Time, temporality and the dynamics of community

Drawing on a qualitative study of 'student areas', this article proposes a way forward for the sociological study of community. In charting the community lives of two separate groups students and locals - the author argues that past emphases on the creation and maintenance of order, harmony and stability (or conversely the loss of such 'community') have left the study of community analytically and conceptually underdeveloped. The article reveals that to fall short of harmony and stability does not necessarily mean that community itself is lost; community solidarities are by their very nature dynamic and flexible. What is found to be crucial for an understanding of this dynamic process of community is the relatively neglected issue of time.