Social exclusion and the future of cities

In both Britain and the United States, people have been moving away from the inner cities to suburban developments, often leaving behind concentrations of poverty and decaying neighbourhoods. Anne Power's paper focuses on the British situation. As Britain comes to terms with the implications of urban renaissance, a new way must be found of looking at regeneration based on rebuilding urban neighbourhoods. The key points for the future are: limiting suburban land supply and creating higher density in depleted urban neighbourhoods; equalising the incentives to recycle old buildings and used land rather than greenfield sites; improving public transport; managing neighbourhoods to encourage a social mix; and protecting green spaces. William Julius Wilson, looking at the American situation, addresses the rediscovery of 'metropolitan solutions' as answers to the common problems of America's cities and suburbs. This rediscovery reflects the recognition that metropolitan areas constitute the real competitive units in the new economy and that competitiveness requires a healthy urban core; the growing awareness that complex issues such as pollution and traffic congestion cross boundaries and are immune to localised fixes; and the co-existence of persistent joblessness in the central cities and labour shortages in the suburbs

Families’ and children’s experience of sport and informal activity in Olympic areas of the East End.

Sport England is interested to know how families with children experience the following aspects of neighbourhood life: involvement in sport; access to facilities; activities for young people; and the engagement of young people in poor areas in the Olympic development. Sport England wanted evidence from our research tracking the experiences of one hundred families in the Hackney and Newham areas, close to the Olympic development. This study aims to uncover how bringing up children is affected by area conditions. The announcement of London’s successful Olympic bid appears to have provoked great interest in many of East London’s local communities. These events coincided with our entering the seventh round of our longitudinal study of families in deprived areas of Hackney and Newham. The families had expressed a high level of concern for young people as they matured beyond the bounds of the immediate family, but found very little to do within the areas they lived in. At the same time they had far too limited resources to be able to travel outside the areas to do constructive activities, as well as having related concerns over time constraints and travelling to unfamiliar locations. As a result, many young people in these areas simply hang around on the streets, either directly causing problems, or more likely creating a threatening environment for adults and local children. There is a high level of economic inactivity, truancy, and lack of access to jobs. The fear for the future of young people in these areas and their circumstances is acute. Local conditions, experiences and attitudes strongly shape and constrain young people’s active engagement in sport. The chair of Sport England asked us to help Sport England by adding questions specifically about the Olympics and about youth participation in sport to our last round of interviews. We also offered to re-examine questions that we had already asked (including data from interviews with one hundred families living in the north of England in a parallel study) relating to outdoor activity, local facilities, and the more general informal provision for children and young people that helped them to socialise.

Neighbourhood Management and the Future of Urban Areas

This paper is about low-income neighbourhoods, their organisation and management. It is not a study in deprivation, but is about problem-solving, about the reforms in delivery underway in Britain, about long run attempts to change neighbourhood conditions and environments, about the central role of local government and housing organisations in tackling ground-level problems. It addresses environmental and social problems within neighbourhoods as part of a wider understanding of social exclusion, sustainable development and the need for greater care of our urban communities. Although its perspective is shaped by British examples, many of the issues are relevant to other countries. Although its focus is on low-income urban neighbourhoods of predominantly rented housing, the ideas can be applied to any neighbourhood of whatever tenure, size or location. This revised up-dated edition takes account of the ODPM's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, and the Neighbourhood Management and Neighbourhood Warden Schemes they are supporting.social housing, neighbourhoods, area regeneration