Neighbourhood as a sociological concept implies interaction among people defined as neighbours. Neighbourhoods are spatial categories. But at the same time this is not a physical, administrative category but are constituted of shared, mental maps. People from different walks of life might have different mental maps of the neighbourhood.  In other words, the neighbourhood is experienced differently by different people. The quality, frequency and selectivity of this interaction varies according to a range of variables. There are demographic variables such as age, gender of the people and spatial features like design, layout and the density of the neighbourhood that determines the nature and quality of neighbourly interaction.

One point to remember is that neighbourhood studies are closely tied to the issue of community and territory. Yet, the terms neighbourhood and community refer to two different concepts, since community can be non-spatial.