Formación postgraduada universitaria

The categories or factors representing this emergent core category are: - complex sense of situation, social advantages, socio-economic infrastructure, mixed levels of general

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Ethnic Group

Fair and square

complex sense of situation mixed levels of general appreciation mixed cultural backgrounds benefits social advantages Sense of Community socio-economic infrastructure

Figure 6.2: The First Emergent Core Category from Case Study 1

For three decades since the United Kingdom‘s government started on the agenda to promote

Sustainable Communities to its society in the nation in order to make diverse multi-cultural

places like Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall into something different and new for the locals has benefited its people in many ways. However, there are still perceptions to be noted such as

the mixed levels of general appreciation and some disappointments from the locals. These

perceptions are not obvious. The sense of community for people who live in the Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall neighbourhoods can be considered in a complex situation.

One of the reasons is those people were connected with mixed cultural backgrounds

especially those who lived in previously-disadvantaged and diverted areas.

However, all 15 respondents who represented their own communities proudly impressed that both neighbourhoods have greatly transformed from deprived areas in 30 years back into a place with lots of social advantages, mainly in terms of socio-economic infrastructure benefits. This should promote more sense of community.

“My involvement with my own community group was basically in terms of the need to have a sense of community among us. Not more than that. But to think of something that‟s good for them for example our community activities for the elderly, kids or women, I believe ..those things can give us reasons to work together with other communities in this area”.

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“…. we always tend to live on our own and not to bother with other people and no sense of belonging to each other….”

Overall, the local communities in Case Study 1 had the same expectations about the sustainable community living concept in a diversified multi ethnic country. However, there are factors contributing to a complex relationship that affects the level of sense of community for certain people, such as the long-term impact of migration, racism and discrimination, differences in culture and lifestyles, and biological weaknesses; all these are called ethnic

inequalities.

The respondents later indicate ethnic inequalities as issues that their people often faced and some of the issues may be experienced differently by other ethnic groups in the same neighbourhood.

"Mixed-race people can face suspicion and distrust from both sides of their family, fall outside dominant racial categories and are often profoundly and hurtfully misrecognised by others,"

However despite facing ethnic inequalities issues, a lot of things have improved the perception of the locals in this case study. Positively, the perceptions to bring out the sense of community by living among others beside their own community have shown enough direct

indications. Even though why and how living within diverse communities‘ environment is

often unpredictable, the communities in Case Study 1 have consistently been advised by their leaders to avoid forcefully bringing about whenever any disagreements arise. The best solution for them is be persistently patient and in time any cultural misunderstandings will fade away and agreement comes.

Six respondents for Case Study 1, each representative from six major ethnic groups (Pakistanis, Jews, Arabs, Irish, Africans and Small Ethnic Minority groups) in Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall expressed their overall satisfaction about their people‘s living conditions. All six of them expressed their satisfaction about the close proximity of the neighbourhood to

cultural facilities such as mosques, temples and community centres where they can perform

their religious responsibilities and bring out their own respective culture. This, however, is only reflected from the first and second generations of the ethnic groups who are still living in these two areas. Positively, they were likely to use such community facilities on a regular

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basis. This population had an average age of 50-75 years and always felt that they have lived within a supportive community after all these years.

In addition, all the respondents representing their ethnic communities in Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall were particularly pleased to encourage their people to participate in any recent local government regeneration programme for the area. As expressed earlier, most of the older community members who live in these two neighbourhoods agreed that their people had good and bad experiences in their relationships with each other in many years. Due to these expectations, the more participation from the younger generation in local communities, the better the chances to have a sustainable living environment that provides better sense of

place that can be highly appreciated.

“Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall used to be a deprived area…in those days….these two areas were always connected with social crimes and were generally run down. … and yes..it has improved considerably because of the regeneration activities that have taken place.. for example, Cheetham is now a much cleaner place, the lighting has improved and crime is down….that‟s why…more people have come to live here” .

As mentioned in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, schools in the United Kingdom have been given a mandate by the government to promote community cohesion through the curriculum and

learning experience within the school environment. The encouragement could be extended to

benefit the wider community. The majority of the local communities in Case Study 1 were very pleased to participate in these objectives. They seem to be aware of the effort being part of the support to improve the sense of place among the children who were born and lived near the school. Eventually, AMHS has fully demonstrated their part to promote cohesion and extend its integration services to the locals. Improving a sense of community among the local communities, however, gives the school the challenge of improving its overwhelming

experiences in promoting community cohesion to the wider communities especially when

dealing with the safety and risks of the facilities provided.

“In this case, if the school strongly believes that the relationship might work, I can‟t think why we should not give it a try. I would like to see the openness from the school in having local communities be part of their objectives to help this area become a place we are all proud of…..”

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Respondents also informed that efforts by other local communities‘ institutions besides schools themselves help a lot in promoting a sense of community to local communities and most of them were quite acceptable. Despite having unpleasant living experiences in previous years and due to survival factors in a deprived neighbourhood such as Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall, the positive way of thinking about what is best for their own community living condition was always their top concern.

The term „hard to reach‟ is a phrase usually used in relation to people in the community who are deemed to inhabit the fringes of school, or community as a whole—who are socially excluded and who seemingly need to be ‗brought in‘ and get engaged as one of the stakeholders (Levitas, 1998). Understanding this perception can be significant and becomes one of the key reasons in the relationship of having community facilities such as schools for community cohesion purposes (Cantle, 2005a).