Birmingham City Council’s Alan Rudge describes a visit to Birmingham’s sister city, Chicago, as part of his work on community cohesion
This summer, I was able to travel to Chicago, in the US, to continue the work I have been engaged in with the Institute of Community Cohesion from Coventry University and the Urban Institute, a US-based organisation which advises the current American political administration.
This is a two-year project, which I instigated on behalf of Birmingham City Council, as part of my work on community cohesion.
Birmingham and Chicago are twin cities. Yet, in terms of their origins of cultural diversity, they are very different.
Although Birmingham has always been a city of great cultural diversity, it was not until after the Second World War that diversity included cultures of communities which migrated from Commonwealth areas, such as the Indian sub-continent, the Caribbean, and West Africa, to name but a few.
These new migrants had to acquire citizenship once they met the conditions of the Immigration Act, and they were able to settle wherever they could find work. Although Chicago is also a city of diversity, historically, the settlement of new communities has been determined by a policy of segregation, which has since been abolished. Therefore, the purpose of the work and, in particular, this visit, was to share and compare our approaches to renewal, regeneration and cohesion in both Birmingham and Chicago.
The first part of this project involved me welcoming a delegation from Chicago to Birmingham in May this year, where its members undertook visits which we had arranged to various parts of the city to meet with appropriate officers and stakeholders, in order to discuss our approach to the above issues.
Following their visit, our Chicago visitors took away with them some ideas on how they could implement some of the approaches we have embedded in Birmingham within their city. On our visit to Chicago, as part of the second leg of the project, myself and the head of equalities, Mashuq Ally, visited several programmes in different parts of the city, and met with the people involved in delivering them.
There are obviously many fundamental differences between the two cities, the most notable being space. The developments we visited all had the benefit of plenty of land and space to work with.
The density of housing we have in Birmingham does not afford us that luxury. The other big difference is the level of violence and the problems with guns, drugs and gang members are much more prevalent in Chicago than in Birmingham, and these factors have influenced the design of the developments, since their housing and cohesion work has to deal positively with such issues to prevent any adverse impact.
I also saw many positives – single mothers with ambition to build better lives for themselves and their children, and finding and keeping a job so they could work their way out of their surroundings. The level of commitment from the people involved in delivering and managing the projects was high, and the relationship between the local police force and the housing professionals managing the developments was excellent. I believe that it is success in these relationships which makes a real difference, and it was evident that this was really working in all the places I visited. A tough but fair attitude, blended with an extremely focused approach was bringing success. None of the schemes seemed to be run by a bureaucratic, ‘tick-box’ approach. The emphasis on dealing with individuals and their problems in a straightforward but personal way seemed to me something we could all learn from.
The new-build developments allow people to move into new homes and take advantage of a fresh start in a new place.
One of the schemes I visited had undergone an extensive refurbishment, and while the physical standard of the new homes was good, sometimes, people found it hard to see this as a fresh start. For example, we heard how people wanted to come back to the same apartment in the same building when the refurbishment was completed. I believe this makes it harder to move in and eradicate the problems that were present before. One has to be really strong and enforce effective social controls to avoid going back to how things were before the refurbishment. Several of the projects had brought together mixed-income families to live side by side and these were working well. This is an approach that I believe is essential to good community cohesion. It is all about coming together and living side by side, not separation and different groups in different places.
While the environment in Chicago is different from that in Birmingham, a joint report will be written at the end of the project by Professor Harris Beider, academic director at the Institute of Community Cohesion, which will allow us to reflect on our approach with the knowledge we have gained.
This visit was enlightening and thought provoking. It has enabled us to gain a real understanding of examples of good practice which could be implemented in Birmingham to help support ongoing challenges within the city.
Cllr Alan Rudge is Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for equalities and HR
This is a two-year project, which I instigated on behalf of Birmingham City Council, as part of my work on community cohesion.
Birmingham and Chicago are twin cities. Yet, in terms of their origins of cultural diversity, they are very different.
Although Birmingham has always been a city of great cultural diversity, it was not until after the Second World War that diversity included cultures of communities which migrated from Commonwealth areas, such as the Indian sub-continent, the Caribbean, and West Africa, to name but a few.
These new migrants had to acquire citizenship once they met the conditions of the Immigration Act, and they were able to settle wherever they could find work. Although Chicago is also a city of diversity, historically, the settlement of new communities has been determined by a policy of segregation, which has since been abolished. Therefore, the purpose of the work and, in particular, this visit, was to share and compare our approaches to renewal, regeneration and cohesion in both Birmingham and Chicago.
The first part of this project involved me welcoming a delegation from Chicago to Birmingham in May this year, where its members undertook visits which we had arranged to various parts of the city to meet with appropriate officers and stakeholders, in order to discuss our approach to the above issues.
Following their visit, our Chicago visitors took away with them some ideas on how they could implement some of the approaches we have embedded in Birmingham within their city. On our visit to Chicago, as part of the second leg of the project, myself and the head of equalities, Mashuq Ally, visited several programmes in different parts of the city, and met with the people involved in delivering them.
There are obviously many fundamental differences between the two cities, the most notable being space. The developments we visited all had the benefit of plenty of land and space to work with.
The density of housing we have in Birmingham does not afford us that luxury. The other big difference is the level of violence and the problems with guns, drugs and gang members are much more prevalent in Chicago than in Birmingham, and these factors have influenced the design of the developments, since their housing and cohesion work has to deal positively with such issues to prevent any adverse impact.
I also saw many positives – single mothers with ambition to build better lives for themselves and their children, and finding and keeping a job so they could work their way out of their surroundings. The level of commitment from the people involved in delivering and managing the projects was high, and the relationship between the local police force and the housing professionals managing the developments was excellent. I believe that it is success in these relationships which makes a real difference, and it was evident that this was really working in all the places I visited. A tough but fair attitude, blended with an extremely focused approach was bringing success. None of the schemes seemed to be run by a bureaucratic, ‘tick-box’ approach. The emphasis on dealing with individuals and their problems in a straightforward but personal way seemed to me something we could all learn from.
The new-build developments allow people to move into new homes and take advantage of a fresh start in a new place.
One of the schemes I visited had undergone an extensive refurbishment, and while the physical standard of the new homes was good, sometimes, people found it hard to see this as a fresh start. For example, we heard how people wanted to come back to the same apartment in the same building when the refurbishment was completed. I believe this makes it harder to move in and eradicate the problems that were present before. One has to be really strong and enforce effective social controls to avoid going back to how things were before the refurbishment. Several of the projects had brought together mixed-income families to live side by side and these were working well. This is an approach that I believe is essential to good community cohesion. It is all about coming together and living side by side, not separation and different groups in different places.
While the environment in Chicago is different from that in Birmingham, a joint report will be written at the end of the project by Professor Harris Beider, academic director at the Institute of Community Cohesion, which will allow us to reflect on our approach with the knowledge we have gained.
This visit was enlightening and thought provoking. It has enabled us to gain a real understanding of examples of good practice which could be implemented in Birmingham to help support ongoing challenges within the city.
Cllr Alan Rudge is Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for equalities and HR
