Usually social cohesion flourishes in homogeneous neighbourhoods, where people have a common set of values and norms, where friends can be found within the neighbourhood and where people are attached to their neighbourhood. The current Dutch policy which aims to improve the neighbourhood by replacing low-rent social dwellings by more expensive owner-occupied and more expensive rental homes will not lead to more social cohesion, because attracting higher income groups in low-income neighbourhoods will lead to more variety among social-economical and social cultural groups, thereby diminishing the chance of finding individuals with similar backgrounds in the neighbourhood. Also, higher incomes are less focused on the neighbourhood. 

This paper aims to find out if there are differences between social-economic groups with respect to different elements of social cohesion. 

The research findings show that social cohesion is influenced by individual and household characteristics, but that the influence is different for each element of social cohesion. When formulating policies this implies that it should be clear which element of social cohesion is aimed at.

If the goal is to improve strong ties within the neighbourhood, even more low educated BME households- which are classified as, people of African, Asian or Caribbean heritage or descent, encompassing other migrant communities- who currently live in the areas should be attracted.

If the goal of the policy is to improve the liveability in the neighbourhood, more high-income families with Dutch ethnicity and a privately owned home should be attracted. These kind of people will exchange small favours, keep the streets clean and care for the area. In this case, the current Dutch policy of replacing social multi-family housing with single-family home-ownership housing seems to be the right one.

Universiteit Utrecht
The Netherlands
Karien Dekker, tel. +31 30 253 2966

01/01/2004

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Karien K. Dekker & Gideon Bolt

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Integration of social groups, Community development