Feeling Towns: the role of place and identity in governance and local policy
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Humanities
Abstract
The emphasis on pride and place in cultural policy initiatives has become commonplace - it is, for example, core to the 2021 Levelling Up Prospectus. Yet the concept, experience, and mechanics of civic pride and place attachment often remain undefined and unexamined in policy documents, practice and evaluations. Likewise, its socio-political meanings and values are at best contested and at worst unexplored or even ignored. This project will use our existing research on towns, pride and metrics to work with lead partners and a broad community of practice to creatively and collectively explore methods and metrics of civic pride and place attachment monitoring, evaluating and reporting. We understand this to be an opportunity to share the value and range of qualitative methods and metrics which can complement the more dominant econometric approaches towards culture, regeneration and local economies.
The project brings academic research into conversation with national cultural bodies and local authorities to exchange knowledge regarding the correlation between place attachment (understood as the emotional bond between people and place) and the health of local cultural ecologies. The collaboration will speak directly to the need, established with our partners, for a set of co-produced evaluative metrics for understanding pride and place.
The project brings academic research into conversation with national cultural bodies and local authorities to exchange knowledge regarding the correlation between place attachment (understood as the emotional bond between people and place) and the health of local cultural ecologies. The collaboration will speak directly to the need, established with our partners, for a set of co-produced evaluative metrics for understanding pride and place.
| Title | How Proud |
| Description | This is an animation that creatively draws on our research findings. The poem was written by Ella Frears and the animation was created by Annlin Chao and Birdhide Films. It was based on research by Michael Howcroft, Nicky Marsh and Joseph Owen. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | This creative artefact has been used in training for policy makers and civil servants (in DHLUC and the Community Ownership Fund) engaged in implementing the pride mission of the Levelling Up agenda. |
| URL | https://www.andtowns.co.uk/how-proud |
| Description | The Feeling Towns project successfully trialled place-based methods in towns across England, revealing discrepancies between desk- and place-based approaches to understanding pride in place. We suggest that new ways of understanding and accounting for pride in place are possible and necessary. Current measurements of pride in place rely on limited, quantitative assessments of proxies that include housing, crime and wellbeing. While these approaches can identify and give some economic value to sources of pride such as parks, heritage sites and community facilities, they do not capture the deeper, personal and shared feelings that are not so easily seen or quantified. Alternative methods are needed to fully account for pride: to understand its meanings for different communities and its greater potential for policy programming and evaluation. Our project offered both practical (a think kit and a set of reports for our case study towns) and theoretical (a pending publised article) into these alternative methods/ |
| Exploitation Route | Our alternative models for understanding pride, and the production of a think kit, allows others to engage communities in thinking about pride in new ways. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.andtowns.co.uk/ |
| Description | Our project brought together a community of practice from a range of sectors, communities and geographies in order to better understand and evidence the correlation between place attachment (understood as the emotional bond between people and place) and the health of local cultural ecologies. We explored methods and metrics of civic pride and place attachment monitoring, evaluating and reporting and shared our findings with local authorities, heritage and arts organisations, and policy makers. We completed reports on pride and place in two hard to reach communities (Darlington and Southampton) and on pride and volunteering (for Rural Media in Ledbury). Our qualitative methodologies and toolkits for measuring pride to policy makers were taken up by researchers and policy makers in both DHLUC and Southampton City Council. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Our insights into understanding pride and place were requested by the steering committee of the Community Shared Ownership Fund |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | This allowed the methods that we developed in our toolkit to be adopted by policy makers |
| Description | Place-specific reports on pride produced for four local authorities (Southampton, Dorchester, Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Darlington) |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The reports supported community engagement and reciprocal understanding between local authorities and 'hard to reach' groups in each case and provided models for . Beyond this it also provided evidence that supported specific funding applications to Levelling Up and other public funding (Sandown, Southampton, Darlington) and guided their place and heritage strategies (Dorchester). |
| Description | We provided a training seminar for the Department of Housing and Levelling Up's Chief Scientific Officer |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | DHLUC shared the report from the survey that they completed after the event when 3/4 of respondents indicated that they were either 'very likely' or 'somewhat likely' to apply 'this learning' to their 'day to day work'. One participant described it in the feedback as 'insightful, great evidence based research. Was lovely to directly hear the voices of the people impacted by policy and make me reflect on the language I use round this.' Another said that they were 'enlightened by the feedback given on how to access what is 'Local' to those living there may not be the same as the usual boundary.' |
| Title | Pride in Place Thinkkit |
| Description | This research tool is designed to enable academics and practitioners involved in understanding and researching place attachment with creative methodologies |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The results from the research tool were used by our partners - local authorities in Darlington and Southampton - as part of their Levelling Up funding application. |
| URL | https://www.andtowns.co.uk/think-kit |
| Description | Towns and Historic England |
| Organisation | Historic England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We worked with HE to better understand the role that heritage assets played in developing Town Investment plans and the ways in which cultural and heritage sectors operated together in small communities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | HE introduced us to organisations within each of our case study towns and they also facilitated conversations in the wider sector at a national level |
| Impact | We have extended our relationship with HE and are now working with them on developing evaluative metrics for 'pride' in another AHRC grant. |
| Start Year | 2008 |
| Description | Towns and Historic England |
| Organisation | Historic England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We worked with HE to better understand the role that heritage assets played in developing Town Investment plans and the ways in which cultural and heritage sectors operated together in small communities. |
| Collaborator Contribution | HE introduced us to organisations within each of our case study towns and they also facilitated conversations in the wider sector at a national level |
| Impact | We have extended our relationship with HE and are now working with them on developing evaluative metrics for 'pride' in another AHRC grant. |
| Start Year | 2008 |
| Description | Community consultation in Darlington |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our place-based researcher conducted a number of semi-structured interviews and focus groups in the Northgate area of Darlington in order to better understand the ways in which pride was felt and experienced in a ward that the council felt was hard to reach. This included work in foodbanks, schools, parks and festivals over a number of weeks. It concluded with a report to the Darlington Towns board that fed into their Levelling Up Fund application. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Community consultation in Dorchester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The team ran four community consultation events, co-produced with the local authority. Our work was targeted at volunteers, young people, market traders as well the general public. We were working to ascertain what made people feel 'proud' about Dorchester and this work contributed to the development of their place and heritage strategies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Community consultation in Ledbury |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We conducted a focus group, using creative methods (a poetry workshop) to ascertain what was the relationship between pride, place and volunteering during Ledbury Poetry Festival. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Community consultation in Sandown, Isle of Wight |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We held a consultation event, co-produced with the local authority, that was targeted specifically at local small businesses. The aim was to better understand what made people feel proud about Sandown and to contribute to place and funding plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Community consultation in Southampton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The research team used a series of creative methodologies to explore feelings of pride and place attachment in the Harefield ward of Southampton. The findings were presented as a report that was used by the Council in its Levelling Up Funding 2 application |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Feeling Pride webinar series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | We ran a series of webinars for practitioners in local authorities and the cultural and heritage sectors focusing on the metrics, meanings and measurements of pride. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.andtowns.co.uk/videos |
| Description | Knowledge Exchange event on data for local authorities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In this knowledge exchange event we presented our interim findings on the use of qualitative data by local authorities: how it was used, what the needs are, what future directions can be adopted. We got feedback that allowed us to reiterate the models for analyzing creative data that we had been working on. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |