‘I Don’t Intend to Make Friends Among My Neighbours’: The Ideal of Neighbourliness Among Residents of Residential Compounds

Residential compounds are an emerging model of urbanisation at a global level that could promote intra-neighbourhood rapprochement and interaction. However, the intra-neighbourhood relationships that occur in these urbanisations have been studied mainly in the more enclosed and more upper-class compounds. In this paper we analyse the discourses of residents and non-residents in different residential compounds and socio-economic statuses in the Granada (Spain) metropolitan area. The results indicate that there is no desire to establish relationships with neighbours even in this type of residential compound. There is a generalised ideal of neighbourliness based on cordiality (impersonal and respectful relationships). In addition, socio-economic homogeneity seems fundamental for understanding neighbourhood relations and the conflicts that arise.