The significance of neighbourhood

Neighbourhoods matter to all of us, and they matter most to those whose choices (about where and how they live) are most restricted. It is in the neighbourhood that global forces and government policy intersect with everyday life. Although for many of us neighbourhoods may not be at the centre of our existence, nonetheless, those of us who can afford to choose select the neighbourhoods where we live with care, looking for somewhere that offers us safety, good neighbours and access to good local schools and other services. As the 2006 Local Government White Paper puts it, ‘[w]e all want to be able to send our children to a good school; to live in a safe, attractive and environmentally sustainable neighbourhood’ (CLG, 2006a, p 15). As Sullivan and Taylor suggest in Chapter Two, neighbourhood offers a source of identity and connection, a place where basic needs may be met and predictable encounters occur. However, despite the rosy glow that often accompanies notions of neighbourhood, identities forged in the neighbourhood may be negative rather than positive, connections may be limited, services poor and encounters fraught with danger. Indeed, the poor quality of public services and perceived absence of social capital in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK are among the features that have driven New Labour neighbourhood renewal policy.

Neighbourhood is a slippery concept, as many contributors in this volume have made plain; this is discussed in some depth in Chapter Two. It is a term that brings with it complex associations with community, social capital, inclusion and exclusion, cohesion and diversity. The statistics of disadvantage are an important element in setting the boundaries of the areas or sites that are to be the subject of policy intervention. However, concern with place-based disadvantage has not been accompanied by clarity or consistency in what is meant by neighbourhood either in the UK or in the wider European context discussed by Atkinson and Carmichael in Chapter Three. Nonetheless, – even in a centralised country like England – the drive to improve service delivery, re-engage citizens with democracy and build a safer, more cohesive society has repeatedly focused on this level. Both here and in the wider European context, therefore, while the detail of policies and arrangements may vary, the promotion of neighbourhood governance has been a common response to area-based disadvantage.