Civic engagement and socio-economic proximity in urban areas

Diversity boosts innovation and creativity in urban contexts, but it can also undermine civicness by negatively impacting individuals’ trust of other citizens, also hampering economic and institutional performance. By employing a spatial analysis approach using geocoded data from 5776 residents in three major urban Italian areas, we explore whether sharing geographical space in a context of socio-economic difference (in terms of income and education) affects individuals’ choices to be civically engaged. The evidence reveals that the geographical proximity of an individual to others with different socio-economic characteristics decreases their civic engagement. A key challenge when designing urban policies is to reconcile the positive effects of diversity as it influences different economic–societal aspects, with the associated social tensions.