About the research
The project uses a mixed methods approach to study how neighbourhood context affects ‘place attachment’, a resident’s sense of belonging to their neighbourhood. More specifically, the researchers looked at the emotional or affective attachment that people feel to their current neighbourhood, particularly for those living in more deprived areas in England.
Attachment is generally seen as having a positive impact for both individuals and for neighbourhoods. More recently it has been linked to the regeneration of deprived areas where it is associated with stable, cohesive neighbourhoods and where it is viewed as encouraging resident engagement in the neighbourhood in some positive way. This report examines the extent and nature of place attachment in deprived areas and, in particular, looks at the impact of neighbourhood instability and social mix on attachment. This study is unique in considering place attachment from a regeneration perspective.
The findings indicate that place attachment is significantly lower in more deprived neighbourhoods primarily because these areas have weaker social cohesion; in other respects, however, the drivers of attachment in more deprived neighbourhoods are the same as in any other kind of place. Population turnover has modest direct impacts on attachment through its effect on social cohesion.
Social mix has a very limited impact on attachment and the effects vary between social groups. In general, higher status or more socially dominant groups appear less tolerant of social mix. In other words, people from ethnic minority groups are more likely to express a sense of attachment in neighbourhoods dominated by a white majority, than white residents who live in neighbourhoods with a predominantly ethnic minority population.
The research was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Methodology
In the qualitative phase of this mixed methods study, the researchers interviewed 39 people from the Greater Manchester area who were living in deprived neighbourhoods with varying combinations of social mix.
The quantitative phase used data from the Citizenship Survey to examine individual and neighbourhood determinants of attachment.
The quantitative element drew on an analysis of data from the 2005 Citizenship Survey, to which a range of neighbourhood contextual variables measuring deprivation and social mix in terms of ethnicity and social class was attached. Attachment was measured using a combination of sense of belonging and neighbourhood satisfaction.
At the individual level, independent variables included measures of indices of social cohesion, sense of security and shared values or trust, as well as socio-demographic characteristics. For the quantitative analysis reported in the journal Housing Studies, data were analysed using multi-level modelling.
Publications
Quantitative findings were published in the following journal:
Bailey, N., Kearns, A., and Livingston, M. (2012) ‘Place attachment in deprived neighbourhoods: The impacts of population turnover and social mix’, Housing Studies, 27(2), pp. 208-231. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2012.632620
Qualitative results were published in another journal:
Livingston, M., Bailey, N., and Kearns, A. (2010) ‘Neighbourhood attachment in deprived areas: Evidence from the north of England’, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 25(4), pp. 409-427. doi: 10.1007/s10901-010-9196-3
A commissioned report covering both elements of the work was published here:
Livingston, M., Bailey, N., and Kearns, A. (2008) People’s attachment to place: the influence of neighbourhood deprivation, Project funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Retrieved 28 August 2013 from http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/influence-neighbourhood-deprivation-peoples-attachment-places