Area-based Initiatives—And Their Work in Bonding, Bridging and Linking Social Capital

Abstract

In this article, we provide a conceptual and argumentative framework for studying how Area-based Initiatives (ABIs) can facilitate contact between networks in deprived neighbourhoods and external forms of power (linking social capital). These relations provide the residents and other members of civil society with crucial access to leveraging resources, ideas and information. Although few studies on linking social capital have been carried out in relation to urban regeneration, there is empirical evidence that suggests that it can play a positive role in establishing trust and relations between civil society and a municipality. We set out with a review of how social capital literature has been applied in an urban context, and then demonstrate empirical examples from Denmark of how, in different contexts (village, town and city), ABIs have facilitated processes that generated different forms of social capital (bridging, bonding and linking). The article concludes that ABIs contribute to creating linking social capital, but the extent of the contribution depends on the level of bonding and bridging social capital in the area. We argue that public planners as well as evaluators of the ABIs should increase their awareness about the potentials of an ABI to create linking social capital in deprived neighbourhoods.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Examples of urban policies inspired by these approaches are, for example, “City Challenge”; “Single Regeneration Budget and New Deal for Communities” initiated in England in the early 1990s; “Urban Partnerships” and “Priority Partnership Areas” in Scotland; the German “Soziale Stadt”; the Dutch “Grote-Stedenbeleid”; the “Sociaal Impulsfond” in Belgium; “Politique de la Ville” in France; the Swedish “Storstadssattsningen” and the Danish “Kvarterloft” (De Decker, 2003).

2. The study was carried out by the authors in collaboration with our colleague Jacob Norvig Larsen.

Additional information

Funding

The article is based on a research project that was funded by the Danish Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural affairs.