In this open access publication the social cohesion of urban neighborhoods and their residents
is examined which is often viewed as vulnerable since increased mobility individualization
wider socio-economic and demographic changes have fundamentally altered the basis for everyday
social interaction in urban neighborhoods. Anna Steigemann gives scholarly attention to the
concrete places where neighborly interactions still take place and to how these interactions
affect local community building. She illuminates and explores the ordinary everyday
interactions and social practices in and around shops and gastronomic facilities on a shopping
street in Berlin-Neukölln revealing how these businesses are important places where community
is practiced but also why they are increasingly threatened by commercial and residential
gentrification.
