NeighbourhoodsKevin Harris on neighbourhoods and neighbourliness, social capital, citizenship, space and place...Street Olympics- August 13, 2008 Chris Gittins at Streets Alive has called for the resurrection of the idea of Street Olympics. He recommends that street party organisers consider 'traditional events - such as tug-of-war, egg and spoon races, hula hoop-athons and three-legged races alongside a range of Olympic-inspired sporting activities like football, badminton, table tennis and cycling' - at the hundreds of street parties held around the country every year. Time for a little imagination here I feel. Skateboard whiteline...http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/street-olympics.html A window open to the rain- August 12, 2008 Heavy rain and quite cold this morning. Drawing back curtains I noticed in the house that backs on, a ground floor window wide open and unfixed. I peered for signs of life, there were none. On Sunday I'd seen someone in the garden, but they have family and might have gone away on holiday at this time of year. It would be easy to get down the alley and over the fence, so of course I assumed a break-in. For a moment I sat and examined my motivations. If my fears were confirmed, speed was not...http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/a-window-open-t.html Allotments Shall Be Overcome- August 8, 2008 Under the new mayor, London has a new 'food tsar', Rosie Boycott, who according to Regen.net is proposing that young people subject to antisocial behaviour orders could be told to tend allotments. Why not indeed But three quick points, if I may... Why does every initial reflection on how society finds ways of punishing some of its members always have to begin, and sometimes appears to end, with young people Antisocial behaviour is so far from being the sole preserve of young people that I fear..http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/allotments-shal.html Reciprocal neighbouring- August 8, 2008 I was on the phone just now, interrupted by a voice at the backdoor, it's the NDN, could I run her sister down to the clinic later, with her leg bad, of course, I'll be ready. When I finished my call I went back to the kitchen, to find by the sink four tomatoes fresh from the greenhouse.http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/reciprocal-neig.html 'We would like a say in our way of life'- August 4, 2008 Over on Podnosh Nick Booth points to a short film produced for the Edgbaston Constituency in Birmingham on the impact of post office closures. It was designed to be used as supporting evidence submitted to Postwatch. It struck me as I watched it that the defence of local post offices needs to be packaged not just as an older people's issue but in other ways also. One of the participants understandably says that 'pensioners are being pushed on one side for money.' But at the same time, it's an...http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/we-would-like-a.html Slowing the pace- August 1, 2008 I live on the edge of the Greater London area, and came across this handsome pair of beasts bringing in the hay just a couple of miles from home. I asked the carter if this is a new choice of transport (not having seen them before, and thinking it might be a farmer's response to the recession) but he said they've always used them. They gave a sense of awesome, dignified power. A moment later a vulgar 4x4 flashed past, which didn't.http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/slowing-the-pac.html Crime and ethnicity: yet more findings from Chicago- August 1, 2008 From time to time I try and track some of the research about neighbourhoods and crime. I just clicked my way to a paper by Christopher Lyons in last November's American journal of sociology reporting on research in Chicago: 'Antiblack hate crimes, in contrast to general forms of crime, are more likely in relatively organized communities with high levels of informal social control. Conversely, antiwhite incidents appear more numerous in traditionally disorganized communities, especially those...http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/2008/08/race-and-crime.html |