.” Neighbors are essentially people who find themselves attached to the same (or nearly adjoining) places. Because each of them is attached to the place, they are brought into relationship with each other.
Daniel Kemmis
Community and the Politics of Place
