Event overview
Developing Innovation and Good Practice in Neighbourhood Work
Swanley Neighbourhood Project Conference
A range of policy agendas come together in the question of the neighbourhood. In debates around neighbourhood management, “double devolution”, community cohesion, anti-social behaviour, and active citizenship, the neighbourhood is framed as the key site of policy intervention and the primary location of belonging and citizenship. Social problems are increasingly posed as problems of location, with discourses of localised cultures of poverty on Britain’s “sink estates”.
Simultaneously, the ways in which neighbourhoods are governed, managed and planned is changing too, with Registered Social Landlords expected to take on an increased role, as anchor organisations with the possible know-how to work with residents and build inclusion. This opens up new possibilities for resident engagement, but also new questions of practice. All too often lip service is given to good practices, without an understanding of what really works in localities.
This free one-day conference, bringing together academics and practitioners, seeks to explore the implications of the new governance of neighbourhoods. What does it mean to focus on communities of place, as our communities become increasingly diverse? What does it mean to designate particular populations, such as Gypsy/Travellers, as “hard to reach” in these new regimes of governance? How should agencies respond to these new imperatives? How should researchers be engaging with this practice? How can residents be empowered to respond to these agendas, without their own agendas being lost? What are the dangers of empowering communities in this way, when minority concerns (including the concerns of invisible minorities, like housed Gypsies or new European migrants) can be marginalised?
The conference will also see the launch of the final report of the Swanley Neighbourhood Project, a partnership between West Kent Housing, West Kent Extra, Real Strategies Ltd and the Centre for Urban and Community Research. The project is funded by the Housing Corporation’s Innovation and Good Practice programme.
Sessions
Cohesive neighbourhoods or diverse neighbourhoods?
What are the challenges of working in diverse neighbourhoods? How do we achieve the right balance between celebrating differences and building a shared future? What might be some good practices in creating cohesive neighbourhoods? What is at stake in the invocation of communities and identities in these contexts?
Working with Gypsies and Travellers in Neighbourhoods
What are the challenges of doing neighbourhood work in area with Gypsy/Traveller populations? What is the role of housing providers here? What are the ethics and politics of action research in these contexts?
Neighbourhood Improvement, Neighbourhood Management and Neighbourhood Know-how
How can neighbourhood planning, neighbourhood management and neighbourhood know-how be used to improve communities? What is the role of the housing sector in community development? What is the role of RSLs in the new governance of neighbourhoods?
Participatory and Action Research in Neighbourhoods
How can participatory action research and community development be combined? What are the tensions here? Do residents know best about the issues that affect them? How can their know-how be captured? What are the limits to participation in research?
Confirmed Speakers include
• Professor Marjorie Mayo (Centre for Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement, Author of Cultures, Communities, Identities)
• Professor Michael Keith (Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Author of After the Cosmopolitan, Multicultural Cities and the Future of Racism )
• Professor Roger Hewitt (Centre for Urban and Community Research, author of White Backlash and the Politics of Multiculturalism)
• Dr Kalwant Bhopal (University of Southampton, Author of Insiders, Outsiders and Others: Gypsies and Identity)
• Dr Margaret Greenfields (Bucks University, Editor of Here To Stay!: The Gypsies and Travellers of Britain)
• Ben Gidley/Alison Rooke (Centre for Urban and Community Research)
• Geraldine Blake (Community Links UK)
• Gail Weston (Hyde Housing)
• Sue Lelliott and Debbie Humphry (Real Strategies Ltd)
• Genette Allen (West Kent Housing)
To register
Please register by e-mailing cucr@gold.ac.uk or telephoning 020 7919 7390
For location and directions, see http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/find-us/
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cucr/
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr 2008 | 10:00am - 5:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
