Problems in distressed urban neighbourhoods are nowadays often linked to a decline in
social cohesion. Recently, some authors have made a link between this concept of social
cohesion and the concept of urban governance. One of the important questions in their
works is if urban governance can create more social cohesion in neighbourhoods. In this
paper we want to add to this discussion by looking at the indirect and unmeant effects of
urban governance processes. Practical arrangements of urban governance in two Dutch
neighbourhoods are central in this paper. We will focus on the question to what extent
processes of inter-departmental cooperation, integrality and citizen participation affect
social cohesion at neighbourhood level. In doing this, we will pay attention to possible
negative effects. The paper is based on a research project that has recently been carried
out in two early-post-WWII neighbourhoods in the Dutch cities of Utrecht and The Hague.
In both neighbourhoods urban restructuring policies are applied. In the paper we will first
give a general overview of the (recent) literature on social cohesion and urban
governance. This will be followed by a brief description of the research neighbourhoods.
After that we will describe a selected number of policies and activities in these
neighbourhoods and try to find out how these policies and activities affect the creation or
maintenance of social cohesion. In the conclusion we will give some recommendations:
how can the relation between urban governance processes and social cohesion be
improved