Isolation: A threat and means of spatial control. Living with risk in a deprived neighbourhood

Abstract

Place is an essential aspect of our identity and contributes to our ontological security. Who we are is shaped by and reflected in the places we occupy and the spaces we control. Places have both a topography of risk and of protection. They can be considered, on the one hand, as risk spaces containing differing levels of hazard and, on the other hand, as resource spaces with the goods and services needed to protect residents from harm. This paper draws on data from 10 focus groups of residents of highly deprived neighbourhoods and examines their experiences of living with risk. The data revealed that isolation encapsulated the way in which respondents lived with risk: isolation was identified as both a risk and a means of protecting their ontological security.

Keywords:

• risk
• risk perception
• place
• uncertainty
• health inequality
• isolation