The idea that communities should be involved in processes of change within their areas is now central to housing policy, regeneration policy and health strategies.  This is held to be good for the sustainability of physical improvements, for identifying the best ways to address social issues, and for giving people a sense of integration and control as a platform for enhanced wellbeing.  The governance, participation and empowerment study is involved in studying community involvement and empowerment in three areas of governance:

1. Social housing management and ownership

This part of the study involves conducting interviews with a range of policy-makers and practitioners about the role of community empowerment in the process of housing stock transfer.  It will also involve group discussions with the boards of nine local housing organisations( LHO) to explore the gains in influence that they have experienced as part of the housing stock transfer and the benefits this has brought to their communities. These LHO discussions will be repeated in the future as the process of second stage transfer evolves.

2. Area regeneration

This part of the study is interested in finding out whether the regeneration proposals for the three transformation areas in GoWell (Red Road, Sighthill and Shawbridge) have been influenced by the views of the community, and/or whether the community feel that they have had an adequate say in what is going to happen.  To do this interviews and discussions are being held with the consultants and community advisory groups involved in these areas.

3. Community planning

As in other local authorities in Scotland, Glasgow is developing its model of community planning across the city, to deliver better and more co-ordinated public services to local people. This part of the study will look at how local partnerships have developed their approaches to community engagement, within the framework of a city-wide model.

Click Working Paper 5 to find out more about studying community empowerment within processes of neighbourhood change in Glasgow.

Click Working Paper 7 to read a literature review on governance, empowerment and participation.

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