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Sustainable Urban Living and Social Capital: Some Evidence from Crisis-Hit Greece

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City Networks

Part of the book series: Springer Optimization and Its Applications ((SOIA,volume 128))

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Abstract

Developed societies have for long been engaged in finding ways to increase, deepen, and strengthen their social capital levels as a means to sustain institutional quality and their overall growth potential. However, this is a multifaceted and complex task, especially when linked to urban sustainability. Analysis of social capital as a spatial phenomenon is rather limited, despite the commonly held view that locally embedded associations, partnerships, and initiatives can foster community empowerment and regeneration by building and sustaining well-functioning communities. To that extent, social capital is inexorably linked to the territorial capital that regions and localities might mobilize toward addressing the wider social, economic, environmental, and developmental challenges that they face. Within this context, the present study analyzes the civic engagement pattern of urban residents in Greece and tests for the effect of soft social capital constructs such as social trust, social altruism, equality, tolerance, and humanitarianism, upon this pattern. Analysis is based on microlevel data drawn from the European Social Value surveys round 4 (2008) and round 5 (2010). Results show that, while controlling for the sociodemographic and economic profile of respondents, the onset of the economic crisis in the country has negatively affected the social capital scores of both urban and nonurban residents, with urban residents showing higher levels of civic engagement compared to nonurban residents.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The positive results are (a) a focus on studying effects, (b) an interest in the strategies and tactics employed in the local political process, and (c) a focus on the political context in which urban movements developed and in particular the specific sociopolitical conditions that sustained them (Melucci, 1989; [23, 24, 48, 58]. On the other hand, the negative results of the isolated manner in which the urban social movements literature has grown were (a) the evolution of a strand of research that was largely cut off from general social movement theory; (b) an empirical lacunae, e.g., with regard to the process of people mobilization; and (c) a separation was established between studies of voluntary associations and their interaction with authorities and studies on urban movements [35, 42, 55].

  2. 2.

    These distorting effects relate to (a) a focus on the relation of the concept with increasing economic competitiveness and achieving social cohesion while leaving out of the discussion its effect on making and demands that are in conflict with the ruling elites; (b) a focus on the concept as an entirely positive concept and a purposeful ignorance of issues such as patron-client relationships, crime, and corruption; and (c) a focus on interpersonal relations that diverts attention from the equally important wider restructuring processes occurring at the political economy level and the state [43].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Peloponnese, Thesi Sechi (Proin 4o Pedio Volis), Tripoli, 22100, Greece

    Irene Daskalopoulou

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  1. Irene Daskalopoulou
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Correspondence to Irene Daskalopoulou .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia, Serres, Greece

    Athanasia Karakitsiou

  2. Industrial Logistics, Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

    Athanasios Migdalas

  3. INSEAD, France

    Stamatina Th. Rassia

  4. Deparment of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Panos M. Pardalos

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Daskalopoulou, I. (2017). Sustainable Urban Living and Social Capital: Some Evidence from Crisis-Hit Greece. In: Karakitsiou, A., Migdalas, A., Rassia, S., Pardalos, P. (eds) City Networks. Springer Optimization and Its Applications, vol 128. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65338-9_11

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