Exploring Social Capital As An Urban Neighbourhood Resource: Empirical Findings And Strategic Conclusions Of A Case Study In Berlin‐Moabit

This paper argues for a stronger strategic orientation towards local social capital as a first substantial step to a real policy of a ‘socially integrative city’. A corresponding political conceptualisation could lead to a stronger base in local civil society and a more sensible, neighbourhood‐based distribution of resources. In the paper this perspective is outlined through a discussion of the (local) social capital concept and the results of a related empirical study in deprived neighbourhoods in Berlin's capital district. The research output shows that strategic social potential in quantitatively and qualitatively differing forms exists in all the neighbourhoods. Furthermore the paper shows that local social capital can make the crucial difference in neighbourhood development in spite of similar (mostly problematic) presuppositions deriving from official data and monitoring. When a difficult initial situation with other negative factors coincides with a lower level of social capital, the potential to overcome neighbourhood marginalisation can be particularly poor. In a slightly different situation, i.e. a poor initial situation but with relatively high levels of social capital, conditions tend to stabilise.