IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v49y2017i4p767-783.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infrastructuring the social: Local community work, urban policy and marginalized residential areas in Denmark

Author

Listed:
  • Rasmus H Birk

Abstract

This article develops the concept of infrastructuring the social by analyzing the uses of local community work in Danish marginalized residential areas. Infrastructuring the social is a concept to describe how spaces are designated as problematic and marginalized and then remade through the creation and materialization of normative and instrumental relations. The article empirically demonstrates how infrastructuring the social works through enacting relations between residents, local community workers and professionals from municipalities, relations which are used to move people along normative trajectories. These trajectories are meant to transport people out of problematic areas, and into closer contact with “regular society,†such as Danish institutions, education, and the labor market. Infrastructuring the social is thus enacted from the outside in , imbued with the normative imperatives of the welfare state, seeking to rework the agency of residents and improve the marginalized residential area. The concept of infrastructuring the social nuances the trope of the “network†by highlighting the normative imperatives embedded in making relations, and goes beyond frameworks of governmentality by highlighting the practical messiness and on-going work of everyday governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasmus H Birk, 2017. "Infrastructuring the social: Local community work, urban policy and marginalized residential areas in Denmark," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 767-783, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:4:p:767-783
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X16683187
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X16683187
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0308518X16683187?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wendy Sarkissian, 1976. "The Idea of Social Mix in Town Planning: An Historical Review," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 231-246, October.
    2. John Flint & Ade Kearns, 2006. "Housing, Neighbourhood Renewal and Social Capital: The Case of Registered Social Landlords in Scotland," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 31-54.
    3. Hillary Angelo & Christine Hentschel, 2015. "Interactions with infrastructure as windows into social worlds: A method for critical urban studies: Introduction," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2-3), pages 306-312, June.
    4. Fran Tonkiss, 2015. "Afterword: Economies of infrastructure," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2-3), pages 384-391, June.
    5. repec:taf:cityxx:v:16:y:2012:i:1-2:p:74-92 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Margit Mayer, 2003. "The onward sweep of social capital: causes and consequences for understanding cities, communities and urban movements," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 110-132, March.
    7. George C. Galster & Jurgen Friedrichs, 2015. "The Dialectic of Neighborhood Social Mix: Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 175-191, March.
    8. Gunvor Christensen, 2015. "A Danish Tale of Why Social Mix Is So Difficult to Increase," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 252-271, March.
    9. COLIN McFARLANE & JONATHAN RUTHERFORD, 2008. "Political Infrastructures: Governing and Experiencing the Fabric of the City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 363-374, June.
    10. John Flint & Ade Kearns, 2006. "Housing, Neighbourhood Renewal and Social Capital: The Case of Registered Social Landlords in Scotland," European Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 31-54, April.
    11. Annika Agger & Jesper Ole Jensen, 2015. "Area-based Initiatives--And Their Work in Bonding, Bridging and Linking Social Capital," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(10), pages 2045-2061, October.
    12. Tonkiss, Fran, 2015. "Afterword: economies of infrastructure," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86717, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jenny McArthur, 2018. "Comparative infrastructural modalities: Examining spatial strategies for Melbourne, Auckland and Vancouver," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(5), pages 816-836, August.
    2. Paul Simpson, 2017. "A sense of the cycling environment: Felt experiences of infrastructure and atmospheres," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(2), pages 426-447, February.
    3. David Wilson, 2022. "People as infrastructure politics in global north cities: Chicago’s South Side," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(1), pages 165-179, February.
    4. Machline E. & Pearlmutter D. & Schwartz M., 2022. "Social Mix Policies in the French Eco-Districts: Discourses, Policies and Social Impacts," Energy and Environment Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 1-36, June.
    5. Lang, Richard & Novy, Andreas, 2011. "Housing Cooperatives and Social Capital: The Case of Vienna," SRE-Discussion Papers 2011/02, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    6. Romit Chowdhury, 2021. "The social life of transport infrastructures: Masculinities and everyday mobilities in Kolkata," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(1), pages 73-89, January.
    7. Reinout Kleinhans & Hugo Priemus & Godfried Engbersen, 2007. "Understanding Social Capital in Recently Restructured Urban Neighbourhoods: Two Case Studies in Rotterdam," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(5-6), pages 1069-1091, May.
    8. Antonio Andreoni & Kenneth Creamer & Mariana Mazzucato & Grové Steyn, 2022. "How can South Africa advance a new energy paradigm? A mission-oriented approach to megaprojects [‘The Political Economy of Industrial Policy’]," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 237-259.
    9. Irene Daskalopoulou, 2019. "Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 275-298, July.
    10. Irene Daskalopoulou & Athanasia Karakitsiou, 2020. "Regional Social Capital and Economic Growth: Exploratory Evidence from Testing the Virtuous Spiral vs. Vicious Cycle Model for Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-25, July.
    11. Richard Lang & Dietmar Roessl, 2011. "Conceptualizing Social Capital in the Context of Housing and Neighbourhood Management," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1619, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Francesco Andreoli & Eugenio Peluso, 2016. "So close yet so unequal: Reconsidering spatial inequality in U.S. cities," Working Papers 21/2016, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    13. Nick Bailey & Madeleine Pill, 2015. "Can the State Empower Communities through Localism? An Evaluation of Recent Approaches to Neighbourhood Governance in England," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(2), pages 289-304, April.
    14. Esin Özdemir & Ayda Eraydin, 2017. "Fragmentation in Urban Movements: The Role of Urban Planning Processes," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 727-748, September.
    15. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    16. Leslie Quitzow & Friederike Rohde, 2022. "Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 341-359, February.
    17. Quitzow, Leslie & Rohde, Friederike, 2022. "Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 341-359.
    18. Andrew McCulloch & John Mohan & Peter Smith, 2012. "Patterns of Social Capital, Voluntary Activity, and Area Deprivation in England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(5), pages 1130-1147, May.
    19. Chih Hoong Sin, 2002. "The Quest for a Balanced Ethnic Mix: Singapore's Ethnic Quota Policy Examined," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(8), pages 1347-1374, July.
    20. Elspeth Graham & David Manley & Rosemary Hiscock & Paul Boyle & Joe Doherty, 2009. "Mixing Housing Tenures: Is it Good for Social Well-being?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 139-165, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:4:p:767-783. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.