In this episode of Placecast, presenter Nicola Headlam is joined by Joseph Owen, Nicky Marsh, and Cara Headon to explore how communities understand, experience and shape the places they call home. Drawing on the University of Southampton's Feeling Towns research and the Mansbridge Heritage Project, the conversation examines the complex idea of \"pride in place\" and asks what happens when policymakers try to measure something as personal, emotional and locally specific as people's relationship with where they live.
Together, Nicola, Joseph, Nicky and Cara discuss how creative methods such as poetry, heritage walks, photography, storytelling and community art can reveal forms of knowledge that traditional surveys often miss. From estate-based regeneration and social housing to neighbourhood leadership, cultural participation and community cohesion, the episode highlights the power of lived experience in shaping better policy and stronger places. Through reflections on Mansbridge's rich heritage and the relationships that bind communities together, the conversation offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in place-based change, local leadership and the future of neighbourhood renewal.
Joseph is a research fellow at the University of Southampton, working in the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities (SIAH).
Joseph has led projects including ‘Poetry, Policy and Place’, ‘Feeling Towns’, and ‘Neighbouring Data’, the last of which explores the role of qualitative data in place-based decision-making.
Joseph is Co-Director of the Centre for Modern and Contemporary Writing (CMCW) and a specialist policy officer for Public Policy Southampton (PPS). He writes arts, film, and literary criticism.
View Joseph’s LinkedIn profile
Nicky Marsh is a Professor of English at the University of Southampton who researches contemporary literature, media and culture with particular reference to economics and gender. Her work has examined how economic ideas—money, risk, credit, debt—have been given imaginary and cultural forms.
Cara Headon is a Community Development Officer at the Abri Group with expertise in community investment and social housing. She is passionate about working with people and creating spaces where everyone feels heard and valued. She has led projects that improve wellbeing, strengthen neighbourhoods, and empower local voices.
Nicola Headlam has over 20 years of experience working across all aspects of the multi-helix innovation system, including central and local government, civil society and campaigning, academic research and knowledge mobilisation, and industry. Along the way, she has honed her expertise in urban and regional subnational economic development, the roles of government in shaping place, and in utilising data and evidence for transformation.
In 2024, she became a freelance economic advisor on the role of leadership and partnerships, urban and living lab forms for research, the future of cities and foresighting methods, urban transformations, place-branding and urban regeneration and the spatial consequences of public policy.
View Nicola's LinkedIn Profile
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