ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to collect positive stories, but to suggest, also, an analytical framework within which they may yield some more enduring insights into creating conditions in which minorities benefit from and influence urban regeneration. It allows an evaluation of the usefulness of the concept of networking as an organizing idea for considering diverse aspects of urban regeneration. The book considers positive roles of minorities in urban regeneration through a series of case studies, largely within Europe. It provides some evidence, which will help evaluate that claim in relation to urban regeneration, with a particular focus on how minority status may be constructed within networking. The book presents case studies of socio-spatial change within a city where a group consciousness, specifically a consciousness of being a minority, was an important part of the mobilization against redevelopment proposals perceived to be threatening.
