Long before sociologists formed the concept of community, the important phenomenon of human social life-community already existed. Humans always live in groups. The activities of human social groups can not be separated from a certain geographical area, and the community with a certain geographical area is the place where social groups live and activities. In this sense, the community is the product of agricultural development. In ancient nomadic society, residents lived on aquatic plants and had no fixed place to live. Strictly speaking, the nomadic tribes at that time were just a social group with the same nature of life, not the community mentioned today. Later, with the rise of agriculture, the population engaged in agricultural production needed to settle in a certain area, so a community similar to a village appeared. With the development of social economy, politics and culture, urban communities have emerged in rural communities. Since the industrial revolution, human society has entered the process of urbanization. Not only the number of urban communities is increasing, but also the economic basis and structural functions of urban communities are different from those of previous communities, and the scale is expanding day by day, and many big cities and urban communities have emerged.

The development of community type and scale has changed the structure and function of the community. In the past, the geographical scope of villages, small towns and cities had relatively definite boundaries. For example, the geographical scope of a complete rural community is usually centered on the settlement of its villagers, and the ray limit points of various service functions with this center as the radiation point are connected to form the geographical area of this rural community. The geographical scope of a complete urban community usually consists of its urban areas and suburbs, including several small towns and villages. Each community has certain systems, institutions and facilities to serve the whole area to meet the needs of its members. There are service shops, schools, factories, government agencies, medical units and mass organizations in the community center of each community. With the geographical scope of the whole community as its effective "service area". Community, a social unity, promotes the operation of various systems through the service activities of its various institutions and facilities, so that community members can maintain all their daily lives within the boundaries of their own communities. At the same time, the effective "service area" of community institutions and facilities is the decisive factor for the formation and maintenance of community boundaries.

With the development of modern social life, as a local community, its local differences are gradually decreasing. With the popularization of social mass communication such as radio and television, the implementation of national compulsory education and the increase of population mobility in various places, the differences between communities in norms, values and behavior patterns have obviously narrowed. Many local functions of the community have been replaced by the universal and unified functions of the "big society". In the same big society, the community residents here have more similarities than differences with those in other communities. With the development of big cities and metropolises, the boundaries of community geographical scope are not as clear as before. A big city often contains several relatively independent communities, but the institutional setup and administrative divisions of the municipal government may be inconsistent with the geographical boundaries of the original communities. For a long time, meeting the daily needs of members is one of the basic functions of the community, and community residents generally work in their own communities to make a living. This situation has changed. Many residents in modern communities go to work outside their own communities every day. Therefore, in addition to the common interests of local residents, community members also have different interests to maintain their lives outside the community. This situation weakens the certainty of community geographical boundaries from social contact and social interaction. Due to the emergence of national enterprises, institutions, political and cultural organizations, many factories, shops and social organizations in local communities are subordinate units and branches of these national organizational systems, and their decisions are mainly subject to the superior organizations of this system rather than local communities. Therefore, as a local community, its autonomy has also weakened.