Numerous research studies use commuting data, collected through the Census of Population, to understand social, economic and environmental challenges in the UK. This commuting data has been used to understand patterns; answer questions regarding the relationship between housing and labour markets; and to see if travel behaviour is becoming more or less sustainable over time. However, there is lots of untapped potential for such data to be used to evaluate transport policy and investment decisions so resources are more effectively and efficiently targeted to places of need. In applied public policy a major shortcoming has been a lack of use of this data to support investment in transport which has major implications for economic growth. If transport investments are inefficiently targeted, this restricts the capacity of places to grow economies to their full potential. This wastes their resources by over investing in transport capacity in areas where it is not needed. Equally, it has long been argued that efficient investment in transport is crucial if labour market exclusion, particularly the case of deprived communities, is to be tackled. The aim of the research is to inform community transportation policy and investment and the socio-spatial dimensions of travel to work flows over time (2001-2011). Our research develops a toolkit to help decision-makers better target investment in transport capacity and infrastructure. The toolkit includes a series of new classifications of commuting flows from the 2001 and 2011 Censuses. It will include a classification of newly developed official Workplace Zones for England to complement official residential population-based classifications alongside various population, deprivation, investment and infrastructure data. The toolkit will bring these classifications and datasets together online through various mapping and analysis tools to understand the dynamics of commuting between different types of residential and workplace locations over time and combine these datasets and analyses with locally-specific transport investment data. The methodology developed will be applied to England as a whole but we will use the Manchester as a test-case for our analysis and for development of the toolkit. The use of open source approaches to build the toolkit means that other locations will have the framework to develop their own toolkit. The flow and area-based (Workplace Zones) classifications for England will complement official ONS residential-based output area classification and existing indices of deprivation. This will be mapped in relation to key transport investments made in Manchester, using local administrative data and overlay these with the results of commuting analysis to support decision-making regarding future targeted public transport infrastructure investment. The toolkit will be interactive so users can pose policy questions to explore commuting relationships between different places. The strength of this approach is that it will enable policy and decision-makers to test various scenarios for future transport investment depending on problems they have posed. In a hypothetical situation, a policymaker in might ask the question of whether a specific deprived community in their city is more or less connected into a major employment centre than another equally deprived community. The evidence can be used to target funding for an 'into-work-scheme' to help the most disconnected community. The toolkit allows the policymaker to explore levels of commuting and compare the level of connectivity of each neighbourhood to major employment centres. The underlying rationale for the research is that the toolkit will help deliver efficiencies in public and private sector investment. This is crucial at a time when the government is promoting the need for smarter economic growth but doing so in a challenging context in which public sector resources are scarce and the private sector is risk averse.

Dementia is often presented as a global issue with substantial economic consequences for all countries and societies providing diagnostic and/or supportive services. Whilst we believe this is necessary and important information, in our 5-year study we want to celebrate the achievements, growth and contribution that people with dementia and their carers make to society. To do this, we are putting the local neighbourhood and networks in which people with dementia and their carers live and belong at the centre of our work. We have designed a study on neighbourhood living that has 4 inter-linked work packages (WPs), an international partner , the Center for Dementia Research [CEDER] at Linköping University, Sweden, and strong user involvement through the EDUCATE and Open Doors groups [Greater Manchester, England]; The ACE Club [Rhyl, North Wales]; and the Scottish Dementia Working Group [Glasgow, Scotland]. In the UK our academic partners are situated in Manchester, Salford, Stirling, Liverpool and London and we have third sector involvement through the Deaf Heritage Project at the British Deaf Association, as well as a range of project partners which includes the North West People in Research Forum, the Citizen Scientist initiative and a Community Integrated Company that supports people with dementia through accessible technology [Finerday]. As this is a complex set of networks based around a neighbourhoods theme, each WP will use different research methods and partners to meet their primary aims and objectives. WP1 is a secondary analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging database which will compile Neighbourhood Profiles that will be available for the whole country; these Profiles will include information on cognitive risk factors and clusters of population; WP2 will develop a set of core outcomes measures in dementia that will involve people with dementia and their carers in deciding what measures and priorities are important for them; WP3 will explore what makes a dementia friendly neighbourhood and will take place in Stirling, Salford and Linköping; WP4 has 3 interventions representing various stages of the Medical Research Council's complex interventions framework. Intervention 1 will be a full RCT of an educational intervention for general hospitals that several members of the project team have developed and piloted over the last 2 years. In this study, we want to find out if the educational intervention results in people with dementia leaving hospital for their neighbourhood home sooner, but with high levels of satisfaction. Interventions 2 and 3 are pilot trials. Intervention 2 will be conducted in Sweden and Manchester, UK and will use technology to help couples, where one person has a dementia, to better self-manage the condition and, more importantly, their relationship. In intervention 3, we are looking at the diversity of a neighbourhood and will develop the first digitalised life story intervention in the world for Deaf people (BSL users) who live with dementia. This will be the first intervention for this group in the world. In this programme of work we will develop a user research programme as some people with dementia have told us that they would like to work alongside the research team as co-researchers. We will therefore appoint a PPI co-ordinator for the duration of the study with a responsibility for identifying co-researcher training needs, running a regular co-research programme, mentoring co-researchers, ensuring user goal preferences are met and facilitating user dissemination. Through the implementation of a neighbourhood approach each WP will promote closer relations and working between professionals, lay people and people living with dementia. This study will also contribute to the currently limited evidence base for dementia friendly communities and provide knowledge and insights to support a robust theoretical framework of neighbourhood work that will have international scope and relevance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) model of 'age-friendly cities' emphasizes the theme of supportive urban environments for older citizens. These defined as encouraging 'active ageing' by 'optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age' (WHO, Global Age-friendly Cities, 2007). The goal of establishing age-friendly cities should be seen in the context of pressures arising from population ageing and urbanisation. By 2030, two-thirds of the world's population will reside in cities, with - for urban areas in high-income countries - at least one-quarter of their populations aged 60 and over. This development raises important issues for older people: To what extent will cities develop as age-friendly communities? Will so-called global cities integrate or segregate their ageing populations? What kind of variations might occur across different types of urban areas? How are different groups of older people affected by urban change? The 'age-friendly' city perspective has been influential in raising awareness about the impact of population ageing. Against this, the value of this approach has yet to be assessed in the context of modern cities influenced by pressures associated with global social and economic change. The IPNS has four main objectives: first, to build a collaborative research-based network focused on understanding population ageing in the context of urban environments; second to develop a research proposal for a cross-national study examining different approaches to building age-friendly cities; third to provide a systematic review of data sets and other resources of relevance to developing a research proposal on age-friendly cities; fourth, to develop training for early career resarchers working on ageing and urban issues. The network represents the first attempt to facilitate comparative research on the issue of age-friendly cities. It builds upon two meetings held at the Universities of Keele and Manchester in 2011 that sought to establish the basis for cross-national work around the 'age-friendly' theme. The IPNS represents brings together world class research groups in Europe, Hong Kong and North America, professionals concerned with urban design and architecture, and leading NGOs working in the field of ageing. A range of activities have been identified over the two-year funding period: (1) Preparation of research proposals for a cross-national study of approaches to developing age-friendly urban environments. (2) Two workshops to specify theoretical and methodological issues raised by demographic change and urbanisation. (3) A Summer School exploring links between data resources of potential relevance to the ageing and urbanisation theme and which might underpin research proposals. (4) Master classes for network members from key researchers in the field of urbanisation and ageing. (5) A workshop with a user-based theme developing older people's participation in research on building age-friendly communities. (6) Themed workshops (face-to-face and via video-link) to identify research and policy gaps drawing on inter-disciplinary perspectives The IPNS will be sustained in a variety of ways at the end of the funding period. A collaborative research proposal as well as one to maintain the network will be major outputs from the project and work with potential funding bodies will continue after 2014. Dissemination activities will continue through professional networks, symposia at major international conferences, and involvement in expert meetings. The project will continue to be advertised through the maintenance of a website maintained by the host UK HEI. The project will continue to make a contribution to policy development around the theme of age-friendly cities, notably with the main NGOs working in the field.

What is in Manchester's DNA? What are the 'building blocks' of the city? How has the city developed and evolved? What is the 'family history' of Manchester? 'Manchester's DNA' is an ambitious city-wide festival investigating and celebrating history, community, migration, place and identity. Through a seven-month series of public events, school workshops, performances and creative interventions the project considers the genetic 'building blocks' of contemporary Manchester. Across 2023 the project will run 22 Core events based on a collaboratively produced Toolkit, curate and support around 80 further Themed events, commission creative work and deliver an exhibition. 'Manchester's DNA' allows people from across the city-region to connect with their roots, think about the stories of those who came before them, see the physical city in different ways, and to develop their understanding of what is means to be a 'citizen'. Our events will reach a projected audience of 10000 people across the city, a large intervention into the cultural life of Manchester. The Toolkit will enable the development of events relating to, or responding to, issues recognised by the PI's original 'Double Helix History' project: public history and genetic understanding; DNA, history and self; genetics and ethnicity; genetics, place, and migration; community and co-production; public understanding of the genetically inflected past. The project is a unique collaboration with the Manchester UNESCO City of Literature. Through this collaboration 'Manchester's DNA' sees the PI and RA work with a large number of partners around the city of Manchester including libraries, archives, hospitals, art galleries, festivals and publishers. It will create lasting impacts amongst a number of communities and audiences, including schoolchildren, as well as developing important links and shared working practices between University and non-University organisations. Methodologically the project explores issues of co-production, knowledge exchange, capacity building, oral history, science education, and public history.

"Community Climate Resilience through Folk Pageantry" offers a creative, imaginative and interdisciplinary practice-as-research project focusing on community knowledge to deliver a Manchester-focused case study responding directly to its climate action policies and community contexts. The project builds on existing research practices of the PI and Co-Is across intersectional areas of geography, mapping, performance, music, socially-engaged arts practices, and intangible and material heritages. We will work with partners Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA), Manchester City Council (MCC), Neighbourhoods North Manchester (Miles Platting & Newton Heath ward), Northern Chamber Orchestra (NCO) and National Trust North Region (NT), with advisory and impact-related support from Manchester Arts and Sustainability Team (MAST) and the EU C-Change Project, Manchester Education Institute (MIE, UoM), and the Black Environment Network (BEN). A Bird in the Hand Theatre's puppet maker and director Alison Duddle is a co-creator. The issues we will explore are: how a community articulates its perspectives on social justice and equality with regard to climate resilience; how interdisciplinary creativity can be researched and applied to activate community climate resilience; how a community can create, own and embed creative outcomes for resilience; the means to best transfer these methods to policy-makers for wider implementation. Manchester is a diverse city of 503,00 citizens with over 200 languages spoken. MCC's Forecasting Model projects a population of 661,000 by 2027. Benefits of economic growth are not equally matched by improvements in health outcomes inequalities across the city, with high levels of ill health and early death. Manchester wards have the lowest levels of green infrastructure than other local authorities within Greater Manchester. Its fast-growing population faces increased risk of extreme weather events, from flooding to drought. North Manchester is home to approximately 130,500 residents across 10 wards with high deprivation.Our research will be embedded within the North Manchester ward of Miles Platting & Newton Heath. The ward has approximately 15,000 residents and was once home to workers across varied industries. MCC declared a Climate Emergency on 10 July 2019, setting the City's zero-carbon target for 2038. Led by MCCA its Zero Carbon Framework outlines an approach to reach the target, yet Manchester's carbon budget will run out in 2025. Manchester Climate Change Framework 2020-25 declares "15 Actions", calling on all residents and organisations in Manchester to "help meet our climate change targets". These actions combine mitigation strategies with adaptation but the methods by which to engage communities and identify barriers to taking up these actions remain undefined. Most residents face barriers to respond to the 15 Actions. We identified a viable Manchester activation of socially engaged arts as an important development for local engagement at very local levels for addressing climate resilience within communities. Subsequently, MCCA and Neighbourhood Wards have invited our research team to evolve an environmental engagement approach with a refreshingly different place-based, creative approach to connect communities with the 15 Actions. The project develops outputs including: pageant performances in Miles Platting & Newton Heath; documentation, film and performance materials held in an online Open Access website repository; a schools resource licensed performance pack; toolbox for creative methods workshops for policy practitioners and neighbourhood managers; co-authored paper; recommendations report for transferability of methods; a project book.