Pub Date : 2025-12-06DOI: 10.1177/00420980251392160
Crhistian Joel González-Cuatianquis, Alessandra Faggian, Paolo Veneri
This article examines how interpersonal and territorial inequalities shape life satisfaction across European cities. While prior research has typically focused on one type of inequality or on national/regional scales, we analyze both dimensions simultaneously at the city level, addressing a key research gap. We test the hypothesis that interpersonal inequalities have a stronger negative association with life satisfaction than territorial inequalities, as they trigger more immediate social comparison processes and perceptions of unfairness. By contrast, territorial disparities, which capture broader economic and sociodemographic differences between cities, may be less perceptible in residents’ daily experiences and thus exert weaker effects on subjective well-being (SWB). Our study also advances beyond conventional economic indicators by using a novel SWB-based inequality measure, capturing dimensions that standard economic metrics may overlook. Using microdata from the Quality of Life in European Cities survey (2012–2023) and contextual statistics for 75 cities, we estimate multilevel models to disentangle these effects. Results reveal a strong negative association between interpersonal inequality and average city life satisfaction, while no significant relationship is found for territorial disparities. These findings highlight the primacy of interpersonal comparisons within urban contexts and challenge assumptions about the geographic dimension of inequality in shaping well-being.
{"title":"Unequal cities, unhappy lives? The role of interpersonal and territorial inequalities in shaping life satisfaction in European cities","authors":"Crhistian Joel González-Cuatianquis, Alessandra Faggian, Paolo Veneri","doi":"10.1177/00420980251392160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251392160","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how interpersonal and territorial inequalities shape life satisfaction across European cities. While prior research has typically focused on one type of inequality or on national/regional scales, we analyze both dimensions simultaneously at the city level, addressing a key research gap. We test the hypothesis that interpersonal inequalities have a stronger negative association with life satisfaction than territorial inequalities, as they trigger more immediate social comparison processes and perceptions of unfairness. By contrast, territorial disparities, which capture broader economic and sociodemographic differences between cities, may be less perceptible in residents’ daily experiences and thus exert weaker effects on subjective well-being (SWB). Our study also advances beyond conventional economic indicators by using a novel SWB-based inequality measure, capturing dimensions that standard economic metrics may overlook. Using microdata from the Quality of Life in European Cities survey (2012–2023) and contextual statistics for 75 cities, we estimate multilevel models to disentangle these effects. Results reveal a strong negative association between interpersonal inequality and average city life satisfaction, while no significant relationship is found for territorial disparities. These findings highlight the primacy of interpersonal comparisons within urban contexts and challenge assumptions about the geographic dimension of inequality in shaping well-being.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-06DOI: 10.1177/00420980251387938
Ester Barinaga, Eduardo Diniz, Juan Ocampo
Emerging from the citizen movements of the early 2010s, New Municipalism merges the administrative capacity of municipal government with the organizational capacities of activists and social movements to build more equal, just and ecological local economies. In these contexts, Digital Municipal Currencies (DMCs) emerge as potent instruments of counter-hegemonic struggle, enabling cities to implement welfare policies and local economic revitalization. However, a trans-local paradox inheres to New Municipalism: how to remain local yet advance broader systemic transformation? This study compares three DMCs in Rio de Janeiro, addressing the paradox by introducing the notion of ‘standardized malleability’. It describes how cities adopt a uniform monetary infrastructure while adapting policies to local contexts, thus balancing local adaptation with trans-local scalability. The study reveals how the temporal dynamics of multi-scalar transformation shape the adoption patterns of DMCs across municipalities – from radical pioneer experiences to more pragmatic implementations – demonstrating that system change occurs through ‘repeated instances’ regardless of ideological orientation. Findings reveal DMCs as promising instruments for urban governance, enabling progressive policies amid financial constraints. However, their long-term viability depends on stable funding sources, prompting discussions on evolving DMC designs to enhance sustainability and wider adoption. The article ends with a reinterpretation of what constitutes ‘the political’ in multi-scalar transformation processes, from ‘radicalism’ to a shift of the boundaries of what is considered possible and the creation of new democratic spaces for co-governance.
{"title":"Digital municipal currencies as a new municipalist instrument for trans-local transformation: The case of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil","authors":"Ester Barinaga, Eduardo Diniz, Juan Ocampo","doi":"10.1177/00420980251387938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251387938","url":null,"abstract":"Emerging from the citizen movements of the early 2010s, New Municipalism merges the administrative capacity of municipal government with the organizational capacities of activists and social movements to build more equal, just and ecological local economies. In these contexts, Digital Municipal Currencies (DMCs) emerge as potent instruments of counter-hegemonic struggle, enabling cities to implement welfare policies and local economic revitalization. However, a trans-local paradox inheres to New Municipalism: how to remain local yet advance broader systemic transformation? This study compares three DMCs in Rio de Janeiro, addressing the paradox by introducing the notion of ‘standardized malleability’. It describes how cities adopt a uniform monetary infrastructure while adapting policies to local contexts, thus balancing local adaptation with trans-local scalability. The study reveals how the temporal dynamics of multi-scalar transformation shape the adoption patterns of DMCs across municipalities – from radical pioneer experiences to more pragmatic implementations – demonstrating that system change occurs through ‘repeated instances’ regardless of ideological orientation. Findings reveal DMCs as promising instruments for urban governance, enabling progressive policies amid financial constraints. However, their long-term viability depends on stable funding sources, prompting discussions on evolving DMC designs to enhance sustainability and wider adoption. The article ends with a reinterpretation of what constitutes ‘the political’ in multi-scalar transformation processes, from ‘radicalism’ to a shift of the boundaries of what is considered possible and the creation of new democratic spaces for co-governance.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1177/00420980251391694
Michele Acuto, Lorenzo De Vidovich, Greet De Block, Chiara Camponeschi, Stijn Oosterlynck, Manolis Pratsinakis, Yannis Tzaninis, Maria Kaika, Roger Keil, Tait Mandler
Pub Date : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1177/00420980251379335
Gala Nettelbladt
This article inquires how proposed urban futures are stuck in the past. Dwelling on the ponderous nature of bureaucratic planning systems in the governance of urban water scarcity, it illuminates situations where the pace of climate change overtakes planning’s sustainability visions, rendering planned futures obsolete. Which temporal dynamics characterise this process? And what are the democratic stakes embedded in the making of these temporalities? Combining literatures on temporalities and planning, water as a temporal factor and the plural politics of emergencies, the article breaks new ground in urban future studies. It investigates the contradictory temporalities employed by different actors in the governance of water scarcity, and the role of hydrological time in the emergency politics associated with it. Building on the work of political theorist Jonathan White in particular, it attends to the democratic stakes in this process. Empirically, the article focuses on Germany’s planned Lusatia Lake District, which is set to become Europe’s largest artificial lake district through the flooding of abandoned coalfields. However, the region is now characterised by depleting water resources because regional plans failed to anticipate the combined effects of mining and climate change on water. Based on qualitative case study research in two towns, I argue that planning in Lusatia produces past futures, that is, visions no longer adequate for the contemporary moment. My line of argument unfolds through highlighting the contradictions inherent in the making of past futures by examining three sets of temporal dynamics: futures near and far, futures calculated and imagined and calls for speeding up and slowing down. They emerge from authorities holding on to outdated plans and growth-driven forecasts, entailing economically motivated projections of the future that skew decision making towards economic rationales at environmental costs.
{"title":"Planning futures of the past: Contradictory temporalities in the governance of water scarcity in Germany’s transitioning coal-mining region","authors":"Gala Nettelbladt","doi":"10.1177/00420980251379335","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251379335","url":null,"abstract":"This article inquires how proposed urban futures are stuck in the past. Dwelling on the ponderous nature of bureaucratic planning systems in the governance of urban water scarcity, it illuminates situations where the pace of climate change overtakes planning’s sustainability visions, rendering planned futures obsolete. Which temporal dynamics characterise this process? And what are the democratic stakes embedded in the making of these temporalities? Combining literatures on temporalities and planning, water as a temporal factor and the plural politics of emergencies, the article breaks new ground in urban future studies. It investigates the contradictory temporalities employed by different actors in the governance of water scarcity, and the role of hydrological time in the emergency politics associated with it. Building on the work of political theorist Jonathan White in particular, it attends to the democratic stakes in this process. Empirically, the article focuses on Germany’s planned Lusatia Lake District, which is set to become Europe’s largest artificial lake district through the flooding of abandoned coalfields. However, the region is now characterised by depleting water resources because regional plans failed to anticipate the combined effects of mining and climate change on water. Based on qualitative case study research in two towns, I argue that planning in Lusatia produces past futures, that is, visions no longer adequate for the contemporary moment. My line of argument unfolds through highlighting the contradictions inherent in the making of past futures by examining three sets of temporal dynamics: futures near and far, futures calculated and imagined and calls for speeding up and slowing down. They emerge from authorities holding on to outdated plans and growth-driven forecasts, entailing economically motivated projections of the future that skew decision making towards economic rationales at environmental costs.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145673622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1177/00420980251383781
Alexandra Toland, Caroline Ektander, Sandra Jasper
This article presents a mixed-methods, multi-authored artistic research project that explores the work of plants in more-than-human communities of extreme toxicity at a former brown coal mine turned wastewater pit in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Considering the political history of the site through a century of intense industrialization, the project asks: what roles do plants assume in the time-marking and place-making processes of ecological labour engaged in toxic remediation? And how can this specific kind of labour be mediated? We use a mixture of qualitative and artistic research methods to draw an analogy between the work of plants and the work of humans who, in different ways, became embroiled in the site’s material history of extraction and industrial expropriation. We use archival photographs montaged with our own photographic field documentation of plant succession and pigments derived from plants collected on site to explore the social, economic and aesthetic dimensions of pollution through the medium of silkscreen – a tightly woven nylon mesh, not unlike the synthetic nylon products historically manufactured on site. We show how shifting meanings of place, labour and multiple urban temporalities coalesce on site – from the deep time of plant ancestors transformed into coal, to the boom and shrink chronology of a manufacturing town in the former German Democratic Republic, to speculations about energy futures, and the ecological possibility of botanical ‘alterlife’.
{"title":"Mediating ‘alterlife’: Artistic research on plant labour at a contaminated site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen","authors":"Alexandra Toland, Caroline Ektander, Sandra Jasper","doi":"10.1177/00420980251383781","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251383781","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a mixed-methods, multi-authored artistic research project that explores the work of plants in more-than-human communities of extreme toxicity at a former brown coal mine turned wastewater pit in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Considering the political history of the site through a century of intense industrialization, the project asks: what roles do plants assume in the time-marking and place-making processes of ecological labour engaged in toxic remediation? And how can this specific kind of labour be mediated? We use a mixture of qualitative and artistic research methods to draw an analogy between the work of plants and the work of humans who, in different ways, became embroiled in the site’s material history of extraction and industrial expropriation. We use archival photographs montaged with our own photographic field documentation of plant succession and pigments derived from plants collected on site to explore the social, economic and aesthetic dimensions of pollution through the medium of silkscreen – a tightly woven nylon mesh, not unlike the synthetic nylon products historically manufactured on site. We show how shifting meanings of place, labour and multiple urban temporalities coalesce on site – from the deep time of plant ancestors transformed into coal, to the boom and shrink chronology of a manufacturing town in the former German Democratic Republic, to speculations about energy futures, and the ecological possibility of botanical ‘alterlife’.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"115 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145664428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1177/00420980251390723
Agata Tokarek, Wojciech Ufel, Maja Grabkowska
This article explores the integration of neurodiverse individuals into urban decision-making processes through the concept of “NeurodiverCITY.” By merging the neurodiversity paradigm with deliberative theory and the practice of urban democratic innovations, the authors propose a concept where the unique cognitive strengths of neurodiverse individuals, such as logical thinking, attention to detail, and creativity, enhance the quality of urban deliberations. The article critically reviews existing literature on neurodiversity and urban studies, identifies gaps in current research, and discusses the potential benefits and challenges of inclusive urban planning. The findings suggest that inclusive deliberative practices not only improve decision-making processes but also contribute to more equitable and innovative urban environments. The authors argue for the proactive inclusion of neurodiverse individuals in urban governance to leverage their potential for the benefit of all city inhabitants.
{"title":"NeurodiverCITY: Leveraging the potential for neurodiverse deliberation in urban life","authors":"Agata Tokarek, Wojciech Ufel, Maja Grabkowska","doi":"10.1177/00420980251390723","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251390723","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the integration of neurodiverse individuals into urban decision-making processes through the concept of “NeurodiverCITY.” By merging the neurodiversity paradigm with deliberative theory and the practice of urban democratic innovations, the authors propose a concept where the unique cognitive strengths of neurodiverse individuals, such as logical thinking, attention to detail, and creativity, enhance the quality of urban deliberations. The article critically reviews existing literature on neurodiversity and urban studies, identifies gaps in current research, and discusses the potential benefits and challenges of inclusive urban planning. The findings suggest that inclusive deliberative practices not only improve decision-making processes but also contribute to more equitable and innovative urban environments. The authors argue for the proactive inclusion of neurodiverse individuals in urban governance to leverage their potential for the benefit of all city inhabitants.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145664393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1177/00420980251385783
Alex Ramiller
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) provides rental housing assistance to millions of low-income households across the United States and plays a crucial role in shaping their exposure to concentrated poverty and racial segregation. While prior research has revealed that housing voucher recipients tend to face substantial constraints in terms of neighborhood location, less is known about the direct impact of entering and exiting such programs on individual locational outcomes. Employing a unique dataset that links between housing program records and census microdata between 2000 and 2018, this article examines the impact of entering and exiting housing assistance on the neighborhood context experienced by voucher recipients. Two-way fixed-effects models show that entering the housing voucher program has no statistically significant impact on the neighborhood poverty or racial composition experienced by recipients, while exiting the voucher program results in significant decreases in neighborhood poverty rates relative to both pre-voucher and voucher locations. However, there are substantial differences in these trajectories by race: while white households experienced significant post-voucher decreases in poverty relative to both their pre-voucher and voucher locations, non-white households did not experience post-voucher changes relative to their pre-voucher locations, and Black households experienced no statistically significant post-voucher poverty decreases at all. These findings point to the continued importance of race in shaping neighborhood outcomes: even households participating in the same housing assistance program experience racially disparate outcomes, both during and after their participation in the program.
{"title":"Entering and leaving housing assistance: Neighborhood trajectories of housing voucher recipients in the United States","authors":"Alex Ramiller","doi":"10.1177/00420980251385783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251385783","url":null,"abstract":"The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) provides rental housing assistance to millions of low-income households across the United States and plays a crucial role in shaping their exposure to concentrated poverty and racial segregation. While prior research has revealed that housing voucher recipients tend to face substantial constraints in terms of neighborhood location, less is known about the direct impact of entering and exiting such programs on individual locational outcomes. Employing a unique dataset that links between housing program records and census microdata between 2000 and 2018, this article examines the impact of entering and exiting housing assistance on the neighborhood context experienced by voucher recipients. Two-way fixed-effects models show that entering the housing voucher program has no statistically significant impact on the neighborhood poverty or racial composition experienced by recipients, while exiting the voucher program results in significant decreases in neighborhood poverty rates relative to both pre-voucher and voucher locations. However, there are substantial differences in these trajectories by race: while white households experienced significant post-voucher decreases in poverty relative to both their pre-voucher and voucher locations, non-white households did not experience post-voucher changes relative to their pre-voucher locations, and Black households experienced no statistically significant post-voucher poverty decreases at all. These findings point to the continued importance of race in shaping neighborhood outcomes: even households participating in the same housing assistance program experience racially disparate outcomes, both during and after their participation in the program.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145651483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1177/00420980251390172
Gautam Bhan
This essay is a written version of the 2025 Urban Studies Annual Lecture delivered in April 2025 at City Debates , the annual conference of the urban faculty of the American University of Beirut. In it, nearly two decades after it reshaped the field of urban studies (and me) in many ways, I return to thinking about southern urban theory. I do so in an urban interregnum when existing language, frameworks, concepts and categories seem insufficient and where the need for new language feels urgent. At its origins, the ethic of southern inquiry was to generate knowledge for all cities from all cities, knowing that this had not been the case for some time. In this essay, I explore where this ethic is now, whether we still felt a need for correction, and if this current sense of insufficiency is a different kind of challenge to the knowledge we need today. Finally, through offering some new southern vocabulary from Beirut itself, I offer examples of the possible agendas and directions of what southern urban theory could look like for theorists today.
{"title":"Still thinking from the south: A sequel from Beirut","authors":"Gautam Bhan","doi":"10.1177/00420980251390172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251390172","url":null,"abstract":"This essay is a written version of the 2025 Urban Studies Annual Lecture delivered in April 2025 at <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">City Debates</jats:italic> , the annual conference of the urban faculty of the American University of Beirut. In it, nearly two decades after it reshaped the field of urban studies (and me) in many ways, I return to thinking about southern urban theory. I do so in an urban interregnum when existing language, frameworks, concepts and categories seem insufficient and where the need for new language feels urgent. At its origins, the ethic of southern inquiry was to generate knowledge <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">for</jats:italic> all cities <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">from</jats:italic> all cities, knowing that this had not been the case for some time. In this essay, I explore where this ethic is now, whether we still felt a need for correction, and if this current sense of insufficiency is a different kind of challenge to the knowledge we need today. Finally, through offering some new southern vocabulary from Beirut itself, I offer examples of the possible agendas and directions of what southern urban theory could look like for theorists today.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"198200 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145651481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1177/00420980251389787
Jakob Hartl, Ina Mayer
Social cohesion – encompassing trust, mutual support and a sense of shared belonging – is foundational to the stability and inclusiveness of democratic societies. Yet, how this cohesion is affected by increasing population mobility remains contested and often under-theorized. Existing research frequently relies on static models of diversity, focusing predominantly on immigration and neglecting the broader dynamics of intra-city and internal migration. This article addresses these gaps by combining insights from the ‘new mobility paradigm’ with multilevel empirical analysis to explore how migration experiences – both individual and contextual – affect perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion. Drawing on geo-referenced survey data from the FGZ-RISC Regionalpanel (2021) and administrative statistics from 91 neighbourhood districts in the German cities of Hanover and Magdeburg, we investigate the role of migration trajectories, district-level turnover and demographic context in shaping residents’ perceived cohesion. Our findings reveal a tale of two cities in which individual and collective experiences of migration mobility yield quite different effects on social cohesion: in Magdeburg, newcomers experience significantly lower cohesion regardless of neighbourhood context, while in Hanover, high district-level turnover rather than individual mobility affects cohesion. These results challenge universal claims about migration’s impact on cohesion and instead highlight the role of urban infrastructure, history and the rhythms of settlement.
{"title":"Dynamics of (dis)integration: The impact of migration mobility on neighbourhood cohesion","authors":"Jakob Hartl, Ina Mayer","doi":"10.1177/00420980251389787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251389787","url":null,"abstract":"Social cohesion – encompassing trust, mutual support and a sense of shared belonging – is foundational to the stability and inclusiveness of democratic societies. Yet, how this cohesion is affected by increasing population mobility remains contested and often under-theorized. Existing research frequently relies on static models of diversity, focusing predominantly on immigration and neglecting the broader dynamics of intra-city and internal migration. This article addresses these gaps by combining insights from the ‘new mobility paradigm’ with multilevel empirical analysis to explore how migration experiences – both individual and contextual – affect perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion. Drawing on geo-referenced survey data from the FGZ-RISC Regionalpanel (2021) and administrative statistics from 91 neighbourhood districts in the German cities of Hanover and Magdeburg, we investigate the role of migration trajectories, district-level turnover and demographic context in shaping residents’ perceived cohesion. Our findings reveal a tale of two cities in which individual and collective experiences of migration mobility yield quite different effects on social cohesion: in Magdeburg, newcomers experience significantly lower cohesion regardless of neighbourhood context, while in Hanover, high district-level turnover rather than individual mobility affects cohesion. These results challenge universal claims about migration’s impact on cohesion and instead highlight the role of urban infrastructure, history and the rhythms of settlement.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145651484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1177/00420980251388760
Linda Kopitz
Living in “the most sustainable urban district of the Netherlands” will be a sensory experience: for the (re)development project Bajeskwartier in Amsterdam, the senses form the core of the urban imaginary produced in the publicly available material. Part of the larger discourse of “sustainable cities,” contemporary architectural projects are frequently infused, merged, and saturated with the multi-sensory qualities of nature. In doing so, urban planning is increasingly paying attention to presenting, promising, and constructing very specific sensory experiences. How does tuning in to the sensory appeal of architecture in different states of becoming shape our shared imagination of more livable, more sustainable cities? “Sensing” the future, here, follows a recent line of sensory interventions in architectural theory and practice interested in “listening” to buildings and “touching” design in exploring architectural soundscapes, sensescapes, and smellscapes. The “becoming present” of sensory experiences and their resonance in/through architectural media is understood as a both conceptual and methodological challenge connected to existing approaches to mapping the senses and feeling the urban. In pointing to these challenges, I aim to highlight the senses as a productive lens to explore the entanglement between nature and architecture in the literal and figurative construction of “green” urban futures. Tracing sensory experiences—and particularly “sustainable” sensoriality—as part of (urban) image building through the conceptual framings of presence , absence , and resonance points to the processual understanding of architecture, as well as a larger understanding of the urban as a complex affective assemblage in a constant state of becoming.
{"title":"Future/sense: The sensory resonance of architectural media in urban (re)developments","authors":"Linda Kopitz","doi":"10.1177/00420980251388760","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980251388760","url":null,"abstract":"Living in “the most sustainable urban district of the Netherlands” will be a sensory experience: for the (re)development project <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Bajeskwartier</jats:italic> in Amsterdam, the senses form the core of the urban imaginary produced in the publicly available material. Part of the larger discourse of “sustainable cities,” contemporary architectural projects are frequently infused, merged, and saturated with the multi-sensory qualities of nature. In doing so, urban planning is increasingly paying attention to presenting, promising, and constructing very specific sensory experiences. How does tuning in to the sensory appeal of architecture in different states of becoming shape our shared imagination of more livable, more sustainable cities? “Sensing” the future, here, follows a recent line of sensory interventions in architectural theory and practice interested in “listening” to buildings and “touching” design in exploring architectural soundscapes, sensescapes, and smellscapes. The “becoming present” of sensory experiences and their resonance in/through architectural media is understood as a both conceptual and methodological challenge connected to existing approaches to mapping the senses and feeling the urban. In pointing to these challenges, I aim to highlight the senses as a productive lens to explore the entanglement between nature and architecture in the literal and figurative construction of “green” urban futures. Tracing sensory experiences—and particularly “sustainable” sensoriality—as part of (urban) image building through the conceptual framings of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">presence</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">absence</jats:italic> , and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">resonance</jats:italic> points to the processual understanding of architecture, as well as a larger understanding of the urban as a complex affective assemblage in a constant state of becoming.","PeriodicalId":51350,"journal":{"name":"Urban Studies","volume":"123 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145651480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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