Tackling social exclusion: The role of social capital in urban regeneration on Merseyside - From mistrust to trust?

In recent years community involvement and increasingly social capital have become central themes in debates and policies surrounding urban regeneratio n. This paper attempts to contribute to these debates by reviewing the role of social capital in the context of a major regeneration initiative, namel y the European Union-sponsored Objective One Programme, currently underway on Merseyside. the paper argues that it is important to show how social cap ital is formed through the 'scaling-up' of local associated relationships, networks and institutions, to wider power structures and relations. trust a mongst participants is central to this process. Two areas on Merseyside are used as case studies to illustrate the argument. This paper concludes that the active development of trust and the social relationships surrounding i t needs to be central to the process of urban regeneration.