Creational narratives for new housing communities: evidence synthesis

Housing, Care and Support,Volume 19, Issue 3/4, September 2016. Purpose This paper reports the findings of a rapid evidence synthesis commissioned by the Diocese of Winchester with a remit to provide an empirical basis for church contributions to large housing community developments. It sought to respond to three questions concerning new community developments. These related to risks and causes of failure; learning from past corporate and intermediate tier interventions at diocesan and equivalent levels by religious denominations; and the transferable learning available from developments described in Community Health and Liveability literatures. Design/methodology/approach The review took a purposive approach to sampling evidence from within academic literature, policy and ‘think tank’ outputs and theological texts. The search was instigated with the use of key words (including New Settlements, Urban Redevelopment, Diocese, Faith and Community), principally within the SCOPUS, NIHR, PUBMED and Google Scholar databases. A pragmatic snowballing approach to relevant r eferences was then employed. Findings Segregation and separation were identified as the main risk for new settlements. Connectivity is required between and across neighbours, ensuring communal access to services, transport and recreation. Communal places where people can come together for convers ation and social interaction are identified as contributing significantly to healthy communities. Churches have a ...
Source: Housing, Care and Support - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research