Abstract
However one defines social cohesion—and several alternatives will be presented in this chapter—it does not characterise contemporary cities. On the contrary, cities are plagued by inequality, while at the same time being at the forefront of economic development. The EU cohesion policy has been instrumental in this divided development. As it directs the structural funds, what the EU means by cohesion has had a profound impact on cities. In the last decades, cohesion has been sought on market conditions, in line with neoliberalism, where the life of the included middle class people has served as a norm to aspire for. This has instead unleashed the potential causes of inequality inherent in the capitalist system and thereby aggravated inequality, most seriously concerning health. Transport and urban planning measures have deepened a community severance between the socially included and the socially excluded by favouring the more profitable transport modes. A social cohesion of cities on current conditions is not a solution because that would aggravate and preserve the problems causing inequalities. Therefore, the causes of inequality should be combated and that should be done in ways where the people affected by the causes are seen as potentials and where these potentials (in particular their experience and knowledge) are taken advantage of. The social cohesion to strive for in cities, thus, is a collective empowerment of people who wants to combat these causes and thereby transform society.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arrighi, G. (2007). Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the twenty-first century. London: Verso.
Becker, J., Jäger, J., Leubolt, B., & Weissenbacher, R. (2010). Peripheral financialization and vulnerability to crisis: A regulationist perspective. Competition and Change, 14(3–4), 225–247.
Bhaskar, R. (1989). Reclaiming reality. A critical introduction to contemporary philosophy. Verso: London.
Danermark, B. (2002). Explaining society: Critical realism in the social sciences. London: Routledge.
Eizaguirre, S., Pradel, M., Terrones, A., Martinez-Celorrio, X., & García, M. (2012). Multilevel governance and social cohesion: Bringing back conflict in citizenship practices. Urban Studies, 49, 9.
European Commission. (1996). First cohesion report. Brussels: European Commission (Directorate-General Regio).
European Commission. (2010). Fifth report on economic, social and territorial cohesion. Brussels: European Commission (Directorate-General Regio).
Fairclough, N., Jessop, B., & Sayer, A. (2002). Critical realism and semiosis. Alethia, 5(1), 2–10. Retrieved Jun 20, 2017, from http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/resources/sociology-online-papers/papers/fairclough-jessop-sayer-critical-realism-and-semiosis.pdf.
Fine, B. (2007). Eleven hypotheses on the conceptual history of social capital: A response to James Farr. Political Theory, 35(1), 47–53.
Gamble, A. (2016). Can the welfare state survive? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Graham, S. (2011). Cities under siege: The new military urbanism (Pbk ed.). London: Verso.
Hermant-de-Callataÿ, C., & Svanfeldt, C. (2011). Cities of tomorrow. Challenges, visions, ways forward. Luxembourg: European Commission - Directorate General for Regional Policy.
Hooghe, L. (1998). EU cohesion policy and competing models of European capitalism. Journal of Common Market Studies, 36(4), 457–477.
Jessop, B. (2002). The future of the capitalist state. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jessop, B. (2005). Critical realism and the strategic-relational approach. New Formations, 56, 40–53.
Jessop, B. (2012). Neoliberalism. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of globalization. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Jessop, B. (2015). The symptomatology of crises, reading crises and learning from them: Some critical realist reflections. Journal of Critical Realism, 14(3), 238–271.
Khreis, H., Warsow, K. M., Verlinghieri, E., Guzman, A., Pellecuer, L., Ferreira, A., Jones, I., Heinen, E., Rojas-Rueda, D., & Mueller, N. (2016). Health impacts of urban transport policy measures: A guidance note for practice. Journal of Transport & Health, 3, 249–267.
Khreis, H., May, A. D., & Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J. (2017). Health impacts of urban transport policy measures: A guidance note for practice. Journal of Transport & Health, 2006, 209–227.
Liedman, S.-E. (1999). Att se sig själv i andra. Om solidaritet. Bonnier: Stockholm.
Marmot, M. (2015). The health gap: The challenge of an unequal world. London: Bloomsbury.
Massey, D. (2007). World city. Cornwall: Polity Press.
Miciukiewicz, K., Moulaert, F., Novy, A., Musterd, S., & Hillier, J. (2012). Introduction: Problematising urban social cohesion: A transdisciplinary endeavour. Urban Studies, 49(9), 1855–1872.
Morel, N., Palier, B., & Palme, J. (Eds.). (2012). Towards a social investment welfare state?: Ideas, policies and challenges. Bristol: Policy.
Novy, A., Swiatek, D. C., & Moulaert, F. (2012). Social cohesion: A conceptual and political elucidation. Urban Studies, 49(9), 1873–1889.
Novy, A., Habersack, S., & Schaller, B. (2013). Innovative forms of knowledge production: Transdisciplinarity and knowledge alliances. In F. Moulaert et al. (Eds.), The international handbook on social innovation. collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Novy, A. (2011). Unequal diversity – On the political economy of social cohesion in Vienna. European Urban and Regional Studies, 18, 239–253.
Novy, A. (2017). Emancipatory economic deglobalisation: A polanyian perspective. Brazilian Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, 19, 558–579.
OECD. (2011). Divided we stand – Why inequality keeps rising. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty-first century. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Sayer, A. (1992). Method in social science. A realist approach. Worcester: Routledge.
Sayer, A. (2000). Realism and social science. London: SAGE.
Sen, A. (2013[1999]). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stigendal, M., & Östergren, P.-O. (2013). Malmö’s path towards a sustainable future. Malmö: Malmö Stad.
Stigendal, M. (2010). Cities and social cohesion. Popularizing the results of Social Polis. Malmö: MAPIUS 6/Malmö högskolas publikationer i urbana studier.
Stigendal, M. (2016). Samhällsgränser. Ojämlikhetens orsaker och framtidsmöjligheterna i en storstad som Malmö. Kina: Liber.
Stigendal, M. (2018). Combatting the causes of inequality affecting young people across Europe. London: Routledge.
Stuckler, D., & Basu, S. (2013). The body economic: Why austerity kills : Recessions, budget battles, and the politics of life and death. New York: Basic Books.
Sum, N.-L., & Jessop, B. (2013). Towards a cultural political economy: Putting culture in its place in political economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Therborn, G. (2013). The killing fields of inequality. Cambridge: Polity Press.
World Health Organization. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit level : Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stigendal, M. (2019). Aiming at Social Cohesion in Cities to Transform Society. In: Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Khreis, H. (eds) Integrating Human Health into Urban and Transport Planning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74983-9_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74983-9_24
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74982-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74983-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)