tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/neighbourhood-cohesion-49119/articlesNeighbourhood cohesion – The Conversation2020-06-17T20:06:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1404492020-06-17T20:06:54Z2020-06-17T20:06:54Z‘The neighbours were always very welcoming and warm’: little things count to help refugees belong<p>Successful settlement and integration are shared goals of refugees and the communities where they settle. The findings of our <a href="https://www.ssi.org.au/images/Signature_Foundations_Report_withlink.pdf">research</a> released today highlight the importance of simple everyday encounters and experiences for newly arrived refugees to feel welcome in Australia. We also found refugees’ strong social bonds with family and community do not prevent them developing connections with the broader Australian community.</p>
<p>Here we explore two aspects to refugees’ social connections:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>“social bonds” that connect refugees to others within their ethnic or religious community</p></li>
<li><p>“social bridges” that connect them to others in the wider community. </p></li>
</ul>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation. Data: Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Most research on refugee integration focuses on areas like employment, education, English proficiency and health. Our research shines a light on aspects of settlement that are often overlooked: refugees’ social connections. The social dimensions of integration help them to build resilience in the face of the challenges of navigating a new chapter of their lives in Australia. </p>
<p>These social connections help lay the foundations for belonging. Ultimately, this promotes their long-term integration. </p>
<p>We surveyed 334 refugees in their preferred language. All were past participants in an on-arrival settlement program in New South Wales. We conducted 15 follow-up interviews.</p>
<p>Importantly, all the survey participants had permanent residency in Australia. This gave them full and equal access to rights and services. We believe this was a critical factor in the high levels of belonging they reported. </p>
<p>The security of permanent protection provides a bedrock for high levels of trust in both the Australian community and institutions. The majority of respondents reported strong trust in: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the government (a lot of trust, 85%)</p></li>
<li><p>the people they work and study with (78%, a lot/some)</p></li>
<li><p>the people in their neighbourhood (75%, a lot/some)</p></li>
<li><p>the wider Australian community, to a slightly lesser extent (67% a lot/some).</p></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342078/original/file-20200616-23255-10wup1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&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="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation. Data: Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Building bonds with Australia starts locally</h2>
<p>As refugees engage with their ethnic and religious communities, our research found they also develop a strong sense of belonging to their local neighbourhood and mixed friendship networks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342090/original/file-20200616-23231-2npjs6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&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="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation. Data: Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Over three-quarters of respondents regularly meet and get to know people from ethnic and religious backgrounds other than their own. This indicates a high level of interactions and social bridges in everyday situations.</p>
<p>However, age, gender and particularly place of residence all play a role. Refugees living in regional areas were more likely than people in metropolitan areas to regularly meet people from ethnic/religious communities other than their own (90% strongly agree/agree in rural areas compared to 81% in urban areas). Men were more likely to regularly meet people from different backgrounds (81% strongly agree/agree compared to 70% among women), as were those between the ages of 18 and 24 (79%). </p>
<h2>Good neighbours create social bridges</h2>
<p>We found it’s mainly everyday encounters and experiences that foster refugees’ social bridges to the wider community. Their rates of participation in formal community activities – such as school, parent support groups and youth groups – were relatively low. </p>
<p>Despite reporting language difficulties in talking with their neighbours, refugees had high levels of trust in their neighbours and neighbourhoods. This was a result of positive and regular interactions and experiences. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342087/original/file-20200616-23217-eu426t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&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="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation, Data: Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The findings suggest that local, everyday and neighbourhood-level social bridges are a critical part of refugee belonging. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342326/original/file-20200617-23247-4mhesp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&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="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation, Data: Author provided</span></span>
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<p>It is at this local scale that policy and service interventions are most likely to succeed. The findings also highlight why it’s important to safeguard and enhance positive attitudes towards refugees in the wider community.</p>
<p>For example, 25-year-old Maher from Afghanistan, who arrived in 2017, spoke about the importance of neighbours being friendly. He remembers them saying hello to him when he first arrived:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The neighbours were always very welcoming and warm, and usually when they see me they were greeting me well and it was making me feel very comfortable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aram, a 39-year-old Armenian man from Syria, also arrived in 2017. He, too, valued the general friendliness in his multicultural neighbourhood: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The community where I’m at, or the neighbourhood, there are people from all different races, from Asian to Middle-Eastern, Africans, they are all different nations. So we get along really well. We all say ‘hello’ to each other, very courteous to each other. So, in both ways, it feels that I’m welcome from this end and welcome from the other end. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>These are the simple things anyone can do</h2>
<p>Overall, our findings suggest people in the community can do a number of simple, everyday things to help refugees feel welcome. And, in doing so, they support their integration. Suggested actions include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>say hello, smile and wave to neighbours – even if there is a language barrier, small positive actions make people feel like they are living in a safe and supportive community</p></li>
<li><p>help with everyday activities if you can – offer to carry in shopping, give lifts to work or school, keep an eye on the house or collect mail when neighbours are away, which are all small actions that newly arrived families remember as very welcoming</p></li>
<li><p>support grassroots ethnic and religious community groups if they are fundraising, holding activities or looking for volunteers – these are great local spaces to build social “bridges”</p></li>
<li><p>contribute to an overall positive social climate and public discourse by sharing positive attitudes towards refugees and supporting organisations that do the same.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shanthi Robertson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tadgh McMahon is Research and Policy Manager at Settlement Services International which provides services to refugees and migrants. </span></em></p>It’s the simple, everyday encounters and experiences – a friendly wave, a helping hand – that refugees say makes them feel part of the Australian community.Shanthi Robertson, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityTadgh McMahon, Adjunct Lecturer, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1389492020-06-07T19:49:13Z2020-06-07T19:49:13ZWe’re at a fork in the road: do we choose neighbourhoods to live, work and play in?<p>Living, working and playing in the one neighbourhood has often been touted as the ideal outcome for well-planned cities. Yet this goal has been elusive. For most of us, our daily activities are segregated into one-dimensional precincts.</p>
<p>Every morning we emerge from our “cave” and travel to a fixed place of employment. Thus, we are beholden to transport planners to manage our daily commute.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-more-of-us-work-from-home-after-coronavirus-well-need-to-rethink-city-planning-136261">If more of us work from home after coronavirus we'll need to rethink city planning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Then came COVID-19. Restrictions changed our behaviour – we adapted. </p>
<p>Those of us who could worked from home. We walked locally, shopped locally, exercised locally, “home-schooled” our children locally and bought take-away locally. For many, our neighbourhoods have become our new “world” where we live, work and play.</p>
<p>We are now at a crossroad. One choice is to circle back to where we came as restrictions are eased. The other is to explore the opportunities our new behaviours have created. </p>
<p>We are in a position to explore the intersections between these new behaviours and how we think about our local neighbourhoods. Can we reach that elusive nirvana of work, rest and play locally?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-reminds-us-how-liveable-neighbourhoods-matter-for-our-well-being-135806">Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Re-imaging our neighbourhoods</h2>
<p>Re-imagining our neighbourhoods is much more that enhancing the quality of the individual parts. We have an opportunity to strategically build on our behavioural adaptions to shift away from precincts based on simple one-dimensional land use. Just as many planners have been contemplating <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/autonomous-vehicles-1007">how autonomous vehicles might change our thinking</a> about transport planning, re-imagining our neighbourhoods requires us to think well beyond our new behaviours.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people who have set up home offices would love to continue working from home at least some of the time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-student-freelancer-working-home-on-1071472322">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Are there <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/i-feel-so-much-better-employees-ready-to-work-from-home-more-often-20200531-p54y33.html">long-term implications of working from home</a>? Will we change our perceptions of what activities we expect to see in our neighbourhood? What may influence our thoughts? </p>
<p>If we wish to move away from one-dimensional land-use precincts, we need to start at the home and consider where the boundaries between live, work and play lie. Some developers already <a href="https://www.metricon.com.au/home-truths/2020/march/how-to-create-the-perfect-home-office-setup">provide homes with a tailored home office</a> with a separate entrance. How could this evolve? Should we encourage it? </p>
<p>Such questions put into play planning regulations, but more importantly our expectations about the lifestyle of the place where we live. Many employment sectors are relatively benign in terms of nuisance impacts. Do we need to reconsider what activities are permissible as home-based businesses? And how many people can work at a home?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/life-in-lockdown-has-shown-us-our-houses-need-to-work-harder-for-us-138307">Life in lockdown has shown us our houses need to work harder for us</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>At the same time we can turn our attention to local centres and how they might evolve and grow. Interestingly, for Greater Sydney, the roughly 1,300 local centres account for close to <a href="https://www.greater.sydney/metropolis-of-three-cities/productivity/jobs-and-skills-city/investment-and-business-activity">18% of all the city’s jobs</a>, similar to that of the whole industrial sector. What placemaking and planning considerations require attention? </p>
<p>For both <a href="https://www.greater.sydney/metropolis-of-three-cities/productivity/jobs-and-skills-city/investment-and-business-activity">Sydney</a> and <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/377117/Plan_Melbourne_2017_Outcome_5_PDF.pdf">Melbourne</a>, the metropolitan plans identify councils as having those responsibilities. Should support come from state government? The role of governments is to be an enabler. For state governments there are tangible benefits to justify transferring and reprioritising resources to accelerate change.</p>
<p>Can we then look one step further and consider if there are opportunities to decentralise activities to the neighbourhood level? This might include post-secondary education and health services, community and social services. Can we turn community nodes into vibrant mixed-use local centres?</p>
<h2>Making the shift from commuting</h2>
<p>Walking our local streets has reintroduced many people to the human scale of their neighbourhood. The interactions at this scale are in stark contrast to the utilitarian role of many local streets. Their layout seeks to move cars in and out of our neighbourhoods as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>Our desire to “get out” and walk has also directed many people to their local centre. How can we support this new walking and shopping behaviour? The broad societal benefits range from healthier communities to reduced pressure on the transport network.</p>
<p>Do we now have an opportunity to take a long-term view? Can we use today’s disruptions to start re-imagining the structure of our neighbourhoods? This might be a journey of incremental steps such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>developing a lattice of widened nature strips to restructure and re-orientate neighbourhoods to enhance local connectivity to where we work, rest and play and let us just safely walk <em>our</em> streets</p></li>
<li><p>creating “community corridors” by connecting existing local facilities and centres and strategically locating new activities</p></li>
<li><p>using the lattice together with the adaption of working from home as a catalyst to re-imagine the activities that can allow communities to live, work and play locally</p></li>
<li><p>enhancing local amenity and the human scale of neighbourhoods by expanding urban tree cover and <a href="https://www.victoriawalks.org.au/pocket_parks/">pocket parks</a>. Better street lighting might be an important enabler for a walking community, not just a minimum provision for those who may dare to walk.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reclaiming-the-streets-we-all-can-have-a-say-in-the-new-normal-after-coronavirus-137703">Reclaiming the streets? We all can have a say in the 'new normal' after coronavirus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A new focus for planning</h2>
<p>For probably the first time in planning’s history, all in the community are acutely aware of the challenges we face. And we all see the opportunity to work together on a pathway to recovery.</p>
<p>Re-imagining our local neighbourhoods might also suggest a new way of thinking about how we plan our cities. Our behaviour response to COVID-19 is shifting the metropolitan planning spotlight from the macro to the micro – the local neighbourhood – and to the importance of applying as much thinking and resources to that area as to the dynamics of whole metropolitan area.</p>
<p>A collaborative approach to a re-imagined neighbourhood will allow local communities to be actively involved in shaping their own and our collective future. </p>
<p>The fork in the road is clear. Which path we take is in our hands.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-changed-our-sense-of-place-so-together-we-must-re-imagine-our-cities-137789">Coronavirus has changed our sense of place, so together we must re-imagine our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Halvard Dalheim is affiliated with the Planning Institute Australia (PIA) and the Urban Land Institute Asia Pacific. </span></em></p>The change in our behaviour in response to COVID-19 has created an opportunity to build on this moment and transform our local neighbourhoods into vibrant mixed-use centres of activity.Halvard Dalheim, Practitioner in Residence, The Henry Halloran Trust, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1388262020-05-31T19:51:03Z2020-05-31T19:51:03ZA time to embrace the edge spaces that make our neighbourhoods tick<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338098/original/file-20200528-20215-1qp4sim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=424%2C319%2C1944%2C1220&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/senior-couple-on-porch-waving-19263961">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, it is timely to reflect on how the design of our neighbourhoods and the ways we interact with them affect our lived experience.</p>
<p>A clear lesson from the many conversations across fencelines, waves from porches, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/bear-hunt-helps-banish-coronavirus-boredom-for-new-zealand-children">teddy bears in windows</a> and chalk art on footpaths is the need for our cities to better embrace <a href="https://urbanresearchtable.com/exploring-for-a-new-method-for-mapping-street-edges/">edge spaces</a> between private property and the public realm.</p>
<p>These edge spaces, such as porches, balconies, front boundaries and footpaths, have been key to <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/planning-policy/threshold-spaces-keep-us-connected-despite-covid-19/">maintaining social connectedness</a> amid physical distancing around the world; so much so that this week has been declared an <a href="https://www.porchplacemaking.com/">international week</a> dedicated to better activating them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reconnecting-after-coronavirus-4-key-ways-cities-can-counter-anxiety-and-loneliness-136606">Reconnecting after coronavirus – 4 key ways cities can counter anxiety and loneliness</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australian cities and neighbourhoods have rarely embraced edge spaces well. This neglect is to all our detriment: many housing developments lack porches, front yards often seem like an afterthought, and most <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-land-abounds-in-nature-strips-surely-we-can-do-more-than-mow-a-third-of-urban-green-space-124781">nature strips</a> fail to live up to their name. As a result, talking to our neighbours can be a rarity.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1259709295744016386"}"></div></p>
<h2>Re-engaging with ‘living on the edge’</h2>
<p>Action to embrace these spaces starts at the community level, through the practice of placemaking. It draws on the work of planners and designers and their understanding of the importance of “living on the edge”.</p>
<p>Typically, we regard our neighbourhoods as being divided between public and private spaces. But as many a front-yard conversation or colourful display on a wall has shown us during the recent lockdown, it’s the spaces of transition that bring us together, even when we are apart.</p>
<p>Compared to other types of urban space, edge spaces can provide more opportunity for people to build a sense of identity and community through creative expression. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336678/original/file-20200521-102657-zkci1d.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">Pedestrians and residents have re-envisaged the footpath as a canvas for chalk and a way to communicate with the street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Novacevski. Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/playing-with-the-new-normal-of-life-under-coronavirus-137481">Playing with the 'new normal' of life under coronavirus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Edge spaces are critical to the success of both public and private spaces, as urban designers and theorists like <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/calexander">Christopher Alexander</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02815738608730092?journalCode=shou19">Jan Gehl</a> point out. </p>
<p>Edges that work can be described as “<a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2011/06/14/jan-gehl-on-making-cities-safe-for-people/">soft edges</a>” or “active edges”. We can see through them and interact across them – they are comparatively porous. There is also life along them: plants, artwork or variations in colours or building materials.</p>
<p>Edges that are cold and unwelcoming, or comparatively “hard”, such as spaces dominated by tall fencing or blank walls, generate feelings of discord, coldness and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-living-off-the-edge-in-a-city-mall-where-design-fuels-conflict-72351">perceptions of danger</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, whole cities and neighbourhoods can succeed and fail at their edges, particularly at street level. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-living-off-the-edge-in-a-city-mall-where-design-fuels-conflict-72351">Contested spaces: living off the edge in a city mall where design fuels conflict</a>
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</em>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336962/original/file-20200522-22150-f19x0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even seemingly small interventions can turn a bland edge into a space that gives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel Iampolski</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reclaiming the edge through placemaking</h2>
<p>So, what can we do about it? Well, quite a bit. Over recent weeks, many of us will have enjoyed the whimsy and wonder of chalk art on paths, teddy bears in windows and other warming trends that have lifted our neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>These visible expressions of <a href="https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/18428489.buckley-crescents-scarecrow-competition-keeps-spirits-high-lockdown/?mc_cid=3d4a68dbd4&mc_eid=844f55e1ac">joy</a> create community in hard times. The edges between public and private space are reclaimed and made welcoming in ways that create conviviality and a sense of shared identity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336674/original/file-20200521-102667-zqu2ee.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">Residents in Carnegie have used art, plants and a street library to soften hard edges and make them more inviting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel Iampolski</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These practices are an example of what is often described as <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/how-to-be-a-citizen-placemaker-think-lighter-quicker-cheaper">citizen placemaking</a>, where citizens create a sense of community through gestures of creativity and support. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-changed-our-sense-of-place-so-together-we-must-re-imagine-our-cities-137789">Coronavirus has changed our sense of place, so together we must re-imagine our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Planning for welcoming, active edges</h2>
<p>So why don’t we more often design our edges in ways that invite this kind of activity? For too long, policy, legislation and regulation have variously neglected the importance of edge spaces, or sought to actively limit activity within them.</p>
<p>In Victoria, for example, <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/97158/PPN27-Understanding-the-Residential-Development-Standards-ResCode_June-2015.pdf">ResCode</a> policies for housing design seek to regulate viewlines from balconies. These policies and others in Victorian planning schemes do little to encourage the return of the porch or balcony in housing or apartment design.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=166%2C212%2C1776%2C1245&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=166%2C212%2C1776%2C1245&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336952/original/file-20200522-57661-djqz4d.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">Chairs at the front of the house allow for contact with passersby – and the gnome is a friendly presence even when the chairs are empty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Novacevski</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the public realm, instances of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-31/urban-food-street-trees-culled-sunshine-coast/8576700">over-zealous enforcement</a> of regulation have closed down activities that bring life to footpaths and bring residents together. This risks promoting bland, homogenised streets that lead to social isolation.</p>
<p>We wonder how our neighbourhoods might change if planning policy, design and regulation were put to work, opening up possibilities to encourage softer and more active edges? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-let-coronavirus-kill-our-cities-heres-how-we-can-save-urban-life-137063">We can't let coronavirus kill our cities. Here's how we can save urban life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These opportunities bleed out from the front fence into the footpath and streets. As <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/04/13/new-zealand-first-country-to-fund-pop-up-bike-lanes-widened-sidewalks-during-lockdown/#a07f3d1546e1">cities overseas have started</a> to use <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-let-coronavirus-kill-our-cities-heres-how-we-can-save-urban-life-137063">tactical urbanism</a> to promote safer social interaction, the task for government is two-fold: to <a href="https://walksydney.org/2020/05/14/a-state-wide-program-to-promote-streets-as-shared-spaces/">enable tactical approaches</a> that allow communities to shape spaces to meet their own needs, and to focus governance on <a href="https://www.pps.org/article/toward-place-governance-civic-infrastructure-placemaking">making better places</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever happens next, as citizens, we would all do well to use our <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/arts/design/drive-by-art-long-island.html?mc_cid=3d4a68dbd4&mc_eid=844f55e1ac">imagination</a> and remember the power and potential of the edge spaces where we live.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1gHMuIRO_9o72W1nETP6aPmvSRq47FkCM" width="100%" height="480"></iframe>
<p>A map of projects being run around the world as part of Porch <a href="https://www.porchplacemaking.com/">Placemaking Week</a>, May 30-June 5.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Iampolski receives funding from Australian Governments Research Training Program</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Novacevski receives funding from the Australian Government's Research Training Program. He is affiliated with the Planning Institute of Australia. </span></em></p>A friendly wave from a neighbour is one of life’s incidental but invaluable interactions. Porches, balconies, front yards and footpaths have proven their importance as cogs of neighbourhood life.Rachel Iampolski, PhD Candidate, Centre for Urban Research RMIT, RMIT UniversityMatt Novacevski, PhD Candidate and Sessional Tutor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1111572019-02-07T14:20:52Z2019-02-07T14:20:52ZGiving a place a bad reputation can harm its residents’ health – unless they’re empowered to change it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257743/original/file-20190207-174870-1ddqtrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=414%2C0%2C6013%2C4394&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grassroots optimism. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diverse-group-people-pick-trash-park-620715314?src=OjByGGRL4usuvsazSdKgTA-1-4">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From “crap towns” to “shitholes”, there’s no denying that some places are unfairly <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-sort-of-place-is-a-shithole-it-depends-on-your-gender-90342">tarred with a bad reputation</a>. Sometimes it’s the result of <a href="http://www.gowellonline.com/assets/0000/0549/Briefing_Paper_7.pdf">sensationalised news coverage</a>, but in recent years, the rise of “fly-on-the-wall” TV shows such as Benefits Street or Panorama documentaries has also left residents <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/oct/02/residents-estate-panorama-programme-blatantly-prejudiced">feeling misrepresented</a>, and their communities tarnished. </p>
<p>While media coverage is a major factor, derisive attitudes toward particular areas – whether towns, villages or housing estates – can be shaped by just about anyone. As one resident from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32156-1">our recent study</a> of English neighbourhoods explained that even the people charged with selling properties in their area had negative opinions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were actually getting estate agents and mortgage advisers telling us “don’t move there; don’t move to the area”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These kinds of attitudes have very real consequences for locals: there’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09581596.2013.873532">a proven link</a> between living somewhere with a bad reputation, and experiencing poorer physical and mental health. This is partly because neighbourhood stigma is most likely to affect communities which are already dealing with greater socioeconomic challenges and experiencing <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-cheap-ways-councils-can-fight-health-inequality-22093">health inequalities</a>.</p>
<p>But in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy214">a recent study</a> published in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth">Faculty of Public Health’s journal</a>, my colleagues and I argue that neighbourhood stigma itself leaves residents at risk of discrimination – and that health programmes targeted toward such places may be contributing to this. </p>
<h2>Targeting places</h2>
<p>This can occur when governments, the NHS and councils repeatedly target certain areas for social programmes – an approach which has been popular for decades, as a means of tackling a combination of interrelated issues in the same place at the same time. </p>
<p>But targeted initiatives also risk stigmatising an area still further, as they repeatedly <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2007.068775">label areas and residents</a> in terms of what’s seen to be “wrong” with them; whether that’s rates of heart disease or smoking, high crime, poor exam results, unemployment or other factors. </p>
<p>Writing for The Conversation, Human Geography professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/camerons-sink-estate-strategy-comes-at-a-human-cost-53358">Loretta Lees</a> has argued that, in some situations, neighbourhood stigma serves political and public sector interests by providing justification for radical neighbourhood intervention such as estate demolition and gentrification.</p>
<p>What’s more, work by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2007.00768.x">researchers in New Zealand</a> points out how health education campaigns do little to shift smoking rates, when they’re not sensitive to local context. Smoking is more prevalent among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Yet the researchers found campaigns to get people to quit smoking left residents feeling doubly shamed, for being a smoker and because of their postcode. So, rather than encouraging all people to give up smoking, the campaign risked reinforcing smoking behaviour in deprived areas. </p>
<p>Public health awareness campaigns can be similarly problematic. For example, in 2018, the <a href="https://www.rsph.org.uk">Royal Society for Public Health</a> was criticised for <a href="https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/health-on-the-high-street/health-on-the-high-street-running-on-empty-2018-report.html">a report</a> which rated the country’s high streets from “worst” to “best” for public health. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257738/original/file-20190207-174864-r4dh4y.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">Don’t judge a town by its high street.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/30-august-2016-hastings-uk-ore-484093936?src=qTVj2Z-GZTq-5D-1fUVrtA-1-3">sixpixx/Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Critics, including philosopher and writer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/grimsby-unhealthy-high-street-preston">Tom Whyman</a>, pointed out that this perpetuated stereotypes of areas as “dead-end dumps, places to struggle to get out of rather than work to invest in”. Research supports this view – when the media covers health inequalities without proper sensitivity, it can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12629">kick communities</a> which are already struggling.</p>
<h2>Community resistance</h2>
<p>In the <a href="http://communitiesincontrol.uk">Communities in Control study</a> – an independent evaluation of <a href="http://localtrust.org.uk/">Big Local</a>, a Big Lottery funded programme aimed at giving local people greater control over how money should be spent to benefit their neighbourhoods – my colleagues and I found that residents often acted to promote a more positive portrayal of their area. </p>
<p>Local action ranged from publicity activities to promote good news stories and neighbourhood improvements, to organising festivals to encourage visitors. Residents explained they wanted to challenge external perceptions which affected their neighbourhood economically as well as shaping locals’ view of themselves. </p>
<p>Some residents described how service providers, colleagues and even family members living elsewhere saw residential areas as “rough” or “unsafe”, even though they had never visited. And one participant in our study said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People whose kids goes to the primary schools here are embarrassed or ashamed to have been from the area and we want to change that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The residents who have to live with these negative perceptions should not be responsible for changing other people’s prejudiced attitudes. But initiatives such as Big Local – and other <a href="https://www.peopleshealthtrust.org.uk/news/news-stories/positive-portrayal-neighbourhoods">funding programmes</a> with an ethos of resident participation – show that community priorities based on local experiences of living somewhere need to be more centrally placed in public health decision making <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00038-018-1145-z">than this has been up to now</a>. </p>
<p>Neighbourhood stigma should be a public health concern, especially as the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/austerity-cuts-twice-as-deep-in-england-as-rest-of-britain">impact of austerity builds</a>, driving cuts to public services and neighbourhood investment. Austerity policies need to be monitored to ensure they do not make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1068/a4663">neighbourhood stigma worse</a> – and residents can also act to improve their area’s reputation for the better, if they are given the right support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Halliday receives funding from the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.</span></em></p>Targeted health campaigns can actually leave local people with a greater sense of shame – without helping them kick unhealthy habits.Emma Halliday, Senior Research Fellow, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1101772019-01-30T19:09:52Z2019-01-30T19:09:52ZWhy outer suburbs lack inner city’s ‘third places’: a partial defence of the hipster<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256222/original/file-20190130-39344-168ud6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The independent owner-operated businesses that bring life to run-down neighbourhoods often have a hipster ethos.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeesgonecold/31217989241/in/album-72157704622068821/">Peter Walters</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the stark differences between neighbourhoods in the inner city and outer suburbs in Australia is the quality and type of retail offerings. Gentrifying inner-city suburbs – places like West End in Brisbane, Fitzroy in Melbourne and Newtown in Sydney – are characterised by independent owner-operated retail businesses. Busy “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2016/09/14/third-places-as-community-builders/">third places</a>” such as cafes, bars and restaurants – where people spend time between home (“first” place) and work (“second” place) – are common. </p>
<p>These are the favoured haunts of the hipster. Hipsters have an uneasy place in our cultural landscape, not least of which is their role in gentrification. However, their role in the inner city is important in showing the rest of the city how to create contemporary, accessible and successful third places with low, non-gendered barriers to entry.</p>
<p>Third places provide residents and visitors with a variety of what <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-Good-Place-Bookstores-Community/dp/1569246815">Ray Oldenburg</a> calls “the core settings of informal public life”. Cafes, bars, pubs, clubs or chess rooms (in some places) are places where people can meet informally or be “together alone”. They allow for planned and accidental encounters across different times of the day and are essential for a healthy neighbourhood social life or “sense” of community. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256225/original/file-20190130-108355-1dzcaub.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">Cafes and bars provide a ‘third place’ where people can meet informally or be ‘together alone’, as seen here in St Kilda, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeesgonecold/46142378184/in/album-72157704622068821/">Peter Walters</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-people-feel-lonely-in-the-city-but-perhaps-third-places-can-help-with-that-92847">Many people feel lonely in the city, but perhaps 'third places' can help with that</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s missing from outer suburbs?</h2>
<p>As we travel out of the inner city towards the outer suburbs, residents become increasingly deprived of these places. Suburban retail centres become less “local” – shopping centres are isolated from the surrounding neighbourhood, controlled by a single corporate landlord, marooned in a sea of parking and offer a predictable range of franchised outlets and national brands, often anchored by a large supermarket. At the district level are huge impersonal shopping malls. </p>
<p>None of this enables residents to take advantage of local third places or feel any sense of authorship over them, which is so important for creating place and community. </p>
<p>History has an obvious role to play. Inner-city suburbs were planned and built before widespread car ownership. Streets are laid out in grids, which make for easy and direct pedestrian or bicycle travel. </p>
<p>These areas were built before the introduction of strict “single use” zoning regimes, so have a good mix of land uses. Retail, residential and even industrial properties exist side by side. Property ownership has evolved so one landlord rarely controls an entire retail strip. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reinventing-density-bridging-the-live-work-divide-66406">Reinventing density: bridging the live-work divide</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Businesses open on to wide, protected footpaths which are thoroughfares for more than just the businesses located there. The built form is varied, interesting and vernacular and suited to small independent businesses. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256228/original/file-20190130-39344-ooqmjp.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">Buildings are varied, interesting and vernacular and suited to small independent businesses in West End, Brisbane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeesgonecold/34858238476/in/album-72157704622068821/">Peter Walters</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gentrification and the hipster</h2>
<p>Inner-city neighbourhoods in recent decades have been gentrified as more affluent residents and businesses colonise formerly working class, migrant or Indigenous areas of inner cities. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0042098013489748">Gentrification</a> takes place over a long time and in particular phases. </p>
<p>The first to colonise an area are “renter gentrifiers”. They are responsible for making the place hip or edgy through alternative music and art, underground fashion and an embryonic start-up business culture. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256231/original/file-20190130-42594-1ezw3ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Despite the mockery they inspire, the hipsters’ pursuits create ‘third places’ that foster a sense of community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sharing-good-news-barista-his-customer-407607205?src=a15wcklWS1L_fBFtIQrg6Q-1-52">g-stockstudio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This in turn attracts better-resourced gentrifiers who share the same cultural tastes as the renter gentrifiers but have money. This creates demand for a range of retail outlets, such as artisanal bakers, micro-breweries, tattoo artists, vintage fashions, vinyl record stores, independent bookstores and, most importantly, abundant bars, cafes and coffee shops. </p>
<p>These businesses are stereotypically run by hipsters, a subculture easily recognisable by their carefully curated full beards (male), artistic or ironic tattoos, skinny jeans and other vintage accessories. Hipsters are often disparaged for their lack of originality, for championing a look that mimics a historical period they never experienced. As <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=PolRLfWavjAC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=%E2%80%9Ccreativity,+genius,+eternal+value+and+mystery+are+inseparable+from+the+hipster%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=HQ-zgs5qVz&sig=ACfU3U3DVpH8zOCFV65Nacxi0HX_AlkGvw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihzcXwgpTgAhWHM48KHZm2BagQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Ccreativity%2C%20genius%2C%20eternal%20value%20and%20mystery%20are%20inseparable%20from%20the%20hipster%E2%80%9D&f=false">Jake Kinsey writes</a> sarcastically in a whole book that derides hipsters: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… creativity, genius, eternal value and mystery are inseparable from the hipster.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The quest for authenticity</h2>
<p>Authenticity is a contested word, but if we think in terms of “authorship”, the independently owned and operated third place where both owner and customer feel a sense of ownership and reciprocal obligation provides much more authenticity than just another outlet in a chain of franchises. </p>
<p>While some hipster businesses that work in the gentrified inner city might not work so well in the outer suburbs, people who live in these suburbs are not a different species. The desire to get out of your house, to socialise, to see your neighbours out in the community or to be “together alone” is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/17/4/351/607018">not limited</a> to the inner city. There is no reason people in the suburbs would not respond to independently owned businesses, rather than the remotely controlled, rationalised franchises – see “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosm001.pub2">McDonaldization</a>” – that populate so many suburban shopping centres. </p>
<p>Quality third places are just as important in the outer suburbs, which are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of life stage, ethnicity, culture and employment type. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256227/original/file-20190130-108355-1hsx8w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keeping ‘McDonaldization’ at bay in Fitzroy, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeesgonecold/32074096876/in/album-72157704622068821/">Peter Walters</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-our-cities-thriving-creative-precincts-be-saved-from-renewal-83042">Can our cities' thriving creative precincts be saved from ‘renewal’?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what’s the solution?</h2>
<p>Property developers are often quick to point out that local retail is not economically viable in new suburbs unless it consists of supermarkets and fast-food outlets and is surrounded by tarmac. Local (walkable) retail is invariably compared on price to the large impersonal shopping malls that draw shoppers in from the suburbs. However, the lure of a small local shopping precinct, where “third place” businesses such bars, cafes and restaurants and community hubs can operate at survivable rents, is a different proposition. </p>
<p>This is not a new suggestion. Various models have been <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/17/4/351/607018">proposed</a> to subsidise retail rents, provide independent freehold of individual retail premises, or rent control. </p>
<p>Developers have been reluctant to help with this as it not profitable (for them). Local authorities have also been reluctant to engage developers on this front. </p>
<p>There are, however, some encouraging exceptions to this. Some more enlightened developers see the sustained benefit of creating <a href="http://www.yourneighbourhood.com.au/diningprecinct-evertonplaza-791staffordroad-evertonpark/">community hubs</a>. The argument is for a social good rather than a purely economic one. </p>
<p>The outer suburbs are spatially different to the inner city – history and late capitalism have taken care of that. Local authorities need to think about current inflexible zoning regimes and about how small socially beneficial businesses can be encouraged. </p>
<p>Suburbs do not empty out during the day. In a post-work and ageing society, suburbs will become socially barren places to live unless there are lively hubs where people can leave the private realm of the home and see each other in a welcoming environment in which they feel some authorship. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256229/original/file-20190130-42594-s8a5kr.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">There’s more to the experience than just savouring the coffee in Fitzroy, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeesgonecold/31994946911/in/album-72157704622068821/">Peter Walters</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Walters has received funding from The Australian Research Council</span></em></p>It’s easy to scorn the gentrifying hipster stereotype, but many inner-city neighbourhoods benefit from the distinctive mix of businesses and activities they pursue. So why should the suburbs miss out?Peter Walters, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944182018-05-24T20:04:24Z2018-05-24T20:04:24ZWhen neighbourhoods become dangerous, look to local strengths for a lifeline<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218910/original/file-20180515-100690-1c3ogpe.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A car is set alight during the 2005 riots that prompted soul-searching in France about segregated and badly designed housing projects.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voiture-feu-grande-rue-s%C3%A8vres-2005.JPG">A.J./Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Crime and insecurity are deeply entrenched in some cities. While we have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/most-violent-cities-in-the-world-2018-3?r=US&IR=T">rankings of the most dangerous cities in the world</a>, this does not give a clear picture of how and why dangerous spaces develop in cities. </p>
<p>We are analysing case studies from cities in France, Colombia, Brazil and Australia to understand the factors that lead to insecurity, and to examine possible solutions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">Our big cities are engines of inequality, so how do we fix that?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Risks of ghettos in Australia</h2>
<p>Australian cities aren’t immune to the dangers. While there is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/371CB1F33E24E682CA2579AA000F2C7F?Opendocument">no clear upward trend</a> in crime nationally, the social polarisation and concentration of certain crimes in parts of the cities of Sydney and Melbourne are cause for concern. As a result, New South Wales and Victoria are the states with the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victims-of-crime-melbourne-becomes-more-violent-sydney-less-so-20170706-gx651y.html">highest rates of unlawful entry and armed robbery</a>.</p>
<p>Sydney in particular is experiencing a “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-is-turning-into-a-ghetto-as-poor-are-trapped-by-fewer-jobs-and-rising-housing-costs-20150508-ggwyj0.html">ghettoisation effect</a>”. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydneys-rich-and-poor-the-rising-crisis-in-our-suburbs-20150508-ggwvh1.html">Social polarisation between suburbs</a> is increasing. Another issue in Sydney’s western suburbs is <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/parramatta/auburn-records-highest-number-of-murders-in-nsw/news-story/74927fb402ff5e658f06b9178fa3ed65">domestic violence</a>.</p>
<p>While crime rates here are much lower than in cities in Latin America and France, we need to be mindful of how neighbourhoods can become dangerous through neglect by planners and policymakers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-housing-boom-is-remaking-australias-social-class-structure-66976">How the housing boom is remaking Australia’s social class structure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What can we do about it?</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_disorganization_theory">Social disorganisation theory</a> has dominated research in this field. Central to this approach are neighbourhood mechanisms to reduce crime and disorder. </p>
<p>Some have criticised this theory for not considering the influences on crime of the larger <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022427803256238">urban political economy</a>. Political and economic decisions may have direct effects by increasing unemployment, residential instability (via planning and housing policies) or population density (via zoning policies). </p>
<p>Reducing crime is also <a href="http://thoughts.arup.com/post/details/377/how-can-good-urban-design-reduce-crime">the job of planners</a>. Research has shown, for instance, that better planning can <a href="https://theconversation.com/better-urban-planning-can-reduce-the-tragedies-of-domestic-violence-25811">reduce the tragedies of domestic violence</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-cities-and-their-metropolitan-plans-still-seem-to-be-parallel-universes-87603">Australian cities and their metropolitan plans still seem to be parallel universes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Incentives at the city scale – such as tax breaks and policies to decentralise public services and promote economic activity in poorer outer suburbs – need to be twinned with strategies to foster social integration at the neighbourhood level. </p>
<h2>Latin America: a focus on Colombia and Brazil</h2>
<p>Violence and high crime rates have created stark divisions in some Latin American cities. Residents have responded with several strategies to feel safe at home. </p>
<p>In Argentina, crime rates soared after the political and financial <a href="https://www.economist.com/node/1010911">crisis of 2001</a>. Citizens started building barricades and fortified their living environments with all types of security devices. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/25/argentina.rorycarroll">Gated communities</a> became the preferred type of housing, especially for upper-middle-class groups who could afford it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-society-yearning-for-security-divides-along-lines-of-liquid-fear-23009">A society yearning for security divides along lines of liquid fear</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, gating and security devices have not been successful deterrents to crime. The strategies that have succeeded are linked to encouraging more social integration, shared use of public space, and less opposition to and marginalisation of “the other”.</p>
<p>“<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0094582X16682758">Social urbanism</a>” policies in cities like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn#Crime">Medellín</a>, Colombia, and <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/03/21/brazil-crime-violence-favela">Rio de Janeiro</a>, Brazil, have led to dramatic reductions in crime. The idea of these interventions is not only to physically upgrade housing and public space, but to improve social outcomes. </p>
<p>In Medellín, public space was improved in some of the poorest neighbourhoods, which included new infrastructure. Alleys were upgraded, to make walking easier and increase safety, and the famous <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/colombia-medellin-neighborhood/index.html">escalators</a> were built. The community manages these escalators, which improve access to the upper areas of neighbourhoods and help create safer environments. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217392/original/file-20180503-83693-dfjkg9.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">One of the escalators managed by the local community in Medellín.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonia Roitman. Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The installation of aerial public transport (“<a href="http://gondolaproject.com/medellin/">metrocable</a>” cable cars) also improved access and helped integrate these areas with the city centre. This in turn led to greater awareness of their existence and less prejudice against them as areas of marginalisation. Residents of other areas who wouldn’t normally travel through these poor neighbourhoods became more aware of them while using public transport. </p>
<p>In the case of Brazil, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718501000161">Favela Bairro</a> program to upgrade slums in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1990s succeeded in integrating favelas with the city to improve living conditions and reduce crime rates. </p>
<p>For such projects to succeed it is essential to have community participation, engagement and buy-in. </p>
<h2>Urban policy in France</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-urban-riots-in-france/">2005 riots</a> in French cities were the results of both structural issues, such as unemployment and police violence, and long-term social and spatial segregation. </p>
<p>Since the 2000s, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511482.2016.1174432">“action on places” paradigm</a> has dominated urban policy. Its goal has been to tackle spatial inequality, with the National Agency for Urban Renewal (<a href="https://www.anru.fr">ANRU</a>) playing a central role. </p>
<p>In exchange for state funding, cities had to commit to eradicate old social housing projects and build new residential buildings. </p>
<p>Previously, the policy for “deprived neighbourhoods” allowed elected officials and local representatives of the state a larger choice of strategies. These included renovation, positive discrimination, mediation, and the development of local community-led initiatives.</p>
<p>The urban renewal policy, launched in 2003, restricted the range of strategies. It is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34636104">now criticised</a> because it changed the urban form of neighbourhoods without really changing the social issues. </p>
<p>Today, the possible avenues for action are more diverse. Efforts are concentrated in the most deprived neighbourhoods, with employment, education and security as the budget priorities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/france-has-a-unique-approach-to-regenerating-inner-cities-what-can-we-learn-from-its-success-91652">France has a unique approach to regenerating inner cities – what can we learn from its success?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Build on existing social ties</h2>
<p>Many strong social ties exist in these so-called deprived neighbourhoods. One promising avenue for action, but which currently attracts the least investment, is to focus on the strengths of those neighbourhoods. This can be done by supporting local initiatives, especially those led by women. </p>
<p>In the book <a href="http://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/refaire-la-cite-didier-lapeyronnie/9782021087963">Remake the City</a>, two French researchers stress that it is illusory to think that solutions imposed from above can prevent ghettoisation. They see a need to learn from the experiments carried out in Latin America and in the United States. In the US, the rise of the “<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0042098966547">community development corporation</a>” has helped to turn negative situations into experiences that foster social integration at the neighbourhood level and present a more positive image of the “ghetto”.</p>
<p>Even if the contexts are very different, these examples show that the factors at work in places at risk of ghettoisation need to be analysed at different scales. Solutions need to integrate bottom-up actions with strong engagement from communities and a policy rethink on the structural drivers of strong social and spatial segregation in cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sebastien Darchen receives funding from the Myer Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonia Roitman receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwendal Simon 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>Planning matters. The 2005 riots in France started in badly designed housing projects, while innovative planning helped Medellín, Colombia, shed its reputation as the most violent city in the world.Sebastien Darchen, Lecturer in Planning, The University of QueenslandGwendal Simon, Assistant Professor of Planning and Urban Planning, Université Gustave EiffelSonia Roitman, Senior lecturer in Development Planning, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/928472018-03-21T19:33:28Z2018-03-21T19:33:28ZMany people feel lonely in the city, but perhaps ‘third places’ can help with that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211107/original/file-20180320-31614-1qtre01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Third places are most effective when, like Waverley Community Garden in Sydney, they appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/d-olwen-dee/8202779802">d-olwen-dee/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Loneliness is a hidden but serious problem in cities worldwide. Urban loneliness is connected to population mobility, declining community participation and a growth in single-occupant households. This threatens the viability of our cities because it damages the social networks they rely on.</p>
<p>One response to these trends involves “third places”. These are public or commercial spaces that provide informal opportunities for local people to mix socially on neutral ground.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-are-living-alone-together-in-todays-cities-and-that-calls-for-smart-and-bolshie-moves-85318">We are living alone together in today's cities – and that calls for smart and 'bolshie' moves</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The concept of third place, developed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oldenburg">Ray Oldenburg</a>, is distinct from first and second places. A first place is the private space of home. Second places are where people spend significant time, often formally. These include schools, universities and workplaces.</p>
<p>Common examples of third places in cities include <a href="https://www.witpress.com/Secure/elibrary/papers/SDP17/SDP17033FU1.pdf">community gardens</a>, libraries, public swimming pools, cafes, men’s sheds, farmers’ markets and dog parks.</p>
<p><a href="https://experts.griffith.edu.au/academic/j.dolley">Researchers</a> at the <a href="https://www2.griffith.edu.au/cities-research-institute">Cities Research Institute</a> are investigating whether these “third places” can reduce urban loneliness. Here, we report and discuss some insights from that work.</p>
<h2>How can third places reduce loneliness?</h2>
<p>There is growing understanding of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/loneliness-is-bad-for-your-health-90901">negative outcomes and costs</a> associated with loneliness. These include fractured communities, declining trust, stress, depression and disease. Clearly this is neither desirable nor sustainable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/loneliness-is-bad-for-your-health-90901">Loneliness is bad for your health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More than a century ago the <a href="http://www.soc.duke.edu/%7Ejmoody77/TheoryNotes/Simmel_StrangerDyadTriad.htm">sociologist George Simmel</a> observed how mobility disrupts social connection and creates isolation. The urban migrant leaves behind their own social ties and often struggles to connect to their new community. This challenges both the migrant and their new neighbours. </p>
<p>Third places can help by creating or enhancing a sense of community on a smaller, more human scale – a relief from the overwhelming sensory experience of a large and unfamiliar city. The village-like feeling of third places can reduce people’s anxieties and make them more comfortable with trying a new social experience.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neighbourhood-living-rooms-we-can-learn-a-lot-from-european-town-squares-91065">Neighbourhood living rooms – we can learn a lot from European town squares</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Third-place interactions encourage conversation in a homely atmosphere. Regulars who are local to the area often help with this. </p>
<p>In third places, people are free to come and go without obligation. The status and backgrounds of users are largely irrelevant. These places are generally designed to be accessible, accommodating and inviting for all ages, low-profile, comfortable and conversational.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=273&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209793/original/file-20180311-30979-1czlecn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Third places that offer opportunities for shared activities, such as a game of outdoor chess, provide reasons to strike up a conversation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/36177169@N02/9447253805/in/photolist-YwZB36-24USnnG-22csYvf-ZN1JKZ-226FRs1-vtJowW-BDaZMV-F3Dfou-FpmC5J-D7Gs5a-YHqZ2Q-XGCKxU-foPDqi-bnTt3m-ehAJBE-7J4Rjp-5nRRTb-5qPbrv-7zCtks-3eu6Pb-6KwBXM-3jWmL-8Cx4z4-6SUK8J-221CMLW-bFS3tF-gGuDpD-CUbRAb-r5o2MH-w6YjB7-Z147Az-6FURxw-22wjfPH-YLyLQS-XPxwte-D81K56-uDGi6S-y9x4UQ-41kpT4-NbDSjq-EUxYQU-vLHuM2-CtFVuR-22Y4Dmd-22NG4MT-21MFoHK-HLMVX3-21F9DA8-wL62u7-24Ls9Uw/">alexmerwin13</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Third places bring people together based on shared spaces, which become more important than individual histories. This can reduce wariness of strangers and create social connections. Third places can lead to more resilient and better-connected communities, building up social capital, while reducing loneliness.</p>
<h2>Providing quality third places</h2>
<p>There are steps that can be taken to design and safeguard third places. Local councils and urban planners have important roles, given their central place in directing land uses. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most important thing is to understand the valuable social capital that successful third places offer. Once planners understand the value of third places, they can actively work to support them. </p>
<p>Walkability is an important factor. Third places encourage familiarity through repeated incidental interactions between locals, both regulars and newcomers. Ideally, people connect within their local neighbourhoods. Being able to visit without needing a car can encourage more people to use a place. </p>
<p>Space for third places can be designed into neighbourhoods and urban areas. Sections of parkland can be given over to public facilities such as outdoor gym equipment, dog parks or skate parks. Dedicated trading areas can be provided for farmers’ markets. </p>
<p>Third places are most effective when they encourage interactions between locals. Providing facilities and activities creates a purpose to interactions and reasons to start chatting. </p>
<p>Local councils can support citizen-led activities such as community gardens and men’s sheds. They can also provide activities such as Tai Chi classes.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209884/original/file-20180312-30994-1byutk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=292&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">Outdoor Tai Chi classes turn green spaces into third places.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian Robinson/Flickr</span></span>
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<p>Protecting existing third places is as important as providing new ones. For example, a local council may be tempted to allow housing to take over the site of a community garden. While there may some be reasons to support that idea, it should be carefully considered against the loss of social capital and the risk of entrenching social isolation. </p>
<h2>Valuing and promoting third places</h2>
<p>We live in an age of urban mobility with no historical comparison. Many of us have been strangers in a new city. Loneliness is an unwelcome and growing feature of this urban mobility. Third places offer a useful and tested model for reducing loneliness by improving community. </p>
<p>Yet many city dwellers see these spaces but don’t use them. In this sense, perhaps the biggest barrier is our willingness to make the time to seek out and participate in third places. For those people who do, banishing loneliness could be one of the greatest benefits.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/planners-know-depressingly-little-about-a-citys-impacts-on-our-mental-health-81098">Planners know depressingly little about a city's impacts on our mental health</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92847/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Matthews receives external funding from the Australian Research Council, as well as internal funding from Griffith University. He is affiliated with the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Planning Institute of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Dolley receives funding from Griffith University in the form of research support for her PhD studies. Joanne is also co-editing an Edward Elgar book provisionally titled, 'Rethinking Third Places: Informal Public Spaces and Community Building' (with A/Prof Caryl Bosman).</span></em></p>Third places are shared spaces where people can informally socialise. As a potential antidote to the modern scourge of loneliness, it’s worth asking what makes the best of these places tick.Tony Matthews, Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning, Griffith UniversityDr Joanne Dolley, PhD Candidate, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905292018-01-30T22:21:52Z2018-01-30T22:21:52ZHow your community impacts the health of your heart<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203907/original/file-20180129-89590-11r743b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The presence of sidewalks, green space, healthy food outlets, and trustworthy neighbours can all play a part in minimizing your risks of heart disease.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Heart disease <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/heart-disease-canada-fact-sheet.html?wbdisable=true">affects approximately 2.4 million Canadian adults aged 20 years and older</a>, and is the second leading cause of death in Canada. </p>
<p>Because February is “Heart Month,” we will see many events throughout <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HeartMonth?src=hash&lang=en">Canada</a> and the <a href="https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/news-media/events/heart-month.html">United States</a> promoting suggestions for improving your heart health — from embracing healthier diets to quitting smoking. </p>
<p>But what about the community that you live in? How does your neighbourhood affect your risk for heart disease?</p>
<p>Most of us can imagine that if we don’t have clean drinking water, heat, hydro or even garbage collection, our health might suffer. But what if we don’t have a sidewalk? Can that really affect our risk for heart disease?</p>
<p>In recent decades, there’s been growing interest in how the built environment (the human-made design and infrastructure of communities) relates to behaviours such as physical inactivity and poor nutrition, and risk factors such as obesity and diabetes — <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/hearttruth/lower-risk/risk-factors.htm">all of which are common determinants for heart disease</a>.</p>
<h2>Obesity and your car</h2>
<p>Soon after the Second World War, cities began to expand outward as people wanted to live in detached single-family homes. These areas are what we know as the suburbs, and their development continues. </p>
<p>Living in the suburbs removes people from their daily destinations. Getting to work and doing simple shopping errands requires a car. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.04.011">The more time spent in a car, the greater the risk for obesity</a> — as much as six per cent for every hour per day.</p>
<p>These communities are characterized by streets that meander around with many cul-de-sacs and dead ends. This increases distances between destinations from how the crow flies. So a neighbour who is really only 80 metres away becomes 500 metres away, and for many people, that means driving. </p>
<p>The absence of sidewalks in many communities is also a deterrent for walking. We know that in <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.07.041">communities with sidewalks, residents are more active</a> than in communities without sidewalks. Even with sidewalks, it is rare to see people out walking as there is nowhere to walk to.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203904/original/file-20180129-89590-21i60d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&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">In Niagara Falls, Ont., residential areas are spread out and separated from retail areas. Simple errands like simply picking up some milk require a car.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>While it’s possible to be active in communities that are not walkable, it’s more difficult. More conscious thought and planning needs to go into it. It means purposely talking a walk after you’ve come home, or driving to a gym or other place to get exercise.</p>
<p>This takes more time, and given that lack of time is often suggested as the reason why people aren’t active, we need to minimize as many barriers as possible.</p>
<h2>Community design and heart disease</h2>
<p>In contrast, communities that are set up in a grid-like street pattern combined with a mix of retail, commercial and residential areas <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.11.001">lead to more walking</a>. </p>
<p>In these communities, getting to that neighbour 50 metres away may only entail a 75 metre walk. In addition, there tends to be greater access to public transit, and <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301696">people who use transit are also more active than non-users</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203905/original/file-20180129-89597-13w3ind.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&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">New York City: Stores and other destinations are mixed in with residential homes and streets are also set up in a grid-like pattern, reducing distances between destinations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The presence of parks and green space also affects our risk for heart disease. Besides creating an attractive place to walk, run, bike and play sports, <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.93">having access to green space is associated with lower stress levels and greater well-being</a>. </p>
<p>Taken together, living in these areas <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2524191">has been associated with a lower risk for obesity and diabetes</a>, which in turn lowers one’s risk for heart disease.</p>
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<p>But it’s not just our activity levels that the community can affect. Even the type of food outlets in our communities affects our risk for heart disease. In one study in Sweden, people who moved from a community with few fast-food outlets and convenience stores to one with a higher number <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4908207/">saw their risk for type 2 diabetes go up significantly</a>. </p>
<h2>Do you trust your neighbours?</h2>
<p>Places that are more walkable, or have more grocery stores, tend to be wealthier, whereas things like <a href="https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.10.010">fast-food outlets tend to be more common in poorer areas</a>, which also have less access to parks and community centres. </p>
<p>That makes it hard to know whether it is the physical environment itself or the social structure within that environment that has an impact on heart disease, and it could be both.</p>
<p>A recent study from the southeastern U.S. found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.117.004052">a higher risk for heart failure in low-income communities</a> over a five-year period, such that those in the poorest communities had a 36 per cent increased risk compared to the wealthiest. </p>
<p>The authors speculated it’s due in part to less educational and occupational opportunities in the poorer areas, as well as less access to quality health care. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.12.025">higher risk may also be related to lower neighbourhood cohesion</a> (the amount of trust of others in your community), which has also been associated with increased risk for heart disease.</p>
<p>With these new findings, more and more people are expressing their desire to have walkable communities and many cities are responding by adding in bike lanes, mixing residential and retail areas and even creating little town centres in suburban areas within walking distance. </p>
<p>As cities make these changes, it will be much easier to make the healthy choice — whether walking instead of driving, or eating fresh produce instead of fast food — and therefore help reduce your risk of heart disease.</p>
<p><em>Scott Lear writes the weekly blog <a href="https://drscottlear.com/">Feel healthy with Dr. Scott Lear</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Lear receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Novo Nordisk, Hamilton Health Sciences and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.</span></em></p>As ‘Heart Month’ kicks off across North America, a cardiovascular researcher explains how the neighbourhood you live in can affect your risks of heart disease.Scott Lear, Professor of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.