Komunumo

Komunumo is a term used to describe a group of people who share a sense of belonging and interact within a defined space or around common interests, values, or identities. The concept encompasses geographic communities—such as neighborhoods, towns, or regions—and non-geographic ones formed around professions, hobbies, cultures, or online platforms.

Formation and maintenance rely on social ties, trust, shared norms, and sometimes formal institutions like associations, schools, or municipal bodies that coordinate activities and resources.

Common features include membership (people who identify as part of the group), a perceived common purpose, mutual obligations, and a network of relationships that enables cooperation and information exchange.

Communities serve several functions: providing social support, facilitating collective action, sustaining culture and knowledge, and helping members navigate challenges. They can also act as venues for governance, decision-making, and resource pooling.

Examples range from local neighborhood associations and religious congregations to professional networks, open-source software communities, and online interest forums. In research, communities are analyzed as social networks with patterns of trust, reciprocity, and social capital, as well as potential limitations such as exclusion, conflict, or information bubbles.

In Esperanto and some other languages, komunumo specifically denotes a community, emphasizing shared belonging and cooperative life.