British Cities Research Articles

Trajectories of neighbourhood inequality in Britain: Unpacking inter‐regional socioeconomic imbalances, 1971−2011

AbstractPersistent spatial inequalities represent a menace to economic progress, social cohesion and political stability. The UK stands out as one of the most unequal countries in the industrialised world. This paper investigates intra‐regional and inter‐urban inequalities at the neighbourhood level in Britain during a 40‐year period, 1971−2011. Using a novel dataset containing a temporal classification of neighbourhoods, we analysed seven representative trajectories of neighbourhood persistence and change unveiling pathways of socioeconomic progress, decline, persistent affluence and disadvantage. Results highlight the extent of geographic unbalance in the distribution of these trajectories. Socioeconomic progress trajectories have been widespread across British cities. Yet a small handful of cities have concentrated persistent affluent neighbourhoods, and persistent struggling neighbourhoods have prevailed in northern cities.

Excess mortality in Glasgow: further evidence of ‘political effects’ on population health

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to update previous analyses of ‘excess mortality’ in Glasgow (Scotland) relative to the similar postindustrial cities of Liverpool and Manchester (England). The excess is defined as mortality after adjustment for socio-economic deprivation; thus, we sought to compare changes over time in both the deprivation profiles of the cities and the levels of deprivation-adjusted mortality in Glasgow relative to the other cities. This is important not only because the original analyses are now increasingly out of date but also because since publication, important (prepandemic) changes to mortality trends have been observed across all parts of the United Kingdom. Study design and methodsReplicating as far as possible the methods of the original study, we developed a three-city deprivation index based on the creation of spatial units in Glasgow that were of similar size to those in Liverpool and Manchester (average population sizes of approximately 1600, 1500 and 1700 respectively) and an area-based measure of ‘employment deprivation’. Mortality and matching population data by age, sex and small area were obtained from national agencies for two periods: 2003–2007 (the period covered by the original study) and 2014–2018. The rates of employment deprivation for each city's small areas were calculated for both periods. Indirectly standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for Glasgow relative to Liverpool and Manchester, standardised by age and three-city deprivation decile. For context, city-level trends in age-standardised mortality rates by year, sex and city were also calculated. ResultsThere was evidence of a stalling of improvement in mortality rates in all three cities from the early 2010s. After adjustment for area deprivation, all-cause mortality in Glasgow in 2014–2018 was c.12% higher than in Liverpool and Manchester for all ages (SMR 112.4, 95% CI 111.1–113.6) and c.17% higher for deaths under 65 years (SMR 117.1, 95% CI 114.5–119.7). The excess was higher for males (17% compared with 9% for deaths at all ages; 25% compared with 5% for 0–64 years) and for particular causes of death such as suicide and drug-related and alcohol-related causes. The results were broadly similar to those previously described for 2003–2007, although the excess for premature mortality was notably lower. In part, this was explained by changes in levels of employment deprivation, which had decreased to a greater degree in the English cities: this was particularly true of Manchester (a reduction of −43%, compared with −38% in Liverpool and −31% in Glasgow) where the overall population size had also increased to a much greater extent than in the other cities. ConclusionsHigh levels of excess mortality persist in Glasgow. With the political causes recently established – the excess is a ‘political effect’, not a ‘Glasgow effect’ – political solutions are required. Thus, previously published recommendations aimed at addressing poverty, inequality and vulnerability in the city are still highly relevant. However, given the evidence of more recent, UK-wide, political effects on mortality – widening mortality inequalities resulting from UK Government ‘austerity’ measures – additional policies at UK Government level to protect, and restore, the income of the poorest in society are also urgently needed.

‘There’s nothing I can do to stop it’: homelessness among autistic people in a British city

Autistic people appear to have a higher risk of becoming and remaining homeless than people without autism. This article is based on a wider research study exploring diverse homelessness experiences in Oxford, UK. Using life mapping, a visual research method, we gained verbal and visual accounts of participants’ housing and homeless histories. These accounts support past evidence of higher than expected levels of autism among homeless people, while highlighting for the first time specific, additional risks of homelessness among autistic people. This group also appeared to have fewer means to reduce the risk of homelessness, and faced multiple challenges to resolving their homelessness. Our findings extend existing understandings of autism and homelessness, and of the disabling practices that autistic people may face within the diversity of homeless experiences, while adding valuable biographic detail to the factors leading to homelessness and attempts to exit homelessness. We also discuss potential policy interventions. Points of interest Recent evidence suggests that people on the autism spectrum are more likely than people without autism to experience homelessness, and their homeless experiences may also be different We asked people who were or recently had been homeless, to draw and talk about their housing and homeless histories, exploring a wide range of homeless experiences, including street homelessness, living in hostels, and temporary housing We found an unexpectedly high number of autistic people in our sample, suggesting that people on the autism spectrum may be at higher risk of homelessness. Autistic people also had fewer means of avoiding homelessness, and faced particular challenges to resolving homelessness Our findings can inform local councils and homelessness services about the barriers autistic people may face within these systems. We urge that policies and ways of working be made more autism-aware and so improve the lives of autistic homeless people

Urban woodland habitat is important for tick presence and density in a city in England

Urban green spaces provide an opportunity for contact between members of the public and ticks infected with pathogens. Understanding tick distribution within these areas and the drivers for increased tick density or Borrelia infection are important from a risk management perspective. This study aimed to generate data on tick presence, nymph density and Borrelia infection across a range of urban green space habitats, in order to identify those that may potentially present a higher risk of Lyme borreliosis to members of the public. Several sites were visited across the English city of Bath during 2015 and 2016. Tick presence was confirmed in all habitats surveyed, with increased likelihood in woodland and woodland edge. Highest nymph densities were also reported in these habitats, along with grassland during one of the sampling years. Adult ticks were more likely to be infected compared to nymphs, and the highest densities of infected nymphs were associated with woodland edge habitat. In addition to Lyme borreliosis causing Borrelia genospecies, Borrelia miyamotoi was also detected at several sites. This study adds to the growing evidence that urban green space habitats present a public health risk from tick bites, and this has implications for many policy areas including health and wellbeing, climate adaptation and urban green space planning.

Planning and technological innovation: the governance challenges faced by English local authorities in adopting planning technologies

ABSTRACT The term ‘smart city’ has become synonymous with a technologically cultivated utopia, where urban problems can be solved computationally. This approach to urban development has been promoted as a method of enabling city administrations to become more proactive when dealing with issues including pollution, traffic flow and congestion, public safety, energy use, and urban planning. This trend towards using technology in urban management and planning has sparked research and development initiatives across the planet. In the UK, the #PlanTech trend is a governmental initiative that aims to improve engagement between various actors in the planning system, including local authorities and central government, with tech start-ups and digital entrepreneurs who can design solutions to the problems currently experienced by planners, developers, and citizens alike. Despite the significant opportunities that technologies offer city council planning departments in terms of productivity, existing governance models can be shown to represent a significant obstacle to implementation. This paper uses case study research conducted at two English city councils – Coventry and Leeds – to examine the implications of planning reforms and digital transformation of public services on urban planning governance. Utilizing the information gained from a combination of semi-structured interviews and stakeholder engagement exercises, it examines the growing emphasis on technology in planning practice within the public sector and discusses the potential implications that it may have for current governance arrangements. Finally, it suggests what a framework for future urban planning governance within an English political context, in the era of the smart city might require. The paper overall offers a critical view of how current urban planning practice and governance procedures are being quickly subsumed by digital technologies which offer novel and effective methods for professional planners yet are undermined, or are inhibited, by current governance arrangements.

How to give home BP monitoring patients the correct cuff: using BMI as a surrogate estimate of arm circumference

Abstract Background The key role of patient self-monitoring, already well established by large-scale forward planning initiative such the British National Health Service's (NHS) long-term plan, has been emphasised by the COVID19 pandemic. In the management of hypertension, much can be achieved through the provision of blood pressure monitors to patients, along with appropriate education and online blood pressure (BP) recording facilities. However, it is important to ensure that patients have the correct equipment to reliably measure their own blood pressures and to ensure they purchase or are supplied with validated monitors and, as undersized cuffs yield artefactually elevated BP readings, with correctly sized cuffs. Purpose To demonstrate the use of Body Mass Index (BMI) as an estimate of Middle Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) for purposes of blood pressure monitor cuff size requirement estimation and the application of this strategy to a national Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) programme. Methods The relationship between MUAC and BMI is well established; MUAC is used surrogate measure of BMI particularly in identifying underweight patients especially in environments where accurate recording of weight and height is challenging. Here, we reverse this relationship to use the BMI (one of the most commonly recorded datum in primary care patient records) to estimate patient MUACs. First, using manufacturer recommended cuff arm-circumference ranges and aggregate pre-established MUAC to BMI linear equations, we generate a simplified BMI to cuff-size scheme. Second, we apply this scheme to a UK Integrated Care System (a regional NHS organisation supporting 1.7 million adult patients in an English city) to estimate cuff requirement under NHS England's BPM@h HBPM initiative (in which patients with poorly controlled hypertension are allocated free home BP monitors). Lastly, we propose a patient-level tool for BP monitor cuff size prediction. Results Our simplified scheme proposes the following cuff predictions: Small (S: 17–22cm): BMI <18kg/m2; Medium (M: 22–32cm): BMI ≥18 and <28kg/m2; Large (M: 32–42cm): BMI ≥28 and <38kg/m2 and Extra-large (X: 42–50cm): BMI ≥38kg/m2. In our population of approximately 157,000 adult hypertensive patients, 6,039 were eligible for a BP monitor under the NHS England's BPM@h HBPM initiative. Using our simplified scheme, we predict cuff requirements as follows: S: 2%, M: 32%, L: 46%, X: 19%. Conclusion Patient BMIs are a useful predictor of BP monitor cuff size requirement. They are readily available or calculatable from primary care records and their application to cuff size identification will improve accuracy of BP readings in HBPM initiatives. Our preliminary results suggest that the most commonly supplied “standard” cuff may be unsittable for well over 50% of patients and that extra-large cuff may be required for nearly 1 in 5 patients. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Barts CharityHealth Data Research UK

How Riots Spread Between Cities: Introducing the Police Pathway

Waves of riots are politically and psychologically significant national events. The role of police perceptions and practices in spreading unrest between cities has been neglected in previous research, even though the police are significant actors in these events. We examined the role of police interventions in the spread of rioting to one English city in August 2011 by triangulating multiple data sources and analyzing police accounts and community‐participant interviews. Rioting in other cities had relatively little direct influence in the community, but it led to heightened vigilance in the police. The resultant police mobilization inadvertently created a large gathering in a local community with a history of hostile relations with police. Police attempts to disperse the crowd affected many more people than those originally intending to riot, leading to collective conflict. These findings support a new theoretical account of the role of policing in riot spread. Complementing existing accounts of diffusion, our study helps explain how self‐fulfilling prophecy can operate to spread conflict between cities.

On staying: Extended temporalities, relationships and practices in community engaged scholarship

This article examines the complexity and affordances of staying in ‘the field’. Time as a resource for qualitative research is widely experienced as diminishing. Yet increasingly, academic emphasis is also being placed on the merits of time intensive approaches, like participatory scholarship. This tension raises critical questions about the ethics and practices of collaboration within arguably narrowing parameters. Taking a view from the edges of conventional research practice, this article focuses on staying beyond the formal completion of a sociological research project. Drawing on over 10-years of collaboration with youth service providers in an English city, I examine the dynamics and complexities of staying, where temporalities, relationships and practices extend beyond research. In doing so, this article contributes to methodological debates about research exit and participation, by introducing staying as a practice that affords new collaborative freedoms and possibilities.

Lists of Important Objects on Soviet Military City Plans – An Initial Analysis

ABSTRACT The plans of world cities outside the USSR that were produced by the Soviet military during the Cold War each include a List of Important Objects. These are items of significant strategic economic, administrative or military importance. This paper examines these object lists from Soviet military plans of British cities and discusses their contents. It concludes that there is considerable variation in their comprehensiveness and some inconsistency in the criteria used to select objects for inclusion.

Who decides? Urban councils and consensus in the late Middle Ages

ABSTRACT The prosaic records of town council meetings are an essential, if problematic, source for historians of late medieval European towns. They are a window on the concerns, fears and ambitions of urban authorities, yet they have proved especially intractable to historians interested in the social history of urban politics. They seem to present a monotonously harmonious picture of civic unity, social solidarity and political unanimity. Looking outside the town hall for evidence of the social divisions and political discord that characterized town life, urban historians have uncovered an unstable world of ‘contentious politics’, in which revolt was only one possible means of dissent. This article argues that historians should return to the town hall and to the council chamber, to reassess the value of town council minutes. Placing the rich, and still relatively little-used, civic archive of the English city of Norwich within a wider European context, it focuses on the meaning and significance of the records of non-attendance at council meetings. It locates official anxieties about non-attendance not within a narrowly legal or institutional framework, but within a contemporary culture of urban citizenship, which was performative and disputatious. The article identifies a form of ‘consensus politics’ that involved – indeed, promoted – conflict.

More Offenders, More Crime: Estimating the Size of the Offender Population in a Latin American Setting

Research that has examined the high levels of crime experienced in Latin American settings has suggested that macrostructural variables (such as social inequality), and factors associated with development and institutional capacity, offer explanations for these high crime levels. Although useful, these studies have yet to quantify how these explanations translate to the dynamics of offending activities. In the current study, we examine a key component related to offending dynamics: the size of the offender population. Using two capture-recapture techniques and a bootstrap simulation, estimates were generated of the sizes of the offender populations for three comparable cities in Brazil, Mexico, and England. Each of the techniques generated similar estimates for the offender population size for each city, but with these estimates varying substantially between the cities. This included the estimated offender population size for the Brazilian city being twenty-five times greater than that for the English city. Risk of arrest values were also generated, with these calculated to be substantially lower for the Brazilian and Mexican cities than for the English city. The results provide a quantification of criminal behavior that offers a potential new insight into the high levels of crime that are experienced in Latin American settings.

The influence of neighbourhood equity on parkrunners in a British city.

Physical activity benefits both physical and mental health. Specific events may augment participation in physical activity at a population level. Parkrun is a popular, free, weekly, timed 5 km run or walk in public spaces located in five continents. However, these events may be distributed inequitably, possibly reinforcing inequities in health. As a prelude to a comprehensive analysis of a larger dataset, we explore a hypothesis that participation in parkrun is influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of both parkrunners and their park. Two parkruns, 4.5 km apart, were selected in the city of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Defined by indices of multiple deprivation, Castle parkrun is located in an economically deprived neighbourhood and Hallam parkrun is in a prosperous area of the city. Parkrunners were defined by applying these same indices to the neighbourhood of home registration. Results: (i) the prosperous Hallam catchment area produced over five times more parkrun participants than Castle; (ii) compared with Castle, Hallam parkrun attracted more participants from both catchment areas; (iii) consequently, Hallam parkrun had seven times more participants than Castle parkrun. Conclusion: establishing parkruns in deprived areas is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for equity of participation in this heath promoting activity.

Measuring the exposure of Black, Asian and other ethnic groups to COVID-infected neighbourhoods in English towns and cities

Drawing on the work of The Doreen Lawrence Review—a report on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the UK—this paper develops an index of exposure, measuring which ethnic groups have been most exposed to COVID-19 infected residential neighbourhoods during the first and second waves of the pandemic in England. The index is based on a Bayesian Poisson model with a random intercept in the linear predictor, allowing for extra-Poisson variation at neighbourhood and town/city scales. This permits within-city differences to be decoupled from broader regional trends in the disease. The research finds that members of ethnic minority groups can be living in areas with higher infection rates but also that the risk of exposure is distributed unevenly across these groups. Initially, in the first wave, the disease disproportionately affected Black residents but, as the pandemic has progressed, especially the Pakistani but also the Bangladeshi and Indian groups have had the highest exposure. This higher exposure of the Pakistani group is not straightforwardly a function of neighbourhood deprivation because it is present across a range of average house prices. We find evidence to support the view, expressed in The Doreen Lawrence Review, that it is linked to occupational and environmental exposure, particularly residential density but, having allowed for these factors, differences between the towns and cities remain.

1. CHASING INDIA IN MEXICO CITY

ABSTRACTA paradox informs the writing of Mexican and Indian history. In Malintzin's Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico (2006), Camilla Townsend writes that Mexico was conquered and could never be conquered because indigenous ways of being in the world survived, adapted, and continued. Similarly, in A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia (2016), Manan Ahmed Asif writes that Sindh was conquered by British armies but cities such as Uch, in which shrines and trees remain imbued with the sacred, point to that which is impossible to conquer. If change itself has unchanging essence embedded within it (we must know what Sindh or Mexico are in order to recognize that they have changed), then what would it mean for postcolonized historians to think more deeply about what historical narrative cannot conquer, tame, or control? How might we think about ways of doing history that we have internalized despite these being products of European conquest themselves? To reflect on these questions, I draw on my forays into Mexican history as a Mughal historian and discuss how examining premodern and modern encounters between the Muslim world and the Americas might open windows into unexplored ways of inhabiting the past and present.

Dramatising Cultural Diversity: Youth Theatre as a Performance of Local Memory and Identity in a Multiethnic Environment

AbstractThis article presents a comparative analysis of two ethnographic case studies conducted in local theatres in the Slovak town of Komárno and the British city of Coventry. These two locations are very different – one is a small town on the Slovak-Hungarian border and the other an urban centre in the Midlands region of Britain – and yet they are both characterised by the multiethnic and culturally diverse composition of their populations. The two youth theatres in question are also distinct in their genres: one bases its performances on folklore traditions, whereas the other is an avant-garde physical theatre. At the same time, the productions of both groups manifest a deep involvement in the representation of cultural heritage and the current social issues in their respective locations. Drawing on anthropological conceptualisations of theatre as a form of ritualised performance (see Turner, 1969, 1982; Schechner, 1985, 1993), this paper explores the processes and contexts of the enactment of past conflict and/or violence presented by the two theatrical groups in order to engage with traumatic events in local (and national) history. These processes, which embrace the values of cultural diversity and inclusion, are important for the construction of community identities. The liminality of ritualised performance enables actors and audiences to cross social (including ethnicity and class) and temporal boundaries. They reproduce memories of past violence to make sense of present tensions, such as growing nationalism and xenophobia, and to project their vision of the communal future. This often results in the contestation of the very meaning of place, community and belonging. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that such artistic interpretations of the local past and heritage are instrumental in shaping the identities of the participating youth. The comparison of the two cases also reveals noticeable differences between cosmopolitan and ethno-cultural discourses, which are prevalent in imagining the place, history and heritage of Coventry and Komárno respectively.

Analysing British Asian national sporting affiliations post-London 2012

London’s selection as hosts for the 2012 Olympic Games was a significant moment for Britain. It was a chance to reinforce, through sport, a collective and inclusive British national identity. Most international sporting contests draw on English rather than British loyalties and identity constructions. This might have been especially important for members of the large British Asian diaspora, many of whom feel excluded from ethnically exclusive and narrowly White notions of ‘Englishness’. This paper is framed within a post-London 2012 period and examines the role of sport in constructing and negotiating British Asian national identities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with young British Asians in two English cities. For those who rejected an English national identity through sport, the Games presented an opportunity to connect with a more inclusive British version of sporting allegiance.

Sowing Seeds: Garden Festivals and the Remaking of British Cities after Deindustrialization

AbstractThis article explores one of the strangest and most spectacular urban policies in postwar Britain: national garden festivals. Initiated by Margaret Thatcher's government, the festivals were vast state-sponsored gardening shows held in deindustrializing cities to reclaim derelict land for the property market. A festival was held every other year between 1984 and 1992 in a different city, five in all. The garden festivals showcased a new kind of urbanism, one that would change the ways that British cities related to nature, to capital, and to the wider world. First, they evinced a unique type of environmental politics—an implicit critique of urban industrial landscapes that was distinct from both the emerging critique of climate change and from older ideas about conservation. Second, they emerged at a time when the attraction of private capital was becoming increasingly central to urban regeneration. The festivals were at the forefront of this turn, outsourcing their events to corporate sponsors. Finally, the festivals offered an idiosyncratic, incoherent version of globalization. They courted a global pool of tourists and capital and invited delegations from across the world to plan events while, in many instances, reinforcing a preexisting racialized social hierarchy shaped by imperial legacies.

“The Band of Brothers”: The Mobilization of English Welsh Dual Identities in Second World War Britain

AbstractIn the run-up to the Second World War, the War Office agreed to organize territorial units that recruited specifically on the grounds of English Welsh dual identities. These formations, which comprised the 99th London Welsh Heavy Anti-Aircraft regiment and the 46th Liverpool Welsh Royal Tank Regiment, began recruiting in 1939 from English cities with significant Welsh populations. This article explores the mobilization and performance of English Welsh identities during the Second World War and reflects upon why, at a time of global conflict, some English men opted to enlist on the basis of Welsh antecedents. Relatively little attention has been paid to the plurality of British identity in wartime or to how the existence of what historian Thomas Hajkowski has called “hybrid ‘dual identities’” within the constituent countries of the United Kingdom informed the functioning of Britishness during the Second World War. Making use of previously unpublished and original life-writing sources, this article illuminates the significance of dual identifications across two nations at once—in this case, Wales and England—within the multinational state of Britain at war. Overall, by examining the intersectionality between subjective wartime constructions of kin, home, and nation(s), it points to how a sense of dual identifications could feed into recruitment patterns and potentially bolster combat motivation and morale. By highlighting the interconnectedness between constituent nations of Britain, and the complexities of identity formation within Britishness, this article adds to the literature that complicates the notion of fixed singular national identities and underscores the importance of dual identifications within and across the borders of the constituent nations in advancing our understanding of twentieth-century Britain.

A quasi-experimental evaluation of the impact of forensic property marking in decreasing burglaries

Property marking is a popular tool used by police agencies in burglary prevention programmes. 345 property marking kits were distributed to households in a treatment area in an English city. Changes in burglary in the treatment area were compared to three control areas. Crime type displacement to vehicle crime, criminal damage and violent crime, and changes in crime while controlling for geographic displacement were examined. Burglary decreased significantly by 82% in the treatment area in comparison to control areas during the first six months of the intervention. A significant diffusion of benefit effect to vehicle crime and criminal damage was also observed. The decreases, however, were short-lived with burglary levels returning to pre-intervention levels in the treatment area after 12 months.

A quasi-experimental evaluation of the impact of forensic property marking in decreasing burglaries

Property marking is a popular tool used by police agencies in burglary prevention programmes. 345 property marking kits were distributed to households in a treatment area in an English city. Changes in burglary in the treatment area were compared to three control areas. Crime type displacement to vehicle crime, criminal damage and violent crime, and changes in crime while controlling for geographic displacement were examined. Burglary decreased significantly by 82% in the treatment area in comparison to control areas during the first six months of the intervention. A significant diffusion of benefit effect to vehicle crime and criminal damage was also observed. The decreases, however, were short-lived with burglary levels returning to pre-intervention levels in the treatment area after 12 months.