ABSTRACT
The process of identifying “left behind places” relies principally on static indicators that represent a specific moment in time and thus fail to reveal the reasons a place became “left behind” and in what way. Much existing work on social infrastructure in left behind places similarly presents a static picture of social infrastructure provision offering few insights into how these patterns are produced. “Left behindness” is multidimensional, comprising material and affective dimensions. It speaks not only of material conditions that are measured comparatively easily but also of perceptions and intersubjective understandings, which our methods enable us to grasp. County Durham offers an appropriate site in which to study social infrastructure in “left behind places”. It contains a comparatively high proportion of “left behind places”, as measured by the UK government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation, and is deficient in social infrastructure, according to the analysis undertaken by the OCSI/Local Trust.
