The role of community-led social infrastructure in disadvantaged areas
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
The role of community-led social infrastructure in disadvantaged areas. / Alcaide Manthey, Naomi.
In: Cities, Vol. 147, 104831, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of community-led social infrastructure in disadvantaged areas
AU - Alcaide Manthey, Naomi
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Due to limited financial and human resources, areas labeled as disadvantaged often have to prioritize between different types of infrastructures and services to provide to the local population. In countries like Germany, physical and formal infrastructure needs are usually met at a satisfactory level whereas access to infrastructures that fulfill individual and rather informal social needs varies significantly. Despite the importance that residents in disadvantaged areas attribute to spaces of social encounters, public provision of such spaces often is insufficient. In some places, these unmet needs are addressed by local community initiatives. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to explore local community potentials by analyzing data from two German case studies. Combining deductive and inductive methods, semi-structured interviews, immersive field observations and population surveys reveal the importance of social infrastructures for the perceived quality of living and social cohesion in disadvantaged areas. The data provide insights into the role of community-led initiatives in the provision of such social infrastructures. Results further illustrate how areas with low public spending budgets are highly dependent on such local engagement to contribute to (informal) social infrastructures and hence to a livable environment in disadvantaged areas.
AB - Due to limited financial and human resources, areas labeled as disadvantaged often have to prioritize between different types of infrastructures and services to provide to the local population. In countries like Germany, physical and formal infrastructure needs are usually met at a satisfactory level whereas access to infrastructures that fulfill individual and rather informal social needs varies significantly. Despite the importance that residents in disadvantaged areas attribute to spaces of social encounters, public provision of such spaces often is insufficient. In some places, these unmet needs are addressed by local community initiatives. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to explore local community potentials by analyzing data from two German case studies. Combining deductive and inductive methods, semi-structured interviews, immersive field observations and population surveys reveal the importance of social infrastructures for the perceived quality of living and social cohesion in disadvantaged areas. The data provide insights into the role of community-led initiatives in the provision of such social infrastructures. Results further illustrate how areas with low public spending budgets are highly dependent on such local engagement to contribute to (informal) social infrastructures and hence to a livable environment in disadvantaged areas.
KW - Citizen engagement
KW - Community
KW - Social cohesion
KW - Social infrastructure
KW - Territorial cohesion
U2 - 10.1016/j.cities.2024.104831
DO - 10.1016/j.cities.2024.104831
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85183983484
VL - 147
JO - Cities
JF - Cities
SN - 0264-2751
M1 - 104831
ER -
ID: 389918614