This seminar will examine the emerging findings from a major three year longitudinal study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation involving both qualitative interviews and participative visual methods,  with residents in six low income neighbourhoods across Britain. The project has involved both qualitative interviews and participative visual methods.  In the seminar Ian Cole will examine how different neighbourhood dynamics, amenities and histories affect attitudes and actions in the spheres of work, social networks, self-esteem and comparative poverty.  It will explore the primary changes that have taken place during the three year research period and will reflect on the implications for both academic debates and policy development of the meaning and salience of 'localism'.

Professor Ian Cole is Professor of Housing Studies in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.  Until the recent cull, he was a member of the Communities and Local Government Expert Panels on Housing and Communities Analysis and on Regional Economic Development and Analysis.  Ian Cole has also advised Select Committee inquiries into the impact of regeneration and the housing market renewal programme.  He is Director of the JRF project 'Living through Change' and is the co-author with Elaine Batty of the recently published JRF report 'Resilience in the recession: Preparing for Worse to Come?' (2010).