European Cities: Neighbourhood Matters

Abstract

Social exclusion is an encompassing normative concept to address a lack of participation in (urban) societies; it is mainly regarded as something that should be reduced and, although it is not an issue that is reserved to the urban arena, there is a common concern about social exclusion in cities and urban regions, the concentration of deprivation in particular parts of cities and neighbourhood targeting of public policies designed to address social exclusion. The challenge of reducing social exclusion requires a clear view of the meaning of the concept, of the dimensions that are relevant to the understanding of it, and of the potential instruments to reduce the level of social exclusion. In this book we have discussed these dimensions with a particular focus on the significance of neighbourhood.