Bringing the environment and green spaces into the classification of urban residential neighbourhoods and communities

Classifications of residential neighbourhoods from the academic, governmental and commercial sectors tend to ignore the environment and be based almost exclusively on demographic and socio-economic indicators or variables. This paper explores an extension of such classifications that incorporates environmental and landscape variables into the approach thereby offering the potential of examining the place of urban nature within disadvantaged and marginalised communities. It further allows us to examine whether such disadvantage and marginalisation are associated with degraded and less aesthetically please environments. Conversely we also investigate whether individuals and households towards the more affluent end of the socio-economic spectrum are not only less disadvantaged and marginalised but also occupy greener urban environments. We examine these issues in respect of two contrasting local authorities, Colchester Borough Council in north-east Essex which has the potential to be benefit from the social and economic centrality deriving from commutable proximity to London, and Salford to the west of Manchester City, where urban affluence rubs shoulders with more disadvantaged communities. Using census and environmental data from different time periods we seek to explore changing role of green space in urban areas and its potential to influence people lived experience.