Conviviality by design: the socio-spatial qualities of spaces of intercultural urban encounters

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a mixed-method research project which explored use of outdoor spaces and social connections in Bradford, a post-industrial city in the north of England with a highly ethnically diverse population. Data was collected through micro-scale behavioural mapping of public spaces (analysed using GIS), and both on-site and in-depth interviews. The integration of these methods allows a focus on intersectional identities and social values for everyday conviviality situated in different typologies of public open spaces (parks, squares, streets) in city centre and suburban neighbourhoods. The analysis offers nuanced insights into the socio-spatial aspects of conviviality: patterns of activity by diverse users, situations in which encounters are prompted, and the implications of negotiating differences in relation to perceptions of self, others and the environment. We discuss the relevance of the urban public realm for shared understandings of diversity, qualities of visibility, lingering and playfulness, and the importance of threshold spaces. We discuss racialised and excluding experiences and how these relate to mobility and territorial patterns of use, specifically with relation to gender. The paper highlights the connections between findings on intercultural encounters with urban design practice, with implications for wellbeing and integration in ethnically diverse urban areas.

Picturing Recreation: Newcomers’ Perspectives on Experiences of Recreation

“…While other researchers have noted the importance of informal social leisure for immigrants (e.g., Hurly, 2019 ; Juniu, 2002 ; Stack & Iwasaki, 2009 ; Tinsley et al, 2002 ), participants shared with us that even activities that offered limited opportunities for interaction (e.g., being at a busy festival with family and not knowing others there, nor understanding the language) were nonetheless viewed as meaningful experiences that helped them feel a sense of belonging, and were significant in helping them to acculturate to their new environment, which is supported by similar findings exploring intercultural urban encounters by Ganji and Rishbeth ( 2020 ). In other words, feelings of belonging were cultivated through a series of small encounters with family, others, nature, and oneself.…”

“…They described weaving recreation into everyday or obligatory activities, such as by bringing family members to help with gardening and going to the park afterward, using the additional time on a bus transfer to stop at a park, or sitting on a bench in a park listening to birds. This supports the importance of “playfulness”, or informal recreation, within public spaces in supporting the integration of recent immigrants (Ganji & Rishbeth, 2020 , p. 231). Further to this, the broad conceptualization of recreation that guided this research could have encouraged participants to consider varied occupations as recreation activities, as compared with Western conceptualizations of recreation that are common in the literature (Hurly, 2019 ) and focus on structured and organized activities.…”

Studia Socjologiczne

“…Vasishta, Angelo 2009). There are also proposals of interventions aimed to foster migrants' inclusion in urban greenspaces (Rishbeth, Blachnicka-Ciarek, Darling 2019;Ganji, Rishbeth 2020). Yet, while we do not see migration regimes as unchangeable, in this article our aim has been to draw attention to their high potential for reproducing through everyday practices.…”

Navigating Racialisation and Whiteness: British Turks’ Struggles for Belonging in Multiscale Public Spaces within the UK

“…The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and each interviewee was given a pseudonym. The transcripts of the interviews were then submitted to inductive thematic analysis, which, by its nature, does not require predefined codes and anticipations of answers from the respondents (Braun & Clarke, 2013;Ganji, 2018). In terms of topics explored in the interviews, I covered Islamophobic rhetoric or actions from the perception of British Turks and how British Turks negotiate Islamophobia to navigate and conform to a sense of belonging to the UK by looking at the aspects of their everyday life and the development of identities at the intersection of Westernness/Britishness and both Islamic and secular versions of Turkishness.…”