COMPLETED AND ONGOING CNR RESEARCH PROJECTS
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| Reductions in Smoking During Pregnancy in Deprived Neighbourhoods |
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| Glasgow Centre for Population Health |
| Linda Bauld, Ade Kearns, Louise Lawson, Marsha Wilson and Maggie Reid |
| This project is investigating local variations in reductions in rates of smoking among pregnant women in deprived neighbourhoods in Glasgow over the last decade. Whilst rates of smoking have declined in all areas during that time, some areas have experienced a decline equivalent to only a third of that seen in other places. This research is exploring a number of potential explanations for these observed variations including: population compositional changes in some areas; site specific public health and smoking cessation services; variations in neighbourhood and service improvements which may reduce stress or improve quality of life for women; variations in the provision of employment, learning and social opportunities which might reduce the need to smoke as a way of coping with boredom and insecurity or as one of few sources of pleasure and satisfaction. The research will explore these issues in four neighbourhoods with different levels of smoking reduction. |
| Young People and Territoriality |
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| Joseph Rowntree Foundation |
| Keith Kintrea, Naofumi Suzuki, Jon Bannister and Jon Pickering |
| This project seeks to understand the origins and impacts of territorial behaviour among young people in deprived areas. It will explore the positive and negative effects of territoriality, both as an expression of place attachment and ownership, and as a survival strategy in high crime areas. The question of the spatial scale of territorial attitudes and behaviours will be addressed with the intention of identifying factors which accentuate territoriality in particular areas. These issues will be researched in four deprived neighbourhoods through interviews with youth workers and focus groups with young people. Through further study of projects aimed at combating territoriality, the research will establish the range of efforts being made to address these issues and the extent to which they are based on particular understandings of the problem. |
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| Place Attachment, Neighbourhood Instability and Social Mix |
| Joseph Rowntree Foundation |
| Mark Livingston, Nick Bailey and Ade Kearns |
| This project sets out to understand better the drivers of individual attachment to place and to identify the impacts on place attachment of neighbourhood instability and social mix. Using survey data from a number of sources the project will link individual data to neighbourhood data from the census and other sources. The project will try to identify the factors that determine attachment exploring the nature and extent of attachment in different social groups. The research will also look at the impact on place attachment of neighbourhood instability and social mix and to what extent it is eroded by these factors. Finally, using qualitative approaches the project will examine the experiences of individuals of forming or loosing place attachment in a range of deprived areas. |
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| The Multidimensional Neighbourhood and Health |
| ESRC |
| Ade Kearns & Alison Parkes |
| This project uses the Scottish Household Survey 2001 data-set to examine the relative strength of associations between different aspects of the neighbourhood and a range of health outcomes and health behaviours. The neighbourhood is conceived as a social, physical and service environment, and the results support the hypothesis that the neighbourhood has a multi-dimensional impact on health. There was also some evidence that the relationship between neighbourhood factors and health varied according to the population subgroup, although not in a consistent manner. |
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| Social Capital, Regeneration and Urban Policy |
| ESRC |
| Ade Kearns |
| This review considered the pros and cons of social capital within communities, and the way in which the concept had grown to become a major foundation of urban and neighbourhood renewal policy. The Government’s interest in social capital is explained both in terms of the expected outcomes from social capital as well as in relation to its role in helping to achieve broader government objectives such as ‘joined up policy’ and ‘democratic renewal’. |
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| Church Congregations and Social Capital in Communities |
Church of Scotland Board of Social Responsibility
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| John Flint & Ade Kearns |
| This national study of the role of Church of Scotland congregations in community development emerged at a time when there is a strong UK policy emphasis upon the role of faith communities in regeneration and social inclusion strategies. It describes the extent to which congregational activities contribute to local stocks of social capital, identifies whether congregations are a unifying or divisive element in community relations and links the findings to a wider debate about what role congregations should be given in government strategies aimed at strengthening social inclusion and community cohesion. |
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| Social Control in Contrasting Neighbourhoods |
| ESRC |
| Rowland Atkinson andJohn Flint |
| Policy has increasingly looked at ways of building community capacity to combat crime. The networks of residents are seen as a key method for preventing and stopping crime through personal intervention, calling in outside agencies or banding together to deal with problems. The research tried to understand these capacities in different kinds of area. The research found that informal interventions were higher in deprived areas while many residents in the affluent areas blamed youths from nearby deprived areas. There was a clear desire in all of the areas for more ‘beat’ police. While policy is aiming to help poorer communities through initiatives like street wardens it would seem that official agencies are often requested by residents of both types of area. |
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| Gated Communities: A Systematic Review of the Research Literature |
| Office of the Deputy Prime Minister |
| Rowland Atkinson (withJohn Flint, plus Sarah Blandy and Diane Lister from Sheffield Hallam University) |
| The growth of gated communities in the United States, to the point where such developments now account for roughly 11 per cent of all new housing and provide housing for about 4 million people, has been well documented. Anecdotal evidence suggests that gated communities are becoming more established as a new form of housing in the UK. However, robust evidence on the nature and location of such ‘communities’ is lacking in the British context. This comprehensive review located existing research literature with a view to understanding the implications of having enclave-style developments where the affluent gate themselves off from the rest of society. |
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| Scottish Housing Health and Regeneration Project (SHARP) |
| Communities Scotland and the Chief Scientist Office |
| Ade Kearns (with Caroline Hoy, plus Mark Petticrew, MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit) |
This innovative five year longitudinal project examines the relationships between health, housing and regeneration in a multiplicity of sites across Scotland using housing provided by registered social landlords. The project is about to start on the third survey wave which comprises a second face-to-face interview with respondents who have been living in their new accommodation for two years. The study encompasses a broad understanding of mental and physical health and includes assessments of the impacts of social capital and community on population health.
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| The Place of Health in Area-Based Regeneration Programmes |
| ESRC &MRC |
| Rowland Atkinson (with Hilary Thomson and Mark Petticrew, MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit) |
| How does regeneration impact on health and how have successive urban policies sought to measure such impacts? This research draws on a systematic review of national-level evaluation documentation relating to government funded area-based regeneration initiatives in the UK since 1980. The review attempts to examine whether health impacts had been intended and, if so, how they have been measured. The process and difficulties of conducting the review raise important questions about policy formulation and evaluation impacting on the relative ability to respond to past lessons where indexing, storage and communication between tiers of programmes are inadequate meaning that researchers and policy-makers may struggle to produce answers to important policy questions. |
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| Mixed Communities, Residential Perceptions and Outcomes |
| ESRC & DUS |
| Ade Kearns (with Andrew McCulloch) |
| This project attaches a number of Census derived variables (such as on social class mix and ethnic diversity) to the Survey of English Housing 2001/2 data-sets to examine whether resident perceptions of quality of life and neighbourhood satisfaction vary according to the social characteristics of the respondent's area of residence. |
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| Elderly Men and Social Space in Urban China |
| Urban Studies Journal & DUS |
| Caroline Hoy |
| Rapid urbanisation in China combined with changing family relationships is altering the way in which the elderly in China are integrated into society. While the problem of an ageing population has been recognised research on the social relationships of the elderly has been ignored. This small project aims to partially redress this balance by examining relationships between elderly men and the way in which small groups form and use public space to interact using song birds as a focal point. |
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| Creeping Urbanisation and Ethnic Society in China |
| DUS |
| Caroline Hoy |
Xinjiang, the most north-western of China’s province is one of the most complex in terms of social interaction, demographic profiles and urban development. The population of the province is nearly balanced between Han Chinese and members of the ethnic minorities. The patterns of power and development are being played out on the ground in the way in which urban Xinjiang is being developed and life chances being offered to its population. The situation in Xinjiang is further complicated by its location in geo-political terms. This study starts to examine the way in which two cities in the region (Kashgar and Urumqi) are functioning and developing in response to the modernisation of China, tensions between ethnic groups, geopolitical locations and subjective investment both from within China and by global companies and NGOs.
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| Ethnic Minority Residential Preferences |
| ESRC & Scottish Executive |
| Jennifer McGarrigle |
| This is one of the few studies in the UK to examine the extent to which Asian households in a metropolitan area wish to relocate to suburban locations or remain in and around core ethnic settlement areas in the inner city. The study, which focuses upon the Greater Glasgow area, uses census data to examine broad changes in settlement patterns at the metropolitan scale; housing market data to examine movements within and around core settlement areas; and focus groups to explore residential motives with movers from, stayers within and returners to traditional settlement areas. |
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| Neighbourhoods, Local Amenities and Health |
| MRC |
| Hilary Thomson |
| This research explores the health effects of neighbourhood changes and incorporates the use of lay reports to inform future investment and public health policies. The research comprises a comparative study of two areas of Glasgow, one which has undergone substantial regeneration and investment and another which continues to experience decline without recent investment. There is a particular focus upon the health effects of local amenities such as leisure facilities, clubs and shops. The emerging findings have been presented at conferences of the Social Policy Association, Public Health Association and BSA Medical Sociology Group. |
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| Neighbourhood and Social Cohesion in Guangzhou, China |
| Strategic Research Grant, City University of Hong Kong and British Academy |
| Ray Forrest |
| The research programme on the role and meaning of neighbourhood in contemporary Chinese society has been extended with the award of a new grant by the City University of Hong Kong-with additional support from the British Academy. Ray Forrest will be working with Adrienne La Grange and Yip Ngai Ming (City University) on a project which develops the work on neighbourhood change which has been undertaken in Hong Kong. Guangzhou is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and this work will explore issues of cohesion and community in this particularly dynamic urban context with substantial immigration and new development. At the core of the new project is a social survey of 1000 individuals spread across three neighbourhood types (older community in city centre, newer commercial housing, work unit housing). |
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| Housing, Taste and Place: The Housing Histories of Gentrifiers |
| Economic and Social Research Council |
| Gary Bridge and Ray Forrest |
| This project is concerned with the origins and subsequent residential destinations of gentrifier households. It aims to fill a gap in our cenceptual understanding of gentrification by focusing on gentrifier pathways and the extent to which the gentrification aesthetic is maintained and transformed. It will also engage with and contribute to policy debates concerning the revitalisation of city centres and the attraction of urban living. The fieldwork consists of depth interviews with new on the mova and mature gentrifier households, interviews with market professionals and collection and analysis of data on the retail infrastructure of gentrification. The research will be carried out in and around Bristol. |
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| E-Democracy and E-Communities Research and Evaluation Project |
| National Assembly for Wales |
| Adrian Kay, Emma Holland, Gary Bridge, Richard Webber, Paul Burton |
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The project will consider theoretical and empirical perspectives on the following issues:
- Does technological growth exacerbate or help ameliorate social divisions?
- How can National Assembly policy offset the potentially adverse effects of the information society?
- What lessons from other countries might be applied to Wales and what policy solutions can be developed on a Welsh-basis for particular Welsh problems?
- How might progress on e-democracy and e-communities be measured?
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| What Works Regarding Community Involvement in Area-Based Initiatives? A Systematic Literature Review |
| Home Office |
| Paul Burton, Tom Slater, Jacqui Croft, Geraldine Macdonald, Jo Abbott and Annette Hastings and Robina Goodlad |
As part of its work on civic renewal, the Home Office is concerned with both the extent and effectiveness in all aspects of civic life, and requires a focused systematic review of research evidence of community involvement in area-based initiatives (ABIs). Measures designed to alleviate poverty, ill health and poor housing in the UK have a long history, but ABIs emerged from the belief that bottom-up approaches to concentrations of poverty are better than top-down approaches. ABIs are multi-faceted schemes that reflect the views and aspirations of the people who live in targeted areas (usually sub-town or city) and are thus different from earlier schemes which were largely driven by the views of outsiders. This review aims to test these assumptions in a systematic and rigorous manner through the collection and analysis of a wide range of studies that address the connections between community involvement and the effectiveness of ABIs. We will consult a broad range of databases using a carefully selected set of key search terms, with the aim of harvesting a range of academic and policy documents which assess the effectiveness of community involvement. In our final report to the Home Office we hope to make a significant evidence-based contribution to policymaking on troubled areas in the UK.
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| EU's Sixth Framework Programme: Financial Support Developing a Research Proposal |
| Economic and Social Research Council |
| Patricia Kennett, Ray Forrest, Emma Holland |
| The project involves the development of a distinctive local perspective on the relationship between citizenship, democracy and new forms of governance as part of a more extensive programme of work within the Sixth Framework Programme. The intention is to develop a comparative project which explores the different domains of social cohesion and the ways in which policies and institutions (formal and informal) at different spatial scales operate to address these different domains. It is concerned particularly with the degree to which the neighbourhood forms the foundation upon which other levels of governance depend. It is also addressing the extent to which there are processes operating at different levels of governance which may be in conflict in producing wider social cohesion. Three initial partners in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy have been identified with the intention of adding at least a further two (a Scandinavian partner and another southern European partner) as the proposal develops. The work will be carried out from October to December 2002 and will include a workshop in Bristol for participating partner research teams. |
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| Cohesive Neighbourhoods and Connected Citizens : Exploratory Workshop |
| European Science Foundation |
| Patricia Kennett,Emma Holland |
| The quality and nature of every day life at the local/neighbourhood level is a key component in the creation and maintenance of social solidarity and active European citizenship. Across Europe the ‘local' increasingly sits within a rapidly shifting set of relationships in terms of territorial levels of governance, and social networks. This comparative research will explore the nature of these relationships and their implications for participation, citizenship, exclusion and cohesion. The research will involve a 3 day workshop bringing together experts from 10 different countries. |
