ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on both affective ties, neighbourliness, and personal relations and the conflictual moments of claims-making that put neighbourhood identity to the test. It explains urban neighbourhoods as locally configured, yet interconnected spaces, both play with and go beyond the centre–periphery, global–local, and structure–agency binaries. The book ground from which to view the multiple, complex, and fluctuating relationships that exist between the individuals, spaces, and structures involved in the social and spatial construction of place. It shows that differing claims about a place find expression in the interpretation of urban renewal projects and local heritage production in the neighbourhood. The distances in a neighbourhood can be traversed on foot, while commuting in cities often requires more complex transportation arrangements, as the distances are too great to walk.
