Introduction

In this chapter I explore historic regeneration in Hillfields, an area of inner-city Coventry, UK, that could be described as suffering from ‘territorial stigmatisation’ (Wacquant, 2007, p 66). This work in Hillfields was part of the Imagine research project, forming a work package focusing on historical aspects of civic participation along with Imagine North East (see Chapter 2). Scoping interviews with current and former residents and community workers suggested that the poor reputation of the area developed in the post-war period, created by both outsiders and insiders, leading to Hillfields being perceived as a space, not a place, a ‘potential void’ and ‘possible threat’ (Smith, 1987, p 297) rather than a community of stable belonging. To develop interest, trust and capacity in the Imagine Hillfields project, community development strategies were used to identify the legacy outcome that community members wanted to see from the project. From this a co-produced output was designed: a photographic exhibition that illustrated complex community narratives of historic change, which sought to challenge stigmatising perceptions of Hillfields through positive media and public feedback.

This chapter proceeds with a brief introduction of the remit for Imagine Hillfields. An examination of historic regeneration initiatives in Hillfields explains the development of territorial stigmatisation in the area. An assessment of how the Imagine Hillfields project proceeded is then undertaken, with a focus on the emergent and iterative approach to inquiry. I conclude that co-production can be a sensitive and reflective approach for knowledge production, based in an understanding of the limitations of our enquiry and the potential of our community partners.

The Imagine Hillfieldsproject

Imagine Hillfields sought to examine and understand historic regeneration in Hillfields, Coventry, UK. Its partner project Imagine North East, focused on Benwell in Newcastle and Meadow Well in North Shields. These three areas were identified as places of multiple, historic regeneration activity, with all three being locations for the community development projects (CDPs) in the 1970s (Loney, 1983; Banks and Carpenter, 2017) followed by multiple attempts to resolve perceived community problems. One aim of this Imagine work package was to ‘chart the history of regeneration … from the perspective of residents themselves using creative media.’ Co-produced outputs would ‘develop community capacity’ and generate a ‘local archive of materials’.