Design for Diversity: Intercultural Outdoor Places

This publication is a report on the Design for Diversity: Intercultural Outdoor Places symposium that was held on 13th May 2015 at the Showroom in Sheffield, UK. The symposium was organised by the Transnational Urban Outdoors (TUO) research group based at the Department of Landscape, The University of Sheffield. Six speakers from both practice and academia addressed topics related to the value of parks as places of shared leisure, the importance of central locations and how sitting outside can both reflect ethnic diversity and support local cohesion. The publication also includes discussion summaries and links to audio recordings of all talks

Constituent relations across the city: Three perspectives from practice

What kinds of practices help us to explore, rethink and remake our co-relations? Constituent relations across the city: Three perspectives from practice. In this session, we propose speaking across and from three different spatial practices of which we are part,and which are situated in different socio-spatial conditions: a place of their own (an art/spatial research practice); Studio Polpo (the UK’s first social enterprise architectural practice); and Architecture Sans Frontières - UK (a non-profit aiming to make community development integral to architectural practice and teaching). By sharing moments of co-incidence from these practices that seek to co-otherwise we seek to show thinking and acting with co-ness is generative of creative, relational processes and resistant practices. Studio Polpo designs situated and collaborative approaches to create objects, structures, initiatives and research-led resources that enable transformative social change. To this end we self-initiate projects to support diverse economies of participation and exchange through spatial intervention. We have facilitated the collective ownership and/or management of a number of buildings and programmes, hosted events which protest the commercial use of city centres and propose more diverse ways of living and exchanging that activate more distributed networks of design. ASF-UK is a non-profit organisation with three main objectives: to increase knowledge and understanding of community participation amongst built environment students and practitioners (training and capacity building); to support community groups, civil society organisations and local governments by working in partnership and facilitating the involvement of built environment professionals (live projects); and to influence urban policy and planning processes by mainstreaming methodologies and practices focused on democratic and resilient city-making (advocacy). a place of their own operate as a collective, a couple, with our children, and through collaborations with others. In the Eile Project, we operate in the specific context of the geo-political border between the Irish Republic and the UK and enact an alternative ethics of spatial action through intra-actions and ‘kinning’. Eile's interventions, rituals and the audiovisual films we produce with them draw forth kinship, different alliances between organic and in-organic matter, non-human animals (the white cryptic butterfly, the lobster), and re-territorialize traumatic sites. Why this (co-) is an important question for us to carry out these kinds of practices? Or What kinds of practices help us to explore, rethink and remake our co-relations?N/

Contextualised convivialities in superdiverse neighbourhoods – methodological approaches informed by urban design

his paper positions questions of conviviality as situational as well as relational, and describes and reflects on methods which give due precedence to different spatial scales, materialities and timeframes. In this urban design research project our central question focused on the affordances and value of different local outdoor public spaces for supporting conviviality in an ethnically diverse neighbourhood in Sheffield UK. This neighbourhood had become known for tensions, played out in outdoor public spaces, resulting in part from social dynamics between more recent arrivals and relatively settled communities. We built trust by embedding responsiveness and shared benefit as key ethical commitments in our practice alongside learning about spatial and temporal dimensions of encounter across difference. Building on our urban design professional skills relating to place enquiry and understanding, we tested walking, photography, drawing, making and mapping methods including collaborating with local groups. These allowed us to develop theoretical understandings of conviviality as a pluralistic construct, fundamentally informed, shaped and responsive to the complexities of context – including socio-economic place-based histories, physical environments and ongoing social negotiations

Transculturality and multilingualism in formal and informal urban spaces

The paper draws on critical-interpretivist research exploring linguistically super- diverse urban contexts (Vertovec 2007) from interdisciplinary and spatial perspectives, in order to inform the design of urban spaces, in which different languages/cultures/identities can be included. It conceptualises space as multidimensional (Bourdieu 1985), including physical and metaphorical, formal and informal. It also construes space as not only socially constructed (Casey 2013), but socially produced (Lefebvre 1974) as an act of agency. Following an introduction to the urban linguistic landscape of Sheffield, a post-industrial city in the North of England, the paper will focus on the ways in which formal educational and central public spaces can inhibit use of particular languages, positioning them as relevant only in the spaces of the home or linguistic community. Construing language as intimately intertwined with identity, however, the authors argue that if plurilingualism is to flourish (for the benefit of all), shared spaces have to be created where pluri/multi/trans-lingualism is the norm and where transcultural encounters are afforded. The argument will be illustrated in two ways. Drawing on the construct of critical autonomy, it will first explore how teachers can find the ‘spaces for manoeuvre’ (Lamb 2000) to develop inclusive linguistic spaces in formal education. It will then be extended to identify ways in which plurilingual communities themselves produce spaces, where they can ensure that their linguistic/cultural identities are maintained. This will draw on co-produced research into informal community/youth groups, as well as a multilingual languages festival in public spaces in the city centre

Breaking down barriers or putting them up? Festivals, events and the inclusivity of urban parks [abstract only]

Programming can provide flexible ways of connecting city parks to surrounding communities, helping to attract a range of users. Festivals, events and other activities can make parks more inclusive, especially when local communities are involved in organising them. However, these events can also exclude, especially when the main aim is to generate income to help pay for parks. Local government budget cuts and ongoing neoliberalisation mean this is an increasingly common objective for organisations responsible for managing UK parks. Despite increased attention to activating and animating public spaces in academic work and policy discourses, there is surprisingly little written about programming parks. This paper examines the implications of staging festivals and events for the inclusivity of parks by assessing the ways they affect other park activities and everyday use. The paper is based on detailed analysis of Finsbury Park in London which hosts a wide range of organised activities and events every year. The research involved regular observations of the park at times when organised events/activities were and weren’t happening, over an extended period. This included weekly observations pre-pandemic (2019-20), and another extensive set of observations once restrictions had eased (2021-22). Examples of festival and events that contribute positively to the park’s inclusivity are identified, but the paper also notes the incompatibility of some events with inclusion objectives. Various problems associated with programming driven by financial objectives are discussed, especially the exclusive nature of large scale music festivals. Whilst some events and activities help to break down barriers that restrict park use, fenced festivals are responsible for introducing physical, financial and symbolic barriers. The paper highlights the potential value of programming to achieve greater inclusion. However, it also concludes that over-programming should be avoided and recommends a looser approach that blurs the lines between organised events and more informal socialising

Private events in a public park: contested music festivals and environmental justice in Finsbury Park, London

City parks have long been understood as contested spaces. But creeping privatisation and commercialisation in an era of neoliberal austerity have heightened tensions between different user groups, and between local communities and park authorities. This chapter provides an in-depth case study of a contested green space in a global city. Finsbury Park in London opened in 1869 as the people’s park with the aim of improving the living conditions for the working classes. However, it is now a highly commercialised park, regularly hosting private events which are justified by the local authority as necessary to finance the maintenance of the park. The chapter focuses on the dispute between the local Friends group and Haringey Borough Council over music festivals staged in Finsbury Park. The Friends of Finsbury Park have challenged the legality of these events in the UK courts as they affect the accessibility of public space. Wireless—billed as the UK’s biggest and most famous urban music festival—is particularly controversial. This is an expensive and disruptive event, but one that celebrates urban and youth cultures, suggesting it may have positive as well as negative effects on park accessibility. Based on field work conducted from 2017 to 2020, and the analysis of documents covering the dispute, this case study assesses the ways that music festivals affect the status of Finsbury Park as a people’s park. The chapter highlights the wider implications of this local dispute and outlines the socio-spatial impacts of the shift in London towards parks financed by commercial income

The festivalisation of London’s Parks: the friends’ perspective

London’s parks are used regularly as venues for festivals and events. A wide range of occasions are staged every year: from multi-day music festivals to community fun days. The attractive and flexible spaces that park settings provide, and their symbolic role as representative civic spaces, mean they are obvious venues. In the period 2010­–2019, the number of events staged in London’s parks grew with new commercial festivals introduced to help compensate for funding shortfalls. This led to concerns about disruptions to everyday use and about the impacts of large-scale events on the environmental condition of parks. Given the potential for positive impacts, but also the noted concerns, this chapter explores the range of festivals staged in London’s parks and assesses the range of impacts they have. The report is based on a survey of ‘Friends of Parks’ groups undertaken in the Spring of 2020. The survey asked representatives from Friends groups about events that were staged in their parks in 2019. The findings showed that there were many perceived positive impacts of festivals and events, especially when local groups were involved in planning and organising them. However, concerns were expressed over the increasing number and size of commercial music festivals and the ways these reduced park accessibility, damaged park environments and disrupted park use, affecting the status of urban parks as accessible public spaces. The chapter concludes with a series of recommendations regarding the regulation and management of festivals which are relevant to public parks in London and beyond.</jats:p

Ethnographic understandings of ethnically diverse neighbourhoods to inform urban design practice

The aim of this paper is to inform urban design practice through deeper understanding and analysis of the social dynamics of public outdoor space in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. We hypothesise that findings from ethnographic research can provide a resource that improves cultural literacy and supports social justice in professional practice. The primary method is a meta-synthesis literature review of 24 ethnographic research papers, all of which explore some dimensions of public open space use and values in UK urban contexts characterised by ethnic and racial diversity. We summarise thematic understandings and significance of neighbourhood places of shared activity, parks, spaces of passing-by and of retreat. We evaluate the implications for intercultural social dynamics, exploring the spatial and temporal dimensions of conviviality and racism in public open space. We then argue that it is possible to develop principles for urban design practice informed by this work, and propose four for discussion: maximising straightforward participation, legitimising diversity of activity, designing in micro-retreats of nearby quietness and addressing structural inequalities of open space provision. We conclude that ethnographic research can provide detailed insights into the use of the public realm and also inform a more nuanced understanding of outdoor sociality relevant for an increasingly diverse society. The challenge is two-fold: for ethnographers to become less cautious in engaging with decisions and priorities regarding how cities change, and for urban designers to explicitly embed informed understandings of difference into their broad desire for inclusive public space