Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust

'This critical analysis of trust and social capital in two countries - Finland, epitome of institutionalized formality, and Italy, paragon of the informal - demonstrates how deeply place matters in the formation of community. The scholarship is impeccable; and activists around the world will learn how to build more effective community networks.' Michael Dear, University of Southern California, USA 'This edited collection on social capital and urban networks of trust opens new horizons in critical geographical research. Besides the useful conceptual introductions by the editors, each chapter includes a richly illustrated local case study that draws on empirical examples from Finland or Italy. This volume can be warmly recommended to social scientists interested in the geographies of social life.' Anssi Paasi, University of Oulu, Finland 'Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust provides a rich, detailed and conceptually sophisticated treatment of a vital issue for the future of Europe's cities. Through a series of carefully researched and critical case studies the contributors reveal the complex dynamics through which trust is generated and unevenly distributed in two strikingly different national contexts. This book challenges dominant accounts of social capital and sets out an imaginative alternative approach.' Joe Painter, Durham University, UK Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust offers a critical and thorough scrutiny of the concepts of social capital and trust connected to networks and local development. This volume can be warmly recommended to all scientists and students interested in social capital, urban geography, and geographies of social life. Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust offers a critical and thorough scrutiny of the concepts of social capital and trust connected to networks and local development. The essays on several urban contexts in Italy and in Finland help advance the theoretical understanding of the influence of cultural embeddedness on the ways in which networks of actors function and are constituted in cities. Examining these two different contexts proves useful in an understanding of social capital in place and the spatialization of social capital. This volume can be warmly recommended to all scientists and students interested in social capital, urban geography, and geographies of social life. Regional Studies 'Obviously this book is significant in public policy circles for deepening and spatializing the understanding of social capital; beyond, the window opened through the engagements with social capital and trust point to this book becoming an important touchstone for a far wider range of geographical enquiry.' Environment & Planning B: Planning & design '...this book is professional and charged with value. It is not one to be missed by researchers capable of generalising the case studies. In City Hall, planners embarking on significant social and economic initiatives should garner its insights and, before spending public funds, recall the key message.' Australian Planner 'The editors demonstrate through scholarly and well-referenced case studies of urban development the progress made in cross-disciplinary research on social capital and theories of trust. By careful critique of the seminal work of Putnam, Bourdieu and Coleman, they effectively challenge the role of social capital as an unproblematic collective resource. They offer instead an interpretation of social capital that is unevenly distributed in civil society and dependent on individuals' ability to enact the power potentials that reside in membership of place-based social networks.' The Geographical Journal