Community resilience: transformative capacity as driver for social cohesion and sustainable development

Community-based initiatives in urban areas often refer to the transformation of neighbourhoods, intending not only to improve the built environment but also to sustain and strengthen social networks and cohesion in these areas. It is assumed that communities can develop resilience, here understood as a kind of a transformative capacity, by actively building and engaging the capacity to thrive in an environment characterized by change. To strengthen community resilience, citizen initiatives often link their activities to governments or municipalities and other formal institutions. However, there are only a few studies that have intensively reflected on the development of community resilience resulting from citizen engagement. The following research questions are thus largely unanswered: How can community-based initiatives strengthen their resilience? How is social cohesion addressed in this context? What preconditions are necessary to achieve community resilience? What transformative capacities do community networks have to strengthen social cohesion and sustainable development? Against this background, it is the aim of this chapter to develop a conceptual outline on citizens’ role and the transformative capacity of community-based initiatives. By considering the three dimensions of width (widespread and coherent influence), depth (structural and cultural embeddedness) and length (persistent and evolving reproduction), this chapter, at least analytically, contributes to identifying and analysing different elements that are relevant for the development of transformative capacities.