Severe multi-dimensional exclusion

In the 1980s, under the city marketing strategy, many derelict and under-utilised industrial areas near city centres and in waterfront areas lands were transformed into commercial centres, office estates or leisure parks. Redevelopment projects brought not only refurbished or newly erected buildings with well-designated landscaping, but also distinct economic growth and job opportunities. Many figures showed that more people had started to move back into the inner cities for working and living: in 1990 there were only 90 people living in the heart of Manchester, in 2005 there were 25,000 residents;

over the same period the population of central Liverpool increased fourfold (Urban Task Force, 2005, p. 2). The redeveloped areas used to be the worst “problematic”

neighbourhoods in British cities one or two decades ago, but have now become the new powerhouses of prosperous urban economy.

However, the promotion of these specific areas did not necessarily benefit the wider area. One result was that, although the population and job losses slowed down or even reversed in the specific redeveloped areas, these have done little to reduce the overall level of unemployment in many cities (Hall, 2002). For example, the project of

“merchant city” to redevelop Glasgow city centre has been very successful in both generating wealth and creating job opportunities in the city centre, but in the area of the whole of Glasgow City, the unemployment rate in 1989 was 15.8%, which was even higher than that in 1980, at 15.1%. The rate was then going on to increase with effects of the inflation and recession between 1990 and 1992 (Paddison, 1993). Compared with the areas having experienced the local promotion, some of the worst-hit areas or sectors (for example, most peripheral social housing estates) were never involved in the market-oriented redevelopment projects. In these “abandoned” neighbourhoods, there was always very little investment from private sectors, mostly on account of less potential for economic return (Robson et al., 1994; Scottish Executive, 2006; McCarthy, 2007).

The retreat of most public investment in some cases speeded up the decline of the general living conditions of these communities. Thus usually the declining areas with concentration of vulnerable groups were falling deeply into multi-dimensional exclusion:

not only with inadequate job opportunities, but also very low levels of public services, including transport, health, child care, schools and access to many mainstream social events (Power and Mumford, 1999; Pierson and Worley, 2005). Although the detailed situation varies from case to case, the common feature is that the “local problems” all have wide coverage and they interact with each other. Some problems are visible, characterised by the marked increase of homelessness, poorer housing or environmental conditions, street begging, etc. Some others are invisible, including the higher level of long-term unemployment, the rising levels of crime and drug abuse, closure of shops, banks, and other vital services, bad quality of local education and so on (Oatley, 1995;

Blair, 1998b).

Craigmillar is one of the most typical examples of the neighbourhoods suffering long-term depression but not experiencing significant promotion during the neo-liberal

years. This large housing estate is located on the south-eastern periphery of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, and the distance to the city centre is approximately 5 km (Figure 4-1). The whole area covers 6.9 km² and about 7100 people are currently housed here.

Figure 4-1 The location of Craigmillar

The residential history of Craigmillar can be traced back to at least the 12^th century.

From the middle age years to the 19^th century, two powerful families dominated the land around Craigmillar. Craigmillar Castle was the home of one of them for hundreds of years, despite many periods of reconstruction. The industry of coal extraction started in the 14^th century and, after the Industrial Revolution, the brewing and manufacturing of margarine developed very fast in Craigmillar. At the beginning of the 20^th century, there were seven breweries, two coal mines, and the Creamery in this area.

In 1928, following the partial closure of the coal mines, the private land-owners sold the land and estate to Edinburgh Town Council. Two years later, the first round of construction of public housing projects started in order to re-house the homeless or outward population from the slum clearance in the inner city. In the following decades, the council housing estates expanded in neighbouring areas, as they were close to employment in the local mines, breweries and manufacturing industries. Until the 1960s, Craigmillar was made up from twelve areas of housing: Niddrie Mains, Niddrie Marischal, Niddrie House, Niddrie Mill, the Peffers, Peffermill, The Thistle, Greendykes, Bingham, Magdalene, Cleekim, and Newcraighall Village (The Living

Craigmillar Archives, 2000). The housing styles were diverse and reflected the different projects: some were designed as traditional low-rise detached houses; a few were semi-detached houses while the latest projects created some high-rise flats. The highest two blocks have 14 storeys (Pawson et al., 2000).

After the large-scale housing construction, the total population in Craigmillar reached 17,000, the size of a small town. However, in this public housing area, despite its size there were very few shops and other facilities. The lack of a wide range of services and the distance from the city centre made the area less popular to potential tenants and the local living conditions never had a high reputation. In the following two and three decades, poverty and job losses in Craigmillar became more and more prevalent:

“The first rumblings came with the run-down of the coal-mines and breweries and the closure of the Creamery. This left Craigmillar largely a dormitory area. The resulting mass unemployment was to dog the area for decades to come, bringing with it all the festering social ills of 20^th century urban living.”(The Living Craigmillar Archives, 2000)

The decay of the area became apparent in almost all aspects and they reinforced each other. The historic statistics reveal the decreasing population, rising crime rates, poverty and concentration of low-income people, together with the physical decay. Rounds of public funding were devoted to reducing the social problems in this or that single issue, while the process seemed like a never-ending task without reward. After the “Right to Buy” schemes and the reform of other welfare provision in particular, the gap between Craigmillar and other Scottish neighbourhoods became larger than ever: the better-off residents moved away while families considered to be problem families from all parts of the city were re-located to the area. According to Scottish Government statistics, it is now considered to be the fourth most deprived area in Scotland (4th out of 1222 areas) and the No. 1 deprived area in the City of Edinburgh.