Social polarization in the urban landscape means that there are a lot of neighbourhoods with a concentration of residents suffering from high crime rates, a loss of feeling of safety, ethnic conflicts and general decay. Local and national governments respond to these challenges by adopting urban development programmes with a pronounced area-based orientation. Inspired by the global Healthy Cities Programme, some of these initiatives have an explicit public health-related focus. This article analyses the possibilities and obstacles for an initiative of this kind undertaken by four Swedish cities under the label Partnership for Sustainable Welfare Development. Sustainable development, healthy cities, neighbourhood and partnership are concepts rhetorically underpinning the policy intervention under study. After a brief, critical survey of these concepts the article presents the empirical study undertaken on the basis of interviews, official documents and participatory observation. Finally the results of this study are summarized and related to some of the literature in this field. It is found that the role of the partnership as a node for mutual learning and coordination is held in high esteem by the partnership participants. Other qualities given high priority by them are the need for comprehensive, long-term planning and residents' participation and influence. However, from a more distanced point of view it is also obvious that the approach has its limitations due to the fact that even successful interventions cannot affect the fundamental causes of urban social polarization as these causes relate to general socio-economic cleavages in society.
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