Presentation for Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) 2011. Many people live near railways in the UK. Railways in residential environments have largely been researched in terms of the disturbance and annoyance they cause to residents, mainly vibration and noise. My research explores the wider context and residents experiences of living near railways. The relationship between people and where they live is very complex. The places we live form part of who we are - our identity. Places say something about us therefore we have something to say about places and the things (e.g. railways) in them. I have explored how people talk about living near railways, and how they position themselves as having choices and control over where they live, but also how living near the railway is a compromise: the compromise being living near a railway but finding a 'decent' and 'good' place to live.

1. Living near railways Discourses of control, choice and compromise Jenna Condie University of Salford 1

2. The journey so far The journey so far 2

3. Who we are is where we are? Flickr: Paolo Camera Flickr: JCMaz Flickr: JCMaz Flickr: JCMaz 3

4. Research Aims Understand the role of place & identity Explore discursive & narrative strategies Future policy Critique of dominant approaches 4

5. Control & Choice 5

6. Dealing with Dilemmas 6 Compromise

7. 7 Railway as threat to place identity? ‘I suppose everyone lives near something that makes noise and I think its just a by-product of 21st century now’ (Allen) Flickr: JCMaz

8. 8 Flickr: Urban Safari Flickr: Khym54 The importance of context Flickr: JCMaz Flickr: Simononly

9. Living near railways Discourses of control, choice and compromise Jenna Condie E: j.condie1@edu.salford.ac.uk @jennacondie Slides available at: http://www.slideshare.net/jennacondie 9