The nature of community changes as our society grows and as it becomes more mobile and diverse. These changes can be gradual or can occur as step-changes. One example of a step-change happening close to Stapleton is the conversion of most of the Frenchay Hospital site to a major residential development. This raises the question of how a sense of community will be continued during a time of change - a question not unique to Frenchay.

The nature of community can be complex. In The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace, Scott Peck argues that the almost accidental sense of community that exists at times of crisis can be consciously built. Peck believes that conscious community-building is a process of deliberate design, based on the knowledge and application of certain rules. He argues that this process goes through several stages:

Chaos: When people feel safe enough to move beyond a carefully managed 'public image¹ to reveal their "shadow" selves.

Emptiness: When people within the community become capable of acknowledging their own woundedness and brokenness, common to us all as human beings.

True community: The process of deep respect and true listening for the needs of the other people in this community. This stage reflects a deep yearning in every human soul for compassionate understanding from people around us.

More recently Peck suggested that building a sense of community is easy but maintaining this sense of community is difficult in the modern world of new virtual communities, and he goes on to suggest ways in which this might happen.

Anthropological, sociological and psychological definitions of community are often technical yet still imprecise. But, untidy as our understanding of community may be, it is still vital for humans. Scott Peck expresses this in the following way: 'There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.'

A shared endeavour in building and maintaining community improves the quality of life for all involved.