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A large proportion of neighborhood social life occurs in communal places and takes the form of brief encounters with fellow residents who are personally unknown but visually recognizable and familiar. While effortless to maintain public familiarity may have significant social benefits. In this study we draw on a survey of 1,000 Australian residents to assess the benefits of familiarity for helping behaviors and examine the mediating role of public familiarity in the association between neighborhood use and perceived social cohesion. Our results demonstrate that public familiarity partially mediates the association between neighborhood use and sense of cohesion. Public familiarity is associated with stronger feelings of comfort and a higher likelihood of helping others in an emergency. We suggest that designing communal, neighborhood places to facilitate public familiarity, by installing features that encourage lingering, can enhancing community connection, help prevent loneliness and encourage guardianship.