This document summarizes research on the high street and efforts to impact public policy. It discusses 3 case studies: 1) how knowledge about skills for sustainable communities was ignored by governments, 2) how the "big society" narrative undermined community development knowledge, and 3) how research on food banks and welfare reform is consistently ignored. It reflects on challenges of impact including losing control of the research narrative, policy preferences determining research agendas, differing definitions of impact between researchers and policymakers, and impact being more about self-presentation than influence. It proposes an agenda for impact that sees impact as provisional, challenges canonical knowledge, is inclusive of participant views, and disturbs rather than just reinforces the status quo.
Into the wild: research 'impact' and the curious world of public policy
1. Into the wild
what happens when research is let loose?
Julian Dobson, director, Urban Pollinators
2. 1 the curious world of public policy
2 chasing after the wind? roles and limitations
3 a few critical reïŹections
4 an agenda for impact?
3. PART 1: ONCE UPON A TIME ON THE HIGH STREET
THE âDEATH OF THE HIGH STREETâ - IS EXISTENTIAL ANGST A RESEARCH QUESTION?
4. âThere is a concern that the High Street
shopping environment to which society has
grown accustomed, whether as shoppers,
investors, employees or entrepreneurs, is
changing and we are not sure whether we
will like either how it will change or what it
will be changed to.â
John Dawson, The Geographical Journal, 154 (1), 1988
5. IâM A CELEBRITY, GET ME INTO HERE
MAY 2011: DAVID CAMERON ANNOUNCES PORTAS REVIEW AFTER VACANCIES DOUBLE IN TWO YEARS
6. After David Cameron announced the Portas
Review in spring 2011, Urban Pollinators
convened a group of thinkers and activists
to prepare a submission focusing on the
social and multifunctional nature of the
âhigh streetââŠ
7. THE AGORA: BACK TO THE FUTURE
SUBMISSION TO THE PORTAS REVIEW: A VISION OF HIGH STREETS AS SOCIAL SPACES
8. âŠbut it was not until late summer that the
Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills put out a call for proposals to
research the âdrivers and barriersâ to high
street successâŠ
9. âWEâD BETTER HAVE SOME EVIDENCEâ
SEPT 2011: BIS COMMISSIONS EVIDENCE ON âDRIVERS AND BARRIERSâ TO HIGH STREET SUCCESS
10. The Portas Review, published in December
2011, called for town centres to be ârun as
businessesâ - which government ministers
liked. It also called for all proposals for new
out of town shopping centres to go to the
secretary of state for communities and local
government for approval - which ministers
rejected.
11. THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, THE CANDLESTICK MAKER
THE PORTAS REVIEW: TOWN TEAMS, SOCIAL SPACES AND OUT-OF-TOWN SHOPPING CENTRES
12. Instead, Grant Shapps was appointed as
âminister for high streetsâ and invited towns
to pitch for a share of a ÂŁ1m fund - via
YouTube videos.
13. GRANT SHAPPS AND HIS GOLDEN TICKETS
FEB 2012: TWELVE TOWNS TO SHARE ÂŁ1M REGENERATION FUND - VIA VIDEO PITCH
14. Within a year, the âPortas Pilotsâ were being
accused by national media of wasting
money - including the incident of Dartford
Councilâs Peppa Pig costumeâŠ
15. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF PEPPA PIG
âWE DID SPEND THAT MONEY ON A PEPPA PIG COSTUME, BUT NOBODY ASKED ABOUT THE BENEFITSâ
16. Meanwhile, the academic debate was
focusing on high street âresilienceâ - a topic
seized on by Grant Shappsâ successor,
Brandon Lewis, as evidence that high
streets were simply evolving to meet new
circumstancesâŠ
17. RESILIENCE: PUTTING A BRAVE FACE ON IT?
FUTURE HIGH STREET FORUM, 2014: HIGH STREETS ARE SHOWING âADAPTIVE RESILIENCEâ
18. 2015: âHow to save our town centresâ is an
attempt to redress the balance, returning to
the âagoraâ idea but taking it forward with
an emphasis on rethinking concepts of
âvalueââŠ
19. REWORKING THE AGENDA: TAKING STOCK, MOVING ON?
FROM SOCIAL SPACES TO COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP - CONTESTING THE FRAME OF REFERENCE
20. âŠbut this is just another staging post in the
long journey of evidence, argument,
policymaking and public discourseâŠ
21. INTO THE WILD: HERE WE GO AGAIN
âMY ALREADY WELL-THUMBED COPY IS FULL OF UNDERLININGSâ (ROB HOPKINS, TRANSITION NETWORK)
22. PART 2: CHASING AFTER THE WIND?
ROLES, RECONSTRUCTIONS AND RESULTS
23. CASE STUDY 1: SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
THE EDITOR: MEDIATING EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES
24. Case study 1: Why did Westminster
governments decide within a period of just
seven years that âskills for sustainable
communitiesâ were a top priority - and then
werenât a priority at all? Can âepistemic
communitiesâ preserve knowledge on their
own?
25. âAn epistemic community is a network of
professionals with recognised expertise and
competence in a particular domain and an
authoritative claim to policy-relevant
knowledgeâŠâ
Peter Haas, International Organisation, 46 (1), 1992
26. CASE STUDY 2: BIG SOCIETY OR OUR SOCIETY?
THE ACTIVIST: SEEKING TO INFLUENCE DEBATE
27. Case study 2: Why did the âbig societyâ
narrative introduced by David Cameron in
2010 result in the loss of community
development and voluntary sector
knowledge? Can community activists help
to ensure research has an impact when
governments seek to negate it?
28. âYou might wonder why those who are most
closely involved with community action should
be expressing the greatest anger at the current
government and - by association - with the Big
Society ideas. If the message of a Big Society is
so liberating, why do they sound as if they have
feel cheated and betrayed?â
âAn open letter to Nat Wei about Big Societyâ, 13 September 2010
29. CASE STUDY 3: FOOD, POVERTY AND WELFARE
THE RESEARCHER: WHAT HAPPENS TO KNOWLEDGE IF PEOPLE CHOOSE NOT TO LEARN?
30. Case study 3: Why do government ofïŹcials
consistently ignore and seek to discredit
research on food banks and welfare reform?
Is the researcherâs job over if the research is
unwelcome?
31. âThe risk is that people in severe need do not
know about the scheme and that, as a result,
their situations worsen. The longer any
intervention by public or voluntary services is
postponed, the more costly and less effective it
is likely to be.â
Bill Sargent Trust, The Impact of the Hampshire Local Welfare
Assistance Scheme 2013-2014
32. PART 3: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS
SOME OF THE âWHAT IFSâ OF RESEARCH - AND HOW WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO RESPOND
34. âThe power of the story does not depend on its
connection to the world outside the story but in
its openness for negotiating meaning.â
Barbara Czarniawska (2004), Narratives in social science
research
35. EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY, OR POLICY-BASED EVIDENCE?
WHAT IF THE RESEARCH AGENDA IS DETERMINED BY POLICY PREFERENCES?
36. âEmpirical material cannot unambiguously falsify
or verify theories, but it can generate arguments
for or against the championing of theoretical
ideas and a particular way of understanding the
world.â
Mats Alvesson and Kaj Skoldberg (2009), ReïŹexive methodology:
new vistas in qualitative research
37. IMPACT: ARE WE SEPARATED BY A SHARED LANGUAGE?
WHAT IF OUR DEFINITION OF IMPACT IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE IN POSITIONS OF POWER?
38. âThe report itself concludes that it canât prove
anything - it uses self-selecting data and
recognises there are complex underlying issues.â
Department for Work and Pensions, commenting on Trussell
Trust and Oxfam GB report on food banks, November 2014
39. MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALLâŠ
WHAT IF âIMPACTâ IS MORE ABOUT SELF-PRESENTATION THAN INFLUENCE?
40. âWhat has to be constantly scrutinised and
neutralisedâŠis the collective scientiïŹc
unconscious embedded in theories, problems,
andâŠcategories of scholarly judgment.â
Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992), An invitation to reïŹexive
sociology
41. PART 4: AN AGENDA FOR IMPACT?
IS IT POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE IMPACT WITHOUT CAUSING HARM?
42. TAKING A LINE FOR A WALK: âIMPACTâ AS A BEGINNING
âIMPACTâ AS PROVISIONAL AND UNFINISHED: CAN WE MEASURE THE PROGRESS OF IDEAS?
43. âThe job of researchers is to clarify and
deliberate about the problems, possibilities and
risks that planning, planners, and those planned
face, and to outline how things could be done
differently. This is all in full knowledge that
ultimate answers to these questions, or even a
single version of what the questions are, cannot
be found.â
Bent Flyvbjerg, Planning Theory and Practice, 5 (3), 2004
44. CHALLENGING âKNOWLEDGEâ: FROM CITATION TO CRITIQUE
âIMPACTâ AS CRITICAL: ARE WE GOING BEYOND REINFORCING CANONICAL KNOWLEDGE?
45. âReplacing doctrines that have become
unbelievable, citation allows the technocratic
mechanisms to make themselves credible for
each individual in the name of the others. To cite
is thus to give reality to the simulacrum
produced by a power, by making people believe
that others believe in it, but without providing
any believable object.â
Michel de Certeau (1984), The practice of everyday life
46. INFLUENCE AND IMPACT: WHO SETS THE AGENDA?
âIMPACTâ AS INCLUSIVE: ARE WE OPEN TO THE IMPACT OF OUR RESEARCH PARTICIPANTSâ VIEWS?
47. âCritical academics with an interest and
commitment to engagement with actors outside
the academyâŠhave an opportunity to structure
understandings of what constitutes impact from
belowâŠThe interface between academic and
policy work, and between academia and
activism, can be particularly productive spaces
through which to create these knowledgesâŠâ
Peter North, The Geographical Journal, 179 (3), 2013
48. FOOLS, DEVIANTS AND TROUBLEMAKERS
âIMPACTâ AS DISTURBANCE: IF OUR RESEARCH DOESNâT DISTURB, IS IT DOING ITS JOB?
49. â[social sciences] run the risk of losing their
autonomy from the state, unless they are
prepared to use against the state the relative
freedom that it grants them.â
Pierre Bourdieu, Sociological Theory, 12 (1), 1994