Talking to Families in Leeds and Sheffield:A report on the first stage of the research

The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) is interviewing 200 families withchildren (under the ages of 18) in four low-income areas in England. Through successiverounds of interviews we are trying to understand how area conditions and area changes affectpeople who live locally. We are exploring people’s views of their neighbourhoods and ofinitiatives in the areas as well as their own experiences of how change impacts directly onindividuals’ lives. Our aim is to find out about and document the ways in which areasimprove or decline as local families see it.The Neighbourhood Study in Leeds and Sheffield is funded by the Nuffield Foundation andis the second part of the neighbourhood study started in two areas of London in 1999(Mumford, 2001). The two areas of Leeds and Sheffield are also part of CASE’s 12 AreasStudy (Lupton, 2001). This parallel study is tracking 12 low-income areas across Englandand Wales from the 1991 Census to 2006.[...]