Stuart Cameron’s research while affiliated with Newcastle University and other places

Shucksmith M., Cameron S., Merridew T. and Pichler F. Urban-rural differences in quality of life across the European Union, Regional Studies. This paper analyses the European Quality of Life Survey 2003 to explore urban-rural differences in income, deprivation, and other life domains. The main conclusion is that the richest countries in the European Union show little evidence of significant urban-rural differences, whereas in the poorer countries of the east and south, rural areas have a much lower level of perceived welfare and quality of life, particularly in the candidate countries. Despite this, subjective well-being is not significantly different, and this paradox is explored through multilevel modelling. The paper concludes by considering the policy implications for rural policy, urban policy, and cohesion policy.

The paper draws on qualitative empirical evidence from studies of regeneration in North-East England, and seeks to link housing market renewal to wider regeneration issues at regional and neighbourhood levels. It suggests that the discourse on, and justification of, housing market renewal has shifted from a specific concern with low housing demand and abandonment to a more generalised modernisation agenda seeking the restructuring of low-income neighbourhoods in terms not only of housing quality but also of tenure and population. This modernisation discourse is strongly linked to a regional economic regeneration agenda. It is argued that despite claims for the holistic nature of market renewal policies, it seems unlikely that these will improve the economic circumstances of existing residents as opposed to serving regional economic development objectives. Moreover, the more sweeping change implied by the modernisation agenda may reinforce the tension at neighbourhood level between community-led neighbourhood renewal and the restructuring of tenure and population through market renewal.

The role of art and the artist has played a part in both of the main long-established theories of gentrification, looking respectively at 'culture’ and 'capital’ as key drivers. Cultural analyses of gentrification have identified the individual artist as an important agent in the initiation of gentrification processes in old working-class neighbourhoods. Alternative theorizations have recognized a second stage where capital follows the artist into gentrified localities, commodifying its cultural assets and displacing original artists/gentrifiers. The paper will argue that more recently a third key model of gentrification can be recognized where the main driver of gentrification is 'public policy’ which seeks to use 'positive’ gentrification as an engine of urban renaissance. This involves the use of public art and cultural facilities as a promoter of regeneration and associated gentrification. This will be examined in relation to the arts-led regeneration strategy adopted in Gateshead in north-east England and critique whether the linking of art, regeneration and gentrification as public policy can be extended beyond the usual 'Docklands’-style localities of urban renaissance. In particular, it will consider whether this might play a role in the transformation of unpopular and stigmatized urban neighbourhoods and the renewal of urban housing markets.

The city-wide regeneration strategy known as 'Going for Growth' adopted by Newcastle City Council includes proposals for large-scale redevelopment of low-income, low-demand housing neighbourhoods and the introduction of a more affluent population to these areas. 'Going for Growth' is examined in terms of the concepts of gentrification and the Dutch policy of housing redifferentiation. Links to the major themes in recent UK urban regeneration of 'urban renaissance' and 'neighbourhood renewal' are examined, and the conflict between the perceived need for a 'critical mass' of affluent incomers and the imperative to consult and empower local residents is explored

This paper takes as its starting point the inter‐dependency of housing and neighbourhood and through a multi‐scalar perspective explores a tension between heterogeneity and cohesion in the arenas of housing and neighbourhood. First, it discusses housing as a crucial element of consumption within the socio-economic dimension of social cohesion, and explores forms of exclusion from housing. Second, it examines housing systems in Europe and the tendency of convergence towards a neoliberal market-based model. Third, it looks at diversity and the fragmentation of social bonds within and between urban neighbourhoods. Within this context, the debate concerning social mixing as an instrument for social cohesion is considered. Finally, the paper calls for new directions in research to look at housing systems and at neighbourhoods from the perspective of those who experience them.