Divercities

Governing Urban Diversity: Creating Social Cohesion, Social Mobility and Economic Performance in Today’s Hyper-diversified Cities. The EU-funded DIVERCITIES project suggested innovative policy instruments and government arrangements to help view urban diversity positively, increase interaction between urban groups and expand participation.

With the then current economic situation in Europe, better social cohesion, higher economic performance and increased opportunities for social mobility were all ways to improve cities and make them more competitive. However, urban policies did not always consider urban diversity in a positive light. As such, new policies were called for, as well as a need to assess existing policies which had been successful.

The four-year project involved a research team running a comparative study in 13 European cities as well as in Toronto, Canada. Case studies were used in diverse neighbourhoods with the project also seeking to improve the knowledge base for policymakers on different levels.

UvA researchers