Five Stories of Neighbourhood, Social Life, and Diversity

This chapter explores the connections between neighbourhood features, intergroup interaction and attitudes to diversity further in portraits of five selected neighbourhoods. We use both survey results as well as empirical material from qualitative fieldwork to explore the ways in which residents see their neighbourhoods, and how they experience social life and their interactions with co-residents of different backgrounds. We identify features of an ‘intimate market society’ in two neighbourhoods where economic exchange and an attractive public space facilitate intergroup interaction. The sub-urban character of two other neighbourhoods is linked with a lifestyle that is less conducive to intergroup interaction.