Why do communities form?

Read A Social Capital Primer, by Robert Putnam, on the Bowling Alone website.

This should help you to understand:

What is social capital?
How does social capital work?
What are some examples of social capital?

the art of community.png Then read The Art of Community: Building Belonging, an excerpt from Jono Bacon's book The Art of Community (download the PDF of the book for free). In particular, read from the section titled "Building Belonging into the Social Economy."

The quick recap, directly excerpted from The Art of Community: Building Belonging:

A sense of belonging is what keeps people in communities. This belonging is the goal of community building. The hallmark of a strong community is when its members feel that they belong.
Belonging is the measure of a strong social economy. This economy’s currency is not the money that you find in your wallet or down the back of your couch, but is social capital.
For an economy and community to be successful, the participants need to believe in it. If no one believes in the community that brings them together, it fails.
Like any other economy, a social economy is a collection of processes that describe how something works and is shared between those who participate.
These processes, and the generation of social capital, which in turn generates belonging, needs to be effectively communicated.

	Watch this talk by Jono Bacon
	The Future of Community