Forschungsfrage/Ziel:

Nativist-newcomer conflicts are a long-standing feature of human societies, often resolved over time as marginalized groups are integrated into the national fabric. However, this process typically takes decades or even centuries, a timeline increasingly unsatisfactory in today’s age of globalization and rapid migration. One common solution in the anti-immigrant literature is contact theory, which suggests that greater intergroup contact serves as a conflict dampener, as it helps to decrease prejudice and negative attitudes between or among groups through greater information exchange. This information is thought to reduce fear, promote empathy and positive perceptions of outgroups, and even change discriminatory behaviour (e.g. Allport, 1954; Pettigrew, 2008; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008; Homola & Tavits, 2018, McLaren, 2003; Scacco and Warren 2018, among many others). However, other scholarship has demonstrated the limitations of contact theory, showing that it does not always lead to improved relations (Ghosn, Braithwaite and Chu, 2019; Hangartner et al., 2019; McLaren, 2003; Pettigrew and Tropp, 2008). This research aims to test the boundaries of contact theory by assessing how built-environment variables in European cities influence intergroup contact and produce divergent social-cohesion outcomes.