You are not alone.
You just haven't found your colla yet.
In a Catalan town square, two hundred people climb on top of each other to make a tower ten stories tall. They are called a colla: a team, a club, a kind of family. The same shape exists everywhere: samba schools in Rio, dragon boat crews in Hong Kong, choirs in Wales, makerspaces in Berlin. This is a catalog of those groups and a guide to finding (or starting) yours.
A society without belonging is not a society.
More than a third of adults in many cities now report feeling lonely most weeks. The third places that used to glue neighbourhoods together (clubs, choirs, churches, cafés, civic groups) have thinned out. The replacement was supposed to be online, and it wasn't.
But the older pattern never went away. People still want to belong somewhere specific, with specific other people, doing a specific thing together that they can be proud of. The colles know this. So do samba schools and dragon boat crews and repair cafés.
BelongHub catalogs every working pattern we could find, with enough depth that you can either go join one, or build the one that should exist in your block.
Pick a kind of group.
Traditional Performance & Folk Groups
Colla-style teams. Weekly rehearsals + public performances. Strong identity, trust through coordination, cultural pride, intergenerational.
Carnival & Festival Preparation Groups
Year-round preparation for major public celebrations. Neighborhood identity, large-scale coordination, creative + physical.
Choral, Music & Singing Groups
Regular singing + social harmony. One of the most reliable belonging mechanics on earth.
Dance & Movement Communities
Social/partner or group dance with regular classes + events.
Amateur Sports & Physical Clubs (with clubhouse culture)
Clubs where the social/clubhouse culture is as important as the sport.
Maker, Craft & Hobby Communities
Regular workshops + shared projects. Belonging through making and skill-sharing.
Service, Civic & Volunteer Organizations
Regular meetings + meaningful projects. Belonging through contribution.
Theater, Improv & Performing Arts
Regular rehearsals + shows. Creative collaboration + belonging.
Outdoor, Nature & Adventure Communities
Regular outings + shared experiences in nature.
Intellectual, Discussion & Learning Communities
Regular gatherings focused on ideas + connection.
Wellness, Mindfulness & Support Communities
Gentler pace, strong emotional belonging.
Youth, Family & Intergenerational Programs
Often bridge generations.
Fraternal, Diaspora & Cultural Associations
Long-lineage social clubs and identity-rooted communities.
Gaming & Creative Collectives
Modern shared-output groups: gaming, photography, film, design.
Conviviality & Heritage Feasts
Ticketed, recurring, regional banquets with shared food, music and singing. New-school conviviality at scale.
Modern "Tribe" Physical Communities
CrossFit-style boxes, F45, run clubs with strong tribe culture.
Faith, Worship & Devotional Groups
The small circle inside the congregation: study, prayer, chant, service, pilgrimage. Shared devotion, a steady rhythm, deep mutual care.
Fandom, Enthusiast & Collector Clubs
Communities built on loving one thing hard: a team, a genre, a machine, a breed, a collection. Identity through devotion, swaps, rallies and rituals.
What makes these communities special
Recurrent rhythm
A heartbeat. Every week, every month. Predictable enough that you start to expect each other.
Shared theme
The hook. Something specific you all came here to do together.
Group identity & symbols
Colors, names, songs, rituals. The little flag that says "this is who we are."
Interdependence
You literally cannot do this alone.
Inclusivity
Kids, parents, grandparents. Newcomers welcome on day one.
Volunteer / democratic ethos
You're here because you want to be. Decisions are made together.
Place anchoring
A street, a neighborhood, a town. The geography is part of the identity.
Public contribution
You give something back to the world outside the group.
From human towers to persistent AR
If you only look at a handful
Beat the Street
1RFID lamppost taps turn a whole town into a 6-week board game pitting schools, workplaces and community groups against each other.
STADTRADELN (CITY CYCLING)
2Germany's 21-day national cycling league where 3,000+ municipalities and their mayors compete on km logged.
Gigli.app + Fantagigli (Festa dei Gigli, Nola)
3Live GPS + AR + fantasy league for Nola's 8 UNESCO-listed neighborhood obelisk crews.
Cool Block / Cool City Challenge
45-8 households on one block meet biweekly for 5 months and cut household carbon by ~32%; cities then compete in the Cool City Challenge with $1M prizes.
Klima-Taler
5Save 5kg CO2, earn 1 Taler redeemable only at local pools, museums, shops; 50+ German cities compete head-to-head.
Run An Empire
6Hex-by-hex territory capture for runners and walkers, with castles to defend and a Global Competition end-game pitting cities against each other.
Belonging shows up in twelve different worlds
Location-Based Games
12GPS / AR games where neighborhoods or districts compete for territory and identity.
Civic Gamification
12Apps that turn neighborhood improvement into a comparable league.
Eco & Sustainability
13Postcode-vs-postcode competitions on cleanup, recycling, biodiversity and energy.
Fitness & Movement
13Walking, running, cycling, as a neighborhood team rather than a solo grind.
Cultural & Creative
12Mural battles, music crews, street decoration: belonging through making things in public.
Civic Tech Platforms
12Decidim, participatory budgeting and forum platforms with comparative neighborhood layers.
Academic Research
11HCI / Urban Informatics field studies that prototyped the patterns now going mainstream.
Experimental / Web3
12DePIN bounties, network cities, persistent shared AR. Where the genre is heading.
Youth & Schools
12Schools as the recruiting hub for whole-family participation.
Traditional × Digital
10Centuries-old neighborhood-team festivals being live-tracked, fantasy-leagued and chipped.
Hyperlocal Platforms
12Per-town forums and mutual-aid apps with real geographic granularity.
Health & Public Good
12Public health and wellness leagues commissioned by councils and health systems.