This paper addresses the use of the concept of social capital in neighbourhood
renewal programmes which aim to influence social and health-related
processes. Based on a social network analysis of 17 groups comprising 133
members, qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 participants to
consider the kinds of patterns and connections that build up in a
neighbourhood renewal project in a small, deprived neighbourhood of a
provincial town in Denmark. Results show that outcomes of community
participation depend on the kind of social capital generated and on who is
excluded from these resources or capital. Problems hindering inclusive
participatory processes include self-exclusion and exclusionary dynamics in
the neighbourhood. These dynamics centre on power struggles that lead the
least powerful to opt out. Thus, the Danish ‘Ghetto Strategy’, which aims to
increase local community participation and volunteering, could have the
unintended consequence of increasing social and health inequalities rather
than reducing them.