A new book examined the effects of de-industrialization on the lives of women and men in the communities affected, and how they responded to the challenges it posed.
Source: Valerie Walkerdine and Luis Jimenez, Gender, Work and Community After De-Industrialisation: A psychosocial approach to affect, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Dec
A study found that the highest density of gambling machines was found in some of the poorest areas – those with populations that were, on average, younger, lower-income, and in lower-status jobs.
Source: Heather Wardle, Ruth Keily, Mark Thurstain-Goodwin, and Gaynor Astbury, Mapping the Social and Economic Characteristics of High Density Gambling Machine Locations, Responsible Gambling Fund
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
Researchers examined the dynamics of worklessness in deprived areas. There was a widespread phenomenon of 'catching up', whereby deprived areas narrowed the gap with the national average during the favourable economic climate of 2004-2007: but in some areas worklessness had actually become more entrenched. Although some workless people who secured employment did move out of deprived areas into 'better' areas, and were replaced by workless people, this did not seem to be a significant factor in the persistence of high worklessness rates in deprived areas.
Source: Helen Barnes, Elisabeth Garratt, David McLennan, and Michael Noble, Understanding the Worklessness Dynamics and Characteristics of Deprived Areas, Research Report 779, Department for Work and Pensions
Date: 2011-Nov
A report examined what local level child poverty data could reveal about the distribution of child poverty in England, and how child poverty rates at local level had changed over time.
Source: What Does the Local Child Poverty Measure Tell Us About the Distribution of Child Poverty in England?, Research Report RR161, Department for Education
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Oct
A paper estimated the effect of neighbours' characteristics and prior achievements on teenage students' educational and behavioural outcomes, using Census data on secondary school students in England. There was evidence that peers in the neighbourhood had no effect on test scores: but they did have a small effect on behavioural outcomes, such as attitudes towards schooling and anti-social behaviour.
Source: Stephen Gibbons, Olmo Silva, and Felix Weinhardt, Everybody Needs Good Neighbours? Evidence from students outcomes in England, Discussion Paper 5980, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Oct
A paper examined geographical differences across England in the prevalence of voluntary organizations working at a neighbourhood scale. Overall, less deprived local areas had a much higher prevalence than more deprived local areas.
Source: David Clifford, Voluntary Sector Organisations Working at the Neighbourhood Level in England: Patterns by local area deprivation, Working Paper 65, Third Sector Research Centre
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper examined the effect of internal migration on the concentration of low-income families in neighbourhoods in England during 2002-2007.
Source: Stephen Jivraj, Modelling Socioeconomic Neighbourhood Change Due to Internal Migration in England, Working Paper 2011-03, Centre for Census and Survey Research (University of Manchester)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Aug
An article examined how creative and visual methods could be used to support people from so-called 'hard-to-reach' groups to articulate complex thoughts and ideas, and communicate their experience of living in their communities.
Source: Carolyn Kagan and Karen Duggan, 'Creating community cohesion: the power of using innovative methods to facilitate engagement and genuine partnership', Social Policy and Society, Volume 10 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
A paper discussed indicators relating to housing and the living environment for use in a survey of poverty and social exclusion.
Source: Glen Bramley and Kirsten Besemer, Housing and the Living Environment Indicators in the PSE Survey, Working Paper 6, Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK Project
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined whether neighbourhoods had an influence on educational attainment; whether 'community level' aspirations were a mechanism by which neighbourhoods affected individual aspirations; and whether there was evidence that aspirations were lower in poor neighbourhoods. The available evidence did not lead to firm conclusions.
Source: Ruth Lupton and Keith Kintrea, 'Can community-based interventions on aspirations raise young people's attainment?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 10 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
An article examined the relationship between aspects of the neighbourhood social environment and subsequent depressive symptoms among older people. Greater personal sense of control, higher-quality friendships, and fewer depressive symptoms were found in neighbourhoods that were perceived to be characterized by higher social cohesion.
Source: Mai Stafford , Anne McMunn, and Roberto De Vogli, 'Neighbourhood social environment and depressive symptoms in mid-life and beyond', Ageing and Society, Volume 31 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined new ways in which social work research could explore the interaction between neighbourhoods and child and adult well-being.
Source: Sally Holland, Stephen Burgess, Andy Grogan-Kaylor, and Jorge Delva, 'Understanding neighbourhoods, communities and environments: new approaches for social work research', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 41 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A study found that people's sense of belonging often mattered most in neighbourhoods where economic prospects were most challenging. The prospect of 'moving out' to new areas might come at the cost of losing social and family networks. If forthcoming social housing and housing benefit reforms obliged low-income households to relocate, this might affect those with the strongest connexions to their existing neighbourhood most. Neighbourhoods with higher proportions of social housing offered stability for residents where jobs were short-lived and insecure, and where recurrent poverty was a constant threat.
Source: Elaine Batty, Ian Cole, and Stephen Green, Low-Income Neighbourhoods in Britain: The gap between policy ideas and residents realities, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined links between area-level socio-economic deprivation and behavioural risk factors for health. Public health interventions aimed at reducing health inequalities by targeting behavioural risk factors might focus in particular on reducing smoking and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in more deprived communities.
Source: Rajalakshmi Lakshman, Anne McConville, Simon How, Julian Flowers, Nicholas Wareham, and Paul Cosford, 'Association between area-level socioeconomic deprivation and a cluster of behavioural risk factors: cross-sectional, population-based study', Journal of Public Health, Volume 33 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A report examined the opportunities and obstacles facing children and young people growing up in disadvantaged areas, and the struggles of parents to overcome these barriers and build a better future for their families.
Source: Anne Power, Nicola Serle, and Helen Willmot, Obstacles and Opportunities: Today s children, tomorrow s families, CASEreport 66, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Apr
An article examined what kinds of sport interventions worked in deprived areas and why.
Source: Gemma Hart, Maxine Gregory, and Peter Taylor, 'The stimulation of sports participation in deprived communities: evidence from British coalfields areas', International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 3 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Apr
Revised data were published for the English Indices of Deprivation, measuring relative levels of deprivation in small areas of England. Most of the indicators used in the statistics were from 2008. Over 5 million people lived in the most deprived areas in England in 2008, and 38 per cent of them were income-deprived.
Source: The English Indices of Deprivation 2010, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report | Technical paper | Guidance document | OCSI press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A paper examined the relationship between fiscal and political decentralization, regional economic development, and income inequality within west European regions. Greater fiscal and political decentralization was associated with lower interpersonal income inequality: but this relationship was far from linear. As regional income rose, further decentralization was connected to a lower decrease or even to an increase in inequality.
Source: Vassilis Tselios, Andres Rodriguez-Pose, Andy Pike, John Tomaney, and Gianpiero Torrisi, Income Inequality, Regional Development and Decentralisation in Western Europe, Discussion Paper 76, Spatial Economics Research Centre (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Mar
A report examined what lay behind the economic problems faced by deprived places. Although rooted in a general failure of supply and demand mechanisms, problems tended to be multi-dimensional and persistent and likely to require substantial policy intervention to make an impact. It anticipated that constraints on public expenditure would inevitably mean that regeneration initiatives would be operating in a more difficult environment.
Source: Pete Tyler, Regeneration: What Are the Problems and What Can We Achieve in Addressing them?, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
Three seminar papers examined the causes of local economic decline, and initiatives that could help to tackle the problem.
Source: Paul Lawless, Henry Overman, and Peter Tyler, Strategies for Underperforming Places, Policy Paper 6, Spatial Economics Research Centre (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Feb
A report examined the complex challenges that worklessness posed for individuals, families, and communities. There was no single way of effectively addressing these challenges, and it was essential to identify local solutions to local problems.
Source: Alex Collis, Neil Stott, Richard Crozier, and Kate Martin, Work Matters: Work, worklessness and communities – A review of the issues, Keystone Development Trust
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Feb
A report summarized a number of studies of people's perceptions and experiences of living in lower-income neighbourhoods. It focused on the following themes: the relationship between work, place, and identity; concepts of self-esteem and comparative poverty; patterns of residential mobility and immobility; the 'time-space biographies' of residents' daily lives; the relationship between neighbourhood infrastructure and social interaction; the role of family, friends, and neighbours in social and support relationships; differential experiences of 'social mix'; and perceptions of neighbourhood change.
Source: Ian Cole et al., Living Through Change in Challenging Neighbourhoods: Thematic analysis, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined the barriers to entrepreneurship in deprived urban neighbourhoods, and how policy could help tackle them.
Source: Nick Williams and Colin Williams, 'Tackling barriers to entrepreneurship in a deprived urban neighbourhood', Local Economy, Volume 26 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
A report examined the use of place typologies to understand how socio-economic conditions and the performance of public sector organizations varied from one place to another.
Source: Ruth Lupton, Rebecca Tunstall, Alex Fenton, and Rich Harris, Using and Developing Place Typologies for Policy Purposes, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Feb
Researchers examined the relationship between housing/neighbourhood circumstances and adult outcomes for a cohort aged 16 in 1986 and 34 in 2004. Those in social or private rented tenures at age 16 were more likely to have less desirable outcomes in later life than those in home ownership, in terms of all the 11 measures examined.
Source: Rebecca Tunstall, Ruth Lupton, Dylan Kneale, and Andrew Jenkins, Teenage Housing Tenure and Neighbourhoods and the Links with Adult Outcomes: Evidence from the 1970 cohort study, CASEreport 64, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined the factors that influenced community mental health and well-being, based on a study of a low-income community in east Glasgow (Scotland). It considered how to develop partnerships to address the issues involved.
Source: Neil Quinn and Hannah Biggs, 'Creating partnerships to improve community mental health and well-being in an area of high deprivation: lessons from a study with highrise flat residents in east Glasgow', Journal of Public Mental Health, Volume 9 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan