Summary
This response, authored by Dr Joseph Owen and Professor Nicky Marsh of the University of Southampton, reports on the AHRC-funded Feeling Towns project within the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities. Between 2021 and 2023, the team conducted ethnographic case studies in seven English locations, including Bournemouth, Southend, Southampton, Darlington, Herefordshire, Dorchester and the Isle of Wight, partnering with DLUHC, the Community Ownership Fund, Historic England, local authorities and community organisations. Through interviews with over 500 residents, they show that pride in place is a nuanced, felt experience shaped by both public and private realms and that policy proxies linking pride to homeownership or crime reduction risk overlooking genuine community cohesion. They offer five core recommendations: mobilise imaginative belonging in New Towns; support grassroots interventions that build social capital; develop new qualitative methods to evaluate pride; increase ‘pride literacy’ among policymakers through creative, place-based decision-making; and invest in social infrastructure to sustain community bonds. They argue that central government should avoid simplistic metrics, learn from historical New Towns’ failures in social housing and evaluation, protect and enrich public realm assets, and ensure authentic, sustained community engagement drives the planning and delivery of New Towns.
Authors
Dr Joseph Owen , Researcher, Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities, University of Southampton
