Social Vulnerability in European Cities : The Role of Local Welfare in Times of Crisis

"What has been the impact on social cohesion of contemporary cities in Europe, of the rise of new social risks and of the recent economic crisis? Focussing on 20 European urban contexts, this book provides an empirical analysis of the socio-economic transformations driving the emergence of new social risks and of the capacity of welfare policies" -- Palgrave Macmillan and the United Kingdom) were involved in the project. The funding from the European Commission allowed us to carry out original empirical research based on extensive data collection and analysis. Of course, the views expressed in these texts do not necessarily represent the view of the European Commission. This book is therefore not a standard collection of individual essays, but the result of numerous meetings of editors and contributors, who have shared not only the general aims of the book but also a peculiar strategy for comparative analysis, the same complex empirical methodology, and all sorts of problems and doubts that usually emerge in cross-city/cross-country comparative research. Data and preliminary reports were gathered and prepared by all the scientific partners of the WILCO project, and the co-authors of the final volume thank all their colleagues contributing to this result. We also thank our colleagues at the European Research Network (EMES) -also involved in the WILCO research project -who brilliantly provided the final proof-reading and their editorial support: Sophie Adam, Rocìo Nogales, and Christina De Schepper. The preparation of the book was greatly supported by the excellent referee work of many anonymous reviewers, who revised preliminary drafts of all the chapters included in the book. We thank them collectively for their invaluable, impartial, and completely free collaboration. Without the collaboration of local administrators, social partners, social workers, experts, local trade-union and political activists, and 360 anonymous European citizens who gave up their own time to explain to us their problems, dilemmas, and coping strategies, this research and this book would have not been possible. They are the real actors of what the reader will find interesting and challenging in the following pages of this book. Special thanks go, last but not least, to Philippa Grand, who strongly believed in the book project from the start, and to Naomi Robinson, who accurately followed and supported the intellectual and material production of the book for Palgrave Macmillan. xv Manuel Aguilar Hendrickson teaches Social Policy at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. His research deals with migration, social exclusion, minimum income and labour market integration programs, and social services. He has co-authored books including La caña y el pez (1995), Extranjeros en el purgatorio (2003), and Servicios sociales y cohesión social (2011). Gojko Bežovan is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Zagreb, where he is the head of the Urban Management postgraduate program. Fields of research include social policy, housing, housing policy, and civil society. Publications include 'Civilno društvo' (Civil Society), Nakladni zavod Globus, (2004), 'Civilno društvo u Hrvatskoj' (Civil Society in Croatia, with Zrinšc ˇak, S.), Jesenksi i Turk/Hrvatsko sociološko društvo (2007). He is founder of the think tank CERANEO, Centre for Development of Nonprofit Organizations. He leads the regional network of SESPI -Southeast European Initiative in Social Policy and Civil Society. What has been the impact of the rise of new social risks and of the recent economic crisis on social cohesion of contemporary cities in Europe? Based on original research carried out in twenty cities in ten different countries, this book provides a new, extensive, empirically-based analysis of social and economic transformations driving the emergence of new social risks in European cities in the last two decades. What are the main factors and mechanisms contributing to the rise of social vulnerability in urban contexts? What are the material conditions and coping strategies adopted by vulnerable groups to deal with these risks? And, finally, what is the role played by local welfare systems in times of welfare retrenchment at the national level? The focus of the book is on urban contexts: it is in cities that most of the new social risks are concentrated and welfare policies face the most dramatic tensions in times of austerity Front Matter....Pages i-xix Front Matter....Pages 1-1 New Social Risks and the Role of Local Welfare: An Introduction....Pages 3-30 Social Cohesion and Global Competitiveness: Clustering Cities....Pages 31-63 Front Matter....Pages 65-65 Changing Labor Markets and the Place of Local Policies....Pages 67-102 Changing Family Needs and Local Childcare Policies....Pages 103-133 Cities of Migration: The Challenges of Social Inclusion....Pages 134-159 Urban Housing Systems in Times of Crisis....Pages 160-186 Front Matter....Pages 187-187 Young People Experiencing Work Precariousness: Risks and Opportunities....Pages 189-220 Lone Mothers: Care Arrangements between Support and Isolation....Pages 221-243 Vulnerable Migrants: Coping Strategies and Multiple Paths to Social Exclusion....Pages 244-270 Front Matter....Pages 271-271 Local Welfare Systems in Europe in the Age of Austerity....Pages 273-298 Back Matter....Pages 299-306