A coffee with your neighbour could save your life

Having a cup of coffee and a chat with a neighbour might save your life during extreme weather events according to a US sociologist.

The findings compare survival rates between two communitites in Chicago, Englewood and Auburn Gresham, following the city's heatwave in July 1995. Both are mostly African-American communities, with high concentrations of poverty and elderly residents, but they differ greatly when it comes to community engagement. Between 1960 and 1990, Englewood lost fifty per cent of its residents and most of its commercial outlets, the community was essentially abandoned. Auburn Gresham by contrast is a tight-knit community where residents walk to dinner and the supermarket, they know their neighbours and they participate in block clubs and go to church.

In the socially disengaged neighbourhood of Englewood, 33 residents per 100,000 died during the '95 heatwave, but in the demographically identical suburb of Auburn Gresham, only 3 residents per 100,000 perished.

Accoding to Eric Klinenberg, a professor in sociology at New York University, the key difference in the number of residents who withstood the heatwave in the Chicago neighborhoods turned out to be the footpaths, stores, restaurants, and community organisations that bring people into contact with friends and neighbours. He said the advantages of living in an engaged community during a heatwave is as good as having a working air-conditioner in each room.

Given these results, being a good neighbour is more than just a matter of politeness, it could be a matter of survival.