A community is usually more than just a place to live, but hopefully present a safe and friendly environment where one can properly raise a family or enjoy retirement. Ideally, a sense of community has four different elements, membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. These can be seen in people's daily relationships with their neighbors. When it comes to residential areas, there are several types, such as suburbs, condominiums and gated communities.

A suburb is characterized, at least in the United States, for a prevalence of detached single family homes, lower densities, residential and commercial development separated by zoning patters where most daily needs are not within walking distance, shopping and strip malls as opposed to a shopping district, and others. A condominium on the other hand, is similar to an apartment building, except that the dweller actually owns the apartment instead of renting it. Other than that, there are no perceptible differences in infrastructure. A sort of combination of a suburb and a condo is what is known as a gated community.

Gated communities are living areas which feature tightly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles and cars, and are usually enclosed within a walled perimeter. Additional security staff provide extra peace of mind for dwellers. The appeal of gated communities goes beyond an comfortable home, and may include swimming pools, tennis courts, community centers, golf courses, marina, on site dining, playgrounds, gyms and spas.