Neighbourhood dynamics and the ‘transformation’ of place:

1. 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

2. An autobiographical detour... • Remaking the past: CDPs, selective amnesia and the search for order HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

3. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

4. HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

5. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

6. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

7. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

8. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

9. 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? HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

10. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

11. Approaches to Explaining Neighbourhood Differences HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

12. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

13. 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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

14. 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’ HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

15. ‘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 HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

16. A autobiographical reprise.... HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

17. A autobiographical reprise.... • Local action can make a difference HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

18. A autobiographical reprise.... • Local action can make a difference • ..but not under circumstances of its own choosing...... HSA Plenary University of York 15.04.11

19. 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