The essay combines the concept of social cohesion with Rudolf Stichweh’s system-theoretical concept of world society. These two approaches are combined hereafter with questions of spatial differentiation. The aim is to embed empirical micro-studies in macro-theoretical terms and to make them useful for empirical research in social geography and spatial science. The construct of “cohesive region” demonstrates this by using the example of urban neighbourhoods.

The paper contributes to the discourse on super- and hyper-diversity in contemporary cities in the global North. The paper calls attention to what is called neuguineaisation as a separateness of the urban population that accompanies current forms of diversity. This new urban reality claims for empirical investigations of the societal implication of this phenomenon especially with regard to social cohesion in contemporary cities.

Contemporary urban theory has less to say about internal processes of crowds for theoretical reflections on urbanity. The paper analyses the work on crowds by Peter Sloterdijk and the performative theory of assembly by Judith Butler to enrich contemporary thinking on urbanity in the South. The paper accentuates two arguments. Sloterdijk emphasises the `affective synthesis' of crowds, whereas Butler elaborates the performative effect of crowds to articulate the right of owning attested rights.