Tenants' experiences and perceptions of the benefits and disbenefits of moving, which might encompass: the quality of housing and neighbourhood services; empowerment or disempowerment; dislocation and re-establishment of social ties and networks; and the experience of stigma, are being explored through mutual storytelling as well as photo-elicitation and other visual methods. Stories, pictures and analysis of local participants' experiences can then be shared via a purpose-built website (residentsvoices.net) established to facilitate communication, collective theorising and organising by tenants across sites in both countries where redevelopment and relocations aimed at changing social mix are currently or have recently occurred.
Residents' Voices is based on the premise that conventional academic and policy research on so-called 'excluded' communities is itself inherently exclusionary and so seeks to allow and encourage tenants to form and pursue their own questions about social mix, amongst other things. The paper will reflect on the value and efficacy of the collaborative participatory approach and its potential to open a new debate about these issues.