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The paper discusses the role of private planning consultants as intermediary-actors and their implications in relation to planning theory and practice. To do so, the paper focuses on niche consultants involved in servicing neighbourhood scale plan-making in England, clarifying that they hold crucial agency in local planning processes and adding to the understanding of consultancy roles and co-production dynamics in planning. The paper draws together the literature on private sector consultancy and on intermediaries, along with theoretical work highlighting the diversification of planning, the rise of the collaborative turn and the effect of regulation on creating niche markets in planning expertise. The conclusions drawn help clarify the 'action on others' that planning consultants, as intermediary-actors, have in collaborative governance and planning in and beyond neighbourhood planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the importance of local labour structure in the spread of COVID‐19 during the first year of the pandemic. We build a unique dataset across 6791 English neighbourhoods that distinguishes between people living (residents) and people working (workers) in a neighbourhood, and differentiate between jobs that can be done from home (homeworkers), jobs that likely continued on‐site (keyworkers), and non‐essential on‐site jobs. We find that a 10 percentage points increase in keyworker jobs among residents is associated with 3.15 more cases per 1000 (4.8% relative to the mean), while a 10 percentage points increase in homeworker jobs among residents is associated with a decrease of 7.74 cases per 1000 (11.8% relative to the mean). Results for the composition of workers show the same sign, but smaller magnitudes. A dynamic analysis of the monthly incidence of reported cases shows that these relationships are particularly strong during lockdown periods. These results are heterogeneous across neighbourhoods, with larger positive effect of keyworkers, and lower protective effect of homeworkers, in higher deprivation areas. We explore the role of occupation skill intensity in driving these neighbourhood differences. These findings highlight important asymmetries in the distributional impact of the policy response to COVID‐19. This paper is part of the Economica 100 Series. Economica, the LSE "house journal" is now 100 years old. To commemorate this achievement, we are publishing 100 papers by former students, as well as current and former faculty. Enrico Vanino is affiliated to the Department of Geography and Environment of the LSE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The planning system in England is regarded as a key mechanism for the delivery of housing but is also seen by some as a brake on its supply. In this context, the introduction of neighbourhood planning in 2011 has been promoted as a mechanism to reduce opposition to new housing and aid housing growth. This paper focuses on how this policy tool has been implemented with a view to mobilising communities to assist in the allocation of housing sites. The paper draws on empirical data to illustrate the role, motivations, and response to neighbourhood planning and its impact on the delivery of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of Neighbourhood Planning in more deprived urban areas of the North West region of England, revealing that the stance of elected representatives is important in shaping the processes and outcomes of this new more citizen-led form of planning. The paper considers how far barriers to Neighbourhood Planning, and the variable support offered by local planning authorities to deprived urban communities, might be accounted for by practices of clientelism. It concludes that clientelism provides a useful lens through which to interpret attitudes towards Neighbourhood Planning as a disruptor of established patterns of influence and powerholding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publication of the 2021 Census data revealed that four English cities—Birmingham, Leicester, London and Manchester—are now 'no majority' cities, meaning that no ethnic group, including the White British, comprise a majority (more than half) of their populations. This paper explores the residential diversification of these cities to ask: whether that diversification is reflected in the average neighbourhood of all ethnic groups or just some; whether the decline in the number of White British means that 'enclaves' of other ethnic groups are emerging instead; whether the White British are avoiding living in diverse neighbourhoods; and whether a co‐occurrence of the diversification is that residential segregation between the White British and other groups is increasing within and beyond the boundaries of these cities. Using a harmonised set of cross‐census neighbourhoods to provide a consistent geography across the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses, the results show that the residential neighbourhoods of the four cities have increased their ethnic diversity for the average member of all ethnic groups. Despite some growth in the number of neighbourhoods where a group other than the White British form a majority, especially in Leicester, the overall conclusion is one of residential diversification happening alongside residential desegregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how a small but growing number of schools in England are gradually extending their roles to act as, what I term, agents of "slow renewal": supporting long-term change in children's complex family and community environments, through a series of strategically-aligned, small-scale, locally-bespoke actions, intentionally planned to bring about incremental change. An empirical illustration of one such school is presented and its core features explored via four core concepts: socio-ecological perspectives on children's outcomes, soft-systems change, assets-based development, and liminal space. Through this, the paper contributes a set of integrated conceptual principles on which schools working to support slow renewal can act and which challenge the values of market-driven education systems more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent "return to the city" by middle‐class professionals in England, with the increasing "suburbanisation" of poverty and an ongoing housing crisis, has increased the salience of concerns about neighbourhood gentrification via the involuntary displacement of established working class residents. This paper reports a systematic analysis of gentrification and income poverty in England that adopts innovative methodological approaches: a multivariate index of gentrification, propensity score matching to establish a comparison group, and sensitivity testing with respect to different "gentrification" definitions. The paper investigates three possible theoretical processes that could have driven the observed decline in income poverty rates in gentrifying areas: inward mobility to areas, outward mobility from areas, and in situ changes in poverty status. The post‐recession period 2010–2014 is studied using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. There is good evidence from aggregate and individual‐level analyses for a relationship between "inward" mobility, poverty status, and area gentrification. In addition, people moving to gentrifying areas were more likely to have a university degree and more likely to be in the professional occupational class than people who moved to nongentrifying comparison areas. On the other hand, no such relationships are found for "outward" mobility. The strongest evidence is found for "exclusionary displacement" (the restricted ability of low‐income households to move in to an area) rather than "direct displacement" (increased outward mobility of existing residents) as the dominant driver of gentrification in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'left behind' has become common currency since the 2016 UK referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU). It is often used to describe areas of the country that have missed out on the economic prosperity from which others have benefited. Generally, however, the term tends to be loosely defined and applied. This paper describes research which hazards a more precise definition and a mapping of areas that might be accurately referred to as 'left behind', acknowledging that the phenomenon has a social and cultural, as well as an economic dimension. The research described in this paper was commissioned by Local Trust from OCSI. A new Community Needs Index (CNI) was developed for the project. This new index identifies wards in England that lack civic infrastructure (places for people to meet, green space and recreational opportunities), connectivity — physical and digital — and community engagement. The 206 wards which the research identifies as perhaps the most 'left behind' are both in the top 10 per cent of this new CNI and in the bottom, or most deprived, 10 per cent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The research finds that 'left behind' wards are concentrated in post-industrial and coastal areas, often housing estates on the peripheries of towns and cities. The residents of these areas have markedly worse socio-economic outcomes compared to those living in similarly deprived areas; they have fewer job opportunities, lower levels of educational attainment and poorer health. The research indicates the multidimensional nature of the problems in these neighbourhoods and suggests the value and importance of civic infrastructure, connectivity and community engagement as a protective factor which helps to guard against them becoming too entrenched or severe. Our experience of delivering the Big Local programme, and our assessment of the evidence from past local area initiatives, is that flexible, community-led solutions which build community confidence and capacity, and which create connections to opportunities in the wider geographical area, are key to improving 'left behind' areas and the quality of life of the people living in them. We argue, based on the evidence, that new government investment in neighbourhood regeneration is urgently needed. This should take the form of long-term funding focused on building hard and soft civic assets. It is our view that only through this approach will sustainable positive change be created in the areas that most need it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research has extensively documented that those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods and individuals from some ethnic minority groups have low rates of labour market participation in the United Kingdom. This paper brings together these two established areas of research to ask whether ethnic minority groups have better employment participation when living in more deprived neighbourhoods. We hypothesise that this could be due to different socialisation processes enabling ethnic minorities to secure employment more easily in deprived neighbourhoods as well as in neighbourhoods where there is greater ethnic density. Data from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study in England are linked to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2014 and the 2011 Census to model unemployment and economic inactivity between 2009 and 2019 separately for women and men. The results show that some ethnic minority groups face disadvantage in the labour market, especially Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. There is little support to suggest that these penalties are lessened in more deprived neighbourhoods or in more ethnically dense neighbourhoods. There is some suggestion that groups who do not face ethnic penalties compared with the White British group have lower rates of unemployment and economic inactivity in more deprived neighbourhoods. We suggest policies aimed at improving labour market outcomes for disadvantaged ethnic minorities should target them wherever they live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a rapid response analysis of the changing geographies of ethnic diversity and segregation in England and Wales using Census data covering the last 30 years (1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021), a period of significant social, economic and political change. Presenting the first detailed analysis of 2021 Census small area ethnic group data, we find that the growth of ethnic diversity at the national level is mirrored across residential neighbourhoods. Increasing numbers of neighbourhoods are home to a substantial mix of people from different ethnic groups, and this growing neighbourhood ethnic diversity has been spatially diffusing across all regions of England and Wales. We argue that to understand the ethnic mosaic across England and Wales, it is more illuminating to consider mix than majority: places labelled as 'minority‐majority' are, in fact, ethnically diverse spaces, home to sizable proportions of people from many ethnic groups. Increasing ethnic diversity is matched by decreasing residential segregation, for all ethnic groups—majority and minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the establishment of a pilot neighbourhood- based intergenerational programme and its evaluation in one town in England. It sets this in both the context of English intergenerational programmes involving schools and of English social policy. The latter is currently influenced by Putnam's concept of social capital. It argues that intergenerational programmes of all kinds are likely to be useful contributions to the development of social capital. The paper reports how the evaluation of the pilot has lead to the refinement of the original model. The pilot highlighted the need for more systematic measures of the process and outcomes, including the project's contribution to development of social capital. The revised model is being implemented in a number of contrasting neighbourhoods and will be evaluated in both outcome and process terms. These developments will be reported in further articles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the relationship between religious diversity, religious and national identity, and neighbourhood trust. Using data from 6,089 individuals in England matched to census-based statistical estimates for 300 local areas, we find that religious diversity is negatively associated with neighbourhood trust. Further analyses tested indirect relationships between religious diversity and neighbourhood trust to examine whether higher levels of religious diversity are associated with a stronger sense of religious identity, and whether a stronger sense of religious identity is associated with lower levels of neighbourhood trust. We simultaneously tested whether higher levels of religious diversity are associated with a weaker sense of national identity, and whether a weaker sense of national identity is associated with lower neighbourhood trust. Multigroup analyses were conducted to assess patterns across religious groups. Results indicate that, for Christians, religious diversity is associated with a stronger subordinate religious identification, which is in turn associated with lower neighbourhood trust. There were no associations between religious diversity, national identification, and neighbourhood trust. For the other religious groups, no significant associations were found between our variables of interest. We discuss the relevance and implication of increasing religious diversity in societies for the multiple groups involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the austerity era in England and Wales, both socio-economic change and shifts in the policing field have triggered a range of police reform narratives. For resource intensive manifestations of community policing, police disinvestment in England and Wales has led to concerns of a swing away from neighbourhood security functions and proactive police work and toward crime management functions and a more reactive approach (Punch, 2012; IPC, 2013). The paper uses an institutional perspective of change in police organisations (March and Olsen, 2011; Crank, 2003) to highlight the importance of values and narratives in processes of reform, mediation, and resistance. The empirical element of the paper explores how changes in the austerity era impact on the reform and delivery of 'Neighbourhood Policing' and cultural storytelling in an English police force. The analysis reveals a discursive struggle over the principles and delivery of neighbourhood policing. Police in policymaking and managerial roles subscribe to narratives that suggest Neighbourhood Policing can be reformed to be more scientific, efficient, professional, and effective to counter the impact of austerity, but this is challenged by street level accounts of the impact of austerity on delivery as well as the distinctive cultural values of Neighbourhood Policing Teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the practices of localism that are emerging in local planning authorities' (LPAs) responses to neighbourhood planning (NP) in England. It argues that a lack of coherence within the localism agenda has enabled LPAs to rearticulate and resignify key concepts, with three discernible practices of localism and responses to NP emerging: the deflective, the reactive and the integrative. The LPAs have a critical role within the process and employ a range of technologies of government to govern the conduct of groups shaped largely around the role afforded to NP within their local plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) inclusive sustainability appraisals (SAs) for neighbourhood plans (NPs) in England may be required when significant environmental effects are expected to arise from an NP. In this paper, we report on the result of a Ph.D. project, conducted between 2012 and 2015, in which all 15 NP SEA inclusive SAs that had been completed at the time were evaluated. In this context, the quality of SA practice was found to differ substantially. SAs were prepared either 'in-house' (i.e. by neighbourhood planning steering groups) or by consultants. The quality of SAs was found to be associated with their overall perceived degree of influence on the underlying NPs. Whilst the focus of this paper is on practice in England, findings are expected to be of interest to a wider international audience, in particular to those experimenting with voluntary neighbourhood/local level plan SA/SEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a forty-year history of housing modernisation in England and the unrivalled scale of the recent Decent Homes programme, very little is known about the views and experiences of residents as the immediate beneficiaries. This paper aims to address this absent perspective by drawing on data generated through qualitative research in two neighbourhoods in a Yorkshire city. The paper draws on 49 in-depth interviews with residents, conducted over a period of three years. The findings reveal that, following the completion of modernisation works, residents reported significant improvements in the appearance, functionality and manageability of their properties; they felt more proud of their homes and were more likely to make additional improvements to them. More generally, it was evident that many residents had experienced a step change in the way they felt about their properties and described a transition from 'house to home'. In conclusion, it is argued that, although the programme has delivered significant improvements in terms of the residential quality of life that residents experience, the overall impact of the programme is being diluted by several factors, most notably the emphasis placed on 'bricks and mortar' by the Decent Homes programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gated communities are becoming increasingly common across England, yet very little is known about the impact these developments have upon the residents of the wider community or those within the confines of the gates. This paper draws on empirical research carried out in a gated community in the north of England to explore social ties amongst the residents, in the presence of a legal framework (lease and residents' management company) which provides behavioural rules, sanctions and a structure for resident management of the development. The data suggest that gated residents' rights and responsibilities are, by and large, confined to legalities, rather than extending to a commitment to enhance social networks either within the development or in the adjacent wider community. The paper concludes that gated communities of the type discussed here, ready-made new developments introduced into established neighbourhoods, may also exacerbate the effect of physical and social barriers between residents within and outside the gated community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expected crime rates that enable police forces to contrast recorded and anticipated spatial patterns of crime victimisation offer a valuable tool in evaluating the under-reporting of crime and inform/guide crime reduction initiatives. Prior to this study, police forces had no access to expected burglary maps at the neighbourhood level covering all parts of England and Wales. Drawing on analysis of the Crime Survey for England and Wales and employing a population terrain modelling approach, this paper utilises household and area characteristics to predict the mean residential burglary incidences per 1000 population across all neighbourhoods in England and Wales. The analysis identifies distinct differences in recorded and expected neighbourhood burglary incidences at the Output Area level, providing a catalyst for stimulating further reflection by police officers and crime analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the most ethnically diverse spaces in England. We define multi‐ethnic neighbourhoods as spaces where no one group is in a majority and at least five ethnic groups have representation. Around 4% of all English neighbourhoods (Lower Layer Super Output Areas) met these criteria in 2011. Often mislabelled as "segregated" spaces, the growth of ethnically diverse neighbourhoods helps benchmark increased inter‐ethnic contact, yet we know very little about their spatial extent and the dynamics of their expansion. We use Census data for 1991, 2001, and 2011 to consider how neighbourhood‐level diversity has changed during a period of substantial increase in ethnic diversity at the national scale. To what extent did these highly diverse areas grow, and what is the geography of that growth? Which types of areas did these neighbourhoods transition from? For example, were multi‐ethnic neighbourhoods formerly low or moderately diverse, and which groups dominated these locales? We also consider if multi‐ethnic neighbourhoods are here to stay, or if they are compositionally unstable. We reveal a surprising aspect in England's neighbourhood transitions: multi‐ethnic neighbourhoods are highly stable, and increasingly so. Some 88% of neighbourhoods that were multi‐ethnic in 1991 retained their high‐diversity status in 2001, while over 95% of 2001 multi‐ethnic neighbourhoods remained highly diverse by 2011. This is a different story to that of the USA, where high‐diversity neighbourhoods have received more scholarly attention, and where these neighbourhoods have high attrition rates, functioning as stepping stones to another type of space. We explore the demographic and housing dynamics associated with this stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital age, space has become increasingly structured by the circuitry of global capital, communications and commodities. This 'network society' splinters and fragments territorial space according to the hidden logic of networked global capital; with successful criminal entrepreneurs connecting bases in low-risk, controllable territories with high-profit markets. Drawing on a recent, large-scale study of organised crime in Scotland, in this paper we elaborate the relationship between place, territory and criminal markets in two contrasting communities. The first is an urban neighbourhood with a longstanding organised crime footprint, where recognised local criminal groups have established deep roots. The second is a rural community with a negligible organised crime footprint, where the drug economy is serviced by a mobile criminal network based in England. Through comparison of the historical roots and contemporary routes of these criminal markets, we note both similarity and difference. While both communities demonstrated evidence of 'networked territorialism', key differences related to historical and social antecedents, in particular the impact of deindustrialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, criminologists have been aware of the severe consequences of the dark figure of police records for crime prevention strategies. Crime surveys are developed to address the limitations of police statistics as crime data sources, and estimates produced from surveys can mitigate biases in police data. This paper produces small area estimates of crimes unknown to the police at local and neighbourhood levels from the Crime Survey for England and Wales to explore the geographical inequality of the dark figure of crime. The dark figure of crime is larger not only in small cities that are deprived but also in wealthy municipalities. The dark figure is also larger in suburban, low-housing neighbourhoods with large concentrations of unqualified citizens, immigrants and non-Asian minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rundown neighbourhoods and social housing estates may not be visible to the majority of the population but they have an impact on society as a whole and not just those who live in them. This paper explains the concepts, processes and methods applied in the transformational change of public and communal open spaces in EC1, south Islington in London, and highlights the benefits of the change to their everyday users. The paper brings together a body of urban design theories and urban design collaborative approaches on open space transformational change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people's perceptions of cohesion in their local communities; particularly for vulnerable groups/communities, such as ethnic minorities or those living in highly deprived neighbourhoods. To this end, we examine both trends over time in overall levels of cohesion as well as patterns of positive and negative changes experienced by individuals using nationally representative data from Understanding Society Study. We test whether rates of positive-/negative-change in cohesion over the pandemic-period differed across socio-demographic groups and neighbourhood characteristics. These trends are then compared to patterns of positive-/negative-change over time experienced in earlier periods to test whether the pandemic was uniquely harmful. We show that the overall levels of social cohesion are lower in June 2020 compared to all of the examined pre-pandemic periods. The decline of perceived-cohesion is particularly high in the most deprived communities, among certain ethnic minority groups and among the lower-skilled. Our findings suggest that the pandemic put higher strain on social-resources among vulnerable groups and communities, who also experienced more negative changes in other areas of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data generated in a recently completed qualitative study in a northern, English city, this paper explores the everyday social encounters of Accession 8 (A8) migrants who entered the UK following the expansion of the European Union in 2004. A number of options from permanent residence in another Member State on the one hand, to more fleeting circulatory and multiple short-term moves on the other, now exist for these new European citizens. The relatively short-term and temporary residence of some A8 migrants calls into question the focus of much UK government policy, which emphasises the need for migrants to integrate into diverse yet cohesive communities. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it considers the somewhat different character of A8 migration (encompassing a spectrum from permanency to temporariness) and what this means for routine experiences of mixing between new migrants and established host communities. Second, the paper explores such interactions in terms of 'everyday encounters' in both neighbourhood and work spaces and asks whether such spatio-temporal practices and experiences enhance or inhibit the building of 'good relations' in a multicultural city. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geodemographics offers the prospects of integrating, modelling and mapping health care needs and other health indicators that are useful for targeting neighbourhoods in public health campaigns. Yet reports about this application domain has to date been sporadic. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of a bespoke geodemographic system for neighbourhood targeting in an inner city public health authority, Southwark Primary Care Trust, London. This system, the London Output Area Classification (LOAC), is compared to six other geodemographic systems from both governmental and commercial sources. The paper proposes two new indicators for assessing the performance of geodemographic systems for neighbourhood targeting based on local hospital demand data. The paper also analyses and discusses the utility of age- and sex standardisation of geodemographic profiles of health care demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic development initiatives following large-scale industrial closures often seek to regenerate the local economy through investment in technology and knowledge-intensive activities. The resulting changes in the make-up of the local workforce are in turn likely to generate new forms of demand for housing; demand that will not necessarily be met by the residential offer of the neighbourhoods worst affected by the initial closure. This paper explores these processes through a study of the proposals for a science park as a component of the programme to redevelop the Longbridge site in Birmingham in the UK, following the closure of the Rover automotive plant in 2005. The paper examines the capacity of local workers to take up the anticipated high-technology jobs; the likely configuration of an incoming workforce; and the fit between the housing requirements of these new workers and the residential offer of neighbourhoods in the Longbridge area. It concludes that there is likely to be a poor match between the housing and residential characteristics of neighbourhoods most closely associated with the plant closure and the requirements of an incoming high-tech workforce. This in turn raises a policy dilemma. On the one hand there is a necessity to secure economic diversification for the local economy as a whole, whilst on the other is the requirement to address the specific needs of the discrete neighbourhoods most affected by the closure and whose quality of place offer is often furthest from the requirements of the incoming workforce. A number of policy implications are discussed, drawing on the experience of recent housing and regeneration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home in Australia is strongly associated with the tenure of home ownership and living in a detached house. This paper explores the ways in which public housing functions as home for a group of public housing tenants from inner Newcastle, Australia. Most public housing in inner Newcastle is medium density and consists of apartments and terraces. The experiences of home for these tenants are mediated by a number of factors, including their age and family circumstances; the type of dwelling in which they reside; their interactions with and perceptions of neighbours; and the neighbourhood in which they live. For some tenants living in public housing is "heaven", and for most the experience is a positive one. However, the experience of these tenants also highlights that home can be simultaneously experienced as positive and negative, for example as secure and threatening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the residential distribution of the Scotland-and Wales-born in London in relation to other migrant groups. It goes on to consider the ecological character of the neighbourhoods in which they are concentrated, and it uses the 1991 SARs to identify individual-level characteristics. Overall the Wales-born are shown to have a higher level of educational and occupational attainment than those born in Scotland and to be associated with more middle-class neighbourhoods. However, evidence is presented that the Scotland-born are a more varied population, with contrasts between those living in the inner and outer parts of London. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role that London plays in the migration and urban systems of the United Kingdom as a whole. Key words: Scotland; Wales; London; migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Evidence for the effect of neighbourhood food environment (NFE) exposures on diet in the UK is mixed, potentially due to exposure misclassification. This study used the first national COVID-19 lockdown in England as an opportunity to isolate the independent effects of the NFE exposure on food and drink purchasing, and assessed whether these varied by region. Methods: Transaction-level purchasing data for food and drink items for at-home (1,221 households) and out-of-home consumption (171 individuals) were available from the GB Kantar Fast Moving Consumer Goods Panel for London and the North of England. The study period included 23rd March to 10th May 2020 ('lockdown'), and the same period in 2019 for comparison. NFE exposures included food outlet density and proximity, and NFE composition within a 1 km network buffer around the home. Associations were estimated for both years separately, adjusted for individual and household characteristics, population density and area deprivation. Interaction terms between region and exposures were explored. Results: There were no consistent patterns of association between NFE exposures and food and drink purchasing in either time period. In 2019, there was some evidence for a 1.4% decrease in energy purchased from ultra-processed foods for each additional 500 m in the distance to the nearest OOH outlet (IR 0.986, 95% CI 0.977 to 0.995, p = 0.020). In 2020, there was some evidence for a 1.8% reduction in total take-home energy for each additional chain supermarket per km2 in the neighbourhood (IR 0.982, 95% CI 0.969, 0.995, p = 0.045). Region-specific effects were observed in 2019 only. Discussion: Findings suggest that the differences in exposure to the NFE may not explain differences in the patterns or healthiness of grocery purchasing. Observed pre-pandemic region-specific effects allude to the importance of geographical context when designing research and policy. Future research may assess associations for those who relied on their NFE during lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a mix of policy learning and new institutionalist theory, the paper sets out the empirical evidence regarding the unfolding of neighbourhood planning (NP) in England during more than ten years of participatory practice. What has been learned about how this policy has been shaped reflexively by institutional actors is reviewed, drawing on two significant national research studies. The contribution of the paper is to provide a detailed consideration of neighbourhood planning as practiced over a decade and the policy iterations that have featured in that time, including what this tells us conceptually. We conclude this process has produced a range of neighbourhood planning forms that are reflected through the interplay of institutionalised agency, local conditions, policy iterations and varied community-local scale dynamics. • The paper conveys the experience of a decade of neighbourhood planning in England with extensive empirical evidence regarding the unfolding of neighbourhood planning. • Draws on a mix of policy learning and new institutionalist theory discussing what has been learned about how this policy has been enacted and shaped reflexively by institutional actors. • The paper provides a detailed consideration of neighbourhood planning as practiced over a decade and the policy iterations that have featured in that time. • The process has produced a range of neighbourhood planning forms that are reflected through the interplay of institutionalised agency, local conditions, policy iterations and varied community-local scale dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current policies on neighbourhood renewal in England are unrecognisable from those that were in place ten years ago. In this paper, I argue that this is not because Labour's policies failed. Indeed there is a clear picture both of absolute improvement in the poorest neighbourhoods and closing gaps with other neighbourhoods, although large gaps still remained. However, despite this, Labour changed its mind over neighbourhood renewal, losing sight of what this policy regime was for, as distinct from policies on economic regeneration. The Coalition has, in important respects, picked up the baton laid down by Gordon Brown, although not the one carried by Tony Blair. Those who would like to see a return to some of the aspects of neighbourhood renewal policy pursued in the early 2000s need, therefore, to revisit fundamental arguments about policy purposes, as well as the mechanisms by which policies are pursued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, deprived neighbourhoods were the focus of a number of policy initiatives constructed by the previous Labour government. The evaluations of these programmes and other earlier interventions have shown that attempts to improve neighbourhood socioeconomic outcomes might be affected by people selectively moving in and out of targeted areas. Nonetheless, there is very little evidence that provides an appreciation of this effect. This paper examines the effect of internal migration on the concentration of low-income families in neighbourhoods in England during 2002–07 using a multilevel growth curve model. Explanatory variables in the model include the regional area and district type of a neighbourhood as well as whether the neighbourhood is ranked within the 20 per cent most deprived in England. The findings suggest that deprived neighbourhoods increase their concentration of poor families at a faster rate than all other neighbourhoods. However, the increase is marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper intervenes in the debate on ethnic segregation in British cities by paying attention to the hitherto neglected phenomenon of territorial stigmatisation. It discusses the stigma attached to the neighbourhood of St Paul's, Bristol; how it emerged, how it is felt and negotiated by local residents 'from below', and its effects on how that neighbourhood is managed by policy elites 'from above'. The paper critically reviews some recent influential treatments of ethnic segregation in the UK and the moral panic over ghettoisation, before explaining how the racialisation of urban space and extreme events such as the riots of 1980 and recent high-profile activities connected to Bristol's drugs economy have installed a damaging reputation of St Paul's as a segregated 'ghetto' of vice and dereliction. Using a mixed-methods approach, we show that black-white segregation in St Paul's is in fact low, and then explain how its ghetto reputation affects the experiences of residents. The paper concludes by arguing that in order to understand the complexities of ethnically diverse urban communities in Britain, territorial stigmatisation must be subjected to analytical scrutiny to complement the high-profile statistical approaches of recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, drawing upon a wide range of unpublished archival sources, I present a detailed reconstruction of Fountain Court and its residents, William and Catherine Blake during the period William and Catherine Blake were resident at No. 3 Fountain Court (c. 1820-27). The paper presents important new information concerning the society and milieu in Fountain Court and its neighbourhood during 1820-27. This fresh archival evidence enables us to identify and precisely locate for the first time the 'humble but respectable' fellow lodgers and neighbours living in Fountain Court during William and Catherine Blake's period of residence, and provides a detailed picture of life in the Blakes' neighbourhood during this period, and of trades conducted in the court, as well as the close familial and social relationships existing between a number of households immediately surrounding the Blakes' residence. Such relationships provide a context for William and Catherine's own relationships with their brother-in-law and landlord at 3 Fountain Court, Henry Banes and his wife Sarah Banes (née Boucher) and two of their neighbours and fellow lodgers in the court, the carver and gilder John George Lohr, and Blake's employer and fellow artist John Barrow. The Blakes' last residence was not in a sleepy, forgotten backwater, as some contemporary accounts and later biographers appear to suggest. As my paper demonstrates, Fountain Court in the 1820s, leading directly off the Strand, a major commercial thoroughfare of the largest metropolis of the period, was comprised of a small community, thriving with social and commercial activity. The reconstruction provides a detailed immediate context in which to view afresh William and Catherine's years living and working in Fountain Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by a concern about the negative side effects of ethnic concentration neighbourhoods, many European governments aim to create more ethnically and socio-economically mixed neighbourhoods. At the same time, housing policy aims to give tenants more choice in how and where they live. The objectives of these two policies might conflict as offering people choice has the potential to increase self-segregation, especially across ethnic groups. This paper studies the effect of choice-based letting on (self) segregation in housing association stock in England. We analyse whether households who let their property under choice-based letting end up in neighbourhoods with different levels of ethnic concentrations than households who are matched to a dwelling using the traditional allocation system. We focus on how the effect of choice-based letting differs for ethnic minority households and non-ethnic minority households. Using unique data on all lettings made in the housing association sector in England in 2006/2007 and an ordered logit regression model we show that ethnic minority households are more likely to let a property in an ethnic concentration neighbourhood than non-ethnic minority households. Ethnic minorities letting their property under choice-based letting are the most likely to accept a dwelling in an ethnic concentration neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research which examined the prevalence and rationales underlying the growth in gated residential development in England. The research also set out to consider the immediate and likely future impacts of such development. Policy debates regarding socio-spatial segregation and the encouragement of social mix to promote sustainable communities have generally ignored the upper end of the housing market and clustering of affluent households which are perceived to produce few negative externalities or problems for residents. We argue that gated development appears to provide a socially problematic form of residential development which ‘excludes’ but nevertheless, in certain cases, appears to deliver a semi-autonomous form of neighbourhood governance. The research found around 1,000 gated developments in England at a time when the Government aims for new development to provide socially diverse neighbourhoods as the hallmark of future community sustainability. We conclude that this initial profiling of gated communities highlights the need for a debate regarding the relative social costs and benefits imposed by gating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community policing lacks a coherent definition. Despite this, the term has been used as a rhetorical device to support nostalgic and state-centric models of policing. These models are increasingly challenged by diversity. Government has responded to this challenge by advocating an ‘extended family’ model of policing. This paper explores the role of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in the ‘extended family’ model. It draws upon research carried out on PCSOs in London between October 2002 and December 2003. The paper consists of four sections. The first considers the extent of PCSO integration within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The second looks at the impact of PCSO recruitment on the goal of diversifying the MPS workforce. Section three considers public attitudes towards PCSOs in London. The final section considers PCSOs in a national context, focusing on two issues: the relationship between PCSO policy implementation and the ‘evidence-base’ used to justify it; and the future role of PCSOs in ‘neighbourhood policing’, the latest incarnation of community policing. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that 'gated communities' are growing in popularity. This paper uses empirical evidence to profile the location and characteristics of gated development in England and details the relative integration of residents. The paper also attempts to think through the wider theoretical and urban policy impacts of gating. In contrast to the view that gated communities provide an extreme example of residential segregation we go further and argue that the time-space trajectories of residents suggest a dynamic pattern of separation that goes beyond the place of residence. Gated communities appear to provide an extreme example of more common attempts by other social groups to insulate against perceived risk and unwanted encounters. Patterns of what we term time-space trajectories of segregation can thereby be seen as closed linkages between key fields, such as work and home, which enable social distance to be maintained and perceived risks to be managed by elite social groups. We conclude that gated communities further extend contemporary segregatory tendencies in the city and that policy responses are required which curtail the creation of such havens of social withdrawal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post May 1997 the conventional approaches to regeneration strategies in Britain have focused upon establishing local partnerships between - not only service providers and potential employers - but also local community-based groups. Neighbourhoods or 'localities'are now seen as the arenas within which coalitions of local interest groups meet to identify needs, to allocate resources and to engage with local communities. This paper will examine the assumptions behind such approaches and will explore the sites of conflict and the ways in which local managers attempt to reconcile differing aspirations and expectations. The paper draws upon a series of interviews with participants in regeneration initiatives in Manchester, and will suggest that regeneration managers occupy a significant place in arbitrating between different interest groups. In particular, the role of multi-agency working will be explored and the ways in which professionals (from a variety of occupations) seek to negotiate common terms of reference and understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses recent policies and initiatives to promote neighbourhood renewal in the context of housing market change in two different policy environments – those of Denmark and England. The authors suggest that surface similarities in the recent urban policy discourses of the two countries tend to conceal deeper differences in the capacity of community-led neighbourhood-based initiatives to improve housing opportunities for local residents. The paper also suggests that comparative analysis of neighbourhood renewal policy has often been too firmly lodged at the national level, neglecting the complexities of ‘multi-level’ governance and uneven spatial development which are increasingly important in urban policy formation and delivery. The authors examine the diverse motivations for the recent policy focus on the ‘neighbourhood’ as an arena for intervention. They suggest that in England the impact of ever starker regional and sub-regional inequalities, problems associated with uneven economic growth, patterns of household migration and mobility, empty housing and cultural segregation extend well beyond the reach of the New Labour government's original urban policy agenda, in its concerns with ‘capacity building’, ‘partnership working’ and ‘joined up governance’. There are now signs of a realignment in approach to impose a more strategic emphasis at a regional level of governance, although this remains underdeveloped in England. While Danish urban policy also has contradictory elements, there is a smaller gap between national government rhetoric and the strategy to improve specific localities, and the central role accorded to local government, which stands in contrast to recent English policy, has been a key aspect underpinning this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative consequences of living in deprived neighbourhoods for residents' quality of life are well documented. Area-based regeneration initiatives are invariably concerned with improving local quality of life over the long term. The process of regeneration, however, can itself directly result in immediate and potentially lasting negative effects for local communities. This paper discusses some of the ways in which living in an area undergoing regeneration can adversely affect inhabitants' quality of life, including problems associated with voids, relocation, demolitions, environmental quality, complexity, funding issues, uncertainty, frustration, fear for the future and consultation fatigue. A case study approach draws examples from a deprived neighbourhood in the north-east of England. The conclusion discusses some of the possible implications for future regeneration policy, including: the importance of ongoing communication between professionals and communities; the need to value local people's experience, judgement and the contribution they can make to local decision-making processes; recognition that successful regeneration can take many years; and the implications of current UK government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the national survey of third-sector organisations in England to show, for the first time, important variations between organisations and localities in government funding of third-sector activity. It shows that organisations serving the personally or socially disadvantaged are most likely to be publicly funded and that deprived neighbourhoods and local authorities have the highest share of publicly funded organisations. Further, at the neighbourhood scale there is evidence for an interaction effect between kind of organisation and area deprivation, such that organisations working in deprived areas with disadvantaged groups are particularly likely to receive some public funding. These results have particular resonance at a time when many third-sector organisations are faced with cuts in their public funding. They also have relevance to theoretical work on the relationship between government and the voluntary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper will examine the views and experiences of Black youths living in socially deprived areas of London in order to examine the way in which they recognise the term ‘Black neighbourhood’ as a resource for ethnic identity formation and collective mobilisation. Despite the apparent problems that are typically associated with ‘Black neighbourhoods’ for many Black youths, these neighbourhoods also represent urban spaces through which a range of bonding social capital resources are generated including ties of reciprocal trust, solidarity and civic participation. These spaces hold intrinsic value for these young people providing them with a sense of wellbeing and belonging. However, the analysis will also show that the young people’s experiences of the neighbourhood are not always positive ones, and such spaces create negative outcomes for Black youths residing there. In particular, the data will highlight the restrictive capacity of ‘Black neighbourhoods’ and the various ways in which they limit Black youths’ opportunities to ‘get on’ in terms of social mobility and their ability to move beyond neighbourhood boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cosmopolitanism has been described as the cultural habitus of globalisation. It is therefore, albeit defined somewhat loosely, often associated with ethnically diverse, global cities. This paper considers the extent to which London engenders cosmopolitan values amongst its residents. It draws on survey data from the LOCAL MULTIDEM study of minorities’ political participation to address these themes. The analysis examines perceptions of respect, belonging and geographical imaginaries—amongst established minorities and the ethnic majority—in north London. It is argued that cosmopolitan ethics are transformative and dialectical and, critically, cannot remain the preserve of the privileged in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. The analysis presented demonstrates that a sense of belonging and cosmopolitan imaginaries are not evenly accessed by different ethnic groups; notably, that Bangladeshi Londoners who are born and bred in the city are less likely to appropriate these discourses than Caribbean, Indian or White residents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The past few years have seen a proliferation of skills analysis in urban regeneration in England. In France, in contrast, researchers have linked questions of skills to the styles and form of public-sector work. This paper reworks the debates in the two countries to provide a comparative analysis of neighbourhood management. There are three main sections and themes: the implications of a bottom—up perspective in the study of policy implementation; the emergence in France of the chef de projet as an ideal type figure of transversal working; and finally, in relation to England, the fragmentation and diversity of policy initiatives, agencies and funding streams. This fragmentation and diversity have implied, in turn, an emphasis on flexibility and generic rather than specialist skills in urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the election of the first New Labour government in 1997 the revitalisation of deprived neighbourhoods quickly became a central feature of the policy landscape. Motivated by the desire to tackle processes of social exclusion and find a new economic basis for these areas, an array of policy experiments and interventions emerged. An increasing focus of these was to improve the economic conditions of deprived neighbourhoods with a particular emphasis upon tackling worklessness and promoting entrepreneurial activity. Yet despite this sustained activity, 13 years later the gap between the poorest neighbourhoods and the rest persisted. This paper reflects critically upon the development of this policy agenda, its aims, outcomes and effectiveness, and identifies the factors that constrained its ability to transform the economic fortunes of England's most deprived neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Neighbourhood' is a long standing concept in local governance which was re-energised as part of the post-1997 New Labour policy paradigm. This paper builds on the work of Lowndes and Sullivan which identified four distinct rationales for neighbourhood working - civic, social, political and economic. The utility of the framework is explored through primary research in Manchester, UK. The research shows that different rationales are held by actors at different locations within the complex system of multi-level governance within which neighbourhood policy is made and implemented. Neighbourhood approaches to urban regeneration exist within a congested governance environment. In Manchester, regeneration has been strongly driven by the self-styled 'Team Manchester' who have provided an urban entrepreneurial vision for change in the city. Significantly, however, interventions at the neighbourhood level have shown potential for creating opportunities for citizen and community dissent and empowerment not subsumed with the narrative of the entrepreneurial city. Lowndes and Sullivan's framework provides important analytical building blocks and illuminating tools for understanding neighbourhood approaches. This research points to the merit of a dynamic approach recognising competing perspectives and contested agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood housing markets play a pivotal role in the evolution of the demographic, social and economic functioning of neighbourhoods, and hence are necessarily a key concern for national and local policy makers. This paper examines propositions about the determinants of neighbourhood housing market outcomes in England, particularly price changes over the last 10-20 years. These concern the influence of (sub-)regional economic and demographic forces, the nature and persistence of disequilibrium, the existence of sub-markets and the influence of supply. Data from a wide range of sources at ward and local levels underpins models of price level and change set within a multi-level structure. Results are discussed in relation to the role of neighbourhood in an understanding of the micro-structures of housing markets, as well as in relation to contemporary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Geographers and sociologists have recognised the emergence of new variants of the middle-class neighbourhood characterised by a strong focus on the development of human capital, a high level of connectedness to global networks, and a strong sense of identity based on aesthetics and taste. Such neighbourhoods are typically associated with the inner areas of 'metropolitan' centres and, according to Bourdieu, are manifestations of 'milieux' in which residents increasingly use taste as a basis for the ascription and enjoyment of status by way of contrast to residents in neighbourhoods in 'suburban', 'provincial', and 'small-town' settings where status continues to derive primarily from occupation and/or the ownership of key consumer products. This paper explores the extent to which qualitative evidence for the existence of these different milieux can be supported by quantitative evidence, using classifications of residential neighbourhoods originally developed by commercial organisations to assist marketers target the promotion of consumer products. The paper uses a study by Peter Hall, which locates urban centres in England and Wales on a central place hierarchy, to differentiate those types of middle-class neighbourhood whose location is characteristically inner metropolitan from those principally associated with suburban and/or small-town locations. These types of neighbourhood are then contrasted in terms of their residents' role within the urban system, in terms of their spatial distribution, and in terms of their consumption of products and media. Results from similar classification schemes developed in other countries are used to evaluate the extent to which these types of metropolitan habitus are characteristic of other advanced industrial societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]