Are Local Community Groups Able to Influence Place Meaning and Shape the Behaviours of People More Positively Than Any Other External Agency? - Akshaya

There are many agencies and groups that can influence a place’s physical characteristics and sense of place, through reimaging, rebranding, the creation of activities, festivals and so on. Furthermore, they can influence the residents’ sense of belonging, identity and wellbeing within an area, thus shaping the behaviours of people. These groups can include the local community, governments and corporate bodies, each with varying abilities to cause positive changes. Local community groups have a more direct influence on the behaviour of people, due to the initiatives involving the locals themselves, however government’s and corporate bodies have greater funding and capacity to make larger scale changes to a place’s physical environment, thus influencing place meaning. 

Brighton Pride is a vibrant celebration of Brighton & Hove’s diverse community, with visitors from across the globe enjoying its celebrations. Community fundraising is at the heart of Brighton Pride, with many local community groups being part of organising and managing the event through volunteering. The popularity of Pride means that Brighton is often associated with tolerance, thus influencing place meaning to one of acceptance, as well as shaping the behaviours of people positively through a greater sense of community. Furthermore, the ethos of Brighton Pride is to promote “tolerance, diversity, inclusion and education within our communities”, thus having positive influences on the place and the people. Notting Hill carnival is also run by local community groups; it is led by members of the British West Indian community, and attracts around one million people annually, making it one of the world's largest street festivals, and a significant event in Black British culture. This also creates a place meaning of diversity and tolerance, shaping peoples’ behaviours positively with acceptance. Therefore, local community groups can influence place meaning and shape the behaviours of people positively by creating a culture of tolerance. 

“I amsterdam” is a rebranding campaign by the government which aims to expand and slightly alter that cultural awareness by focusing on what they identified as the core values of their city: creativity, innovation, and its spirit of commerce. They wanted to show that Amsterdam is not just about sex, drugs and canals, but also a great place to live and work. Although the “I amsterdam” campaign was able to increase tourist numbers, benefit businesses, and has cemented Amsterdam once again in its position in the top five European cities based on brand strength and cultural “assets.”, many still associate and choose to visit Amsterdam based on its culture of drugs. Therefore, despite the huge impact on place meaning they were able to have on the city, they could not disassociate Amsterdam from this. The behaviours of people were not shaped particularly positively, with high drug use. Therefore, governments are able to have much larger scale impacts on place meaning than local community groups, but this image based rebranding to appeal to tourists means that the positive influence on the behaviours of people is limited. 

Stratford was regenerated due to the work of the government and corporate bodies. Prior to redevelopment, Stratford was an area of severe pollution and urban decay; the area as contaminated by the industry, and the soil was polluted. It was home to the most deprived communities with high unemployment and a poor public health record, with the place being associated with deprivation and was very isolated. But the regeneration of Stratford managed to change its place meaning to one of an exciting, vibrant new quarter, with extensive transport connections. Now the tourism industry there is thriving, with 38 million visitors to Westfield shopping mall in 2013, and young professionals are moving in. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games and worked closely with the publicly funded Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) with a budget of over £5bn from the Culture Secretary. The LOCOG spent £2.38 billion and generated £2.41 billion. These agencies provided the funding necessary to completely change place meaning for such a large area of London, however the behaviours of people have not been shaped particularly positively, with the job security of the locals being threatened, cost of living raised, and community networks damaged, placing obstacles in resident’s paths to achieving greater levels of well-being. There has also been a loss of community events and a connected community. Therefore, place meaning was changed very positively due to external agencies funding the regeneration, but there was little positive change to the behaviours of people. 

In conclusion, external agencies are able to have a greater influence on place meaning, due to having the money to change the physical characteristics of place, as well as policies. This can be seen with the building of Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, which helped change the place meaning from one of deprivation to one of vibrancy. However, they shape the behaviours of people less positively than local community groups, due to the focus mainly being on profits and having an affluent population, rather than the well-being of the locals and a sense of community. As local community groups tend to improve the locals’ sense of belonging, identity and wellbeing in a place, they are able to shape these behaviours more positively.