Reconstructing urban social work

Abstract

This chapter returns to themes, issues and debates that turn on considerations of the modern city. Here, I reconstruct the notion of ‘the urban social worker’ and, drawing on a small study of ‘voices’ from the front line, illustrate the demands of practice, workforce issues and social work person power. Here, social workers speak about the city and its possibilities and potentials. We hear about the ‘the caring and inclusive city’, ‘the eyes on the street’ and navigating the city. We hear about constraints of practice, about experimentation and innovations. The thrust of the argument is the appeal to building alliances for change efforts, inserting social work in policy circuits, the focus on the local state, building a variety of networks and collaborations, and engaging in advocacy work and grassroots mobilisation. Social workers are positioned as active agents in creating the city and bolstering its redistributive values. The chapter concludes by drawing out a number of principles for urban practice.