An Exploration of Neighbourly Ties within Newly Regenerated Residential Areas

In recent times, similar to many other cities such as London, Manchester and New York, there has been a considerable population influx into Dublin’s inner city. The attraction of new residents back into the central area has resulted in economic and social restructuring and the creation of new ‘social spaces’, as new urban residents are often very different in demographic and socioeconomic terms than members of established communities (i.e. younger, more affluent and ethnically diverse). The overall aim of this paper is to examine the extent and significance of neighbourly ties in these new relatively high density residential environments in the central area of Dublin city. Findings in this paper demonstrate that these new residential neighbourhoods are characterised by a lack of ‘neighbourliness’ which call into question the long term stability and cohesion of these new residential environments. Results from a binary logistic model indicate that background variables such as age, gender and ethnicity emerge as significant predictors of neighbourly interaction. The presence of friends and or relatives in the neighbourhood, the level of trust in neighbours and finally respondents intended future mobility behaviour were further factors found to have a significant influence on the level of interaction with neighbours.