Wallace, A. (2010). Remaking community?: New Labour and the governance of poor neighbourhoods. Farnham, Ashgate.
This book examines the interconnected uses of 'community' in government rhetoric and practice, drawing on qualitative research conducted in a New Deal for Communities (NDC) neighbourhood under New Labour. The research draws on the experiences of residents living in an NDC neighbourhood defined as 'socially excluded', including interviews with a range of residents either individually or in focus groups. The book explores why the concept of community was so central to New Labour and policy actors, and what it meant for neighbourhoods residents who were part of the NDC regeneration project. The book explores the political, emotional and cultural impact of the regeneration experience for residents, linking the contested conceptualisation and mobilisation of 'community' to debates on citizenship and social exclusion.