ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an argument that unexpected, disorderly encounters with difference in urban spaces are essential to the social development of individuals and groups and for cultivating a cohesive society. It does this by drawing together theoretical literature about the sociology of urban life, the politics of planning and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, with two bodies of empirical work exploring play in public spaces and the design and use of contemporary public memorials. In all these contexts, people’s encounters with social difference engender challenging experiences and performances. My argument is that these are productive, even necessary experiences for the development of social cohesion. In pluralistic urban settings, social cohesion and physical and psychological comfort are neither given nor fixed; they must be developed and maintained in contexts that are difficult. Cohesion requires practice to understand social difference and to develop tolerance and skills of give-and-take, and the public realm remains a key milieu for this to happen.
