Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SURGE (Social Sustainability and Urban Regeneration Governance: An International Perspective)
Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-08-31
Cities in the 21st century are faced with increasingly complex challenges, reconciling the drive for economic growth with concerns related to social cohesion and inequalities. There is a growing tension between a globally focused urban growth agenda, which looks to maximise investment and economic prosperity, and the growing socio-spatial inequalities, related to housing affordability, access to public services and social justice. Currently, these tensions are particularly manifest in the arena of urban regeneration, where the conflicting interplay of public, private and civil society interests impacts on governance mechanisms. Despite a number of academic studies exploring urban regeneration governance in specific national contexts, there is a lack of cross-national comparative research exploring how specific governance processes contribute to more socially sustainable projects that reconcile the inherent tensions between economic drivers and social inequalities.
The key objective of this project was to address this important gap, with an international comparative study of urban regeneration governance in Canada and the UK. It adopted an innovative comparative research framework, and employed an arts-based participatory method, photovoice, to critically examine stakeholder involvement in urban governance processes in two different contexts (Europe and North America). It explored whether, and how, participatory processes through creative and arts-based methods, contribute to more socially-just regeneration projects, and ultimately, their impact on a city’s ability to build a more socially-sustainable future.
The project’s scientific objectives were as follows:
1. To review the national institutional, political, economic and socio-cultural frameworks and policy discourses, in Canada and the UK, as context for the research;
2. To develop an innovative theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of urban governance, that integrates interdisciplinary theoretical approaches from planning, geography, sociology and political science;
3. To apply this theoretical framework to explore the dynamics of urban regeneration governance in the two different national contexts, taking case studies in the cities of Vancouver and Oxford;
4. To assess how and to what extent different components of governance within specific urban regeneration settings provide openings for socially just outcomes, exploring the potential of the photovoice method;
5. To maximise the impact of the research, through a three-month secondment at “European Alternatives”, a Paris-based NGO that works closely with practitioners and communities in regeneration areas throughout the EU;
6. To disseminate the findings to a wide audience (academics, policy-makers and the general public), including organising an impact workshop, as well as drafting practical recommendations for practitioners and user groups on how regeneration projects can be delivered in a more socially sustainable way.
The research showed that the arts-based method of photovoice has the potential to contribute to urban governance, by feeding into participatory planning as part of a range of methods to access community voices in different ways. It provides opportunities for alternative and reflexive dialogue, that can shed light on community perspectives that are excluded from more traditional methods, and thus has the potential to provide openings for more socially-just outcomes in a neighbourhood planning setting.
The key objective of this project was to address this important gap, with an international comparative study of urban regeneration governance in Canada and the UK. It adopted an innovative comparative research framework, and employed an arts-based participatory method, photovoice, to critically examine stakeholder involvement in urban governance processes in two different contexts (Europe and North America). It explored whether, and how, participatory processes through creative and arts-based methods, contribute to more socially-just regeneration projects, and ultimately, their impact on a city’s ability to build a more socially-sustainable future.
The project’s scientific objectives were as follows:
1. To review the national institutional, political, economic and socio-cultural frameworks and policy discourses, in Canada and the UK, as context for the research;
2. To develop an innovative theoretical and conceptual framework for the analysis of urban governance, that integrates interdisciplinary theoretical approaches from planning, geography, sociology and political science;
3. To apply this theoretical framework to explore the dynamics of urban regeneration governance in the two different national contexts, taking case studies in the cities of Vancouver and Oxford;
4. To assess how and to what extent different components of governance within specific urban regeneration settings provide openings for socially just outcomes, exploring the potential of the photovoice method;
5. To maximise the impact of the research, through a three-month secondment at “European Alternatives”, a Paris-based NGO that works closely with practitioners and communities in regeneration areas throughout the EU;
6. To disseminate the findings to a wide audience (academics, policy-makers and the general public), including organising an impact workshop, as well as drafting practical recommendations for practitioners and user groups on how regeneration projects can be delivered in a more socially sustainable way.
The research showed that the arts-based method of photovoice has the potential to contribute to urban governance, by feeding into participatory planning as part of a range of methods to access community voices in different ways. It provides opportunities for alternative and reflexive dialogue, that can shed light on community perspectives that are excluded from more traditional methods, and thus has the potential to provide openings for more socially-just outcomes in a neighbourhood planning setting.
The first two years of the project (2017-2019) took place at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, within the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). The initial work involved an extensive literature review, to explore the different institutional, economic, socio-cultural, political and governance contexts in the two countries of Canada and the UK. This was complemented by a further exploration of the city level context in Vancouver, through literature reviews and interviews with key actors in the public sector and civil society, to build up a narrative of governance in the city. Within Vancouver, two neighbourhoods were selected for further exploration, Renfew Collingwood and the Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods, to examine the role that creative practice can play in governance and participation. A series of photovoice workshops was held in each neighbourhood, to explore the meaning of the local area for participants, through the embodied practice of walking through the neighbourhood and capturing images that were significant for the participants. An exhibition of the resulting photographs was held in the Downtown Eastside, together with a stakeholder knowledge exchange event where participants discussed the method of photovoice, and how it contributed to their understanding of the neighbourhood.
The third year of the project (2019-2020) focused on the case of Oxford in the UK, with a review of policy literature and a series of in-depth interviews with key actors and stakeholders. Two neighbourhoods were selected for more detailed exploration, Barton and Blackbird Leys. While the planned photovoice workshops in these neighbourhoods were unable to take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, the outcomes of a city-wide photo exercise, run by Oxford City Council, were explored to gain insights into residents’ perceptions of their city and neighbourhood through photography. The results of the project have been disseminated through presentations at international conferences, and publication in peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. A one-page briefing on 'Photovoice in Urban Planning' has also been produced, with guidelines and recommendations for urban policy makers.
The third year of the project (2019-2020) focused on the case of Oxford in the UK, with a review of policy literature and a series of in-depth interviews with key actors and stakeholders. Two neighbourhoods were selected for more detailed exploration, Barton and Blackbird Leys. While the planned photovoice workshops in these neighbourhoods were unable to take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, the outcomes of a city-wide photo exercise, run by Oxford City Council, were explored to gain insights into residents’ perceptions of their city and neighbourhood through photography. The results of the project have been disseminated through presentations at international conferences, and publication in peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. A one-page briefing on 'Photovoice in Urban Planning' has also been produced, with guidelines and recommendations for urban policy makers.
The project results suggest that as a methodology, photovoice offers the means through which participants can express their views in a more fluid way. By distributing cameras to community members in the framework of a workshop, they were given opportunities to share their experiences through different modes, and were freed up to explore their neighbourhood in alternative ways. This embodied practice of walking through and photographing their neighbourhood allowed them to see familiar places in a different frame, and explore new insights to share with other participants through reflexive dialogue. This has implications for participation and neighbourhood governance, as photovoice and other arts-based methods potentially have the capacity to offer alternative means of hearing the voices of those normally excluded from participatory practices, as part of a range of methods to access community voices in different ways. It also has implications for social sustainability, as a mode of building understanding between participants, communities and stakeholders in a neighbourhood setting.