Think of night time in old American movies, set in cities like New York with towering tenements, shadows from the street lamps and rusty metal fire escapes hanging off the buildings. Someone in an apartment is singing, in the next block a couple are laughing at the open window, across the way an unshaven drunk in filthy braces drops his empty whisky bottle and the sound of the glass smashing echoes round the back courts. A saxophone wails inexpertly and someone shouts angrily … “f sharp, dammit!” Somewhere up on a tin roof, a cat burns its feet.

It could be a nightmare, but then again, all human life is there. In Scotland, the orthodox idea of a good neighbourhood is that it’s nice and quiet.

At least “nice and quiet” involves the absence of violence, mayhem, abusive behaviour and stress, which sadly disfigures some of our neighbourhoods. I know this, because as a councillor people wanting transfers tell me their distressing stories. But “nice and quiet” can also mean isolated and lonely, particularly in areas where new communities are forming, or where redevelopment or high churn splits up families, friends and neighbours.

Arguably, this has nothing to do with landlords. They need to provide good homes at a reasonable rent and their duties end there. But creating a stable neighbourhood where people feel safe, have friends, help their neighbours and enjoy their lives makes running social housing much more rewarding than just providing homes with windows to look out of.

When I first heard of this year’s theme for Scottish Housing Day, “Everyone needs good neighbours”, I thought “Really?” What about the challenge of climate change, scotching the myths about heat pumps, or focussing on councils failing to meet legal homelessness duties? But that reductive view dissipated when I met Callum Chomczuk, National Director of the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, and Jamie Ballantine, who runs the Social Regeneration Team at Queen’s Cross Housing Association.

Callum and Jamie were our guests on the Scottish Housing News podcast; we invited them because the CIH has just published a survey around the theme of what makes a good neighbourhood and how people feel about where they live.

As I suspected, people do value peace, quiet, tranquillity even in their neighbourhood. But they also want friendly neighbours, safety and security, green spaces and convenience. They get very frustrated by council inaction on litter, and general environmental neglect. Respondents called for proactive, responsive housing management. There’s much more to read in the report.

Jamie told us about the way Queens Cross Housing Association strengthens communities in an area of operation comprising 4,500 houses in the north of Glasgow, along the Forth & Clyde Canal.

This is a housing association which provides free events for the community to enjoy, including “Digital Drop In”, “Parents and Toddlers”, English language classes, a “Stag Group” for men aged 40+, and “Mind Your Mind – Tea, Talk and Meditate”. There are singing groups too, for adults, and “Melody Tots” for children to learn instruments.

There are also activities which help to create pride in the community such as Litter Picking and, famously, a huge mural of hands on hands on St George’s Road. The mural was created in collaboration with 200 children who drew hands and contributed ideas, and three years later, remains graffiti free.

Calum said: “For Scottish Housing Day, we want to focus on where we can improve things, but we also want to celebrate great work that goes on in the sector, the great work of housing associations, local authorities and private landlords. So we’ve done what we can to shine a bit of a light on community and neighbourliness.”

I’m now trying to conjure up the soundscape on a moonlit evening in Glasgow’s Maryhill, with the happy sounds of Melody Tots and the occasional roaring of Stags perfectly grounded by a wonderfully relaxing ummmmmm from the Tea, Talk and Meditate Group. Tranquillity is all very well, but this sounds like more fun.

Jimmy Black is a City Councillor in Dundee and, until recently, chaired an RSL. He writes in a personal capacity.

The Scottish Housing News Podcast is co-hosted by Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black. All episodes are available here as well as on the following platforms:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Spotify for Podcasters