“My friends probably see the friendship of the group as a community”: Exploring young people’s experiences of friendship and community in a newly constructed settlement

This thesis sets out to explore the experiences of young people living in a new settlement in rural Northamptonshire, which was constructed in part under New Labour’s Sustainable Communities Plan. Contextually, this project has been developed and carried out at a time of change in the UK. Economic downturn eventually led to recession, which slowed development on many new places. A change in UK government from Labour to a Conservative dominated coalition in 2010, also impacted on policy surrounding new developments. The young people who took part in my study were also in a unique position in the history of their development with their relationships set against the backdrop of this change but also against the changing and evolving environment in which they lived. My research focuses on young people’s intergenerational relationships, understandings and experiences of community and friendships. Over the course of approximately a year, I used ethnography and in depth interviews in order to collect data from eighteen young people and seven adults. Building on literatures of children and young people, community, intergenerational relationships and friendship, I make an original contribution to knowledge in the often-overlooked area of young people’s friendship. Exploring friendships through a wider examination of young people’s intergenerational relationships and connections to community, I focus explicitly on how friendships are shaped and what they mean to young people living in a new community, for example, the way these friendships were affected by transition, transport and lack of other young people living in the immediate locality and also the way that these friendships were developed, maintained and dissolved as a result of these issues. I also examine young people’s relationships to other people around them and to notions of community.