Kirstin Kerr is a Lecturer in Education and researcher in the Centre for Equity in Education at The University of ManchesterAlan Dyson is Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Centre for Equity in Education at The University of ManchesterCarlo Raffo is Professor of Urban Education at The University of Manchester

"Written in a style which will find favour with practitioners seeking a clear link between evidence and policy, and postgraduate students and academics researching in the fields of community, local government, education, and disadvantage." LSE Review of Books blog "A path-breaking book that provides strategies and lessons learned for professionals and concerned citizens world wide." Hal A. Lawson PhD, University at Albany, SUNY "An illuminating and original contribution that presents ways of intervening successfully to improve the opportunities and lives of the disadvantaged" Michael Bradford, University of Manchester

• Introduction;Why place matters in education;Local education systems as products of place: a case study;Learning from the past;Learning from the present;A rationale for a new generation of area-based initiatives;Developing understandings of place as a basis for intervention;Evaluation and monitoring;Governance and accountability;Children and places in hard times: some concluding thoughts.

Kirstin Kerr is a Lecturer in Education and researcher in the Centre for Equity in Education at The University of ManchesterAlan Dyson is Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Centre for Equity in Education at The University of ManchesterCarlo Raffo is Professor of Urban Education at The University of Manchester

"Written in a style which will find favour with practitioners seeking a clear link between evidence and policy, and postgraduate students and academics researching in the fields of community, local government, education, and disadvantage." LSE Review of Books blog "A path-breaking book that provides strategies and lessons learned for professionals and concerned citizens world wide." Hal A. Lawson PhD, University at Albany, SUNY "An illuminating and original contribution that presents ways of intervening successfully to improve the opportunities and lives of the disadvantaged" Michael Bradford, University of Manchester

• Introduction;Why place matters in education;Local education systems as products of place: a case study;Learning from the past;Learning from the present;A rationale for a new generation of area-based initiatives;Developing understandings of place as a basis for intervention;Evaluation and monitoring;Governance and accountability;Children and places in hard times: some concluding thoughts.