HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11 Neighbourhood dynamics and the ‘transformation’ of...

HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

Neighbourhood dynamics and the ‘transformation’ of place:

Different legacies, different outcomes

Ian Cole

CRESR

Sheffield Hallam University


An autobiographical detour...

Remaking the past: CDPs, selective amnesia and the search for order


The Research Programme Funded by JRF: 2007 – early 2011 Exploring the dynamic interaction between poverty

and place Research team based at CRESR ..and Andrew Robinson on artistic creativity Qualitative and longitudinal approach centred on

interviews with a sample of residents in six neighbourhoods in Britain


Aims how experiences of living in low income

neighbourhoods vary and change over time salience of ‘place’ in decisions and actions

taken by households examining differences in ways of ‘getting by’ implications of different neighbourhood

narratives for policy evaluation and development


Methods Wave 1 interviews; 30 individuals in each area Semi-structured, coded though Nvivo 8 Follow-up in wave 2 on specific themes: 18/20

interviews Follow-up in wave 3 : 5/6 interviews stretched time

horizons on stories of personal/neighbourhood change

Visual component varied from annotated photos and short videos to 2 films and ‘walk about’ visual record

Residents’ diaries and focus groups held to complement interview material


Reflections on methods Tread carefully ! 5,000 pages of transcript Striking the balance between inductive and deductive

approaches: changed over time ‘Before/after’ framework replaced by continuous narratives Use of dialogue in research reports: the routine, the insightful

the ‘sentimental’ or the idiosyncratic? Any concern to categorise/classify place (and self) will rarely

be shared by respondents Visual element can help to gain access, provide telling imagery,

unravel different perspectives and promote feedback But combining visual with written material is not

straightforward


Research outputs Stage 1 research report 12 research papers 2 JRF publications Photo panels and commentaries Short films on redevelopment, community and change Longer film on Amlwch See:

http://research.shu.ac.uk/cresr/living-through-change/index.html

To come: Final research report JRF policy paper: Ideas and Realities Exhibition in London and then in the case study areas




Part of a JRF programme Preceded by a quantitative comparison of the

evidence base on social and economic impacts of ‘person-based’ and place- based’ initiatives

'It was rarely possible to spell out properly why policy interventions worked or why they failed because the way they were intended to work was rarely spelled out properly in advance'

can a qualitative understanding of neighbourhood dynamics take you any further?


Case study – the community impacts of neighbourhood ‘transformation’ Tendency for universalising discourses – ‘social

harm’ ‘added value’ ‘gentrification’ Impacts more nuanced and locally variable Not necessarily detected by reliance on ‘outcome

change’ Three case studies from the research – resident

experiences and responses Hillside in Knowsley: mixed communities Wensley Fold in Blackburn: selective demolition West Kensington in H and F: plans for remodelling


Approaches to Explaining Neighbourhood Differences

Approach Focus Main Concern

Compositional Social Population attributes and changing outcomes

Contextual Spatial Opportunity structures and degree of connectivity

‘Collective’ Historical and Cultural Shared experiences, social divisions and pace and direction of change


Understanding different impacts ‘Transformation’ or ‘adaptation’? Has programme

started with the existing community and been aligned with an established pattern of change?

Importance of ‘path dependency’ Critical junctures: original function, migration

patterns, changes in tenure structure, shifts in territorial ‘self-containment’

To understand differences between local spaces, need a better grasp of time


Time …. Used by participants as a currency for comparison,

rather than place attributes Change around neighbourhood: economic legacy

and prospects Change within neighbourhood: processes of

migration, housing market position and impact of regeneration

Competing narratives of loss, gain and endurance in the six areas

‘Getting on’ by ‘getting out’ may imply a ‘loss of history’ and a threat to identity

Space.... few league tables or hierarchies: ‘use’ not ‘exchange’

value for neighbourhoods wide variation in extent of spatial routines beyond

the neighbourhood marked differences in locus of social networks proximity of ‘others’ in neighbourhood does not

bestow sociability; practical accomplishment rather than the search for role models

‘ambivalent’ neighbouring common ‘privatised’ lifestyles: both ‘choice’ and ‘constraint’


‘Implications for Policy’ ! Social housing reforms, housing benefit reforms

(caps, single room rate, non-dependents allowance) ‘Stimulus’ to PRS Lightest touch on location for future economic

growth etc.

...all will tend to enhance the destabilisation rather than regeneration of low income neighbourhoods

...making HMR seem like a cuddly kitten


A autobiographical reprise....



Local action can make a difference



Local action can make a difference

..but not under circumstances of its own choosing......



Neighbourhood dynamics and the ‘transformation’ of place:

Different legacies, different outcomes

Ian Cole

CRESR

Sheffield Hallam University

HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11 Neighbourhood dynamics and the ‘transformation’ of...

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