Urbanization and the organization of territorial cohesion – results from a comparative Danish case-study on territorial inequality and social cohesion. Issue 1 (11th January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jørgensen, Anja; Fallov, Mia Arp
• Is Part Of: Journal of organizational ethnography. Volume 11:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 64
• Page End: 78
• Publication Date: 2022-01-11
• Subjects: Cohesion -- Urbanization -- Collective efficacy -- Densification/de-densification -- Spatial imagery -- Territorial inequality; Corporate culture -- Periodicals; Business anthropology -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1108/JOE-01-2021-0006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2046-6749

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: There is a growing importance for public facilitation of corporate social responsibility and involvement of civil organizations in securing territorial cohesion and development. In the present article, the authors focus on how we are to understand a locally sensitive organization of territorial cohesion in the Danish context. Traditional sociological concepts and standardized area-types used for administrative purposes have turned out not being very helpful in understanding the interrelation between inequality, urbanization and territorial cohesion. The authors argue for a processual and relational approach to urbanization. Design/methodology/approach: The present article is based on interview material and policy documents from three Danish case studies representing urban, suburban and rural forms of settlement. The case studies are part of a cross-European research project. Findings: The authors show how territorial governance play a key role in the strategies of densification/de-densification facilitating shielding capacities of collective efficacy, and reversely that bottom-up innovations are crucial for the ability of territorial governance to mobilize territorial capital and mediate in effects of territorial inequality. Spatial imaginaries legitimize these efforts to organize cohesion. The spatial imaginaries work as common frame of references for the interplay between strategies of (de)densification and collective efficacy, and they activate particular balances between growth agendas and everyday life. Originality/value: These findings represent an original perspective on how and why urbanization impact on places in a more specific and variated way than often portrayed as it highlight how social capacities tied to place might work with or against existing social, economic and cultural structures shaping territorial cohesion.