Table of contents

The methodology in practice: the ENTRUST work process

The ENTRUST process provides an illustration of these principles. The work process involved the following steps, which were not pre-programmed but emerged through the process itself.

Field visits and reports. The work of the network began with an intensive series of

cross-visits, with members of each of the participating cities meeting in all eight cities for a case study visit in the period to November 2002. Without defining the research questions in advance, each city team documented their perceptions of and insights into the case study neighbourhoods. These cross-visit reports generated some 50 brief texts.

Defining and agreeing on research issues. During the final city cross-visit (Valletta, November 2002); the network members worked in cross-city groups to derive common research issues from the cross-visits, and to decide on priorities among the research issues.

Identifying interests for bilateral learning. At the subsequent meeting (Lisbon, January 2003) we returned to the subjective interests of the city teams, supplementing decontextualised issues with situated knowledge interests. This was intended as a way of operationalising what network members had earlier proposed as a 'twinning' work process, in which bilateral exchanges were to be strengthened.

Writing one's own case study. From the beginning, there had been a consensus that a major element of the empirical evidence for the ENTRUST project would be the case studies of neighbourhood renewal in each of the participating cities. These texts had been begun at different times in different cities, but we had not decided on form the text should take until the meeting in January 2003. It was agreed that the case study was to be written as a narrative, without a prescribed format.

Reviewing others´ case studies. At the next meeting in Dublin (May 2003) the case studies were presented not by the authors of the texts but by reviewers from other ENTRUST cities. This review process reinforced a bilateral dialogue and stressed to participants the creative potential of subjective interpretation.

Agreeing on thematic focuses. At the same meeting, the group discussed, developed and agreed four cross cutting themes:

– aims of regeneration

– involving the private sector

– community participation

– mainstreaming and anchoring

Four editorial teams (two people in each, with all cities represented), backed up by cross-city teams, were set up to draft a paper on each of the themes.

Writing thematic analyses. This process had two stages. First of all, the editors of the thematic papers collated data and analytical interpretations from the experience of each city. From the material collected the editors derived the key messages, supported by empirical evidence. The first drafts of these thematic papers were presented and discussed in Brussels in July 2003, and presented in final form in Berlin in September 2003.

Assembling recommendations and guidelines. In Glasgow in December 2003, the members of the cross-city teams met to sort through the recommendations contained in the thematic papers, to select those concerned with policy and those concerned with practice, and to determine priorities in the messages chosen. The results of the process were reworked by editors into final texts.

Communicating final products. The summary report, policy recommendations and practitioner guidelines were drafted by the responsible editors; presented in draft form at the final network meeting in Vilnius in April 2004; and, following incorporation of feedback, completed for publication and presentation at the final public conference in Hamburg in June 2004.