Societal developments, such as demographic change, the pluralisation and de-standardisation of lifestyles, or strong regional mobility lead to an erosion of family networks. More and more people experience little family support in their everyday lives, either because they have few relatives or because they live far away. Against this background, local networks and elective affinities are gaining in importance. The importance of informal support from neighbours has hardly been investigated so far. On behalf of the Senior Citizens’ Office of the City of Nuremberg, the Nuremberg Institute of Technology is investigating the question of how neighbourhoods function in Nuremberg and how and under what conditions neighbourly assistance can strengthen social cohesion in the city.

Project duration: 1 December 2016 to 30 November 2018