Paper short abstract:

A glance beyond agenda setting: urban development and diversity policy in Vienna. Biographies of migrants tell us, what ideologies do these diversity policies conceal, and which were already a part of postmodern urban development before diversity management became an issue.

Paper long abstract:

This ethnological study focusses on urban development and diversity policy in Vienna. Diversity is both a condition of postmodern urbanism, and a management concept implemented not only by private industries but also more and more by local authorities in cities and metropolitan regions. The question is, what ideologies do these diversity policies conceal, and which were already a part of urban development policy before diversity management became an issue. The investigation analyzes urban culture through narratives of citizens with multilocal belongings. This biographical point of view transcends the micro-, meso- and macro-levels, which are often considered to be separate research fields. Urban culture is a product of a neighbourhood's history, of its physical appearance, and of the mélange of its residents. All these elements are subject to change over time. The city is a place where concepts such as diversity and urbanism overlap, and where both cross-sectional and translocal perspectives take part in the process of urban development. The study takes into account the importance of transnational cultural, social and political networks for the production of space, as well as translocal belongings between different geographical locations. Despite transnational dimensions, traditional regimes (like national narratives) have not lost importance. By putting different biographical narratives of citizens with "turkish" migrational backgrounds in the contexts of their cross-sectional, translocal, and transnational networks, this work describes how different scales of belonging mingle with policies of social urban development.