Urbanity, tolerance and public space

I read Lyn Lofland's chapter called "Urbanity, tolerance and public space: The creation of cosmopolitans". It begins with a worthy question- how are diverse groups of people from various races, religions, origins and beliefs to successfully live together in a city? When thinking about Amsterdam, my initial answer: pragmatic tolerance. Lofland doesn't really give us an firm answer here, but discusses the concepts of positive versus negative tolerance. Positive tolerance recognizes differences, appreciating and enjoying them. Negative tolerance is based on the reality that "the different other" is not perceived or interacted with. Lofland states this happens due to self-segregation, among other things. Positive tolerance happens when diverse populations are forced to settle conflict, have a high degree of "psychic safety"; when community is non-threatening, and people have control over contact with others...he notes positively tolerant people tend to be single, of high status and highly educated (148-49). Hmmmm. Is this because poor families are just trying to survive and have to stick together to help each other cope with a harsher reality? (This opens up a whole dialogue I don't have time to begin) Basically, this article goes on to say that urban spaces, despite our best intentions, cannot be designed to transform a whole city of people to practice positive tolerance (that is, behave with positive tolerance, not just verbally express it!). There are other implications, but I suggest reading the complete article. One last point, though is that to become a tolerant city, one must live with things like fear of urban crime and other "unDisneylike" features. I'm wondering, would Lofland find any city in the U.S. where positive tolerance is truly occuring? How do we measure whether a city truly exhibits positive or negative tolerance? One thing that comes to mind is an absence of hate crimes. When I return from Amsterdam, will I have a different perspective on what tolerance means, as well as a deeper understanding of my own personal level of tolerance?