Research interests and projects I am engaged with are framed around three distinct but interrelated themes:
- Urbanism and sustainable communities
- Children and young people's everyday lives
- Development in the context of newly-emerging economies
New Urbanism in India: Urban Living, Sustainability and Everyday Life (£303,456 FEC)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Principal Investigator (2013 - 2016)
This is a unique opportunity to investigate the everyday experiences of children and their families living in new large scale developments in India. Current research into the lives of families in large scale, ‘walkable’, diverse, inclusive, sustainable spaces is lacking, particularly in the emerging market context. The research is predominantly qualitative; however, an innovative mobile ‘app’ will be developed to explore family mobility. Project aims:
i) Investigate the everyday lives of children and their families, researching their interactions, issues and experiences in a new urban context;
ii) Develop innovative tools for conducting community based research in rapidly-developing urban environments;
iii) Develop academic and practitioner understanding of how models of urban design are being transferred between contexts and communities.
Visit Sophie’s ESRC project website.
Youth Consultation on Community Safety and Policing and Victim Experience of Northamptonshire's Criminal Justice System
Post-doctoral researcher (2012-2013)
Centre for Children and Youth, The University of Northampton
Project responsibilities:
- Coordination of focus groups with 87 young people from hard-to-reach communities
- Assist with the collection and analysis of 1,526 paper and online surveys
- Qualitative one-to-one interviews with 54 victims of crime (aged 10-18)
New Urbanisms, New Citizens: Children and Young People's Everyday Life and Participation in Sustainable Communities (ESRC)
Post-doctoral researcher (2009 - 2013)
Centre for Children and Youth, The University of Northampton
Research team:
- Professor Pia Christensen (PI) (University of Leeds)
- Dr. John Horton (Co-PI) (University of Northampton)
- Professor. Peter Kraftl (Co-PI) (University of Leicester)
- Dr. Sophie Hadfield-Hill (University of Birmingham)
During 2009‐13 researchers from the Universities of Leeds, Leicester and Northampton completed a major
research project investigating the experiences, issues and needs of young people (aged 9‐16) living in new
and rapidly‐expanding communities in the ‘Milton Keynes / South Midlands’ (MKSM) Growth Area. The project was funded by the UK Government’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The project team concentrated their research in four case study communities in MKSM, chosen to represent different models of urban development. The project team worked with 175 young people across the four communities, plus a range of adult residents, policy-makers and practitioners.
Core research activities included:
- Up to six months of observation and note-taking in each community
- Up to four interviews with each young person (311 in total), covering their daily routines, mobilities, sustainability, and citizenship
- A ‘GPS’ study - 122 young people carried a GPS device for one week, which recorded their movements, and took part in subsequent interviews about their mobilities
- 35 ‘community walks’, directed by young people
- Interviews with 50 local, regional and national practitioners, planners and policy-makers
Academic research findings can be found on the project website, related to: Perceptions of sustainable design; Mobilities, Connectivity and shared surfaces; Outdoor play; Citizenship: belonging and participation; Moving into a new community, living on a building site. There are also a series of evidence-based recommendations relating to the planning, design, construction and development of new housing developments.
Visit the project website.