Auteur/autrice : Gilles Beauchamp

Une étude de Marilyn Taylor, en fait un court rapport de 30 pages intitulé Neighbourhood Management and Social Capital . Mme Taylor est professeure de Urban Governance and Regeneration, à l’University of the West of England, à Bristol.

The case studies highlight a number of important ingredients on which social capital can be built. They have demonstrated:

• The importance of physical and social improvements that help to build trust and confidence amongst residents by making the area look and feel safer.
• The value of community hubs – neighbourhood offices, community centres, radio stations, local parks – in giving the neighbourhood an identity that people can relate to and opportunities for people to come together.
• The resource that faith communities, with their long term presence and local rootedness, their facilities and their strong value base, can offer if they work together.
• The direct route into the community that schools can provide and their potential role in encouraging shared values and the development of social capital.
• The importance of celebrating the positives and assets of the neighbourhood if the poor reputation that many disadvantaged neighbourhoods have in the outside world is to be challenged rather than internalised.
• The importance of the skills, resources and experiences of partners – Defending Da Hood would never have got off the ground without the pooling of partners’ resources.
• The importance of involving residents themselves in the design, development and management of their programmes.

Kevin Harris, qui pointait vers ce document dans un récent billet de son carnet Neighbourhoods, se demande si le concept de capital social ne connait pas un retour… En fait, comme je le disais plus bas, un article récent de Putnam, ce grand prêtre du capital social des années 90, met l’accent sur les barrières au maintien et développement de ce capital et de la solidarité en général que représentent les diversités ethniques et culturelles dans nos métropoles, et les sociétés occidentales. Ces barrières devront être ouvertes ou abaissées grâce à des programmes et initiatives qui auront pour objectif d’augmenter la confiance, et la reconnaissance entre les groupes… Mais je n’ai pas encore terminé l’article de Putnam. Demain.