Types of Communities:

It is common to classify communities into the

following categories:

1. Communities of place
2. Communities of interest
3. Identity-based communities
4. Communities of need
5. Communities of practice

Below are 21 different communities fitting into each

of the above categories.

Communities Of Place
1. Urban community – An urban community is a place-
based community that has its own unique structure and
needs. Urban communities are densely-populated and
often rely upon peripheral communities to provide
food and materials, while they offer services to
other communities in return.
2. Suburban community – Suburban communities are less
dense than urban and often have high numbers of
families and children. Their interests may be focused
on family planning, education, and cost of living
pressures.
3. Rural community – Rural communities are often
oriented around agrarian lifestyles and have unique
concerns such as access to healthcare and services
despite the fact they’re far from service providers.
They also tend to, on average, have a higher degree
of conservative political leaning due to the need to
rely on self and neighbor over government.
4. Neighborhood – A neighborhood may be a small
subset of any of the above communities of place. It
refers to a small group of people who live in very
close proximity and may share local services such as
shops or a local elementary school.
5. Suburb – Suburbs are bigger than neighborhoods but
smaller than cities, and may have a local government
uniting them or shared interests in a particular
hospital or small business community that serves the
whole suburb.
6. National community – Benedict Anderson referred to
nations as ‘imagined communities’. They’re groups of
people who will never see all of their compatriots
face-to-face but have a shared sense of identity and
purpose built up by mass media and governmental
institutions that promote a nationalistic worldview.
7. Global community – The global community
encompasses everyone in the world.

Communities Of Interest
8. Subcultures – Subcultural communities cohere
around common beliefs and interest that are distinct
from the beliefs and interests of the dominant
culture in which they live. For example, we could
think of the surfing community, gaming community, and
so on.
9. Countercultures – Like subcultures,
countercultures sit within a dominant culture but are
distinct cultural groups. But unlike subcultures,
countercultures are oppositional to the dominant
culture. For example, hippies, the Amish, and cult
groups are countercultural community groups.
10. Sporting communities – Sporting communities
cohere around a common interest in a shared sport.
They often develop their own practices, events, and
phrases. For example, the global football community
share the football world cup as their peak event.
Identity-Based Communities
11. Religious communities – Religious communities
cohere around spiritual beliefs and practices. They
may come together to worship, but also act as networks
of support groups around the world. For example, if
you move cities, you will be able to connect with
branches of people within your religion in the new
city who can act as your new support network.
12. Virtual communities – A virtual community gets
together online. In the digital age, people
increasingly form identities and support networks
online based upon common interests rather than
through nationalistic and regional
identity features.
13. Ethnic group – People with a shared
ethnicity have common history, practices, cultures,
and beliefs. This leads them to naturally coming
together to engage in their cultural practices as a
coherent community group.

Communities Of Need
14. Disabled community – As with all communities of
need, disabled people come together to share their
common experiences, advocate for their shared needs,
and support one another.
15. Deaf community – A subset of the disabled
community, the deaf community is a well-known
community who come together out of shared need and
interest. For example, deaf people can come together
because they share a language – sign language
(although there are many!) – and there is even a
distinct deaf culture with shared social norms.
16. Elderly community – We see elderly communities
coming together to share a common experience of
aging. Often, these communities both allow for shared
medical resources and a joyous sense of active
community-building in the final quarter of life.
17. Migrant and expat communities – Migrants often
come together in new countries to support one
another. They may have shared language and culture,
but also shared experiences, that draw them together.

Communities Of Practice
18. Professional community – Professional
communities are groups of people who share a
profession or expertise. These groups often advocate
for their profession, set minimum standards and
engage in shared professional development and ongoing
learning.
19. Guilds and associations – Guilds and associations
are similar to professional communities, but may not
necessarily be connected to a profession. They may be
connected to a hobby such as woodworking or
birdwatching.
20. Business communities – Generally referred to as
‘the business community’, this is a group of people
who advocate for businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
They may share experiences running businesses and
advocate for legal changes that make running a
business easier, less bureaucratic, or more
efficient.
21. Economic communities – Economic communities are
larger-scale than business communities and linked to
nation-state economies. It may be, for example, APEC
– the Asia-Pacific Economic Community – which is
essentially a trade bloc with lowered tariffs and
standardized trade agreements. Similarly, we have the
European Economic Community.
Conclusion
The concept of ‘community’ is broad, and the
above examples of communities are only a handful of
the great number of social units that exist in
society. Humans tend to come together in social units
to network, share experiences, share resources, or
achieve power in numbers.
Increasingly, as globalization makes the world more
interconnected, we are developing new types of
communities in new and interesting ways. As we’re
able to globally communicate and connect using the
internet and new media, people form their identities
through more dispersed groups than ever before.