Urban Cohesion

Definition

Urban territories frequently face problems related to the lack of cohesion – a working fact for planning and urban design processes. If a certain territory is not accessible or visible and is not socially and economically balanced, its chances of urban success are practically non-existent. Aiming to tackle these problems, we argue that ‘city making’ must incorporate urban cohesion processes involving two dimensions: [1] the city’s form issues; and [2] its socio-economic and socio-cultural factors. Our conviction is that public spaces play a fundamental role in the processes of urban cohesion. We consider public space a complex set of elements, linked and related in a dynamic way.​

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Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust​

The AI in the City symposium emerged as an opportunity to connect people, organizations, and resources in the networks we built over the last decade of work on research and advocacy in tech policy. Sharing non-Western and Western perspectives, the participants questioned, challenged, and envisioned ways public trust and meaningful civic engagement can flourish and persist as data and AI become increasingly pervasive in our lives. The day brought together a group of multidisciplinary scholars, activists, and practitioners working on a diverse range of initiatives to map strategies going forward. ​

Self-Assessment Tool for Sustainable Urban Development Strategies

The Self-Assessment Tool for Sustainable Urban Development strategies (SAT4SUD) is designed for Local Authorities and national and regional Managing Authorities of the EU Cohesion Policy, in charge of building or updating sustainable urban development strategies.​ The tool focuses on promoting self-assessment as an important learning practice to critically reflect on the strategy, recognise strengths and identify opportunities for improvement. ​

Tool

Built Environment, Urban Vitality and Social Cohesion: Do Vibrant Neighborhoods Foster Strong Communities?​

Urban vitality and social cohesion both provide multiple benefits in cities. While it has been argued that urban vitality – the liveliness of cities – may strengthen social cohesion, this has not been sufficiently examined by empirical research. This paper presents and tests a model in which urban vitality mediates the relationship between built environment characteristics and neighbourhood social cohesion, using survey and geospatial data from the Oslo metropolitan area​.

Methodology

The Community Resilience Challenge: a Case Study From Sweden​

This paper presents a study of the Swedish city of Örebro focusing on local actor’s interaction within DRR (disaster risk reduction) regarding climate change risks with the explicit aim of creating resilience. The perspective is that of leaders of this work in local government and civil society organizations and the method used is document studies and interviews aiming at uncovering the attitudes towards the utility and challenges of involving the public particularly about groups that are considered especially vulnerable.

Case Study