Abstract
This article deals with this social component of the concept of the "Smart City" and specifically with the importance of social capital in neighborhoods for sustainable urban development. Far-reaching social transformation processes, including the aging of society, migration processes, and the trend toward single households, pose major challenges for urban development. The cooperative housing sector offers important potential resources for counteracting socio-spatial polarization and promoting social cohesion in the city. Because of their explicit community and self-help orientation, housing cooperatives are once again increasingly perceived as key players in urban development in many European countries. They could provide the organizational framework for community building in a neighborhood and to enable residents to solve problems through collective self-help.