Community regeneration in Glasgow: perspectives of poverty and power

Lawson, Louise Jane (2025) Community regeneration in Glasgow: perspectives of poverty and power. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis centres on a collection of published papers based on qualitative research carried out in social housing estates in Glasgow during 2007-2017. The basis for the research was the GoWell Research and Learning Programme of housing investment and area regeneration and its impacts on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. In 2003, Glasgow City Council transferred its entire stock of council housing to the newly created Glasgow Housing Association through a process of stock transfer which promised to deliver community ownership for Glasgow’s tenants. Following the housing stock transfer, a strategy of ‘transformational change’ for eight housing estates across the city was agreed and community engagement was central to the processes of regeneration. The thesis questions whether substantial improvements to people’s lives can be realistically achieved by regeneration within deprived urban neighbourhoods without policy decisions that address the fundamental characteristics of poverty, such as low income, employment and social security.

Poverty underpins my research, and the published papers focus primarily on the processes and outcomes of policies in the context of housing and neighbourhood regeneration. Lukes’ theory of power was used to synthesise the works across the two themes of communities and people to discuss how power dynamics play out in the context of my work. Lukes’ key contribution to power was the third-dimensional view which seeks to broaden the discussion of the concept of power, building on the first and second dimensions. Using the published papers, I discuss power dynamics in relation to the specific narratives, contexts and policies where the studies are situated, and identify different aspects of power relating to the nature of interests, acquiescence, and moral and political responsibility.

My main contribution to knowledge has been to assess how, in the context of poverty, power plays out in policies that are routine and unconsidered rather than those regarded as intentionally harmful, such as austerity policies. From the papers, I provide evidence of positive outcomes to people’s lives through investment in social housing, including improvements for children and young people, and some degree of community empowerment. There is some mixed evidence of outcomes and improvements, and also evidence that appears to go against peoples interests that includes the involvement of communities in regeneration planning that is not acted upon. I purport that claims about outcomes (positive, negative and mixed) are relative, and involve value judgements in relation to people’s real interests. I conclude that my work points to the naturalisation of policies designed to make a difference to people’s lives in an unconsidered way: Lukes’ third dimension is not limited to intentional acts of manipulation by the powerful, but can also be seen as self-producing social processes in which the thinking and behaviour of the powerful and the powerless alike are conditioned by social norms. It involves the internalised, often unconscious acceptance of dominant norms as natural and normal even if they appear to be against the interests of the status quo involved. Despite the renewed emphasis and momentum to ‘tackle poverty’, there still lacks a shared narrative and traction within policy and politics to enact change, so ‘inegalitarian social constraints’ that could be otherwise, continue to persist. Substantial improvements to people’s lives cannot be realistically achieved by regeneration without addressing the fundamental characteristics of poverty, which are policy issues determined by political choices. Crucially, however, it is the perpetuation and reproduction of norms and values through the dynamics of power that hinder or influence change. This requires dealing directly with major ideas and narratives which inform, and are informed by, those in power.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions; H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Gray, Professor Cindy and Wong, Dr. Mark
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85540
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 29 Oct 2025 12:15
• Last Modified: 30 Oct 2025 10:09
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85540
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85540

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