The convergence of community development and participatory democracy philosophies
and practices supports social networking as a key tool to address urban social
issues. The proliferation of formalised social networks is examined here to provide a
New Zealand example of global trends towards fostering ‘social capital’ to address
urban social problems. Social networking is situated in a participatory governance
context and critiques of neo-liberalism and Bourdieu’s formulation of social capital
are used to consider divergent and often conflicting expectations and practices of
networking. Ethnographic data are used to demonstrate that, for some ethnic minority
groupings, perverse economic incentives meant that it was more advantageous to
maintain a marginalised position rather than to participate in ‘community’ networks.
Evidence of increasing levels of multiscale collaboration is qualified by such
exclusions of some sectors of community and the continuation of strategic agendas
developed without community input.