Mapping Economic Shocks

The Centre for Data, Culture and Society was pleased to fund a collaboration between Professor Lesley McAra and EDINA, to explore the long term effects of economic shocks on communities.

As part of a broader research programme focused on continuities in social deprivation within Edinburgh, Prof McAra wanted to study areas where there has been significant social disruption, mapping its effects over time. She focused on the location of the Lady Victoria colliery located in Newtongrange, which closed in 1981, dramatically disrupting the economic structures and employment prospects within the local community. Using census data from 1981, 1991, and 2001 Andrew Horne and James Crone of EDINA analysed different measures of social stress, including unemployment, social housing and overcrowding. They created visualisations that show continuities and discontinues in these measures over the decades as the community adapted to new economic realities and was transformed by new investments and opportunities. The visualisations have provoked a number of questions that Professor McAra will now take forward as she works with the local community to explore, scope and model community development.A better understanding of resilience and transformation in such communities, she hopes will offer insights that can be of use in other places.

At the Day of Digital Ideas 2019, Prof McAra presented a lecture on 'Can data driven innovation change the world? A meditation on the purpose & values of the 21st Century University'. The lecture is available online via Media Hopper.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2019