Forrest, R. and A. Kearns (2001). "Social cohesion, social capital and the neighbourhood." Urban Studies 38(12): 2125-2143.
This article argues that the 'neighbourhood' has emerged within policy debates about social cohesion, with a renewed interest in local social relations and the development of social capital. This article is part of a special issue on the importance of 'neighbourhood' in the journal Urban Studies in 2001, Vol 38(2), with another interesting contribution from Richard Meegan and Alison Mitchell entitled 'It's Not Community Round Here, It's Neighbourhood' : Neighbourhood Change and Cohesion in Urban Regeneration Policies. This analysis is also interesting set in the context of a wider time-scale, as it was written in 2001 but has strong parallels with more recent debates ten years later about community cohesion and social capital. The paper first defines the ideas of social cohesion and social capital, situating them within key debates and literature, and then shows how they can be operationalised for research purposes, outlining the domains of social capital (empowerment, participation, associational activity and common purpose, supporting networks and reciprocity, collective norms and values, trust, safety and belonging), their descriptions, and appropriate neighbourhood policies to support them (such as, in the case of belonging, boosting the identity of a place via design, street furnishings, naming).