UCL Research on Social Infrastructure wins Best Paper Award from Regional Studies Association

Overview

The research paper 'Social Infrastructure and ‘Left Behind Places’' has been recognised for its original contribution to debates on place based inequality and community resilience.

Drawing on in depth historical and ethnographic research in the former mining village of Sacriston, County Durham, the paper traces the long term making, unmaking and remaking of social infrastructure and shows how such infrastructure is not just a set of physical assets but a reflection on local attachments, identity and collective effort. 

While much recent debate has focused on the loss of social infrastructure in ‘left behind’ places, the paper argues that attention must also be paid to how it is being rebuilt. It documents how committed local actors are remaking spaces of belonging in the face of austerity, bureaucracy and economic uncertainty. This is not a return to the past, but rather acts of what the authors call 'radical hope': efforts to create new forms of civic life from the fragments of what came before.

Acknowledgements

The paper was co-authored by John Tomaney (UCL), Maeve Minns (Durham Miners’ Association), Lucy Natarajan, Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Myfanwy Taylor (all UCL). 

The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Durham Miners’ Association. 

The work was supported by UCL’s Grand Challenges - more information about the project can be found here.

Image: View of Sacriston's row houses. Source: Authors.