[General] It's fun walking around...

[Silverobama]

Hi.

Chris asked me why I liked picking up trash from time to time. (I picked up trash from time to time; I'm an environmentalist.) I said to him "It's fun walking around the communities and making streets cleaner". ("Communities" here means that places where people live.)

Is what I said in italic natural?

 

[tedmc]

Communities are people, not places. Neighbourhoods perhaps.

 

[teechar]

I would say something like "I (quite) enjoy walking around the city/town/village and making the streets cleaner".

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not completely averse to "communities". People do say that they like to keep their community tidy/clean by picking up litter.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi.

Chris asked me why I liked picking up trash from time to time. (I pick up trash from time to time; I'm an environmentalist.) I said to him "It's fun walking around neighborhoods, making streets cleaner". ("Communities" here means [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] places where people live.)

Is what I said in italics natural?

It's natural enough. In the US, we'd usually say neighborhoods, with no the or and.

There's a comma in my written version, because neighborhoods don't make streets cleaner, people do.

 

[PeterCW]

Communities are people, not places. Neighbourhoods perhaps.

As much as I agree with you I have seen the word "community" used to describe the built environment.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

As much as I agree with you I have seen the word "community" used to describe the built environment.

You're right. But community has a much broader sense than neighborhood.

So for this question, neighborhood is a better choice. A native English speaker would be more likely to say neighborhood, because it describes more exactly a clearly defined geographic area. We walk around the neighborhood and take part in community activities.

Again, community isn't wrong, but neighborhood is just a bit more natural.