Livelihood and Politics
About this project
Lebanon is experiencing a severe economic crisis, compounded by escalating political tensions and a drastic decline in quality of life. This project aims to investigate how 'bottom-up' livelihood recovery strategies can foster politically inclusive recovery visions and lead to new policy pathways. By employing ethnographic methods, survey data, and conducting qualitative interviews, the research explores the interplay between livelihood strategies, social and political networks, and political identities.
Understanding prosperity across 15 areas in east London
Our research aims to examine the experiences of households in 15 areas that are part of, or neighbour, large-scale and long-term strategic regeneration programmes.
​
The 15 areas in the study have been selected because they include ‘established’ low-income communities - places where households experience multiple forms of deprivation and inequality, as well as ‘new’ mixed-income communities - places where new housing development and job opportunities are attracting new residents.
Tracking what matters to local communities
The 'Prosperity in east London 2021-2031' study is the first longitudinal study in the UK to use the Institute for Global Prosperity’s Citizen Prosperity Index: a new way of measuring prosperity that reports on what matters to local communities.
Unlike most indicators and metrics that are decided by experts in government, universities or business, and assumed to be relevant to communities everywhere, the Citizen Prosperity Index was co-designed with a team of citizen social scientists based on in-depth qualitative research about lived experiences and local determinants of prosperity in east London.
Citizens leading research on lived experiences of regeneration
Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 equips local residents with the tools to examine prosperity in their communities, producing citizen-centred insights on people’s lived experiences of regeneration. Through UCL’s Citizen Science Academy, they are employed as citizen social scientists and receive practice-led training on research design, ethics, qualitative data collection, public speaking, and social impact strategies.
.png)
.png)