Efficient and nice – Social capital and services of public interest: The quest for a metric for urban quality of life

Abstract

Social sustainability has only occasionally been examined in urban studies. In sociology and economics, social concepts (particularly “social capital”) are discussed in reference to actual civic participation, community empowerment, social interactions, and the development of a “sense of community” among residents (Putnam 2000; Mitlin and Satterthwaite 1996). This may be one of the leading reasons for uncertainty concerning social indicators here and in other studies.