Trusting public? Preliminary thoughts on urban seclusion, trust and public space

Trust in people whom we know or work with in organizational contexts has been widely discussed, and scholars have also talked a lot about trust in our governments and other institutions, although not all of them agree that one should call this trust. This presentation takes these thoughts to the street: can we think of urban public space as relational settings of trust, distrust and mistrust, the trilogy of Sztompka (1999), and what could we say about how urban fragmentation and seclusion affects the processes that may - or may not - bring trust and distrust about? Talja Blokland will reflect on this question which is part of the book Urban Trust that she is currently writing.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this very first draft of an introduction and a book chapter with you. It is much more in a preliminary stage than I would wish, so I ask you to not distribute or quote this! Also, I apologize for the length and the lack in structure of especially the section on theories of trust, but given your expertise, it is exactly the topic of trust where I hope to learn from you most! I have indicates at a few points where you may skip or what I have deleted text to give you less work. If you have very little time or no interest in “the urban”, can I ask you to please focus on the introduction and section 5 and the conclusion in chapter 2?