Place Attachment, Community Cohesion and the Politics of Belonging in European Cities

Abstract

The divisions brought about by migration in the post-war period are thought to present distinctive challenges for national and local polities across Europe. How urban residents cope with the close ‘juxtaposition of strangers’ within cities is an enduring theme in urban research; however, the particular juxtaposition of ethnic, national and religious differences brought about by post-war migration into Europe is thought to pose distinctive challenges for urban policy-makers and, indeed, residents of ethnically diverse neighbourhoods and cities. Policy developments relating to immigration, citizenship and minority integration across Europe have ‘coalesced’ around specific events in different countries (Fekete, 2004: 18). In Britain, riots in northern towns — Oldham, Burnley and Bradford — in the summer of 2001 prompted fears concerning the intensity of social bonds within ethnic groups, in tandem with a deficit in bridging ties between social categories. These events were perceived as a challenge to ‘multicultural’ policies and raised concerns regarding the ominous advancement of different ethnic groups leading ‘parallel lives’ in British cities (Cantle, 2001). The resultant ‘community cohesion’ agenda has inspired a number of policies and initiatives by the UK Department of Communities and Local Government which feed into local and city-level politics.KeywordsSocial CapitalPolitical ParticipationSocial TrustEuropean CityPlace AttachmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.