We’re not hard-to-reach, they are!’ Integrating local priorities in urban research in Northern England: an experimental method

In low-income areas, people feel increasingly surrounded by property development and rapid change in an area they call home, yet have little control over what happens to it. They have ideas they want to develop but struggle to gain attention or respect for them. This paper presents the ‘Ordsall Method’ as a structured approach to developing impactful research in such communities. It provides an ‘experimental methodology’ to provoke thoughtful engagement into how academics are implicated in perpetuating social boundaries. The paper argues that a research strategy that supports participants to develop their own ideas during the project leads to symbiotic advantages for all.