Sunday, 19 February 2006

Refugee stories

Smallplaces A little late, but not too late, I must mention the most recent Community Links ideas annual, which is a collection of summaries of projects led by refugee and asylum-seeking communities. It's called Small places, close to home, and there are over 30 projects described. It's a surprisingly diverse range of initiatives, the accounts characterised by an upbeat and creative approach, never dwelling on the traumas and persistent difficulties faced by some of the groups.

It costs £ 5.00 for voluntary or community organisations, £15.00 for statutory or commercial organisations, plus postage., and you can order it here.

Meanwhile, JRF have published a review of the evidence of how new immigration is experienced at neighbourhood level.

19 Feb 2006 21:04:59 | Citizenship and democracy, Mobility and change

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Shoppers live locally Today is High Street hype day - the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group is publishing its report today. Meanwhile, Sustrans have come up with a very neat coup by publishing (or re-publishing? I'm sure I've seen this before) a repeat of what was known as the Graz study, which showed how retailers under-estimate the importance of pedestrian travel and over-estimate the significance of cars. Sustrans researchers working in Bristol seem to have got very similar results. Their report is a model, lucid and concise. "Retailers overestimated the importance of car-borne trade by almost 100%; they estimated that 41% of their customers arrived by car, whereas only 22% had done so. In fact, more than half of shoppers walked to the shops. Walking to neighbourhood shops, and meeting friends and acquaintances there, is an enjoyable social activity, as well as an efficient way of shopping." "So the picture is of local shoppers, mainly walking to the shops, and visiting a number of stores. Interestingly, this is also a picture of healthy, physically active lifestyles, populous streets and informal contact with other local people. This is the picture that urban planners, public health specialists and community leaders want to see." As an aside, I'm interested in the argument that "many shopping streets need wider pavements." It often feels like that, but I seem to think that William Whyte in his studies of New York street encounters (City, 1989) argued the opposite. "The highest incidence of encounters," he wrote, "is in the most crowded locations." Maybe we need to look at this again. Via.
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Kids, their groups, and informal networks Some years ago I had an exchange of emails with a single parent in a fairly explosive low-income area. I remember her comments about how the kids looked out for each other and knew from an early age all the signs of trouble around them - including, for many, within their homes. JRF have today published in their Findings, Parenting and children's resilience in disadvantaged communities, the first report I've seen that has got anywhere near that experience on more than an autobiographical level. It highlights not just the resilience and resourcefulness of children, but also the ways in which parents help them promote their well-being and safeguard them on a day-to-day basis - "parents described parenting styles that were open, democratic, sophisticated and tenacious in working alongside their children to keep them safe." Among the findings it's also noted that: "Young people took responsibility for keeping themselves and their friends safe by sharing knowledge, looking out for each other and moving around together. They used their detailed local knowledge to avoid or minimise hazardous situations. Some were aware that certain adults saw such self-protective groups as threatening." Jacqueline Barnes and Graeme Baylis, in their study of place and parenting, have a comment on this phenomenon: "The sense that children would be safer when accompanied by other children is interesting, in that other remarks alluded to concern when groups of youngsters... were seen on the streets. Thus they apparently did not think their own children would be at risk if out with peers (or that others will feel threatened by them)." (FANS study, unpublished). Going back to the JRF summary, (the full report is not yet published) I was also struck by one of the policy implications: "Ensuring national and local policies work with and promote informal networks that share information about safe activities and provide practical advice and support. Such networks are at the core of parents' strategies to keep young people safe in high-risk communities. The time it takes for these networks to develop should not be underestimated." For some time I've been quietly tapping the drum about informal relations in neighbourhoods and the importance of conversations and casual networks. This report adds to the sense that momentum is gathering. Hands up if you think it's time to get together and make a noise about this?

Kevin Harris

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