Annual RC21 Conference 2011

The struggle to belong. Dealing with diversity in 21st century urban settings
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), July 7-9 2011

Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research – Urban Studies
University of Amsterdam – The Netherlands

5. Governance and Diversity in Cities

Cities have evolved historically with parallel trajectories in population growth, which renders some cities more culturally and socially heterogeneous than others. A wide understanding of diversity, its development in a historical perspective, and how to govern it includes questions of ethnicity, gender and the development of lived citizenship as well as socio-ecological fragmentation in their respective contexts. This session seeks papers, which contribute to the debate on the challenge of governing diversity and look at a variety of contextual experiences and formulations of policy answers. Comparative analysis on the impact of exposure to diversity will make it possible to evaluate the pros and cons of territorial interventions aimed at enhancing social justice and social cohesion (such as mixed neighbourhood policies). The session also encourages papers about governance dynamics creating democratic mechanisms for conflict resolution, in order to be able to empower particular disadvantaged groups and to reduce possible tensions between groups in cities.

Organizers:
Marisol García Cabeza, University of Barcelona. Email: marisolgarcia@ub.edu
Marc Pradel Miquel, University of Barcelona. Email: marcpradel@ub.edu

« back