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The role of science and expertise in society is changing. While the political demand for sound science and evidence has never been higher, experts are confronted with scepticism and claims for public participation. Both tendencies can currently be observed, the scientization of politics and the politicization of science.

Focusing on welfare reforms and food safety, this international research project analyses the causes and consequences of changing science-policy relations in Great Britain, Germany, and the US since the mid-90s.

The speed and scope of change in society are stimulating decision makers in private and public sector organizations to seek new approaches to creating value—economically and societally. This search often entails trying out fresh ways of framing and responding to issues. In a growing number of these organizations stimuli are being sought from the arts by bringing in ideas, practices, and people from the world of theatre, music, painting, sculpture, dance, and literature, for example.

How do different value systems interact? How does this exchange trigger new ideas and their implementation, hence innovation, in its particular discursive context?

The development of high-tech novelties usually takes place behind closed doors in research laboratories and factories, sometimes even garages. Before a new product has its public debut, it has been tested and approved in various ways. These steps are often followed by a first trial of application. Yet, what happens when a new technology meets with the daily routines of its users? What problems occur and according to which criteria are advantages and drawbacks evaluated, and with what consequences for the technology and its further development? These are the questions I ask in my dissertation project “innovative city light”.

Theoretical background and objectives

There is a large amount of evidence on a negative relationship between ethnic heterogeneity, various measures of social capital (trust, voluntarism, associational membership etc.), and levels of public goods provision. The evidence includes survey-based studies, (field) experiments, as well as studies relating aggregate-level data to spatial units. Much of this evidence pertains to the United States, but in addition there are also some studies of African and Asian countries, as well as large-N cross-national studies. Studies focusing on European countries are rarer, and do not always provide unequivocal support for the negative relationship between ethnic diversity and various forms of social capital.