ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how comparative analyses across the US-EU experiences can offer renewed insight into the themes of social mixing, diversity, and neighborhood interaction. It reviews some studies that deal with interactions and the development of ties in mixed neighborhoods resulting from state-led mixing programs, gentrification, or super-diversity. In contrast to studies about the effects of state-led social mixing program that tend to analyze interactions from the perspective of the poorer, the gentrification literature usually focuses on attitudes and practices of the in-moving middle classes. However, the comparative analysis of interactions and ties in mixed neighborhoods reveals not only similar results but also similar ideas of how to conceptualize and measure ties, which has led to some criticism and to subsequent theoretical and methodological advancements.
