On the occasion of the Leipzig Book Fair on 21 and 22 of March, the new volumes of the publication series of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) were launched under the main topic “The cement of society: What creates social cohesion and how can it be investigated?”. During the lecture “Conditions, threats and variants of social cohesion”, Holger Backhaus-Maul (TI Halle), Angelina Göb (TI Hanover), Matthias Middell (TI Leipzig) and Axel Salheiser (TI Jena) discussed the concept and meaning(s) of the word cohesion, its measurability and transferability on the podium. Finally, they talked about what politics and society can learn from the multimethod and multidisciplinary research results. A video record of the event on 21 March is also available on YouTube (available in German only). The interactive round table discussion between Holger Backhaus-Maul (TI Halle, pictured left), Sarah Lempp (TI Leipzig, pictured centre) and Angelina Göb (TI Hannover, pictured right) at the Unibund exhibition stand at the book fair focused on dialogue with the fair visitors present. In this context, Angelina Göb presented selected findings from the FGZ volume “Sozialer Zusammenhalt vor Ort. Analyses of regional mechanisms”. In addition to the survey tool “Regionalpanel”, which quantitatively investigates spatial characteristics and variances of cohesion in twelve municipalities in Germany in a longitudinal section, questions on neighbourhoods and small-scale cohesion (con)figurations were presented and debated by integrating the audience. The team of editors of the anthology also includes Peter Dirksmeier, who emphasises the role of the geography of (dis)cohesion and associated questions of socio-spatial proximity and distance for the research field of social cohesion.
