The Policy Impact book, Social infrastructure and left behind places by John Tomaney, Maeve Blackman, Lucy Natarajan, Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Myfanwy Taylor is now available open access. This book explores the making, unmaking and remaking of social infrastructure in ‘left behind places’, and will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and others concerned with the fate of ‘left behind places’.
This book concerns the role of social infrastructure in “left behind places”. Drawing on a range of international literature, the authors establish a framework for investigating the making, unmaking and remaking of social infrastructure in “left behind places”. This recognises the importance of place attachments—the bonds that people feel toward where they live—which give rise to distinctive “moral communities”. The making of social infrastructure is the result of local commitments and expresses local identity as well as meeting the material needs of people and communities. The unmaking of social infrastructure, especially where it involves the ruination of the built environment, represents a form of “root shock” that disrupts place attachments. The production of stories about place is key to the formation “left behind places” as moral communities. In turn, stories provide the resources for the “radical hope” that underpins the (re)making of social infrastructure.
This study has three objectives:
- To understand better the nature of “left behind places”.
- To understand the process of making, unmaking and remaking of social infrastructure.
- To elicit policy recommendations.
RSA Members have received a print copy of the book as one of the membership benefits.
RSA POLICY EXPO GRANT SCHEME
This RSA policy research initiative worth £15,000 (c. $20,000; c. €17,800) aims to connect the work of successful teams with the wider communities on societal questions and policy needs. Expos will normally run for no more than 18 months from commissioning to the submission of the book and RSRS article for review.
The Association seeks a leading and impactful role for its community, to inform and influence policy and practice in creative and ambitious ways. The aim is to support Expos addressing issues that are important, current and having an impact on society. These Expos will investigate how the communities of regional studies, regional science, urban studies and related fields can respond to new societal challenges and opportunities.
Current Call for Applications
Please keep updated via our website for the 2024 RSA Policy Expo grant funding scheme calls. The Policy Expo initiative is worth up to £15,000 (c.$19,000; c. €16,800) to successful teams aiming to connect their work and wider communities to societal questions and policy needs.
The RSA will award £15,000 for the completion of the research and outputs. The research should produce an article for our gold open access journal, Regional Studies, Regional Science and a short ‘policy facing’ book of no more than 30,000 words published by Routledge relating to one of the themes below.
The book will have a large distribution, as it will be sent in print copy to all RSA members and in e-book format to all those who subscribe to any of the journals of the RSA.
Click here for more information on the grant scheme.