How Temporal and Emotional Perspectives of Local Heritage and Place Influence Community Engagement in Seaside Town Regeneration

This thesis explores cultural regeneration beyond the typical urban focus by investigating how it influences engagement in two understudied seaside towns, Folkestone and Margate. Critiques of cultural regeneration often acknowledge its focus on material outcomes whilst sociocultural and participatory processes are frequently overlooked or reduced to box ticking exercises, undermining inclusion and engagement. This study uses an empirical qualitative approach, applying the Pleasure, Arousal Dominance model (PAD) from environmental psychology to gain insight into how temporality and emotion, factors also frequently overlooked in regeneration processes, influence attachments to place and responses to change. This analysis is rooted in the essential heritage of these towns as pioneers in the democratisation of travel and working-class leisure. Findings demonstrate how differing temporalities intersect; as conflicts arise between the traditional carnivalesque sociocultural aspects of place and the neoliberal economic focus of cultural regeneration, with many existing residents finding these less accessible, meaningful and interesting. These temporal and emotional disparities often affect responses to change and negatively impact engagement with contemporary offers that fail to meet expectations or elicit the same emotional resonance valued by existing residents. Conversely, newcomers, unburdened by the past, often associate regeneration developments with growth and progress.

This thesis proposes a more human-centred approach to cultural regeneration, using a methodology that recognises the meaningful emotional and temporal connections people have with place. It advocates for a shift away from top-down, instrumentalised approaches to more locally responsive, inclusive forms of engagement that better reflect local heritage and the lived experience of residents.