In this day and age it’s rare to see people interacting with each other within a community. In In the Neighborhood, Peter Lovenheim attests to this by speaking of his own neighborhood and its lack of a sense of community. This lacking can be partially attributed to the physical structure of the neighborhood itself. The placement of the houses on the land, the design of the road, the design of the sidewalk, the lack of variety in the design of the houses, and the lack of a common space all serve to obstruct the sense of community that Lovenheim seeks. It can be determined early on that Lovenheim’s neighborhood seems structurally antisocial. Beginning with the location of the houses themselves Lovenheim says “By code, houses had to be set back…show more content… When he is having a conversation with Grace Field she says “The heat bothers me. But in your neighborhood I can almost walk the whole way in the shade”(76). He builds off of this by saying “The trees along Sandringham form a canopy over the sidewalk that offers nearly continuous shade. In a light rain, you could walk a good part of the way without even getting wet” (76). From this we learn that the trees are so thick, because they can block rain, that they are also probably blocking the views of other neighbors. These trees reinforce the separation of the neighborhood because they obstruct anyone from seeing what's behind them. They provoke an out of sight out of mind outlook. If there's no clear view as to what is there then there might as well be nothing there at…show more content… Lovenheim says “Which house on Sandringham did I live in? Grace asked. I said I lived about halfway down the street where two split level ranch houses with circular driveways sat side by side. They looked so similar in design, and both were fronted in light-colored brick, that visitors often confused them until I had the brick on mine painted over in a taupe color”(74). The houses look the same which limits the amount of individuality one can have. Because everyone has similar houses it's less likely that the people in the neighborhood will feel any obligation to put in the effort to meet their neighbors because they can make the assumption that since they all have similar houses, they also all have similar characteristics in their personalities or in other words if they've met one neighbor then they've met them
