Communities are produced, contested, and contradictory in everyday life – and inherently spatial. Building on the assertion of Gertenbach et al. (2010) that community holds a central position in the arsenal of modernity, we echo the paramount importance of understanding how society and collectivity take shape, particularly in the context of the often-lamented loss of community during processes of individualization. In doing so, we recognize communities as shared urban practices in a globalized world (Blokland, 2017) that hold both progressive potential, such as enabling solidarity, and regressive tendencies, when based on ethnocentric ideas or, more broadly, invoking the register of privilege and closure. As such, once produced, communities – although difficult to define and conceptualize, not least because of their multiple forms and functions – continue to play a significant role in everyday social life, social policy, and politics.

The contributions in this theme issue explore the role of community and its various forms in the making of place and space on different scales; address the power relations that are expressed in these sites of community making; and analyse how communities are territorially justified and contested, opened, and closed in the process.

References

Blokland, T. (Ed.): Community as urban practice, Polity Press, Cambridge, ISBN 978-1-509-50482-4, 2017.

Gertenbach, L., Laux, H., Rosa, H., and Strecker, D. (Hrsg.): Theorien der Gemeinschaft: Zur Einführung, Junius, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-88506-667-5, 2010 (in German).