tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/neighbours-1824/articlesNeighbours – The Conversation2023-10-11T19:02:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074192023-10-11T19:02:18Z2023-10-11T19:02:18ZGuide to the classics: Ruth Park’s Harp in the South is a story about Aboriginal Country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549039/original/file-20230919-23-s3uwka.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Biripi/Worimi actor Guy Simon as Charlie Rothe (Daniel Boud/STC) and Harp in the South author Ruth Park (right).</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Ruth Park’s novel <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-harp-in-the-south-trilogy-pmc-9780143180159">The Harp in the South</a> (1948) is a classic of Australian fiction. Just as television viewers in recent decades would recognise “Ramsay Street” as the fictional centre of Australia’s longest-running television soap opera <a href="https://theconversation.com/neighbours-vs-friends-we-found-out-which-beloved-show-fans-mourned-more-when-it-ended-212843">Neighbours</a>, earlier generations of readers would have recognised with affection “Twelve-and-a-half Plymouth Street”: the hearth and home of Harp’s fictional Irish-Australian family, the Darcys.</p>
<p>This fictional street exists in an <a href="https://mirrorsydney.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/surry-hills-tour/">actual inner-urban</a> neighbourhood, and this mattered to how the novel was first read. Readers of the time expressed strong reactions to Harp’s depiction of Sydney’s Surry Hills. </p>
<p>The novel depicts the built, settler-colonial environment of Surry Hills, along with other parts of the land First Nations people know as “Country”. On first publication in Australia at least, character Charlie Rothe’s Aboriginal ancestry – and his relation to Country – appear to have passed unremarked. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549033/original/file-20230919-30-5dzk28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harp in the South depicts the settler-colonial environment of Surry Hills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SLNSW</span></span>
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<h2>‘Dickens from Australia’ grew up in New Zealand</h2>
<p>The novel was first serialised in the pages of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/">Sydney Morning Herald</a>, after winning the newspaper’s first novel-writing competition. It became an instant hit. Fans impatient to read the latest instalment joined long queues outside newsstands and bookstalls. </p>
<p>But not all readers were enamoured with it. One Sydney resident called it a “wallow in depravity, filth and crime” that should “be banned from the homes of many decent citizens”, in the Herald’s double-page spread of responses to the book. </p>
<p>In her own letter to the Herald, responding to the moral panic her novel had generated, Park wrote that her intention was to show how “splendid characters full of honesty and loving kindliness, can exist against a squalid and often tragic background”.</p>
<p>US author <a href="https://sterlingnorthsociety.com/about-sterling-north/">Sterling North</a> named Park the “Female Dickens from Australia”. But Park was not originally “from Australia”. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand. </p>
<p>Interestingly, in letters to long-term pen-friend and future husband <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Arcy_Niland">D’Arcy Niland</a>, written before 1942 when she migrated to Australia and married him, Park signs off with such Māori salutations as “<a href="https://tinyurl.com/y3fvusxz">Kia Ora</a>” and refers to her home country as Māoriland. </p>
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<span class="caption">Ruth Park, D'Arcy Niland and their children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mitchell Library State Library of New South Wales</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-problem-is-that-my-success-seems-to-get-in-his-way-the-fraught-terrain-of-literary-marriages-206190">Friday essay: 'the problem is that my success seems to get in his way' – the fraught terrain of literary marriages</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The hills are full of Irish people</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>The hills are full of Irish people. When their grandfathers and great-grandfathers arrived in Sydney they went naturally to Shanty Town, not because they were dirty or lazy, though many of them were that, but because they were poor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These lines introduce the novel’s Darcy family, whose loves and losses animate the pages that follow. Grandma Darcy loves to smoke her “little clay cutty” in bed. Family patriarch Hughie Darcy argues with fellow resident and Orangeman Patrick Diamond, especially when Hughie is affected by the “demon drink”. Hughie’s alcoholism impoverishes an already poor family. </p>
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<p>Hughie’s devoutly Catholic wife, Margaret “Mumma” Darcy, mourns the loss of her eldest child, Thady, who had one day wandered away from the front doorstep where he had been playing. Mumma searches for, but never finds, this missing boy. </p>
<p>Roie (Rowena) is the elder of the two Darcy daughters. Through her, Park explores sex outside of marriage, unwanted pregnancy and abortion – the topics that unsettled readers on first publication. After she becomes pregnant following a night with local boy Tommy Mendel, Roie seeks out the back-alley services of a woman who administers abortions. </p>
<p>Afraid and ashamed, Roie flees the scene, only to be violently assaulted by a gang of drunken sailors whom she has the misfortune of encountering on her way home. They beat her to the ground, precipitating a miscarriage. </p>
<p>Roie’s crisis coincides with another emerging story: that of Charlie Rothe, who will come to live at Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street as her husband. Something in this story reverberates down the decades, summoning recognition of an historical tragedy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/surry-hills-was-once-the-centre-of-new-south-wales-rag-trade-a-short-history-of-fashion-manufacturing-in-sydney-206490">Surry Hills was once the centre of New South Wales’ ‘rag trade’: a short history of fashion manufacturing in Sydney</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Who is Charlie Rothe?</h2>
<p>Charlie Rothe appears in the story as Roie is recovering from the
miscarriage and its ongoing side-effects. Roie is overcome by dizziness at the live venue of a radio quiz her sister Dolour has just won. Charlie suddenly appears and helps her to a seat. </p>
<p>This stranger is introduced via the narrator’s description of his voice. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Noises were already fast fading into a babble of sound. Then a voice said, “What’s the matter? Are you feeling sick?”<br>
It was a hollow, echoing voice like thunder on a heath. Roie tried to answer it and couldn’t. It sounded again, frightening her a little, then she felt someone lower her into a seat.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like Emily Bronte’s <a href="https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/character/heathcliff/">Heathcliff</a>, Charlie is an orphan child whose unknown origins become the source of speculation about parentage and race. </p>
<p>This speculation arises when Charlie becomes part of the Darcy household. Dolour and Mumma ask Charlie about his parents, having assumed he is an Aboriginal man. </p>
<p>“They died when I was about seven, I think,” responds Charlie, who knows only that a “bagman” had raised him. “He just picked me up, I was sitting by a fence, yowling my head off, and he asked me to come along with him, and I went.” At this point, Charlie’s “eyes looked back into the past and saw the endless dusky, dusty roads of New South Wales”.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biripi/Worimi actor Guy Simon as Charlie Rothe in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Harp in the South.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Boud/STC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>True to her declared intention to create “splendid” yet “squalid” characters against a “tragic” background, Park does not shy away from depicting Hughie and Mumma’s prejudices toward Charlie. </p>
<p>They fear Roie and Charlie will one day have a child, imagining what it would mean to nurse “a sooty grandchild”. Yet, Hughie and Mumma will come to love both Charlie and their granddaughter. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wuthering-heights-emily-bronte-and-the-truth-about-the-real-life-heathcliff-192230">Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë and the truth about the 'real-life Heathcliff'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A mixed-race romance</h2>
<p>For Roie does give birth to Charlie’s child. They name her “Moira”, an Irish name meaning both “drop of the sea” and “destiny, fate”. With its romance between an Irish-Australian woman and an Aboriginal man, Harp stands apart from white-authored novels of the time, whose depictions of Aboriginal characters reflect eugenicist beliefs that Aboriginal people were a “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42508269">dying race</a>”. </p>
<p>Charlie loves Roie and she loves him. However, in the sequel novel, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Man%27s_Orange">Poor Man’s Orange</a>, Roie dies giving birth to her and Charlie’s second child, Michael. Charlie is rocked by her death, but eventually he and Roie’s sister, Dolour, develop an intimate attachment. Charlie will have a future with Dolour, as do his children with Roie, Moira and Michael. </p>
<p>A relative stranger to Australian shores, Park brought into her novel an Aboriginal character who had become estranged from both his people and his Country. So it’s significant that, in the concluding chapter of Poor Man’s Orange, Charlie asks Dolour to come “outback” with him and the children. </p>
<p>The Macquarie Dictionary defines “outback” as “remote, sparsely inhabited back country” that had been “romanticised in some Australian literature”. Given that his memory is of a “dusky, dusty” New South Wales road, Charlie’s “outback” is not quite the same space as that conjured in certain white-authored worlds. </p>
<p>Toward the end of Poor Man’s Orange, three years after Roie’s death, Charlie and Dolour go walking at night to the shores of Botany Bay. Charlie proposes to her that she come with him “outback”, and she accepts. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Music spilled across the street like the yellow light that spilled from the tall corner-lamp slung in its archaic wrought-iron bough. But mainly there was silence, as though already Surry Hills felt its doom, and down in the earth the old grass-roots were stirring, ready to clothe this soil with the verdure that had been there a century before.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is not an Aboriginal character who faces his doom: it is Surry Hills, an urban environment built by colonial-settlers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/long-before-the-voice-vote-the-australian-aboriginal-progressive-association-called-for-parliamentary-representation-198064">Long before the Voice vote, the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association called for parliamentary representation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The future of an Aboriginal character</h2>
<p>It is “down in the earth” that “the old grass-roots were stirring”. The “verdure” that springs back to life matters to how we understand Park’s Aboriginal character and his relationship to Country. </p>
<p>Charlie’s invitation to Dolour to come “outback” with him and his children changes the meaning of “outback”. In <a href="https://www.academia.edu/100291859/A_Post_Mabo_Reading_of_Ruth_Parks_Harp_in_the_South_1948_and_Poor_Mans_Orange_1949_">this context</a>, “outback” can be understood as Country that had been occupied and cared for long before colonial invasion. </p>
<p>A mixed-race romance survives and thrives at Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street. This is remarkable, given laws against miscegenation had been in place in some Australian states as late as 1940, negatively affecting attitudes to <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/proper-mixed-up-miscegenation-among-aboriginal-australians">“mixed-descent families”</a>. </p>
<p>Like Charlie and his children, The Harp in the South has had a future. Since publication, it has been adapted for <a href="https://www.audreyjournal.com.au/arts/the-harp-in-the-south-like-a-boss/">stage</a>, radio and television: both at home and abroad. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shane Connor (right) played Charlie Rothe on the televised adaptation of the Harp in the South books.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prime Video</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1987, two years after the <a href="https://youtu.be/26HUYeWRJUY?si=vQwnj6YWF1B2ZkOB">first episodes</a> of Neighbours introduced us to its three white families living on Ramsay Street, The Harp in the South <a href="https://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/harp-south/">miniseries</a> was televised. Actor <a href="https://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/harp-south/">Shane Connor</a> – who would go on to play Ramsay Street resident Joe Scully – was cast to play Charlie. </p>
<p>The Harp in the South has been <a href="https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/handle/20.500.11937/43831/192639_192639.pdf?sequence=2">translated into</a> 37 languages. It <a href="https://readingaustralia.com.au/essays/the-harp-in-the-south/">is reputed</a> never to have been out of print. Its enduring popularity is a testament to its author’s very considerable skill as a writer. Park draws on romance and other familiar genres to tell a story about Irish-Australian community in Sydney. </p>
<p>And in 2023, it is possible to see – threaded through the novel – a story about First Nations people, dispossession and ongoing attachment to Country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Monique Rooney receives financial and in-kind support as the 2023 Nancy Keesing AM Fellow at the State Library of NSW, where she is researching the papers of Ruth Park in preparation for writing a literary biography.</span></em></p>The Harp in the South has been published in 37 languages since 1948. Ruth Park was compared to Dickens for her lively portrayal of Sydney’s slums. But what does the character of Charlie Roche reveal?Monique Rooney, Senior lecturer in literature, film and new media, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074162023-06-20T01:28:51Z2023-06-20T01:28:51ZIs leaving dog poo in the street really so bad? The science says it’s even worse than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532325/original/file-20230616-17-lx747.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C50%2C6720%2C4416&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What’s that smell? Is that what you think it is? You check your shoes and, sure enough, one is adorned with a sticky, foul-smelling patty of fresh wrongness. You have stepped in a landmine of the canine variety. </p>
<p>We’ve all been there, and we all know footpaths, nature strips, parks, playing fields and front lawns are not good places for dog poo to sit.</p>
<p>Yet, our streets and parks continue to be littered with dog poo. And with the pandemic <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/australian-pet-ownership-reaches-record-high-during-covid-pandemic/news-story/3d6bafa280bd2715056c28a4961aeecd">driving</a> a surge in dog ownership, <a href="https://inqld.com.au/opinion/2020/12/10/a-fine-mess-why-council-must-crack-down-on-pet-owners-who-wont-clean-up/">anecdotal</a> <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/canine-corner/202106/the-covid-19-pandemic-has-triggered-dog-poodemic">reports</a> suggest the dog poo problem has grown only worse in recent years.</p>
<p>Beyond the obvious unsightliness and the likelihood of making unwanted contact with dog poo, there are some other important reasons to pick up after dogs. </p>
<p>Here’s what you need to know and what the science says about common efforts to deter dogs from pooping on your yard.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4748%2C3165&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4748%2C3165&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532307/original/file-20230616-15503-p10uuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Best to bag it and bin it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-my-dog-too-cold-how-cold-is-too-cold-for-a-walk-heres-how-to-tell-184141">Is my dog too cold? How cold is too cold for a walk? Here's how to tell</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Dog poo is linked to illness, pollution and antibiotic resistance</h2>
<p>Dog faeces may contain microorganisms that cause illness in humans such as <em>Salmonella</em>, <em>E. coli</em>, <em>Giardia</em> and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/1/72">internal parasites</a>. </p>
<p>Dog poo can also be a potential reservoir for <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82695531.pdf">antibiotic-resistant bacteria</a>, meaning humans could develop bacterial infections that are difficult to treat through contact with dog faeces. </p>
<p>A recent Sydney study also identified dog faeces washed into storm water as a significant contributor to <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Water/Beaches/rose-bay-microbial-source-tracking-uts.pdf">water pollution</a>. </p>
<p>This topic, in spite of its relevance and impact, has received little attention from scientists. Thankfully, however, we have a few brave souls who can say they have studied dog crap for the betterment of humanity. </p>
<p>This research has revealed some patterns in where dog faeces is found in public.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532321/original/file-20230616-17-l3ry4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dog poo can be a potential reservoir for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where is the dog poo problem more common?</h2>
<p>Dog fouling is significantly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30225-7">more common</a> in parks where dogs are allowed off-leash, and areas close to car parks.</p>
<p>The way dog walkers have traditionally used an area may also be an important factor, with one <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264438856_Environmental_and_social_impacts_of_domestic_dog_waste_in_the_UK_Investigating_barriers_to_behavioural_change_in_dog_walkers">UK study</a> noting: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>availability of bins, path morphology, visibility, and path location are key factors in determining the occurrence of dog faeces.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same study noted that while most dog walkers do the right thing, some are too “proud to pick up”, while others make contextual judgements about where and when it could be permissible to leave dog waste. Yet others are “disengaged” dog walkers, who “will not pick up even if they are aware of the health and environmental consequences”.</p>
<p>Other research has suggested targeting <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30225-7">keeping dogs on-leash</a> between car parks and off-leash areas and providing waste disposal stations on popular dog-walking routes.</p>
<p>This doesn’t help if you have a neighbour who lets their dog out to relieve themselves on the nature strip (or your yard), or people who walk their dogs without carrying waste disposal bags. </p>
<p>And we all love the ones who bag the poop but leave the bag tied to a fence or by a gate. </p>
<h2>What about the old water-bottles-on-the grass trick?</h2>
<p>Dog owners who don’t pick up after their dog can be fined, but it can be hard to catch them in the act, and reporting a neighbour to authorities can often lead to ongoing hostility.</p>
<p>Bottles of water on the grass is a time-honoured strategy to deter dogs, but there is no evidence this is effective and no clear reason why it would be. </p>
<p>Dogs sometimes like to circle and find just the right spot to go, so they may prefer an area that has fewer obstacles to negotiate. Perhaps a yard bristling with lawn ornaments would enjoy some protection. (Interestingly, science <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/dogs-prefer-to-poo-along-a-north-south-axis">suggests</a> dogs may circle around like this to align their body to face north.)</p>
<p>There are commercially available dog deterrents, but little evidence they are effective and under what conditions. </p>
<p>Some believe any strong scent may deter an animal with a very strong sense of smell from lingering long enough to take a dump. But scent travels, so heavy and repeated applications would likely be needed (and this strategy could have unintended side effects on native urban ecosystems).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532322/original/file-20230616-13202-kn6xpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most dog walkers do the right thing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Educating dog walkers is key</h2>
<p>Aside from providing bags and a bin and enforcing leash laws particularly around carparks close to off-leash areas, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30225-7">research</a> suggests education does help. </p>
<p>Messages emphasising that good neighbours and members of the community diligently pick up after their dogs may be most <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264438856_Environmental_and_social_impacts_of_domestic_dog_waste_in_the_UK_Investigating_barriers_to_behavioural_change_in_dog_walkers">effective</a>, as people are responsive to social messages.</p>
<p>If you have tried to appeal to your neighbour’s sense of community to no avail, and you’re not keen on a front yard bristling with garden gnomes and flamingos or drenched in possible dog-deterring chemicals, you could try providing bags and a sign promising surveillance. </p>
<p>For all the dog owners out there that do pick up after their dogs, your community thanks you. </p>
<p>The best way to dispose of dog faeces is in the bin. Composting requires high temperatures to neutralise the nasties in dog poop, and home composts are unlikely to get hot enough. And burying it simply allows these microorganisms to build up in the soil.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-dog-happy-ten-common-misconceptions-about-dog-behaviour-97541">Is your dog happy? Ten common misconceptions about dog behaviour</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207416/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Starling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>And what about the old water-bottles-on-the grass trick? Does that actually work?Melissa Starling, Postdoctoral researcher, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962182023-01-25T00:32:09Z2023-01-25T00:32:09Z5 reasons to check on your elderly neighbour during a heatwave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500956/original/file-20221214-20-19j3u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/overheated-asian-senior-woman-sweatinghigh-temperature-1954041304">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We all know someone who insists on wearing a cardigan in summer or refuses to turn on the air conditioning because “it’s not that hot”. Chances are this is an older person, and there’s a good reason for that.</p>
<p>As we get older, we tend to not “feel” the heat <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163710000450?casa_token=LxiONa0xZXQAAAAA:8IYLW0YquTHHUGkd2qiMgz6FNU3y2f4FIW96Lu9a-gjbAWw8iOgt7AOQ9C0UWMmDtXWOkqw#fig4">as much</a> even though our bodies are <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00202.2003">less able to handle the heat</a>. This contradiction can have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017321980?casa_token=-nCG3M20MawAAAAA:VYwlO1kZIpibQnCLlm4LuSKMkK9nNvOgvdrXzUPHglOknNKp20UX0oty1DS2uWrlCZnoZhg">lethal consequences</a>, especially during periods of extreme heat.</p>
<p>So, why is extreme heat so dangerous for older people? And what can we do to help?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-how-can-extreme-heat-lead-to-death-91480">Health Check: how can extreme heat lead to death?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why are older people at risk?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921006324">Extreme heat kills</a> more Australians than <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901114000999">all other natural hazards</a>, and people aged 60 or older account for 69% of those deaths.</p>
<p>There are five key reasons we’re more susceptible to heat as we get older.</p>
<p><strong>1. Bodily changes</strong></p>
<p>One of the main ways we lose excess heat, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228253/">blood flowing to our skin</a>, isn’t as effective as we get older. This is in part because the blood vessels in our skin don’t expand fast enough, and we may have less blood pumping with each beat of our heart.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202031864X#f0010">Many other changes</a> in our bodies also lead us to gain and store more heat as we get older. These include how our bodies control sweat and how well our kidneys balance fluid, which are both important for staying cool.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rising-temperatures-affect-our-health-123016">How rising temperatures affect our health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>2. Social isolation</strong></p>
<p>Loneliness and social isolation are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1064748120304425">health risks</a> on their own, but also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020318237#b0065">multiply the risk</a> of heat-related illness. </p>
<p>A South Australian <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/12/6721">survey</a> of older people showed those who were socially isolated were less confident in asking for help during a heatwave. </p>
<p>This is concerning as many older Australians <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australians/contents/housing-and-living-arrangements">live alone</a>, and we are more likely to live alone as we get older.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-in-four-australians-are-lonely-which-affects-their-physical-and-mental-health-106231">One in four Australians are lonely, which affects their physical and mental health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>3. Beliefs and behaviour</strong></p>
<p>Older Australians may not respond to heat in ways that protect their own health and wellbeing. Australian culture tends to view heat tolerance as a matter of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3290974/">resilience</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v5i0.19277">identity</a>, where there is a sense of generational pride in being able to cope with the heat. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/c67cf100436d8e7082a2dfc9302c1003/Adaptive+capabilities+in+elderly+people+during+extreme+heat+events+in+SA+-+Public+Health+Service+-+scientific+services+20140328.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-c67cf100436d8e7082a2dfc9302c1003-nKKgCmQ">Reports also suggest</a> many older people have concerns about the cost of air conditioning, may be hesitant to use it, or accidentally use reverse cycle units as heaters.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/high-energy-costs-make-vulnerable-households-reluctant-to-use-air-conditioning-study-86624">High energy costs make vulnerable households reluctant to use air conditioning: study</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>4. Medical issues</strong></p>
<p>Many chronic illnesses that are more common with age are also associated with an increased risk for heat-related illness. Because blood flow is so important for regulating our body temperature, it’s not surprising that conditions such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071916417300969?casa_token=LEe23NWx7V0AAAAA:-cw7TgysaYdqXq0FTuTtIxxE3Oua1NImlwmmvWWSyt39guUUWbzOsevcsoBI8tw5hbbkwaI">heart failure</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861190/">diabetes</a> are associated with increased heat risk.</p>
<p>Similarly, many medications commonly prescribed for chronic illnesses can <a href="https://www.health.vic.gov.au/environmental-health/extreme-heat-information-for-clinicians">interfere</a> with how our body regulates temperature. For instance, some blood pressure medicines reduce our ability to sweat and lose heat.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-time-of-day-should-i-take-my-medicine-125809">What time of day should I take my medicine?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>5. Home environment</strong></p>
<p>It is <a href="https://www.anglicare.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Australia-Fair-Ageing-in-Place.pdf">increasingly difficult</a> for older Australians to find affordable and appropriate housing, especially pensioners and renters. </p>
<p>Poor home design, lack of insulation, inability to pay their energy bills, and limited income <a href="https://cur.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/heatwaveshomeshealth-briefing-paper_rmit-2.pdf">all contribute</a> to being vulnerable to heatwaves in Australia. This is particularly troubling as energy prices soar.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-keep-heatwaves-at-bay-aged-care-residents-deserve-better-quality-homes-85174">To keep heatwaves at bay, aged care residents deserve better quality homes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p><strong>Older Australians</strong></p>
<p>Knowing the risks of extreme heat is the first step. Don’t <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/1/1">underestimate</a> your own risk during a heatwave. </p>
<p>There are many practical ways we can all keep ourselves and our homes cool, both safely and efficiently. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li>using a fan, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-humid-is-it-3-things-to-keep-you-cool-in-a-hot-and-sticky-summer-and-3-things-that-wont-176365">which is effective</a>, especially when it’s humid, but may <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687014001355?casa_token=NoCMHlZZ_SUAAAAA:vu-Yk1WnHpy5RsumlwQ-5_SvvuMjJLeV5Cm087QTUYKI6kLUKwjnZ1-FuATlzGDC36WyCTI">not be enough</a> when it’s very hot and dry. If you have an air conditioner, consider using it</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500965/original/file-20221214-12-u73s9p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do you know the signs of heat-related illness?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/6023f98b-bdcf-416b-9d3a-cfff9ea728c8/A4+Poster+-+Signs+and+symptoms+of+heat+illness.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&amp;CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-6023f98b-bdcf-416b-9d3a-cfff9ea728c8-nwMnDGl">SA Health</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p>knowing the conditions inside your home by installing thermometers that ideally also <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-humid-is-it-3-things-to-keep-you-cool-in-a-hot-and-sticky-summer-and-3-things-that-wont-176365">measure humidity</a> so you know which ways will work best to cool down</p></li>
<li><p>opening windows facing away from the sun when it’s cooler outside; otherwise keep blinds closed in the heat of the day</p></li>
<li><p>taking cool showers or applying a damp cloth to the back of your neck can help cool the skin</p></li>
<li><p>taking regular, small drinks of water, even when you’re not thirsty (unless you have <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/heat-stress-and-older-people#how-to-help-an-older-relative-or-friend">heart or kidney problems</a> in which case you need to talk to your doctor first as too much water may be a problem for you)</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/6023f98b-bdcf-416b-9d3a-cfff9ea728c8/A4+Poster+-+Signs+and+symptoms+of+heat+illness.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-6023f98b-bdcf-416b-9d3a-cfff9ea728c8-nwMnDGl">knowing the signs</a> of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-cope-with-extreme-heat-days-without-racking-up-the-aircon-bills-128857">How to cope with extreme heat days without racking up the aircon bills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Older relatives, friends and neighbours</strong></p>
<p>We can all keep an eye on our older relatives, friends and neighbours as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>keeping in touch is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.17269/s41997-020-00309-2">great protection</a> from heat-related illness; check in regularly</p></li>
<li><p>when an older person can’t keep the house cool, support a day trip to a cooler place such as a library, cinema, or shopping centre</p></li>
<li><p>encourage them to talk to their doctor about how medical conditions or medications might increase their risk to heat.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-deadliest-natural-hazard-whats-your-heatwave-plan-90165">Australia's 'deadliest natural hazard': what's your heatwave plan?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We need to raise awareness</h2>
<p>Australians are growing complacent about the health risks of extreme heat, see heatwaves as normal and public health messages <a href="https://widgets.figshare.com/articles/7618403/embed?show_title=1">aren’t cutting through</a> any more.</p>
<p>It’s also important to remember that older people aren’t all the same, so any public health approaches to extreme heat should be tailored to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378010001135?casa_token=e3YcjpeKWsgAAAAA:jzFlD6Wk7dvO05YEuoteZ0jUmMVc6eJczVhLxpDcw8qrLvCoTkvo2dz_wH_puWE-frzQNx4">communities and individuals</a>. </p>
<p>One way we’re trying to help is by working directly with older people. Together, we’re <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/research/climate-action/climate-transitions/health/ethos-project">researching and developing a smart device</a> that makes it easier to know when your house is getting warm, and customising strategies you can use to cool down safely.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-how-do-i-tell-if-im-dehydrated-107437">Health Check: how do I tell if I'm dehydrated?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Cunningham receives an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship. She is affiliated with the Extreme Heat and Older Persons research group which receives funding from Wellcome. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Rutherford receives funding from Wellcome</span></em></p>Extreme heat kills more Australians than any other natural hazard. Here’s why it’s important to keep an eye on older family and friends this summer.Sarah Cunningham, Doctoral Candidate in Public Health, Griffith UniversityShannon Rutherford, Associate Professor, Public Health, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951012022-11-24T19:06:15Z2022-11-24T19:06:15ZAmazon’s resuscitation of Neighbours: can Aussie TV become good friends with streaming?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496891/original/file-20221123-16-b4obk0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1198%2C630&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fremantle</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many were shocked by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/17/neighbours-soap-opera-australia-to-return-on-amazon">announcement last Friday</a> that Australian soap opera Neighbours would return to screens in 2023, courtesy of a new deal between production house Fremantle Australia and multinational digital streamer Amazon. Significantly, this announcement overturns many expectations about television in the age of streaming. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/neighbours-tv-show-cancelled-after-37-years/100880272">news of Neighbours’ cancellation</a> broke earlier this year, streamers declined to offer a lifeline, with veteran cast member Stefan Dennis (aka Paul Robinson) lamenting that soaps seemed <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-loss-of-neighbours-is-a-loss-of-career-pathways-for-australias-emerging-screen-professionals-185289">out-of-kilter</a> with the demands of streaming. </p>
<p>Back in February, journalist <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/please-explain-1/everybody-needs-good-neighbours-now-neighbours-nee">Michael Idato noted</a> streamers were focused on “short-order, very high quality” blue-chip programming, with long-running, continuing soaps like Neighbours presenting a less attractive option despite loyal fans and healthy audience numbers. After all, when axed by UK Channel 5, Neighbours was still attracting 1 million daily viewers in the UK alone. </p>
<p>So what has changed? Why is Melbourne’s own beige yet beloved (by some) Neighbours positioned at the precipice of a new dawn in streaming’s evolution?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497137/original/file-20221124-16-87kk5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Neighbours cast in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fremantle</span></span>
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<h2>What’s the value of Neighbours to a streamer?</h2>
<p>Amazon’s resuscitation of Neighbours is unprecedented in the Australian context, as it represents the first time a multinational streaming service has commissioned a stripped (weeknightly), continuing soap. Yet, in a global context, Neighbours seems to be part of a recent trend. This year, soaps in other significant Anglophone markets shifted from daily broadcast to online streaming: Hollyoaks in the UK and Days of Our Lives in the US.</p>
<p>No one knows how this will play out for the US-based streamer and its new ad-supported, free streaming service <a href="https://www.amazon.com/adlp/freevee-about">Amazon Freevee</a>. What we do know is there are very good reasons why a streaming platform could be interested in a show like Neighbours.</p>
<p>The value of soaps is entrenched in industry lore. Since their transition from radio to television in the US during the 1950s, continuing soap operas have provided the backbone of many a network, ensuring consistent, returning and ardently loyal audiences. In doing so, soaps have a proven ability to weather the storms of radical technological and industrial change.</p>
<p>A similar logic prevailed presumably in 2011, when Network 10 shifted Neighbours onto its new free-to-air channel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Peach">10 Peach</a>. On the one hand, this move signalled a marginalisation of the prime-time soap. On the other hand, it was a means to lure a valuable audience to the fledgling multichannel.</p>
<p>Idato refers to Neighbours as a “<a href="https://omny.fm/shows/please-explain-1/everybody-needs-good-neighbours-now-neighbours-nee">library series</a>”: one with an extensive back catalogue of content. With 37 seasons and more than 8,000 episodes under its belt, Neighbours puts supposedly mega-series like Game of Thrones, The Simpsons and Supernatural to shame. Library series bring inventory and depth to a streaming service in a way that new content cannot, no matter how heavily promoted or highly produced it might be. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-loss-of-neighbours-is-a-loss-of-career-pathways-for-australias-emerging-screen-professionals-185289">The loss of Neighbours is a loss of career pathways for Australia's emerging screen professionals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Currently, streamers are looking not just to attract new subscribers, but to retain them by keeping them engaged with the platform. Series that come with their own in-built library of content developed over multiple years or decades can benefit streamers precisely by bringing with them their large, loyal audiences while offering countless episodes for fans to explore.</p>
<p>The Fremantle/Amazon deal seems to signal something quite the opposite of previous predictions, pointing to the increase of “low-prestige” programming on streaming platforms and the rising tendency for streamers to adopt and adapt pre-existing televisual logics and strategies. We are seeing the resumption and resurrection of patterns of broadcast, free-to-air programming, not its demise.</p>
<p>In the context of Amazon, one reason for this shift is likely the Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke’s confirmation last Thursday of <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/streaming-services-will-be-forced-to-meet-local-drama-quotas-burke-20221118-p5bzf5">government plans to introduce local content quotas for streaming</a> services. At the 55th annual Australian Writers Guild Awards, Burke stated he had already met with streamers to inform them of the forthcoming policy. In light of this development, Amazon’s renewal of Neighbours will help it to meet Australian content requirements.</p>
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<h2>Has TV streaming reached maturity?</h2>
<p>It seems we are moving into a new, more mature phase of streaming television. Initially, streamers sought to loudly distinguish themselves from older forms of television, but they now seem less focused on branded distinction and more concerned with getting down to business. </p>
<p>Like the networks that dominated TV in the 20th century, streamers now pursue multiple interests, popular taste communities and tried and tested formulas, alongside edgier-style, prestige programming like Sex Education and this year’s Australian reboot <a href="https://theconversation.com/teenage-misfits-messy-emotions-and-joyous-discussions-on-consent-heartbreak-high-is-a-bright-new-piece-of-television-188733">Heartbreak High</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, streamers are now reverting to old-style revenue models through the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/why-the-future-of-streaming-is-looking-unexpectedly-like-tv-s-past-20221121-p5c00d.html">introduction of ad-supported subscription tiers</a>.</p>
<p>Television is changing, most notably in its separation from the broadcast programming schedule. But the logics of what attracts and retains audiences are far from obsolete – they are merely being updated for digital delivery. Soap operas are widely denigrated, but they can prove to be a guiding light in moments of media transformation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The announcement that Amazon would rescue the beloved Aussie soap overturns many expectations about television in the age of streaming.Tessa Dwyer, Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies, Monash UniversityRadha O'Meara, Lecturer in Screenwriting, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1875392022-07-26T20:04:47Z2022-07-26T20:04:47ZFrom Charlene the mechanic to Australian TV’s first gay marriage: was Neighbours feminist?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475959/original/file-20220726-6081-264lbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Tabone/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From its early days, Neighbours <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/neighbours-end-of-the-road">reinforced stereotypes</a> of white Australian heteronormative suburbia. But it also evolved to push boundaries around representations of gender, sexuality and feminism. </p>
<p>As we farewell the residents of Ramsay Street, we are also saying goodbye to 37 years of a popular culture juggernaut and how it mirrored – or didn’t – social change since the mid-1980s. </p>
<p>Soap operas like Neighbours can be an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Popular-Culture-Joanne-Hollows/dp/1845202236">important route for feminist ideas</a>. Popular culture is a critical vector for challenging dominant understandings around gender and sexuality. </p>
<p>Was Neighbours a feminist triumph or a lucky dip grab bag of progressive concepts and representation? To assess its feminist success is to reckon with how gender and sexuality have been depicted over the past four decades, and how this was received by audiences. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-loss-of-neighbours-is-a-loss-of-career-pathways-for-australias-emerging-screen-professionals-185289">The loss of Neighbours is a loss of career pathways for Australia's emerging screen professionals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Early strands of feminism</h2>
<p>Like feminism, Neighbours has many forebears to thank. </p>
<p>Before Charlene, Madge and Izzy, there was Bea Smith on Prisoner (1979-86), Sister Scott on The Young Doctors (1976–83) and Pat the Rat on Sons and Daughters (1982-87). Characters like these were both archetypes and boundary pushers, with these inherent tensions contributing to their enduring popularity with fans. </p>
<p>When Neighbours started in 1985, Julie Robinson (Vikki Blanche) was a bank teller. Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy) was the wise matriarch. And Daphne Lawrence (Elaine Smith) was working unashamedly as a stripper before being “tamed”, experiencing ostensible upward social mobility navigating a career change to café owner.</p>
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<p>During Neighbours’ peak in the later 80s, Mrs Mangel (Vivean Gray) was an older woman and busy body around Ramsay Street. Her status of ultimate disruptor is one shared with many feminists accused of being “out of turn” – to the point Gray left the show in 1988 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/15/vivean-gray-obituary#_=_">due to the abuse</a> she copped in public. </p>
<p>Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) was the mechanic defying gendered career expectations with the “girls can do anything” attitude. </p>
<p>Yet, anxiety over portraying teenage sex on primetime television was resolved through marrying her off to Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) at age 17.</p>
<p>Women like Daphne, Mrs Mangel and Charlene might have been challenging stereotypes, but they would eventually submit to <a href="https://www.outskirts.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/3064841/Casey-and-Watson.pdf">palatable norms</a>. </p>
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<h2>Feminism enters more spaces</h2>
<p>By the turn of the century, more explicit references to feminism were made, and the women became increasingly complex. </p>
<p>Flick Scully (Holly Valance) was a dedicated teen feminist, passionate about social justice – yet her storylines focused more on her romantic entanglements. </p>
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<p>In 2004, single mother of six and <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/rowunr">unruly woman</a> Janelle Timmins (Nell Feeney) parked her caravan on Ramsay Street, gambling, grifting and taking credit for writing The Bogan’s Tipped Hair, a riff on feminist novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Stripped_Bare_(novel)">The Bride Stripped Bare</a>, Australia’s best selling novel of 2003. </p>
<p>From the 2010s, the women of Neighbours began holding their own in the corporate world. Therese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou), the most prominent, juggled a tempestuous relationship with Paul Robinson alongside running the Lassiters hotel.</p>
<h2>Gender and sexuality</h2>
<p>In August 2018, Neighbours broadcast the first same-sex – and mixed-race – wedding <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/m25tvfta-20180718-h12urt.html">on Australian television</a>, when David Tanaka (Takaya Honda) and Aaron Brennan (Matt Wilson) were wed by Magda Szubanski. </p>
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<p>They were soon joined at the altar by Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh) and Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval), who had shared the first lesbian kiss on Neighbours back in 2004. </p>
<p>While familiar soap opera tropes see most marriages ending in death and divorce, same-sex marriage on Neighbours proved to be more stable and ultimately more traditional.</p>
<p>Since their wedding, David and Aaron have been depicted as the conjugal ideal when compared with the marriages between Neighbours stalwarts: the serial philanderer Karl Kennedy (Alan Fletcher) and his wife Susan (Jackie Woodburne), and three-times married Jarrod “Toadfish” Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney). </p>
<p>In 2019, Georgie Stone joined Neighbours as the show’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/07/it-takes-a-lot-of-courage-rebekah-robertson-on-raising-transgender-activist-georgie-stone">first trans character</a>, Mackenzie Hargreaves. In 2022, Neighbours had its first <a href="https://au.variety.com/2022/tv/news/neighbours-non-binary-character-kath-ebbs-2370/">non-binary character</a>, Asher Nesmith, played by non-binary actor Kathleen Ebbs.</p>
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<h2>Work to be done</h2>
<p>The word “feminism” was unlikely to be heard in Neighbours’ early days, but explicit references have been made in more recent times. </p>
<p>By 2017, the series was even making casual references to a popular Australian feminist. When teenager Xanthe Canning (Lilly Van der Meer) was working through a romantic problem she said: “the only thing I can think of is getting in touch with Clementine Ford”. </p>
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<p>Right until the end the series was critiqued for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/apr/18/whitewashed-why-does-australian-tv-have-such-a-problem-with-race">lack of representation</a> on screen, and in 2021 there were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/17/if-neighbours-racism-allegations-happened-in-us-there-would-be-swift-repercussions-remy-hii-says">accusations of racism</a> behind the scenes. </p>
<p>Neighbours was not a feminist triumph on or off screen. But it provided some entry points to feminist thinking and diverse ways of being that may not otherwise be accessible or sought out. And popularity procures broader audiences and hopefully understanding. </p>
<p>Was it enough? No. As the till rings for the last time at Harold’s and the streetlights fade over Ramsay Street, there remains significant work to be done.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-easily-clocked-10-000-hours-working-on-neighbours-its-loss-will-leave-a-huge-hole-in-australian-tv-and-uk-hearts-176529">I easily clocked 10,000 hours working on Neighbours. Its loss will leave a huge hole in Australian TV – and UK hearts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The word ‘feminism’ was unlikely to be heard in Neighbours’ early days, but today characters are talking about Clementine Ford.Sarah Casey, Program Coordinator: Bachelor of Communication, University of the Sunshine CoastJuliet Watson, Senior Lecturer, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852892022-07-25T20:02:13Z2022-07-25T20:02:13ZThe loss of Neighbours is a loss of career pathways for Australia’s emerging screen professionals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472240/original/file-20220704-21-ru444e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2044%2C1149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neighbours</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s longest-running television drama, Neighbours, is the latest casualty in the global flux of television cultures. The death of this iconic show warrants a health-check for the Australian TV industry.</p>
<p>Neighbours first aired in 1985 and its <a href="https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2022/07/01/confirmed-final-episode-of-neighbours-to-air-on-channel-10s-main-channel/">final episode will hit our screens this week</a>. The final broadcast marks the end of a show recognised for launching the acting careers of some of <a href="https://www.insider.com/stars-who-started-on-neighbours-home-and-away-2017-9">Australia’s most internationally renowned stars</a>, including Kylie Minogue, Liam Hemsworth and Margot Robbie.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The original opening credits for Neighbours uses the same iconic song we hear today.</span></figcaption>
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<p>What is less well-known is that for 37 years Neighbours has provided a key training ground for a range of screen professions. A robust local pool of these professions – <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-easily-clocked-10-000-hours-working-on-neighbours-its-loss-will-leave-a-huge-hole-in-australian-tv-and-uk-hearts-176529">including screenwriters</a>, producers, video editors, lighting technicians, set and costume designers, and music supervisors – is what makes great Aussie television happen. </p>
<p>The end of this much-loved series raises serious concerns about the career pathways available to Australia’s emerging screen professionals, who need opportunities to hone their craft working within experienced teams.</p>
<h2>Upheaval in television</h2>
<p>While long-running series are not the only talent pipeline, the loss of Neighbours removes a significant access point to that often elusive first screen credit. The closure of this door is caused by huge upheavals in television industries worldwide, largely due to the proliferation of streaming services.</p>
<p>Streaming services, such as Netflix and Stan, have irrevocably changed the way Australians watch television. As a result, certain television genres have found themselves on the chopping block. </p>
<p>Neighbours’ star Stefan Dennis – who played the delightfully nefarious Paul Robinson – has <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/my-life-as-paul-robinson-australia-s-longest-running-tv-villain-20220603-p5aqve.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1HKJuHwKXp1whsfnaEn77JKL4_LsvZ1Nz5SCXRF9O5FQ42PW5t8LHfPjs&fs=e&s=cl#Echobox=1655103946">shared his concerns</a> that serial format drama has not found a place in the streaming era:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would have loved Neighbours to set another trend and be the first recognised commercial soap to make the switch to a streaming channel, sadly there were no takers. My concern is that if a soap does not soon make that transition, we will start to see the demise of these beloved programs around the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472227/original/file-20220704-23-e14yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cast members of Neighbours pose for a photograph at the Neighbours Studios in Melbourne, Wednesday, June 29, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Diego Fedele/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Australia’s crew shortage</h2>
<p>Australian television is on the edge of a talent shortage. An ever smaller pool of experienced television creatives, producers and crew are being stretched across more, shorter-run projects. </p>
<p>Streaming services influence the format of the type of television content commissioned. Streamers <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-48713-3">tend to preference</a> shorter-run series, which are better suited to experienced industry writers. Emerging television professionals now face questions about whether they have the experience to meet the demands of a shorter-run commission. </p>
<p>The growing trend of shorter-run commissions also affects other production and crew roles. There are more projects running concurrently, creating a bottleneck for producers to get experienced talent that can meet their demand. </p>
<p><a href="https://if.com.au/spa-survey-suggests-production-boom-is-leading-to-skill-shortages/">Screen Producers Australia identifies crew shortages as a major challenge for their members</a>. Its report includes an extensive list of roles where experienced practitioners are in demand.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-easily-clocked-10-000-hours-working-on-neighbours-its-loss-will-leave-a-huge-hole-in-australian-tv-and-uk-hearts-176529">I easily clocked 10,000 hours working on Neighbours. Its loss will leave a huge hole in Australian TV – and UK hearts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Australian television culture is changing</h2>
<p>After television began broadcasting in Australia in 1956, our television industry developed in the shadow of established international markets, particularly the UK and US.</p>
<p>Throughout the decades, distinctly Australian television has maintained a presence on our screens through purposeful government policy frameworks. These include regulation (clear obligations for television networks to screen locally produced content) and funding strategies (direct investment, subsidies and tax incentives).</p>
<p>However, the playing field has now changed due to the abundance of streaming services that provide content to millions of Australians. Most major global streamers are US-based and exist outside our local content rules. Yet these streaming services are becoming increasingly dominant in the viewing habits and production ecosystems of our local industries. Under these conditions, the local television industry and the policies that have previously protected it are under threat. </p>
<p>Notably, citing children’s audiences moving to streaming services, the Morrison government scrapped children’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/cheese-n-crackers-concerns-deepen-for-the-future-of-australian-childrens-television-147183">content quotas</a> for commercial networks in 2020, changes which came into effect in 2021. </p>
<p>In 2021, high-profile actors <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-local-content-rules-on-streamers-could-seriously-backfire-157233">lobbied the federal government</a> for streaming services to spend 20% of local revenue on new Australian content. </p>
<p>The government has since consulted on a proposed <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/streaming-services-reporting-and-investment-scheme">Streaming Services Reporting and Investment scheme</a>. The scheme would require annual reporting by streamers to encourage investment in and prominence of Australian content through their services.</p>
<h2>Investment and incentives</h2>
<p>In light of these changes, significant investment is needed to help more Australians get the skills they need for jobs in our <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/1b1312e5-89ad-4f02-abad-daeee601b739/screencurrency-sa-report.pdf">billion-dollar television industry</a>. </p>
<p>There are some successful initiatives in place. Australia’s national screen agency, Screen Australia, and the state and territory screen agencies include talent development as part of their work. <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/b994c3b1-07c0-4bc5-b87a-a34b611ada4e/mr-170601-aftrs-talent-camp.pdf">Talent Camp</a> supports emerging talent from diverse backgrounds to get a start in the television industry. The <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/sbs-emerging-writers-incubator-returns-supporting-greater-diversity-in-australian-screenwriting#:%7E:text=The%20Emerging%20Writers'%20Incubator%20is%20open%20for%20applications%20from%2026,to%20commence%20later%20this%20year.">SBS Emerging Writers’ Incubator</a> also partners with the screen agencies to support development for under-represented writers.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">2017/18 Talent Camp participants Grace Feng Fang Juan and Nikki Tran talk about breaking into the television industry.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian screenwriter Kim Ho – who got their first screen credit on shorter-run Australian series The Newsreader – <a href="https://twitter.com/kimho_au/status/1454606460088774658?s=20&t=z2JB2e7RndZcqm8K-UsQIQ">observed attitudes may need to change for Australian screenwriters to get their break</a> in this new world of television:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We need to invert the language we use around inexperience and risk. Hire an emerging writer and I guarantee they will move mountains to deliver. I think we should aim to break in new writers on every show – an investment in the long-term sustainability of our industry.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While screening agencies, production companies and individual showrunners are taking on some of the talent development burden, more needs to be done. New incentives would encourage productions to break new talent on every project, and to ensure pathways exist to get experience that helps meet industry demand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Balanzategui receives funding from the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna McIntyre receives funding from the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien O'Meara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The death of this iconic show warrants a health-check for the Australian TV industry.Damien O'Meara, PhD Candidate, Media and Communications, Swinburne University of TechnologyJessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Cinema and Screen Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyJoanna McIntyre, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1765982022-02-08T12:06:32Z2022-02-08T12:06:32ZThe politics of Neighbours: what the Australian soap can teach us about post-Thatcher Britain<p>Channel 5’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-6027793">decision to axe</a> Australian soap opera Neighbours has led to widespread dismay among British people in their thirties and upwards. After 36 years on British screens, the network said it will instead invest more in “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/feb/06/curtains-for-ramsay-street-as-channel-5-no-longer-needs-good-neighbours">original UK drama</a>”.</p>
<p>Although its 1990 heyday of 20 million viewers on BBC One are long behind it, the show still does comparatively good numbers. Its <a href="https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/barb-data/top-programmes-report/?tag=Channel5">20% market share</a>
makes it the most successful show on Channel 5. Presumably, the soap must be too expensive. But given it has relied on a very visible <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/neighbours/toadie-and-dee-reunited-6-crazy-must-see-moments-as-neighbours-plot-explodes/">mannequin in a wig</a> to function as a body double during a car crash, where any big budgets are going is difficult to ascertain.</p>
<p>Business case apart, a lot of the anguish is due to the loss of a communal experience. In the 1990s, Neighbours was a perennial part of young people’s lives, no doubt a product of its repetitive, five-day-a-week transmission. With 83% of 12-15-year-olds claiming to watch the show at <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2021.2019583">its height</a>, there is a generation of British people for whom the surname Kennedy will conjure up Karl and Susan before it does John F. or Bobby.</p>
<p>That said, despite its uncontroversial, amiable vision of the world, the show was not unrelated to the rough and tumble of party politics. Neighbours was at the peak of its popularity as the UK was beginning to transition away from Margaret Thatcher’s long tenure in Downing Street towards the New Labour period after 1997.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2021.2019583">I’ve argued</a>, the politics of Erinsborough is small “c” conservative and certainly capitalist. But, unlike Thatcher, Neighbours demonstrated there was <a href="https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689">such a thing as society</a>. All told, it was (and to some degree still is) very Blairite. </p>
<p>Indeed, the type of people who were so drawn to Neighbours – women and those who lived in suburbs – were precisely the type of voters who would go on to fervently back Tony Blair in 1997. The reasons people tuned in to Erinsborough in the late 1980s and early 1990s were largely similar to those they gave for backing New Labour: they wanted an escape from the realities of Thatcher’s Britain. They initially sought it on screen in the form of Australian sunshine and then, when Labour found a charismatic, moderate leader, at the ballot box. Some of Neighbours’ appeal was largely imagined – Australian cul-de-sac living can’t always be so pleasant – but it was certainly enduring. </p>
<p>Like opposition era Blair, the show was (and is) safe, reassuring television. This undramatic tendency would destroy its fortunes in the thrill-seeking US market, but its reliable niceness was a significant draw for the British public. Indeed, while the socially conservative activist Mary Whitehouse took issue with Eastenders’ “violence”, “bad language” and “demoralising situations”, viewers have consistently <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2021.2019583">told</a> audience researchers that they trust Neighbours with their children’s unsupervised attention. </p>
<p>For its star <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/looking-back-at-80s-neighbours-scripts-how-much-has-really-changed-20200228-p545d6.html">Geoff Paine</a> (now back in the show as Dr Clive Gibbons), “the test was could adults and kids watch the show without either getting embarrassed, or the kids asking ‘what does that mean’”? Nearly all of the time, it passed this test. Viewers praised the soap’s lack of “extreme” content, and would make similar comments about New Labour.</p>
<h2>Neighbours’ opposition</h2>
<p>The interesting thing was that politicians didn’t get this at the time. Few watched the show (a product, perhaps, of its daytime transmission), but they would have been well advised to do so to get a more rounded understanding of its appeal.</p>
<p>In May 1991, schools minister Michael Fallon called for Neighbours to be removed from British screens altogether. For Fallon, it was harmful to Britain’s young and served to “dull their senses, making teachers’ jobs even harder”. Labour’s Jack Straw mostly agreed, calling Neighbours “a pretty trashy programme”. Some of this was proto-culture wars nonsense. At the time, only 7% of Neighbours’ viewers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2021.2019583">found it</a> “unsuitable for children”. How could they? Dr Clive Gibbons wasn’t even allowed to say the word “pregnant” lest it raise any awkward discussions.</p>
<p>Equally, the fact that Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue were glamorous heartthrobs no doubt helped its ratings, but many Erinsborough watchers were more likely to cite its “harmless, sexless stories about everyday people” than anything raunchy. Indeed, in so far as remarks were made, Minogue’s role as a car mechanic was seen as groundbreaking – and the female mechanic has formed something of a trope in later years. Neighbours told a narrative that was often empowering, did not appear tokenistic, and certainly proved popular among women. In 1990, almost two-thirds of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619462.2021.2019583">female viewers</a> saw it as a programme “for people like me”. </p>
<p>Altogether, the show was and is well written. Although occasional comparisons at its height with Shakespeare were a bit much, it does comedy and tragedy very well. As anyone watching the 2019 death of Toadie’s wife Sonya will attest to, it delivers occasionally deeply poignant stuff. And so, while it may be curtains on Channel 5, there should still be a place for it on British television. If nothing else, because flight attendant-turned-Trumpian-business mogul Paul Robinson has gotten out of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/neighbours-storylines-crazy-most-memorable_au_5e7302e2c5b6f5b7c53e23c0">worse scrapes</a> than this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Carr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The types of people who gathered daily to watch Neighbours are the same who backed Tony Blair in 1997.Richard Carr, Lecturer in History and Politics, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1765292022-02-07T03:24:45Z2022-02-07T03:24:45ZI easily clocked 10,000 hours working on Neighbours. Its loss will leave a huge hole in Australian TV – and UK hearts<p>Could the screen door really have slammed shut for the last time on Ramsay Street? </p>
<p>Channel 5, who took over from the BBC in broadcasting the show in the UK in 2008, has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/sign-of-the-times-as-uk-slams-door-on-neighbours-20220206-p59u7s.html">chosen not to renew</a> their contract with Fremantle, the Australian producers of the show, and will screen their final episode in August 2022. </p>
<p>If Fremantle cannot find another UK buyer the show will cease production. </p>
<p>Channel 10 continues its commitment to screen the show in Australia (albeit having moved it a few years ago from the main channel to Ten Peach), but the budget for making the show (while tiny in TV terms) relies on the UK sale. </p>
<p>In Australia, Neighbours receives about 200,000 viewers per day – about half the viewers of Home and Away. Its popularity is more assured in the UK, with about 1.5 million views per day, although this is still <a href="https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/barb-data/top-programmes-report/">less than UK soaps</a> such as Coronation Street and Eastenders, with around 5 and 3 million viewers, respectively.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/feb/06/curtains-for-ramsay-street-as-channel-5-no-longer-needs-good-neighbours">Purportedly</a> Channel 5 is choosing to put the money into locally produced UK drama. We can only guess what is going on behind the scenes. I was working for Fremantle in Europe in 2007 when Neighbours <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/may/18/broadcasting.bbc">moved from the BBC to Channel 5</a> and there were machinations at work in that decision beyond budgets and viewing figures (and beyond my full knowledge). </p>
<p>Television is a big complex business most of us will never understand.</p>
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<h2>Growing up on Ramsey Street</h2>
<p>While many will say “good riddance” and “about time” if Neighbours does end after 37 years and nearly 9,000 episodes, there has to be some reason it has survived this long and remains so beloved for so many people. </p>
<p>There will be deep grief in the UK audience if the show does end, and significant repercussions for the Australian screen industry.</p>
<p>This is the show that launched the beloved Kylie Minogue and featured guest appearances by British icons from Emma Bunton to Michael Parkinson and Russell Brand, Matt Lucas and David Walliams. British celebrities have been honoured to walk onto the wobbly sets of Neighbours and into the cul-de-sac of Ramsay Street. </p>
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<p>Many viewers have literally grown up with the people of Erinsborough. Karl and Susan, Toadie and relentless manipulator Paul Robinson are like family members to them. I met someone at a party once who burst into tears and screamed Madge Bishop was like a grandmother to her when she discovered I was involved in scripting <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7d1pg9">Madge’s death</a>. </p>
<p>When you have watched characters go through their relatable trials and tribulations daily for most of your life, they matter to you. </p>
<h2>Complex, far-fetched, and beloved</h2>
<p>One of the favourite moments I was involved in scripting was the return of Paul Robinson to Ramsay Street in 2004. </p>
<p>For the end of year cliffhanger episode, we wrote a fire which devastated the Lassiters complex and in the final shot the smoke cleared to reveal Paul standing watching. </p>
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<p>In the story room, we were filled with glee by such a huge moment – but it was nothing compared to the audience reaction. This was the return of a character who had debuted on the show in episode one in 1985 and was bringing his evil ways back to Erinsborough. </p>
<p>Literally two weeks ago, one of my VCA Screenwriting students told me, as a young child in the UK, he remembers his mother watching that episode and screaming: “Paul! It’s PAUL.”</p>
<p>Recently, the show has made a real strength of bringing back characters beloved by audiences and continuing their stories and their lives, much to the joy of devoted audience members. </p>
<p>Neighbours has created a whole world: complex (Dee Bliss returning from the dead, except it was actually her <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/soaps/neighbours/neighbours-reveals-dee-and-andrea-are-twins-and-bizarre-backstory-of-why-they-were-separated/">separated-at-birth twin Andrea</a>); far-fetched (Harold drifting off rocks and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uylOv_ATgDQ">returning</a> four years later with amnesia); and just plain silly (Susan slipping on milk and <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/a821404/10-times-neighbours-went-completely-nuts/">reverting</a> to thinking she was 17 again). </p>
<p>And then there was the pinnacle moment of madness, in which a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyNtMpPYF8k">dog dreamt</a> of marrying the dog next door.</p>
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<p>Indeed this world has, at times, been so complex, as writers we turned to the fan website <a href="http://perfectblend.net/">The Perfect Blend</a> as the show’s bible when we couldn’t remember all the many cousins and aunts and loves of so many characters.</p>
<h2>Neighbours University</h2>
<p>In Australia, while less beloved by audiences, Neighbours is hugely respected in the screen industry. </p>
<p>Neighbours achieved longevity in a changing and cut-throat world of free to air broadcast and has given a start, training and long term employment to many writers, directors, producers, actors and crew over 37 years. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-30-years-can-neighbours-and-australians-become-good-friends-38779">After 30 years, can Neighbours and Australians become good friends?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Fremantle actively embraces this industry development as a role of the show, and screenwriters often call it Neighbours University – yes, the show looks clunky on screen, but that’s due to the small budgets and high speed production, not the dedication and skill of those making the show. </p>
<p>They say you have to do 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything, and I easily clocked those hours storylining, script editing and writing for Neighbours. (Plus it was the most secure income I’ve ever had as a screenwriter.) </p>
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<p>The loss of this training ground will have a major – if largely unrecognised – impact on the screen industry in the next decades in terms of a place to learn craft, find a creative voice and for peers to meet. </p>
<p>If Neighbours does end it will leave a major hole. It’s been an important cultural icon – easy to criticise, hard to ignore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippa Burne worked for Fremantle as a screenwriter on and off between 2000 and 2017. She continues to receive royalties from episodes written for Neighbours. In her current role as lecturer at VCA, she occasionally has students who intern on Neighbours.</span></em></p>After 37 years and nearly 9,000 episodes, Neighbours could be coming to an end.Philippa Burne, Lecturer, BFA Screenwriting, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1522102021-03-25T14:30:40Z2021-03-25T14:30:40ZRed squirrels, socially distant by nature, teach us the value of good neighbours<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391501/original/file-20210324-13-1ytcuiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C25%2C5535%2C3687&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Red squirrels benefit from long-term social relationships with their neighbours — from a distance.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the far reaches of Canada’s North, there’s a different type of social distancing happening this year. Amid the lingering snowdrifts and bowed branches of spruce trees, a small mammal yells a ferocious “stay away!” call that can be heard more than 100 metres away. </p>
<p>These “rattle” calls are made by a species abundant in the boreal forest — the North American red squirrel — and send a clear message to other neighbouring squirrels: “This is my territory. Stay off.”</p>
<p>Despite being small in stature, red squirrels are known for their ferocity. Both males and females occupy individual territories with a cache of food resources at the centre called a midden. These food resources are critical for red squirrels to survive the long cold Yukon winters and are defended vigorously. Red squirrels do not tolerate other individuals on their territories and rarely come into contact with their neighbours. </p>
<p>They are, in other words, the boreal experts on social distancing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a squirrel on a branch screaming" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381541/original/file-20210131-19850-1i8m4q7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male red squirrel lets out a territorial call — called a rattle — at his neighbours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ryan Taylor)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2113/rattle1.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
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<div class="audio-player-caption">
Red squirrel rattle.
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Erin Siracusa)</span><span class="download"><span>169 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2113/rattle1.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
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<h2>Solitary, but not anti-social</h2>
<p>But despite being the loners of the North, our recent research shows that red squirrels, although they live most of their lives in isolation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.072">maintain important relationships with their neighbours that have benefits for survival and reproductive success</a>. </p>
<p>The value of social relationships for humans and other group living mammals is well-established. As science journalist Lydia Denworth’s recent book <a href="https://lydiadenworth.com/books/friendship/"><em>Friendship</em></a> makes clear, maintaining these stable social bonds with others has tangible benefits for our health and can even enhance our lifespan.</p>
<p>But what about for a solitary, territorial species that spends most of its life living on an exclusive territory with little physical contact with other squirrels? Could social relationships still matter for a species such as this? We thought they could.</p>
<p>We recognized that while red squirrels rarely physically interact with each other, they regularly communicate and interact through their rattles. In this way, red squirrels engage in recurring interactions with squirrels that live close to them, facilitating the formation of social relationships that might matter for their survival and reproductive success.</p>
<h2>Decades of data</h2>
<p>Using 22 years of data collected as part of the <a href="https://redsquirrel.biology.ualberta.ca/people/graduate-students/">Kluane Red Squirrel Project</a>, a collaborative research initiative run by researchers from Canada and the United States, we set out to explore whether living near relatives or living near familiar individuals (those with whom a squirrel shared a long-term social relationship) could have benefits for red squirrels.</p>
<p>By individually marking red squirrels with unique ear tags and following them throughout their lives, we could keep track of key information like where they lived, how many babies they had each year and how long they survived. </p>
<p>This provided a detailed picture of the animal’s social environment, including whether they were related to their neighbours and how long they lived next to them. We could then ask how these different relationships with neighbours influenced survival and reproductive success. </p>
<p>What we found was surprising.</p>
<h2>Friends or family?</h2>
<p>Living near family, we thought, might provide important benefits, as kin share genes and therefore should be more likely to co-operate with one another. Indeed, previous research has shown that red squirrels might help relatives by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1499-4">nest-sharing</a> in the coldest months or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1022">adopting orphaned kin</a>. But despite our initial expectations, we found no benefits of living near kin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four squirrel pups" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381559/original/file-20210201-23-qsgm9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">25-day old red squirrel pups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Erin Siracusa)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, we found that having familiar neighbours (individuals that a squirrel has lived next to for a long time) had substantial benefits for both a red squirrel’s chances of survival and the number of babies they were able to produce each year. Having these long-term stable social relationships mattered, even for an apparently solitary species. </p>
<p>Why might this be? Think about it this way. </p>
<p>Imagine you just moved into a new house. You don’t know your neighbours and so might not trust them. You’re probably going to be cautious about locking your doors at night or making sure your security cameras are on when you go away for holiday. But the longer you live next to these same neighbours, the more you get to know and trust them. You recognize that your neighbours are not going to break into your house or steal from you, and so you can relax your defences.</p>
<p>The same thing happens for squirrels. When squirrels live next to one another year after year they develop bonds of familiarity. These long-term neighbours enter into a gentleman’s agreement — they are less likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.08.024">pilfer from each other</a> or fight about territory boundaries, which allows them to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347219300673">reduce the time and energy spent defending their property</a>. This is a well-established phenomenon in territorial species called the “<a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary010">dear-enemy effect</a>.”</p>
<h2>Social arrangements into old age</h2>
<p>What was particularly surprising to us was how important these long-term social relationships were for squirrels in their later years. For older red squirrels, maintaining familiar neighbours could offset the declines in survival and reproductive success associated with ageing. </p>
<p>While growing a year older might normally result in a decline in a squirrel’s chances of survival, those chances would actually increase with age if their neighbours remained the same.</p>
<p>In theory, this could lead to the evolution of longer lifespans, but while we don’t see evidence of this phenomenon in red squirrels, it raises an interesting question about the role that social relationships might play in the aging process. As we continue to search for solutions to living longer, healthier lives, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9553">accumulating evidence</a> seems to point toward social relationships as being the anti-aging solution we’ve all been looking for.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="researcher weighs a squirrel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381560/original/file-20210201-21-1ciyu50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Female red squirrels are weighed to assess their reproductive status as part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Erin Siracusa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The devil you know</h2>
<p>But while these long-term relationships among red squirrels certainly do not constitute friendships as we think of them, our findings open up an interesting possibility that squirrels might actually help one another. </p>
<p>Given how important familiar neighbours are to reproductive success and survival, red squirrels could benefit from keeping their adversaries alive. So against all evidence to the contrary, red squirrels might co-operate with their competitors, because if you’re a red squirrel, it’s better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. We don’t know what this co-operation looks like yet, but it’s an interesting avenue for future research. </p>
<p>So as we continue to take physical distancing and social isolation measures, it’s worth remembering that red squirrels build and benefit from long-term social relationships with their neighbours — from a distance. </p>
<p>Even in the midst of a pandemic, we don’t need to be in physical contact with one another to benefit from our social bonds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Siracusa receives funding from the American Society of Mammalogists, the Arctic Institute of North America, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the National Institute of Health. </span></em></p>Red squirrels are solitary by nature, but research has found that they benefit from familiarity with other squirrels.Erin Siracusa, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Behavioural Ecology, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1433462020-07-30T20:34:16Z2020-07-30T20:34:16ZHow we rely on older adults, especially during the coronavirus pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349399/original/file-20200724-29-64g5p7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C426%2C2258%2C2434&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We miss too much when we treat all seniors as helpless.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/QUJi85AKTnA">(Unsplash/@unitednations/Lélie Lesage)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Unprecedented” might be the word of the COVID-19 pandemic. But for many, especially older adults, life has taken many abrupt turns. Maybe it’s their first pandemic, but it’s not the first time they’ve pivoted without calling it that and created a new normal.</p>
<p>Yet, we persist in treating people over 70 as an undifferentiated blob of neediness and vulnerability. When we do, we once again miss what older adults contribute.</p>
<p>As an aging studies scholar, my focus is on the portrayal and treatment of older adults in literature, film and popular culture. During COVID-19, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2015.06.001">dire fictional portraits of nursing homes as places to avoid and escape</a> appear to be coming alive. We hear a lot about them, but less attention lands on older adults living and making do at home. Public health issues reminders to <a href="https://www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200320-Social-Distancing-REVISED.pdf">check on what they call “elderly neighbours.”</a> Those reminders ignore what older people in and out of nursing homes offer to the rest of us.</p>
<h2>1998 ice storm</h2>
<p>We’ve heard this before. During the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ice-storm-1998-1.4469977">1998 ice storm</a> that cut power throughout much of Eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, radio commentators urged listeners to check on older adults who were more at risk from adverse effects of unheated homes indoors and falling on the ice outside. Like now, they treated older adults as helpless, vulnerable and past contributing.</p>
<p>Back then, I was trapped in my third floor walk-up Montréal apartment, with a two-metre-long icicle, as wide as a dinner plate, teetering precipitously above my shared second floor entrance. My neighbours, two retired men, checked on me. They brought me coffee. They fed me tourtière. They taught me about times before they’d had electricity in their homes. They reminded me about postwar austerity and other hard times.</p>
<p>Reporters then repeated that older adults were more vulnerable to the effects of the ice storm than others. Check on your “elderly neighbours,” we were told again and again. <a href="https://tessera.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/tessera/article/view/25189/23383">These older adults were never directly addressed though they likely made up a large portion of the broadcast audience</a>. There was no airtime for the knowledge, skill and expertise they had from surviving through past wars and depression eras. No one else seemed to be getting their espresso from their retired neighbours.</p>
<h2>COVID-19 pandemic</h2>
<p>More than 20 years after that ice storm, I find myself yet again essentially trapped in my home. The conditions are significantly different, not only because they are so widespread. But the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic resemble <a href="https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/eppp-archive/100/201/300/cdn_medical_association/cmaj/vol-158/issue-4/0520.htm">the difficulties revealed during the ice storm</a>, when the need for adequate long-term care spaces similarly revealed the problems that arise when we treat people like products, and <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/re-imagining-long-term-residential-care-canada">care like a business</a>.</p>
<p>Media venues have shifted dramatically, but the portrayal of older adults hasn’t kept up. Calls to <a href="https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/local-news/help-your-elderly-neighbours-get-through-the-pandemic-says-premier-ford">check on our “elderly neighbours</a>” still refuse to acknowledge that the people receiving those instructions might themselves be old. This harnesses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1519/JPT.0b013e31823ab7ec">ageist language</a> to make it seem as though people between 70 and 100 are all from the same generation, with the same needs and desires. </p>
<h2>Hidden contributions</h2>
<p>This approach ignores how older adults collectively and individually possess considerable expertise. It misses their potential to offer at least mutual support for younger people who are <a href="https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2020/07/29/aging-together-and-apart-from-the-pivot-to-the-pirouette/">no longer able to do whatever we want</a>. Studies are already showing that <a href="https://news.ubc.ca/2020/07/22/new-ubc-study-reveals-older-adults-coped-with-pandemic-best/">older adults are better equipped to manage the stress brought on by continued isolation</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older woman wearing a green scarf with a fabric face mask in her hands and sewing supplies on the table beside her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350016/original/file-20200728-13-1exls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An older woman sews a face mask.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m not the only one whose <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a4jKVFoNTQ">hand-sewn mask</a> was made by someone over 70, who got my bread recipe from a senior, who sung in a choir led by a guy in his 60s who learned how to Zoom in a heartbeat and who follows <a href="https://essentrics.com/classical-stretch/">streamed exercise classes</a> led by a woman in her 70s.</p>
<p>Besides ignoring their many contributions, this belittling of older Canadians clashes with how some are <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/retired-health-care-workers-answer-the-call-for-help-amid-covid-19-pandemic-1.4857581">coming out of retirement</a> to help <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/14/bc-calling-on-retired-doctors-to-return-to-work-if-covid-19-keeps-spreading-in-canada.html">combat COVID-19</a>. What a contradiction to be viewed as only in need of help, instead of part of a reciprocal system, and to be perceived as needing to sacrifice themselves.</p>
<p>Strangest of all, the residents of long-term care are somehow, oddly, not considered our “elderly neighbours.” <a href="http://health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/ltc/directive3_faq_20200616.aspx">We’re barely even allowed to check on them</a>.</p>
<p>So, go ahead and pick up groceries for your neighbour. Drop them off safely. But also check in by phone or from a distance to see what you might learn!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Chivers receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of canada.</span></em></p>COVID-19 public health messages often classify ‘elderly neighbours’ as in need of aid, and overlook the substantial contributions, achievements and resources of older people.Sally Chivers, Professor of English and Gender & Women's Studies, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/882442018-01-08T19:35:16Z2018-01-08T19:35:16ZWith apartment living on the rise, how do families and their noisy children fit in?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201091/original/file-20180108-195558-1uvj7ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children being children can be loud, which creates challenges when they live in an apartment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/full-length-of-boy-sitting-on-floor-315265/">Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A growing number of Australians live in apartments. The compact city model presents many benefits, but living close to each other also presents challenges.</p>
<p>Rapid growth in apartment developments in recent decades has led to a <a href="https://www.ocn.org.au/book/export/html/1200">rise in noise-related complaints and disputes across urban Australia</a>. Households with children are on the front line of such tensions. They are one of the fastest-growing demographics living in apartments. Analysis of the latest census data shows, for instance, that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458617301093">families with children under the age of 15 comprise 25% of Sydney’s apartment population</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-living-next-door-to-alice-and-anh-and-abdullah-74172">Contested spaces: living next door to Alice (and Anh and Abdullah)</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Apartment design and cultural acceptance of families in the vertical city have not kept pace with this shift in housing forms. Cultural expectations that families with children ought to live in detached houses are persistent. Apartment planners and developers reproduce these expectations by <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8470.2004.00278.x/epdf">neglecting children in building design and marketing</a>. </p>
<p>With children’s sounds being difficult to predict or control, changing apartment demographics are an issue for planners and residents alike. </p>
<h2>Trying to be good parents and good neighbours</h2>
<p>My research explores the everyday experiences of families living in apartments in Sydney. It reveals that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458617301093">parents trying to make apartment life work face an emotional juggling act</a>.</p>
<p>Apartment living often creates an emotional dilemma between being a good parent and being a good neighbour. Parents want to allow children to be children, but are ever anxious about annoying the neighbours.</p>
<p>Cities are layered with many different sounds, but the home is framed as a private space of peace and quiet. Sounds that intrude are considered noise. The “good” apartment neighbour avoids sounds that penetrate neighbours’ homes. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201090/original/file-20180108-195527-qm98ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Complaining neighbours only add to the stress a parent feels when their baby cries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/adorable-little-girl-crying-very-loudly-767038642?src=8kfT1kXdCirvR9u-Y5sXdQ-1-52">silentalex88/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is near impossible when children are involved – and particularly when apartments are poorly designed. Key pressure points include crying at night and playing and running during the day.</p>
<p>Parents spoke about the challenges of sleep training in an apartment. They wanted to be considerate neighbours, so felt anxious and guilty when their children did not comply. Some received angry letters from neighbours, or heard them call out and bang on walls and ceilings in midnight protests. </p>
<p>One mother described the difficult juggling act of an unsettled baby and an upset neighbour:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The neighbour] called out … ‘Pick up your baby!’ … I was so upset because we are trying our best and we were exhausted ourselves … [The neighbour] banged on the ceiling really loudly … I felt it on my feet, like it was shaking … That just kind of added to my stress … When I got back into bed after the shrieking finished and he [the baby] went back to sleep and the stomping on the roof finished … I just said, ‘I don’t know if I can do that again’ … knowing that, you know they’re hearing it all of course, and we felt terrible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parenting anxieties were not limited to night-time. Monitoring kids’ play to minimise noise made parents feel like the “fun police”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I always feel like I am constantly telling them ‘not in here, not in there, don’t do that’ … I’m constantly worried that we are annoying the neighbours. Because they are kids, they are loud. They don’t have a volume button.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parents attempted many strategies for managing noise. These included putting down carpet and foam mats, restricting some activities to rooms without adjoining walls or to “sociable” hours, closing windows and covering air vents. The expectation that their children’s sounds do not belong in apartments weighed heavily.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When he [the neighbour] first started complaining, Harry [son] was crawling. Imagine trying to teach a crawler that they are not allowed to crawl through the house … You know, he [the neighbour] wanted the impossible and got angry with us when we couldn’t deliver that for him, with no kind of seeming effort to understand where we were coming from …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This family’s neighbour had written notes, aggressively banged on their walls and threateningly confronted the parents over their children’s noise. The mother described feeling vulnerable and at a loss:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel like we have entered this entirely new area of discrimination that I had no idea existed before, but is actually quite prevalent among our peers. It is common among the mothers in my mothers’ group … People just don’t like children and they don’t like children’s noise … And you know parenting is hard … So to have the ‘Oh my God I am pissing loads of people off’ in the back of your mind as well … is really uncomfortable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While not all families reported such negative experiences, almost all felt anxious about noise and had stories of friends who had experienced problems.</p>
<p>The sounds made by children were always front of mind. Aware of their neighbours’ surveillance and (at times overt) moral judgments, they changed their domestic routines and modified their homes as much as possible. </p>
<h2>People need apartments made for families</h2>
<p>Broader changes are needed. Families living with children in apartments challenge norms that delineate the home as a place of quietude; that define “good neighbours” as tranquil ones; and that position children as belonging elsewhere (detached houses). And they come up against such norms in dwellings that hamper their best efforts to regulate sound.</p>
<p>Families living in apartments actively pursue strategies for making everyday life “work”. But there is only so much that individuals can change. The wider problem of apartments’ poor acoustic design and performance persists. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458617301093">cultural and technical norms must shift</a> if the policy paradigm of urban consolidation is to have any hope of meeting the needs of a diverse population.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-why-apartment-living-is-different-for-the-poor-82069">This is why apartment living is different for the poor</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie-May Kerr receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and the University of Wollongong Global Challenges Program Scholarship.
</span></em></p>In Sydney, families with children now account for one in four households living in apartments. The expectations and design of apartments have not kept up with this rapid demographic change.Sophie-May Kerr, PhD Candidate in Human Geography, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894452017-12-22T04:20:06Z2017-12-22T04:20:06ZSpeaking with: social researcher and author Hugh Mackay on 2017, ‘a really disturbing year’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200125/original/file-20171220-4951-lo530s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social researcher Hugh Mackay and The Conversation's FactCheck Editor Lucinda Beaman.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>“I’ve found 2017 a really disturbing year.”</p>
<p>That’s the summary from writer, thinker and social researcher Hugh Mackay. </p>
<p>Mackay spoke in December with The Conversation’s FactCheck Editor Lucinda Beaman at the Sydney launch of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversations-2017-yearbook-articles-from-australias-top-thinkers-86204">The Conversation 2017 Year Book: 50 standout articles from Australia’s top thinkers</a>. Among the essays featured in the book is Mackay’s enormously popular and thought-provoking article titled <a href="https://theconversation.com/hugh-mackay-the-state-of-the-nation-starts-in-your-street-72264">The state of the nation starts in your street</a>. </p>
<p>The discussion, which you can hear in full on The Conversation’s Speaking With podcast above, touched on issues ranging from the rise of Donald Trump and what it means for Australian politics, to social dislocation and distrust in our institutions – and in each other.</p>
<p>Mackay said: “We’re now seeing many long term trends coming to fruition”.</p>
<p>“What is happening to Australian society is that we are edging in that same direction [as America]: more inequality, a growing number of people who feel as though the political narrative – such as it is – has got nothing to do with them,” he said.</p>
<p>“Fragmentation is the theme of 2017,” he said, citing concerns about loneliness and disconnected communities. </p>
<p>As for what we can do differently in 2018? Part of the solution, Mackay said, is getting off the screens and connecting with people in our local neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>“We don’t have to be prime minister, we don’t have to be in government, we don’t have to be the lord mayor of Sydney to produce changes that could transform our way of life and mental health,” he said.</p>
<p>“We’re like most species on the planet in our deep need of each other, our deep need to feel connected, to feel as though we belong to herds and tribes, neighbourhoods groups and communities.”</p>
<p>“So the first thing I would say is let’s recognise that this strange collection of people that I live with in my apartment block or in my street <em>are</em> my neighbours and the neighbourhood.”</p>
<p>“We’re all friendly with our friends and we all know how to be nice to people we like. The great thing about neighbourhoods is they’re full of people we may like or dislike, very different from us,” he said. “It’s very good for our moral development to have to learn how to rub along with people you didn’t choose.”</p>
<p>When you move into a neighbourhood, he said, “you have imposed upon yourself a moral obligation to engage with whatever that community turns out to be. Because in a crisis, you’re going to need each other.”</p>
<p>“If you know that someone in your street or in your apartment block is living alone and you don’t see much of them, make sure you’ve made contact. Just knock on the door and say ‘G'day, I’m Hugh, I’m not going to bother you but I’m here’,” he said.</p>
<p>“It’s a good time of year to be saying ‘what can we do?’. Because it’s the season when it doesn’t seem deeply weird to organise a street party, or to invite the neighbours in.”</p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/speaking-with.../id934267338">Subscribe</a> to The Conversation’s Speaking With podcasts on Apple Podcasts, or <a href="http://tunein.com/radio/Speaking-with---The-Conversation-Podcast-p671452/">follow</a> on Tunein Radio.</em></p>
<p><strong>Music</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/The_Contessa/Wisteria">Free Music Archive: Blue Dot Sessions - Wisteria</a></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Author and social researcher Hugh Mackay says fragmentation was among the key themes of 2017 – but he has some concrete suggestions on how we can do better in 2018.Sunanda Creagh, Senior EditorLucinda Beaman, FactCheck EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/726602017-03-06T03:10:06Z2017-03-06T03:10:06ZContested spaces: who belongs on the street where you live?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158849/original/image-20170301-29933-e33puo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It turns out cul-de-sacs may be better than we realised for creating a safe and inclusive community within a community.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cul-De-Sac_Northwest_Pakuranga.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the second article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">Contested Spaces</a> series. These pieces look at the conflicting uses, expectations and norms that people bring to public spaces, the clashes that result and how we can resolve these.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Our neighbourhoods need to be safe and inclusive places – safe for even the most vulnerable in our community. This includes the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4433.0.55.003main+features102012">668,100 Australians</a> living with intellectual disability. </p>
<p>With the right support, these adults, who account for 2.9% of the population (up from 2.6% in 2009), can have independent and meaningful lives in a regular house or apartment. The main issue is not the type of accommodation, but its location. The neighbourhood, its design, and the community of people who live there are all significant factors for supporting safety and inclusion. </p>
<p>Yet neighbourhoods are complex and contested spaces. Communities and individuals assemble sets of <a href="http://search.proquest.com/docview/1460136424?pq-origsite=gscholar">exclusionary values</a> and expectations of the kinds of people and behaviours within them. Our perceptions of desirable streets are now so intertwined with property values and social status that we have very little tolerance of change. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7f5a/56e4a5bc19adbdd116ba78a704c3f4a43df8.pdf">collective socialisation</a> and the strength or relative weakness of a neighbourhood’s social networks all influence the environment and outcomes for existing and new residents. </p>
<p>Expectations of the physical and social desirability of a street include perceived qualities such as privacy, parking, like-mindedness, spacious, healthy, clean and so on. These expectations can have a significant impact on who is welcome. </p>
<p>Without a tolerance of difference and a diversity of demographics, ages, cultures and housing type, neighbourhoods will always struggle to be welcoming and safe.</p>
<p>A neighbourhood that is stigmatised as poor or rough is as likely as one deemed well-off to subject susceptible people to ongoing disadvantage. <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/14608790200500031">Research</a> shows that people with disabilities are at greater risk of bullying when living in economically disadvantaged or socially similar communities. </p>
<p>We need new understandings of what makes a neighbourhood a safe and inclusive place. We cannot ignore this issue. As medical and social care advances, adults with intellectual disability are <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02673030903086790">outliving their parents</a>. </p>
<p>This is wonderful news. But it is creates a concern for their families and support services. Where will these adults live independent and productive lives beyond the care of their parents?</p>
<h2>What is the ideal neighbourhood?</h2>
<p>Our research seeks to explore and describe the complexity of establishing the ideal neighbourhood <a href="https://hf-sts.com/">“system”</a> that will provide safe, inclusive and accessible places for adults with intellectual disability. We focused on adults aged between 18 and 40 who have <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/disability/community/intellectual-disability/">mild and moderate intellectual disability</a> as the primary disability. That’s upwards of 172,500 Australians. </p>
<p>We asked intellectually impaired adults, their parents and carers, as well as urban development and disability sector decision-makers, about the “ideal” neighbourhood. </p>
<p>Our outcomes consider the planning, design and engineering requirements of neighbourhoods. We also look at how to draw on the <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-62397-6_12">social capital</a> of a community to make a local neighbourhood safer and more inclusive. </p>
<p>Our approach includes ideas of a <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100737740">“Just City”</a>. This is about delivering places that are socially inclusive. By this we mean difference is not just tolerated, but treated with recognition and respect. </p>
<h2>What has our research found?</h2>
<p>Preliminary results indicate that three crucial high-level functions need to be established when designing or refurbishing a neighbourhood: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>actual and perceived safety within the street and neighbourhood</p></li>
<li><p>access to services and amenities via walking, cycling or public transport </p></li>
<li><p>inclusion in community life and local neighbourhood activity. </p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/158852/original/image-20170301-19806-l72fu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ‘exclusive neighbourhood’ has become a selling point, but may actually be less
safe and supportive because of its lack of diversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Montalke-cut-3919.jpg">Vmenkov/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A safe neighbourhood has a mix of residents who “keep an eye” on each other. Diversity in a neighbourhood can help minimise the <a href="http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/47425/80101_1.pdf?sequence=1">vulnerability</a> of adults with intellectual disability to abuse, or to their corruption and exploitation to behave illegally.</p>
<p>Neighbourhood diversity includes the types, scale and intensity of buildings, ensuring a variety of residential accommodation and commercial uses. This mix is important: it enables a range of activity and people across the neighbourhood day and night. </p>
<p>The challenge of accessibility is recognised from two aspects. The first involves access to health, employment and community services – or accessible transport to those services. The second issue is how close the independent living is to family and friends. </p>
<p>Inclusive locations have opportunities for recreation and social activities that all residents value. In some existing neighbourhoods, community education and introduction to diversity may be needed to enhance inclusiveness. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916585175001">Cul-de-sacs</a>, long considered by planners as inhibitors of (auto) connectivity, are emerging as preferred solutions for many families. A cul-de-sac offers residents a community within a community. Calmed traffic and greater opportunities for knowing your neighbours happen in cul-de-sacs.</p>
<h2>So how do we assess ‘ideal’ neighbourhoods?</h2>
<p>We are identifying the key features of neighbourhoods that offer community life, work and recreational opportunities for residents and visitors. We are taking a human factors and ergonomics <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociotechnical_system%E2%80%8Bhttp://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1463922X.2016.1143988">sociotechnical systems perspective</a>. </p>
<p>We look at the roles that, for instance, streets, trees, recreational opportunities, employment, transport, diversity and tolerance play as part of an entire neighbourhood “system”.</p>
<p>This allows us to develop a framework that shows the relationships between the features of a neighbourhood and safe, accessible and inclusive outcomes for residents. The framework helps planning and social housing decision-makers to identify and explore potential locations for independent living. </p>
<p>Importantly, we recognise that the values used in this approach to designing community neighbourhoods match the values we seek for equitable, ecological and economically viable built environments.</p>
<p>With this human factors approach we consider: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>people as assets in the system</p></li>
<li><p>technology as a tool to assist people</p></li>
<li><p>promotion of quality of life</p></li>
<li><p>respect for individual differences</p></li>
<li><p>responsibility of all stakeholders.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These considerations underpin what makes neighbourhoods safe, accessible and inclusive. And understanding the requirements of a neighbourhood that is good for adults with intellectual disability helps create places that are good for everyone.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other pieces in the series as they are published <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cate MacMillan is affiliated with The Compass Institute Palmwoods as an honorary general Board Member.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Stevens is affiliated with the Planning Institute of Australia. </span></em></p>Understanding what makes a neighbourhood street a good place to live for adults with intellectual disability can help create places that are good for everyone.Cate MacMillan, PhD Candidate, University of the Sunshine CoastNicholas Stevens, Senior Lecturer and Researcher, Land Use Planning & Urban Design, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/682632016-11-08T14:24:10Z2016-11-08T14:24:10ZStopping segregation: it’s not just where you live, it’s the places you go that matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145045/original/image-20161108-16712-9zfe4t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s widely accepted that when people of different religions and ethnicities live side by side and interact, it improves mutual trust and relations. By the same token, research shows that when there are more ethnic or religious minority people in a neighbourhood but less interaction between them and the white majority residents, the latter <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2013.788727">tend to be</a> more prejudiced and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X1400074X">less trusting</a>. </p>
<p>This theory – based on the <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.65">“contact hypothesis”</a> – gives us reason to be concerned about segregation between white majority and ethnic or religious minority residents. That’s why <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/wfd/ted-cantle-and-eric-kaufmann/is-segregation-on-increase-in-uk">a recent report</a> claiming that ethnic segregation is increasing across the UK caused <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/01/call-for-action-to-tackle-growing-ethnic-segregation-across-uk">a flurry of debate</a> about how to address the issue. </p>
<p>But in reality, the picture is far more complicated. Some research draws the opposite conclusion: that British cities have actually <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/international/21685481-cities-are-becoming-less-racially-segregated-thank-suburban-sprawl-extortionate?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/ed/thegreatmelting">become less segregated</a> over the years. </p>
<p>Other experts have criticised the way the report measured segregation, arguing that we should be more concerned about <a href="http://runnymedetrust.org/blog/segregation-isnt-white-minority">tackling racism</a> instead. After all, even in residential areas with low levels of segregation, people can self-segregate in spaces such as community centres, cafés, sports clubs, and bars, in order to avoid contact with each other. </p>
<h2>Beyond the neighbourhood</h2>
<p>Wealth can also play a role: when neighbourhoods are both segregated and poor, it can <a href="http://asr.sagepub.com/content/77/3/354.abstract">lower the quality</a> of community life, or it can enhance <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEnvironment/pdf/segregated%20Neighborhoods%20and%20mixed%20communities.pdf">community welfare and support</a>. The place where we live undoubtedly shapes our lives – but it’s not the only factor. </p>
<p>Let’s not forget that our attitudes toward others are shaped outside our neighbourhoods, too. We also spend time in the workplace or other institutions, such as universities, schools, parks, public services, shops and sports associations. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2014.902300">Research</a> based on the <a href="http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/">European Social Survey</a> has demonstrated that diversity in the workplace can play an even greater role in forging friendships between people of different religions and ethnicities. It has even been shown that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-954X.12311/abstract">chain cafés</a>, which are dotted throughout cities, create a convivial spaces which enable more in-depth interactions between diverse consumers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145037/original/image-20161108-20183-iv8yt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caffeine fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All of this evidence seems to indicate that the kinds of spaces where interactions take place have an impact on the attitudes of white majority people toward minorities. To better understand this link, my colleagues and I <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X15301332">developed a study</a>: after gathering data from surveys in Leeds, UK, and Warsaw, Poland, we analysed the prejudice of white residents of these two cities. </p>
<p>We asked them about their contact with people from minority groups in a variety of places. We then classified these places into five types of space, according to the different degrees of closeness they created between people. There were private spaces (homes), social spaces (social clubs, sport groups, community centres), institutional spaces (places of work and study), spaces of consumption (restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés) and public spaces (streets, parks, public transport, public services). </p>
<p>We measured people’s attitudes with two questions: the first was a <a href="http://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-survey-research-methods/n183.xml">“feeling thermometer”</a>, where respondents express the warmth of their feelings towards other groups in terms of degrees, from zero to 100. For the second question, we asked respondents how friendly they would be towards minority groups if they became their neighbours. </p>
<h2>Meeting places matter</h2>
<p>The results confirmed what we suspected – that where contact takes place matters when it comes to reducing prejudice. In Leeds, people held more positive feelings towards minorities when they interacted with them in institutional and social spaces. But only encounters in social spaces would make people more friendly to new minority neighbours. </p>
<p>So, while sharing a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tesg.12197/abstract">workplace</a> with minorities can improve feelings toward them, this does not necessarily translate into neighbourly friendliness among white British people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145039/original/image-20161108-16727-79txoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Passing by in public spaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wilks_photography/15706053472/sizes/l">wilks_photography/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Warsaw, we found a positive link between feelings and meeting minority people in public and consumption spaces. In particular, encounters with minority people in bars, restaurants and cafés were more likely to lead white majority residents to be friendly to them in neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>We suspect that in Warsaw cafés and restaurants play a similar role to social clubs and community centres in Leeds, by bringing people of different backgrounds together. Since the opening of country’s borders in 1989, Asian (<a href="http://www.ceemr.uw.edu.pl/vol-4-no-1-june-2015/articles/socialist-mobilities-crossing-new-terrains-vietnamese-migration">mostly Vietnamese</a>) <a href="http://planwarszawy.kontynent-warszawa.pl/">restaurants and takeaways</a> have spread across the Polish capital. They often become the sites of the first and – as it turns out – most meaningful encounters with non-Polish residents. </p>
<p>All this confirms that contact between people from different backgrounds is crucial for building cohesive societies – and we know that residential segregation makes this contact less likely. </p>
<p>But the spaces where contact takes place matter too. Whether in Leeds or Warsaw, encounters in public spaces do not translate into friendliness toward new minority neighbours. Reducing segregation does not guarantee that everyone will get along. Rather, we should cherish social spaces, as well as bars, cafés and restaurants, where people are encouraged to act as neighbours – not just strangers living side by side.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research mentioned in this article was part of a project funded by a European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award to Professor Gill Valentine.</span></em></p>Mixed neighbourhoods won’t necessarily make people friendlier.Aneta Piekut, Lecturer in Quantitative Social Sciences, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/677582016-10-31T09:30:53Z2016-10-31T09:30:53ZSeven simple ways to create healthy, happy neighbourhoods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143675/original/image-20161028-15788-aay69p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/meckert75/6485382549/sizes/l">meckert75/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern life is proving more complex, tiresome and heavy-going <a href="https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/urban-stress-and-mental-health/en-gb/">than we imagined</a>. We live under constant pressure: <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/07/species-not-evolving-fast-enough-cope-changing-world">our environments</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/technology-evolving-faster-than-our-ability-adapt-chris-hooper">the technology</a> we have developed seem to be evolving faster than we can keep up with, causing us stress, anxiety, depression and a whole range of other <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/abs/nature10190.html">modern disorders</a>. The way we consume, the food we eat and the forms of communication we use are all leading us to modern problems such as <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10253861003786983">hoarding</a>, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-012-0418-1">obesity</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1998.00703.x/full">loneliness</a>. </p>
<p>A whole range of recent research shows that we could be happier and healthier if we <a href="https://bmccomplementalternmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-14-8">made an effort to move more</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494405801847">connect with nature</a>, if we could support each other more and if we start caring for our places and our communities. Design can help make it happen with simple solutions that trigger our human instincts in positive ways. Here are seven simple rules to help us create healthier, happier neighbourhoods. </p>
<h2>1 - Make it human</h2>
<p>It’s important to work out the proportions and scale of a place, so that people feel comfortable, safe and welcomed. People of all ages must be able to interact, so designers should create places by the street where people can linger: small front gardens are a good option. </p>
<p>Think about how children might reclaim the streets – and how to make the elderly and vulnerable feel safer, so that they can stay out for longer periods of time, talking with their neighbours. Having frequent casual conversations or sharing small assets with our neighbours is usually the first step towards developing closer social ties. In time, this results in wider social support systems. </p>
<p>Having a good, strong, trustworthy group of people around us is an essential part of human life, and it can help to bridge generational divides and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13607860701366228">fight loneliness and isolation</a>. So designers should group or align houses to form <a href="https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/publications/en/rh-pr/tech/socio75.html">street patterns</a> that create opportunities to encounter neighbours. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143703/original/image-20161028-15807-12oa6uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Savannah cityplan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglethorpe_Plan#/media/File:Savannah_cityplan_1818.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A good example of this can be seen in the plan drawn out in 1818 for <a href="http://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/online-exhibits/three-centuries-of-georgia-history/eighteenth-century/establishing-the-colony/">Savannah, Georgia</a> – green squares and smaller backstreets give residents easy access to their streets, while motor traffic can flow without interruption down larger boulevards. A more modern example can be seen in the <a href="http://www.trentbasin.co.uk/">Trent Basin</a> development in Nottingham, UK. </p>
<h2>2 - Make it easy to move around</h2>
<p>The most important user of the street <a href="http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/uploads/files/street_design_2014.pdf">is the pedestrian</a> – people should be able to walk, or even skate or cycle safely to any location in the neighbourhood, by the shortest and most direct route possible. </p>
<p>These routes <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08870449808407422">should be entertaining</a>, interesting and fun, and offer a range of sensory experiences with different colours, sounds, smells and textures. This encourages people to walk more and depend less on their cars for short journeys. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143672/original/image-20161028-15816-1e5v7zi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A route for all seasons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/66391503@N00/8688428250/sizes/l">The Real GoG/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People – particularly children – should have the freedom to speed up and slow down when cycling or skating, to make journeys more interesting, promoting changes in routines and behaviours. </p>
<p>Designers should create street patterns and shapes that make it easy to find the way around. In order to <a href="http://www.bphope.com/blog/getting-lost-in-familiar-places/">minimise stress</a> and make navigation simple, routes should be visible and accessible, and every path should lead to a meaningful destination – so no dead ends. Cars are a necessity, so designers should consider the practicalities of car use and parking, but car-dominated environments must be strongly discouraged. </p>
<h2>3 - Make places that change with the seasons</h2>
<p>Neighbourhoods should be designed with an awareness of the seasons, including <a href="http://humanspaces.com/2016/06/23/natural-healing-with-biophilia/">adaptive landscapes and natural elements</a>. Introducing walls of climbing plants and colourful trees are simple ways to achieve environments that change with the seasons. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143665/original/image-20161028-15814-gdpb3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climbing wall bin refuge in Trent Basin, Nottingham.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Alavarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Landscaping must be considered as a way to control micro-climates, before investing in costly technology and design solutions. For example, using perennial trees, which die back during the colder months, can be used to to provide shade in summer while allowing sun in the winter. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25633948">presence of water</a> features can beautify the landscape, <a href="https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/reports/14-patterns/">enhance people’s mood</a> and create habitats for local wildlife, as well as making residents more aware of seasonal changes. </p>
<h2>4 - Make local food matter</h2>
<p>Good design must consider all the parties involved in <a href="http://downtoearth.danone.com/2012/10/26/urban-food-feeding-the-cities-of-tomorrow/">supplying and consuming food</a> in the local area. Every resident should have an opportunity to be in direct contact with soil, engage in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19320240802529169">private and communal planting</a> and <a href="http://downtoearth.danone.com/2012/10/26/urban-food-feeding-the-cities-of-tomorrow/">grow their own food</a> – activities which carry multiple <a href="http://www.farmtocafeteriacanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/GrowingHealth_BenefitsReport.pdf">physical and mental health benefits</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143663/original/image-20161028-15779-6d9nha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Growing your own makes you happier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Alvarez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Smart waste management should be a priority from the beginning. This means looking for opportunities to create shared waste disposal, storage and collection wherever possible. </p>
<p>Verges, planters and areas of grassland across the neighbourhood should be accessible to the public – and residents should be allowed to take ownership of unused or spare land to organise community activities that are good for the environment and local ecosystems, such as seed planting for <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/death-and-extinction-of-the-bees/5375684">bee pollination</a>. </p>
<p>If landscaping is managed by private developers, then public, communal and private land should include as many <a href="http://www.healthista.com/13-reasons-to-be-outdoors-and-foraging-for-food/">edible species</a> as possible, such as fruit trees, herbs and berries.</p>
<h2>5 - Make places to share</h2>
<p>All neighbourhood places must be designed with the capacity to host and invite a range of neighbouring and community activities within walking distance of homes. These places should be full of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953608006205">purpose and meaning</a>, <a href="http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/3/755.short">enriching the lives</a> of the humans and animals who share the neighbourhood. </p>
<p>When places become part of our lives and occupy a place in our hearts, we are keener to protect them – and the people within them – by taking positive community action to ensure their maintenance and endurance; in short, we start to <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/6f1ee986fa8fcd044c85c4110ec65560/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">care more</a>.</p>
<h2>6 - Make places that people understand</h2>
<p>Every street and public place should carry a <a href="https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/planning/programmes/postgraduate/postgraduate-modules/benvgsu4/students-work/marta-liut-poster.pdf">strong identity</a>. Places should be named in relation to their character and without complexity, to allow everyone to identify them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143671/original/image-20161028-15810-cuzm4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You wouldn’t forget a place like this.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Landscape and natural elements are powerful tools for this purpose. For example, “Cherry Lane” would be associated with a narrow shared street where most houses have cherry trees in their front gardens; that name would be easy to remember. Smell can also be a powerful design tool, oranges, linden, jasmine and other aromatic species can help people identify with places and create <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201301/smell-and-memory-old-feelings-in-new-place">long-lasting memories</a>.</p>
<h2>7 - Make places where people want to belong</h2>
<p>Places should also allow residents to develop regular routines, which create personal and collective memories associated with life in the neighbourhood. This allows people to <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2001-18164-005">add social meaning</a> and value to their local places, creating local history through their own communal life experiences. </p>
<p>A person’s personal and social identity is closely related to their local environment. It’s crucial to manage the scale and character of areas, so that these feel intimate to the residents. People who feel they belong to a place are more likely to develop more positive attitudes towards their environments and their neighbours.</p>
<p>Everyone should have communal land – or other assets, such as shared energy supplies – a short walk away from their homes, giving everyone the opportunity to actively care and relate closely to their neighbours.</p>
<p>When people have a <a href="http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/What%20isAssetBasedCommunityDevelopment(1).pdf">common interest</a> in a place, they also have a greater sense of environmental responsibility. This, in turn, helps to <a href="http://www.dtascommunityownership.org.uk/community/asset-transfer-policy-benefits/benefits-community-ownership">consolidate community groups</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-give-people-a-greater-say-in-their-cities-62672">develop local leadership</a>.</p>
<p>Being happier and healthier is actually simpler than it might appear. We just need to remember what being human is all about: being able to move safely around our environments; being aware of the seasons in order to resource our food; sharing places that we understand and having a community where we belong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Alvarez works for alkiki and Lathams Architects. She received funding from EPSRC. She is affiliated with the Urban Design Group. </span></em></p>Modern life is stressful – here’s how to make your local neighbourhood a haven.Laura B. Alvarez, Lecturer in Architectural Technology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/590682016-05-09T06:30:19Z2016-05-09T06:30:19ZFive ways Reg Grundy changed Australian TV (for better or worse)<p>Reg Grundy, who has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-09/reg-grundy-dies-aged-92-at-bermuda-home/7395114">died in Bermuda at age 92</a>, did for television content what Henry Ford did for car production. He saw the potential to take a story-line with a strong emotional centre – of proven appeal in one market – and produce it, with small cultural variations, to capture the interests of audiences in countries around the world. It was production to a strict format.</p>
<p>Grundy – the TV mogul who never owned a TV station – pioneered the idea of the format as the core of a program and a saleable commodity. A format is a generic version of a TV show: for instance, a drama centred around a specific socio-economic setting with particular characters and narratives. The key with formats is that it’s the emotional core of the show that matters, not the cast or location.</p>
<p>Here are five ways he changed Australian TV: </p>
<h2>1. Turning radio game shows into TV fodder</h2>
<p>Grundy started in radio as a quiz master and developed the radio game show Wheel of Fortune. In 1959, he adapted the format for TV and sold it to Channel 9. Wheel of Fortune <a href="http://www.wheeloffortune.com/">remains popular in the USA</a>. This was the beginning of a long, but not exclusive relationship with the Packer empire.</p>
<h2>2. Making local versions of US shows</h2>
<p>Grundy quickly realised that early Australian television was a potential market not just for US programs, but for local adaptations of US shows. He brought the US game shows <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197146/">Concentration</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181057/">Tic, Tac, Dough</a> to Australia, the latter’s format copied from NBC in the US. Over the next decade, other game shows such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044270/">I’ve Got a Secret</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051303/">Play Your Hunch</a> followed, gaining large and faithful local audiences. In due course, he started producing local versions of foreign formats in the US too.</p>
<h2>3. Making iconic drama</h2>
<p>Grundy expanded into drama following the success of Crawford Productions in Melbourne, but with a distinctly more tabloid approach. (Or perhaps, that was just the Sydney sensibility, pioneered by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068114/">Number 96</a>.)</p>
<p>Prisoner (still in production here on Pay TV as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2433738/">Wentworth</a>) was an early success, and was followed by soapies like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140761/">The Restless Years</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074077/">The Young Doctors</a>. Then came <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081935/">Sons and Daughters</a>, a show that ran to 972 half hour episodes. </p>
<p>And Grundy was tenacious with his titles, not abandoning one if rejected by a TV station. Such was the case with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088580/">Neighbours</a>. Rejected by ATN Channel 7 after one season in 1985, Grundy sold the program to Ten the following year, and then to the BBC, where it achieved popularity to rival Coronation Street and adopted some UK story lines. Neighbours has gone through a dozen casts and hundreds of script writers but remains Neighbours to this day.</p>
<h2>4. Seeing new business opportunities</h2>
<p>Grundy developed the trade in formats in ways not then pursued by production companies. He recognised that underlying the scripts of a successful series lay some core concepts that made the production unique. These format elements, as well as the scripts, were saleable commodities. </p>
<p>Grundy would take the key elements of the story – the characters and the relationships, as well as the scripts – and on sell them to another country to be adapted to their market. Sons and Daughters, for instance, is still selling as a format almost 30 years after it first appeared in Australia on Channel Seven. Recently, it was remade as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434737/">Zabranjena Ljubav</a> in Croatia and, separately, in Bulgaria, under the same title. </p>
<p>Under format licensing agreements, the remakes normally vary little from the original production, but are given tweaks for local cultural sensitivities and technical and production limitations. This rigidity preserves the value of the brand but also gives confidence to advertisers that the program’s commercial performance is likely to match the performance of the original.</p>
<h2>5. Knowing when to call it quits</h2>
<p>Grundy knew when to hold, and when to fold. If you are working in global market, it is a valuable lesson for small players in Australia to take note of.</p>
<p>In 1995, Grundy sold to the UK conglomerate Pearson Television, now known as Fremantle Media. Its Australian arm remains a prolific television producer and distributor of programs.</p>
<p>Formats, however, are largely oriented towards the tabloid end of television. They support a production line approach to content creation. Given the voracious nature of broadcast, online and on-demand television, such productions fill hours of television each day.</p>
<p>Still, they do no replace flagship production for prime time, where audiences still hunger for the new, the innovative and, sometimes, the demanding and controversial.</p>
<p>Alongside the cookie-cutter format remakes, there will always be a place for excellence in TV production.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent O'Donnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reg Grundy, who has died at 92, was an Australian TV mogul who never owned a TV station. He did for TV content what Ford did for car production - marketing a product of proven appeal to people around the world.Vincent O'Donnell, Honorary Research Associate of the School of Media and Communication, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/387792015-03-17T02:54:56Z2015-03-17T02:54:56ZAfter 30 years, can Neighbours and Australians become good friends?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75002/original/image-20150316-9221-1cay5l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For 30 years the families of Ramsay Street have been working out their problems before a devoted international audience.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Ten</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tomorrow (March 18) marks the 30th anniversary of Neighbours – a pretty impressive feat for a soap that is so often derided or avoided in its country of origin. So what’s its secret?</p>
<p>First, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have been writing Neighbours on and off for 15 years. I began as a storyliner in 2000, became a script editor in 2002, left the show in 2004 to live in the UK and work on other soaps, taking both the ethos and the methodology of Neighbours to countries such as Croatia, Slovakia, and Poland – and then finally returned to Erinsborough where I now once more write and edit scripts.</p>
<p>I knew Neighbours was a cultural icon, but it wasn’t until I began writing the show and came into contact with the fans that I realised just how important this daily half hour about a suburban cul de sac is to peoples’ lives. I mentioned to a woman in England that I had storylined Madge’s death – she burst into tears and said: “Madge was like a grandmother to me.”</p>
<h2>Where the fans live</h2>
<p>The massive UK fan base, established when Neighbours was on the BBC in the 1980s and 1990s and screened twice a day, and managing to remain strong through the move to Channel 5 with it smaller audience reach (still screening twice a day), keeps the show going through the ups and downs of Australian audiences’ love/hate relationship with it. There’s a regular bus tour to “Ramsay Street” (actually Pin Oak Court in the eastern suburb of Vermont South) and a crowded and raucous fan night held every Monday at a pub in Melbourne’s St Kilda where some of the actors chat and take photos with the fans. Most of the accents are English. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75000/original/image-20150316-9181-nz7nf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All aboard the Neighbours tour bus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/s__i/8199375479">Simon Tunbridge/Flickr</a></span>
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<p>Why don’t we Australians love our Neighbours? Perhaps it’s a victim of tall poppy syndrome, with Australians compelled to turn their backs on our greatest cultural export – though I defy you to find an Australian who hasn’t seen Scott and Charlene’s wedding, Bouncer’s dream or Madge’s death. </p>
<p>Or perhaps it is that we don’t want to watch a reflection of ourselves and our lives – it’s just not exciting enough, not different enough, or perhaps not realistic enough. Neighbours is the boring suburbia we are trying to escape, but for UK and other overseas audiences it’s a peaceful, privileged life where you can spend half the day in the pub and still pay the mortgage and not be a drunk.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75001/original/image-20150316-9211-1hjhdni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Happy days for Scott and Charlene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Ten</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the reasons for Neighbours’ popularity in the UK and elsewhere – it has been sold to 50 countries – is undoubtedly the vision it creates of a sunnier life elsewhere, where good neighbours become good friends, no-one is lonely, and everyone’s life has drama, laughter, and love. </p>
<p>But not too much drama. </p>
<p>Neighbours’ stories tend to work through issues to regain a state of balance and happiness. In some cases this takes years. </p>
<p>Popular heritage characters Susan and Karl have been on the show since 1994. They have raised children, split up, divorced, and remarried several times. Together again, they exemplify true love: facing challenges but always together in the end. The show has heart; it’s one of the mantras for the writers.</p>
<p>I remember working with a producer whose story vision was that there was never a Neighbours’ problem so big that it couldn’t be solved over a cup of tea. As drama writers we railed against him, but in hindsight perhaps he was right. </p>
<p>It’s one of the shows enduring story features and best loved qualities: that things do have a tendency to turn out okay. Except, that is, for the characters who have been killed off over the years – though they have lovely funerals where lots of people cry. Even in death, good neighbours are good friends.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tlRR4SEjPPc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bouncer’s dream.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Real life stories</h2>
<p>Many people have said to me that they grew up watching Neighbours, and now that they have children themselves, watching the show together every day is a bond. And a way of bringing up sometimes difficult issues with children and teenagers. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75006/original/image-20150316-23797-oyxnfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fans on Ramsay Street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Riggs/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although <em>Neighbours</em> has a G rating, the writers regularly approach contentious topics and give the characters real relatable crises to face. </p>
<p>Over the years I’ve been involved in writing stories about surrogacy, drug addiction, sexuality, and of course infidelity, crime and illnesses galore. </p>
<p>Neighbours may not always explore the darkest possibilities of these issues, but the writers research extensively and put consideration into how to tell these stories responsibly and dramatically. A key factor is always telling stories emotionally and within character. I think this is one of the things that makes the show endure: a loyalty to character, plus a sense of hope.</p>
<h2>Thirty years on Ramsay Street</h2>
<p>The concept of <em>Neighbours</em> was created in a different time historically and culturally. In 1985 Reg Watson came up with a humble television show about families living on a street. It was commissioned by Channel 7, dropped after a year, and then picked up by Channel 10, which could not have imagined the success ahead. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75004/original/image-20150316-9211-1t1lqlq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Craig McLachlan and Kylie Minogue at Neighbours’ most famous wedding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Ten</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>The golden age that defines the show was definitely the late ‘80s period of Scott and Charlene and the wedding that lives on in popular cultural memory. I have written a few Neighbours weddings and always been contacted by fans who want to use the vows for their own weddings. It’s not the writing that’s so special – it’s the aura of Neighbours and the desire to be connected to the happiness of family and friends in Erinsborough.</p>
<p>Family is definitely one of the keys of the concept’s success. Whenever the balance of characters shifts too far from family groups, towards share houses or singletons, ratings drop, fans complain. There is definitely a yearning to see families living together, working through their issues and coming out the other end still together. </p>
<p>In some ways, Neighbours is a victim of its own success. It is unable to change drastically because the fans love it the way it is. If it is accused of being naïve, unrealistic, and out of touch, let’s not forget that it is a television show from another time, another century.</p>
<p>Clearly, its enduring popularity and 30-year anniversary are evidence that it’s in touch with many people daily. And it seems that what Neighbours gives – family, hope, endurance – is what many people still want to see.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philippa Burne is a current scriptwriter for Neighbours.</span></em></p>Why don’t we Australians love our Neighbours? Perhaps the long-running soap is a local victim of tall poppy syndrome – but the sunny vision of Australian suburban life remains wildly popular internationally.Philippa Burne, Teacher and co-ordinator, 3rd year BFA Screenwriting, Victorian College of the Arts,, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161572013-07-24T05:04:00Z2013-07-24T05:04:00ZNeighbourhood ‘care’ headed to graveyard of good intention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27933/original/dxbb3kv7-1374593449.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C1019%2C794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's naive to assume neighbourhoods mean communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">RobertHuffstutter</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Neighbourhood watch groups <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10179141/Neighbourhood-watch-groups-should-provide-care-to-miserable-and-lonely-pensioners-says-health-minister.html">should apply for care status</a> and provide help for older people to counter Britain’s “uncivilised” attitude to pensioners. </p>
<p>As well as looking out for potential burglars and keeping an eye out for neighbours gardens, watchers could also offer help to elderly neighbours, including washing and feeding. </p>
<p>Although attractive in principle, the evidence suggests it would be unwise to equate the concept of neighbourhood with assumptions about its capacity to create a rich social capital.</p>
<h2>What makes good neighbours?</h2>
<p>In a report with Melanie Henwood, we reviewed <a href="http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/Resources/BCC/CaseStudies/Skills_for_Care_Only_a_footstep_away_neighbourhoods_research.pdf">the sociological evidence</a> of “neighbourliness”. </p>
<p>We found several things that shape our experience of neighbourhoods, including proximity - whether you live next door or in the next street - and how quickly you can pop round or help in an emergency, although the ability to help in an ongoing way is declining and more limited than it used to be.</p>
<p>How long you’ve lived somewhere and whether you’re considered a “newcomer” also shapes our experience as well as social polarisation - reciprocal neighbourhood care grows where information and trust are high, and where there are limited resources for satisfying needs in other ways - classic features of deprived and socially homogeneous neighbourhoods.</p>
<h2>Communities and associations</h2>
<p>In the 19th century, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/599337/Ferdinand-Tonnies">the sociologist Ferdinand Tonnies</a> argued that in rural gemeinschaft (or community) groups, social order was based on a web of social ties - people knew each other in a range of multiple roles, such as parents, neighbours, co-workers, friends or kin. </p>
<p>But urban neighbourhoods were organised more like gesellchaft (or associations) with single-stranded ties - only knowing each other in single, specialised roles such as “the person next door” or the binman.</p>
<p>These structures have only intensified. Better transport, longer journeys to work, a wider geographical spread of friends and kin, a wider range of shopping and recreational opportunities, and more insular families, have all reduced the idea of neighbourhood as the central point of social interaction and social support. </p>
<p>The prospect of relying on those in the neighbourhood to help vulnerable neighbours with washing and feeding, let alone companionship (and especially in urban areas), looks remote.</p>
<h2>Big Society and other attempts</h2>
<p>The last Labour government invested quite heavily in a range of neighbourhood-focused initiatives but with little to show for the effort. </p>
<p>Evaluations of two initiatives they launched, the <a href="http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/evaluation-national-strategy-neighbourhood-renewal">Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy</a> and the <a href="http://extra.shu.ac.uk/ndc/downloads/general/A%20final%20assessment.pdf">New Deal for Communities</a> programme, which both aimed to utilise community spirit to improve deprived neighbourhoods found little evidence of improved conditions or growth in social capital.</p>
<p>The idea of <a href="http://www.sqw.co.uk/file_download/140">another programme</a> was to employ a neighbourhood manager, supported by a small team, to drive local improvement and create community cohesion. Again, the results <a href="http://www.sqw.co.uk/file_download/140">were less than fulsome</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, there’s been the Big Society, the flagship Tory election policy to empower communities and take a more active role in looking after each other and providing local services. But despite the rhetoric, little has been heard of much trumpeted initiatives that fall under its umbrella, such as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/national-citizen-service">National Citizen Service</a> or the 5000-strong <a href="http://locality.org.uk/projects/community-organisers/">Community Organisers programme</a> to “galvanise those around them to become more active”. </p>
<p>The Big Society concept itself has become something of a byword for failed politics.</p>
<h2>Lamb’s idea</h2>
<p>Where does this leave Lamb’s proposal? There is no doubt that he is on to something interesting with his focus on neighbourhoods. But it’s fanciful to think there is a huge store of social capital out there just waiting to be cultivated. </p>
<p>Neighbourhood policy and practice already crosses all sectors – informal, independent, statutory, voluntary and community. It also straddles many organisational and professional boundaries. </p>
<p>An area with around 10,000 people living in it, for example, is likely to contain primary health care services, community health services, adult and children’s social care and support, early years and primary school provision, neighbourhood policing, a community pharmacy, neighbourhood wardens of some sort, a number of voluntary and community groups, housing offices, commercial and leisure facilities, and some measure of social capital. </p>
<p>All of these contributions are important but they rarely act together. Now there’s a serious policy challenge with a huge potential pay-off.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/16157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Hudson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Neighbourhood watch groups should apply for care status and provide help for older people to counter Britain’s “uncivilised” attitude to pensioners. As well as looking out for potential burglars and keeping…Bob Hudson, Professor of Applied Social Science, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/41442012-01-04T19:49:18Z2012-01-04T19:49:18ZDo you know your neighbour? Lending a hand and the Queensland floods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/5216/original/queensland_floods.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians willingly helped their neighbours when it was needed during the Queensland floods of 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/RaeAllen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Neighbours are a source of growing aggravation in Australia and we are lodging more official complaints about each other than ever before. Excessive noise or odour, inadequate levels of property maintenance, roaming animals and general forms of anti-social behaviour are all potentially cause for complaint.</p>
<p>Yet the overwhelming message that flowed from events like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/floods">floods</a> in Queensland and Victoria last year was one of neighbours, friends and even strangers rallying to assist flooded residents in their hour of need.</p>
<p>As the waters rose, neighbours banded together to sandbag each others’ homes and move possessions to higher ground. Once they receded, information, food, homes and equipment were freely shared. Observers lauded the spirit of community that prevailed. </p>
<p>So, why are neighbours still there when needed even if their noise, smells and habits are cause for complaint the rest of the time? </p>
<h2>Poor planning</h2>
<p>The rise in neighbourly tensions has been attributed to poor council planning laws which create increasingly dense living areas. Otherwise blame has been put on the breakdown of society, which has reduced familiar neighbours to intolerant and inconsiderate strangers.</p>
<p>It is true that neighbourhoods are changing and that good urban planning can help reduce potential conflict. Yet there is no evidence so far that suggests complaints are more likely to arise in high density or transition suburbs than any other. </p>
<p>Nor can we say that the close-knit ties we once enjoyed have been uniformly lost. Many people still have frequent and positive contact with neighbours. </p>
<p>There are therefore two ways we can explain this contradiction. The first relates to the tension between neighbourliness and privacy, the second to conflict and civility. </p>
<h2>Finding a balance</h2>
<p>Research shows that neighbourly support and interaction were particularly high in older working class suburbs. But so too were conflict and gossip. Everyone knew everyone else’s business.</p>
<p>Today, we are more protective of our privacy and expectations of neighbourly conduct have changed. “Good” neighbours are friendly but not too friendly, they keep a respectful distance but are there when needed.</p>
<p>This is a precarious balance based on an unspoken moral code. This makes breaches nearly impossible to avoid.</p>
<p>It also means we are less likely than ever to know our neighbours.</p>
<h2>Avoiding confrontation</h2>
<p>Social distance does not solve the issue of physical proximity. Neighbours may not know each others’ names but they learn a lot about each other nevertheless, some of it quite intimate.</p>
<p>This proximity requires careful management to prevent private lives encroaching upon others’ domestic spaces and causing offence. </p>
<p>It may be that neighbourly conflicts have not increased, simply that problem neighbours are now dealt with through formal channels rather than over-the-fence conversations. Low levels of social contact, coupled with the desire to maintain friendly distance and avoid conflict, renders people reluctant to confront offenders.</p>
<p>As a start, they may try to ignore the problem. But complaints to a third party offer a final resort, allowing complainants to remain anonymous and uninvolved. </p>
<h2>A costly habit</h2>
<p>The problem for councils, however, is that significant resources are expended in investigating petty disputes. Anonymous complaints also create an environment of suspicion among neighbours. </p>
<p>There is a possibility that the wave of goodwill exhibited during the floods will minimise neighbourly conflicts, or at least reduce registered complaints. But it may also create new sets of expectations about neighbours and new forms of conflict if these normative codes are breached. Time will tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4144/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynda Cheshire receives funding from The Australian Research Council (ARC Future Fellowship)
She is affiliated with the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland</span></em></p>Neighbours are a source of growing aggravation in Australia and we are lodging more official complaints about each other than ever before. Excessive noise or odour, inadequate levels of property maintenance…Lynda Cheshire, ARC Future Fellow in Sociology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.