Recession, Resilience and Rebalancing Social Economies in Northern Ireland's Neighbourhoods
In recent times the population of Northern Ireland has been confronted by a number of developments which have had an adverse effect on their lives, with residents living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods being particularly hard hit. These include: declining real income levels; rising unemployment and declining employment opportunities; the consequences of declining public spend at the neighbourhood level; and rising food, transport and energy costs. However, for many residents it is likely that their lives will become even more challenging in the future with the (potential) introduction of key welfare reform changes such as the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (the so-called, 'bedroom tax') and a benefit 'cap'.
How they, and the neighbourhoods they live in, cope (or not) - that is, how resilient they are - is the focus of this research, which seeks to explore and understand resilience. As part of this exercise, the research will also explore the role of the voluntary and community sector in terms of helping residents and neighbourhoods to get by in challenging times, and the extent to which it contributes to any rebalancing of the economies of neighbourhoods.
The study is being funded by Office for the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. It is being carried out by academics from Sheffield Hallam University, Queens University Belfast and the University of Sheffield, all of whom have expertise in the study area. The study began in March 2012 and will run for three years until March 2015.
It focuses on exploring the experiences of residents in four case study areas, two of which, because they are interface areas, comprise two distinct neighbourhoods. Three of them may be defined (using deprivation indices) as being 'disadvantaged':
- Inner East Belfast, which comprises Short Strand and Lower Castlereagh;
- Waterside in Derry / Londonderry, which comprises Top-of-the-Hill (which is also known as Gobnascale) and Irish Street; and;
- Sion Mills, a village located close to Strabane.
The fourth case neighbourhood - Erinvale, in the south-west of the Greater Belfast conurbation - is not disadvantaged and as was chosen to act as a 'better-off' comparator to the disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
The study, which places particular emphasis on exploring the 'lived' experiences of residents, does so by drawing on a range of quantitative and qualitative research instruments. Some of them in the context of this type of research may be described as being 'alternative', such as photography and diary keeping.
This website provides access to written and visual outputs stemming from the project as they become available.
