The Body Politic
The role the City plays in people's lives cannot, and should not, be underestimated, the City provides the very fabric within which we live and breathe; environments are not passive, they shape us, creating opportunities or oppressing; their role is pivotal.
The City has active processes and structures. The interplay between new and old environments and communities creates tensions and excitement; navigating these tensions is challenging as many are difficult to define. Walking through any modern City it is impossible to fully comprehend the scene one encounters; the scale and multiplicity of our environments can be overwhelming, imagining the number of individual tasks taken to create a modern City; the individual experiences, aspirations, failures and successes is not possible.
Hull is a City like many others, experiencing the negative consequences of post-industrialisation whilst maintaining a strong identity; much of this identity is mythic, much stereotypical, much of it self-sustaining. Yet the identity of our City is difficult to define; it shifts and changes over time. The recent changes in Hull's physical and psychological landscape are refreshing and to be welcomed; the DIY culture represented by the many independent shops, bars, restaurants and galleries evidences a self-sufficiency and resilience that many Cities should regard jealously.
Are opportunities to participate in this rebirth open to all? Where do our marginalised communities fit into this? Understanding the motivations of people to participate as primarily individual or collective helps shape the spaces for their engagement, creating shared spaces and integrating those who do no usually participate by addressing the barriers to their involvement (economic, educational or cultural) is essential. Communities develop durable identities, providing, in no small part, feelings of attachment, belonging and security.
The social theorist Charles Murray (1996) postulates that disadvantaged communities actively disengage from mainstream society becoming a self-regulating 'underclass', subsequently causing mainstream society a range of problems. This overly simplistic and pejorative analysis fails to take into account the role of the state in providing opportunities for citizens and to be responsive to their needs rather than developing an analysis that justifies isolating them further. The collective role of Cities was effectively lost through the dispersal of populations into scattered suburbs and single function housing estates (Rogers, R. 2000). This annexation of traditional working class communities has led to social isolation and exclusion that will persist if left unchallenged. Proximity with others from different social and income groups develops understanding of others and can go someway towards addressing these inequalities. If communities remain separate and isolated difficulties can become compounded over generations; this cannot be accepted in a just society.
In acknowledging these distinct identities the City as system can be pivotal in securing more positive outcomes for residents; a successful City creates spaces (physical, social and psychological) for people to meet, to discuss and to collaborate. The work of Arc in trying to define 'Hullness' offers a model that all can invest in whilst a narrow definition of the City monopolised by established organisations or groups is counter-productive. 'Hullness'is owned by all and necessarily inclusive of all. Another useful exemplar is the New York based 'Urban Design Week' that intends to engage residents in a discourse about change and asks residents to 'Tell us how you think New York's public realm could be more beautiful, smart, safe and live-able'.(http://www.urbandesignweek.org/); ostensibly about the City but aiming squarely at people and lives lived.
Forging links between communities is challenging, to identify these challenges is the first step to overcoming them; to facilitate a discourse in relation to change, to identify commonalities and to share plans for the future the next. Such a process needs to encompass more than the co-opted notion of community participation currently adopted, we need engagement that challenges preconceptions, that acknowledges the role of all stakeholders in securing positives outcomes. Participation provides a locus for this ongoing process 'where the will of an organisation and the will of its subjects engage with and attempt to influence and realign one another' (Gallagher, M. 2006)
Open government and local administrations willing to share (real) power will engender a positive interchange of ideas and create a shared social vision. This points to a politicisation of the marginalised, opening systems and processes to all. The effects of this would be dramatic; politicians would become truly accountable, no longer able to rely the rhetoric of the Big Society and the disingenuous notion of public service. The political class would be facilitators of change rather than implementers of ideologies.
The City (not simply institutions) becomes all powerful, a system capable of organising its own future, providing spaces for its people; by the City, for the City. The opportunity to build an inclusive and collaborative City is a challenge to us all and has at its core the notion that social cohesion and social justice are for the common good.
Thanks for reading. Get in touch. Share. Make the change.
HullRePublic Team.
Originally Posted 22/04/11