In many Western European countries, concern rises that both formal mechanisms of redistribution and informal acts of charity, reciprocity and support are challenged by ethnic and cultural diversity. Against such gloomy perspectives, this paper draws on insights from sociology, geography, pedagogy and political science to argue that four traditional sources of solidarity (interdependence, shared norms and values, struggle and encounter) remain relevant, but require a rethinking of their spatial and temporal framing to capture today's intricate engagements of solidarity. More specifically, we draw on theories from the aforementioned disciplines to claim that our understanding of solidarities grounded in the spatial boundedness of territorial states and the intergenerational continuity of supposedly culturally homogeneous nations should be complemented and enriched with an in-depth knowledge of solidarities developing in an entirely different spatio-temporal register, namely that of the everyday places and practices in which people engage across ethnic and cultural boundaries.

(2012). Public space, public art and public pedagogy. Social & Cultural Geography: Vol. 13, No. 7, pp. 675-682.

This paper applies a state-theoretical perspective to a historical analysis of gentrification and urban policies in Antwerp, Belgium. Before 1970, the city experienced a period of modernist hegemony, with urban development policies characterised by slum clearing, peripheral high-rise social housing construction and inner-city office development. After moving through a period of non-hegemony with intense debate and struggle about urban development, the city now appears to be experiencing another period of hegemony in urban policy of which state support for gentrification has become the centrepiece. A historical state-theoretical approach shows how this move has been the consequence of local institutionalisation and political conflicts following the collapse of modernism, and provides insight into the opportunities available for critical observers of gentrification to enhance policy relevance.