The Welfare State, Local Government and Participation in Area-Based Initiatives: A Comparison of London, Stockholm and Berlin

Social exclusion manifests itself in various forms throughout society. Urban centres are particularly susceptible to social exclusion due to pull factors that see a conglomerate of individuals converge in one area. This situation becomes a spatial issue where neighbourhoods that are considerably less-advantageous than their counterparts emerge in the city. Over the past two decades there has been a trend to remedy this situation in Europe through area-based initiatives. These are targeted, holistic and participatory urban programmes that attempt to build on the strengths of the locality. This thesis will compare three of these programmes through their relationship to the welfare state and local government. The results will make apparent that merely adding elements of participation is not an effective policy for promoting the success of area-based initiatives. Rather, it is the societal elements surrounding the area-based initiative that strongly influence their effectiveness and in turn impact the participatory measures of the programmes.