Understanding Young People’s Experiences of Violence in Lambeth
For our first piece of research, the LPAC team explored how and why violence affects young people in Lambeth.
Between December 2021 and August 2022, more than 400 young people contributed to this piece of research, through one-to-one interviews, arts-based workshops and ‘Talk it Out’ sessions.
Key findings
- For many young people, violence is seen as an inevitable, routine and normal part of their lives.
- Safe, affordable and youth-friendly neighbourhoods are important places for young people to find connection, opportunities and belonging.
- Poor housing conditions make young people feel unsafe.
- Many young people feel that they cannot rely on public services and are cut off from important opportunities.
- There is a mental and emotional burden young people carry to keep safe and avoid potential harm.
- Many young people feel they don’t have control over their lives and futures.
The research process
Phase 1 – Setting the research direction
The LPAC team began by reflecting on their own experiences and those of their peers, exploring their experiences of violence affecting young people and the systems that contribute to these experiences.
Through this process, the team concluded that young people are a product of their environment. To deepen their understanding, they conducted a literature review to critically evaluate the existing evidence, and to challenge their biases. This led them to define their research inquiry, to better understand the relationship between living conditions on and around social housing estates in Lambeth and the levels of violence affecting young people.
Phase 2 – In-depth interviews
During phase 2 of the project, the LPAC team conducted in-depth interviews with young people on their experiences of violence.
The team co-designed a discussion guide and developed the key research questions. In total 106 interviews were conducted.
Phase 3 – Arts-based workshops
For phase 3, arts-based workshops were conducted in schools and facilitated by the LPAC team with the support of High Trees staff and the embedded researchers. The workshop focused on housing and neighbourhood, key areas that peer researchers felt were not covered in enough depth during phase 2.
Peer researchers were offered training in a range of creative methods, choosing mapping as the most suitable approach to generate more nuanced data on these topics.
Phase 4 – Creating a manifesto for change
In the final phase of this research, the LPAC team came together to craft a manifesto which identified the root causes of violence affecting young people in their community and proposed ways to tackle this.
Using their manifesto they built effective campaigns addressing the three root causes: opportunities, housing and education.