‘Community resilience: managing tensions, promoting fairness and developing community trust in the Big Society’

Posted by CLPS - 05/07/11 at 12:07 pm

‘Community resilience: managing tensions, promoting fairness and developing community trust in the Big Society’.

Jayne Francis, MEL, and Harriss Beider, University of Coventry

Abstract

The large-scale regeneration programmes established by the previous government are being either substantially scaled back or entirely withdrawn; programmes and interventions designed to help eradicate poverty and to promote social and economic inclusion such as New deal for Communities are coming to an end.

In the coming months and years, the resilience of the most deprived urban communities is likely to be challenged in ways previously unimaginable.  The Conservative-led Government is banging the drum for the ‘Big Society’, whilst instigating drastic reductions in funding for public services, and overseeing an anticipated increase in unemployment and homelessness, along with reductions in welfare benefits.

There is, therefore, a potentially dangerous cocktail brewing, and issues around community resilience will have a potency and urgency which will make huge demands on support services and agencies. What is the prognosis in urban areas likely to bear the brunt of the economic downturn and reduced services? Civil unrest in similar circumstances in the UK’s inner cities in the 1980s prompted a renewed policy interest in area-based regeneration. What will be the future role of the state and infrastructure support networks in promoting and managing cohesive communities in the anticipated circumstances?  What will be the impact of the ‘Localism’ agenda?  Will we witness social breakdown, or a resurgence of community self help?

The government approach towards communities and neighbourhoods is based on the assumption that by sweeping away perceived barriers to deprivation and disadvantage and by encouraging ‘Big Society’ action at a local level, the potential for conflict will be drastically reduced.

This presentation will explore the gaps in public sector knowledge and consider what’s likely to happen as communities make more use of informal networking and informal responsiveness to change.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Regeneration, Research and Evaluation, Third Sector (VCS) / Big Society. The entry is tagged under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “‘Community resilience: managing tensions, promoting fairness and developing community trust in the Big Society’”

  1. Evan Parker says:
    July 6th, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    As one considers the gaps in public sector knowledge and considers what’s likely to happen as communities make more use of informal networking and informal responsiveness to change,

    I stumbled across this article yesterday in the Liverpool echo, detailing some of the experiences from the Toxteth riots 30 years ago.

    http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/07/05/toxteth-riots-30-years-on-jimi-jagne-now-47-recalls-the-part-he-played-in-the-toxteth-riots-100252-28993278/

    It’s a combination of variables that would be a tragedy duplicated.

    Evan Parker
    (Health and Social wellbeing undergraduate)

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