Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PLAofTOGETHER (Places of Togetherness: Investigating the relationship between urban space and social cohesion through the Asia Minor refugee’s courtyards in Nikea)
Période du rapport: 2021-11-29 au 2023-11-28
Europe is increasingly becoming more culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse. The diversification of European cities can be an opportunity for increased tolerance and exchange or might lead to conflict and fear. Understanding how urban neighborhoods and public spaces facilitate tolerance should be a critical research field within the built environment disciplines. PLAofTOGETHER investigated the relationship between public space and social cohesion, through the case of Nikea’s shared courtyards. Nikea, an Asia Minor refugee settlement established in 1923 in Greece, has diversified socio-economically, culturally, and spatially over the last century. Its masterplan consists of minimal dwellings organized in building blocks with shared courtyards. Today, 134 shared spaces remain, but their former active social life is disintegrating. Ethnographic and participatory research methods were used to address 2 key lines of inquiry:
a. how do threshold spaces (between public & private) influence everyday life? what kind of social relationships do they afford?
b. how can embodied experiences of social interaction and commoning reactivate a network of shared spaces and their residents’ urban imaginary?
For the first line of inquiry, the project showed how small public spaces can afford greater levels of intimacy, appropriation, and care by residents. If designed adjacent to housing, they allow the households’ extension to the public sphere, becoming places of everyday interactions and loose social ties. Their small size and amphitheatric layout give them a semi-private character that although does not necessarily lead to direct contact, it creates a thin sociality. PLAofTOGETHER also showed that while public space is necessary for social interactions to flourish, it is not sufficient. The social life of public spaces is influenced by greater complex socioeconomic factors, such as the rise of living standards, privatization of everyday life, demographic changes, transformation of the place’s identity, etc. Also, culture and gender play a significant role on how space is used and how people interact in it.
While identifying the complex factors affecting the social life of public spaces, for the second line of inquiry, the project examined if embodied experiences of commoning can overturn established social structures. A series of small participatory events, co-designed by residents allowed for significant contributions to the state of the art by temporarily reactivating public spaces and residents’ urban imaginary, while creating new collective experiences. Compared to more institutional formats of participation, it was revealed that everyday participatory practices with human interactions on an equal footing have more potential to facilitate residents’ agency and connection. Hence, the research posits that the methods used to transition urban spaces into places of togetherness relate to local communities themselves, and authorities need to provide them with agency, infrastructure, and tools to do so.
a. how do threshold spaces (between public & private) influence everyday life? what kind of social relationships do they afford?
b. how can embodied experiences of social interaction and commoning reactivate a network of shared spaces and their residents’ urban imaginary?
For the first line of inquiry, the project showed how small public spaces can afford greater levels of intimacy, appropriation, and care by residents. If designed adjacent to housing, they allow the households’ extension to the public sphere, becoming places of everyday interactions and loose social ties. Their small size and amphitheatric layout give them a semi-private character that although does not necessarily lead to direct contact, it creates a thin sociality. PLAofTOGETHER also showed that while public space is necessary for social interactions to flourish, it is not sufficient. The social life of public spaces is influenced by greater complex socioeconomic factors, such as the rise of living standards, privatization of everyday life, demographic changes, transformation of the place’s identity, etc. Also, culture and gender play a significant role on how space is used and how people interact in it.
While identifying the complex factors affecting the social life of public spaces, for the second line of inquiry, the project examined if embodied experiences of commoning can overturn established social structures. A series of small participatory events, co-designed by residents allowed for significant contributions to the state of the art by temporarily reactivating public spaces and residents’ urban imaginary, while creating new collective experiences. Compared to more institutional formats of participation, it was revealed that everyday participatory practices with human interactions on an equal footing have more potential to facilitate residents’ agency and connection. Hence, the research posits that the methods used to transition urban spaces into places of togetherness relate to local communities themselves, and authorities need to provide them with agency, infrastructure, and tools to do so.
The project was organized in 7 work packages: WP1 Management & Progress Monitoring, WP2 Learning/Development/Framing, WP3 Understanding the context, WP4 Investigation on selected courtyards, WP5 Participatory Workshops, WP6 Data Analysis, Reflection & Writing, WP7 Dissemination & Communication. WP1 included practical tasks of the management and progress monitoring of the project. WP2 included archival and literature review, and interviews with 12 local stakeholders to frame the sociocultural context for the fieldwork. WP3 included site observations and evaluation of the courtyards. Drawings, sketches, diagrams, and maps from existing and new data compiled were developed. WP4 included ethnographic work with spatial documentation (sketches, 3d visualizations, photography) of selected courtyards, along with 30 semi-structured interviews of residents. During WP4, the behaviors and social ties in the courtyards were documented. During WP5, residents of selected courtyards were brought together through participation. 17 participatory activities were realized in 4 courtyards across 10 months, allowing neighbors to get together and partake in creative activities fostering social interaction and local action (e.g. cleaning, gardening, cooking a dessert from the area’s citrus trees, collective dinners, oral history, children’s activities, and participatory design sessions). WP6 included qualitative data analysis, both from the interviews and observations of the ethnographic phase (WP3,4), as well as analysis of the participatory phase (WP5). WP7 included dissemination of the research findings in different formats for academic audiences, communities, and local government. Findings were presented at international conferences, workshops, a European Researchers' Night, blog post, a podcast, neighborhood events, academic lectures, exhibitions, and a local multi-lingual newspaper. Further dissemination was achieved through the project’s website and social media. Finally, there are 2 upcoming publications in 2025.
PLAofTOGETHER’s outcomes are expected to have significant impact at various levels. Existing literature supports that contact between different groups leads to greater levels of tolerance, and space can play a role in facilitating or inhibiting interactions between different people. Public spaces allow for the existence of diverse groups and can potentially reduce discrimination in the long run. PLAofTOGETHER pushed the boundaries of existing research by examining the social life around small public spaces designed adjacent to housing. In contrast to larger hyperlocal public spaces, the project highlighted how the threshold character of small public spaces affords greater levels of intimacy and appropriation. Designed in residential areas, they allow households to expand to the public sphere, affording everyday interactions, which although might not lead to strong social ties, they allow for coexistence and exposure to the other. The project’s findings go beyond the state of the art, because social relationships and structures created by the proximity afforded by small residential public spaces are more complex to those of hyperlocal public spaces, where people from a wider area can visit and coexist without interacting. The project emphasized that although small public spaces are a necessary condition for neighborly social ties to flourish, they are not sufficient. This MSCA pushed the frontiers by studying small public spaces through a multi-level approach and identifying the complex socio-economic and cultural factors affecting their social life, such as changes in living standards, everyday life rhythms, diversity, culture, gender, etc. Furthermore, the project innovated by incorporating participatory research. It showed that embodied participatory activities in public space can reinforce place attachment, provide opportunities for interaction and neighborly collaboration, especially when based on a relational practice and care.
The action allowed the fellow to forge a unique career path, working with communities to test participatory design research methods, which also led to the formation of an interdisciplinary group or researchers and artists. The group will continue to realize participatory work moving forward, aiming at reactivating Nikea’s shared spaces through collective action, while weaving back the social fabric of the area.
The action allowed the fellow to forge a unique career path, working with communities to test participatory design research methods, which also led to the formation of an interdisciplinary group or researchers and artists. The group will continue to realize participatory work moving forward, aiming at reactivating Nikea’s shared spaces through collective action, while weaving back the social fabric of the area.