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Public space and the practical accommodation of disorder at the South Bank Centre, London

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Title: Public space and the practical accommodation of disorder at the South Bank Centre, London


1
Public space and the practical accommodation of
disorder at the South Bank Centre, London
  • Alasdair Jones, Cities Programme, Department of
    Sociology, LSE. a.jones_at_lse.ac.uk
  • WUN Researching Contemporary Cities e-conference.
  • Session 2,Urban Public Spaces Social control and
    contestation. 9/11/06

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Research Aims
  • Initially South Bank and the commercialisation
    of public space.
  • Now to develop an ethnographic understanding of
    the value of public space. More interested in
    how public space is used on a day-to-day basis,
    and in how we might theorise more or less subtle
    uses of public space.
  • To consider the ways in which public spaces are
    not only experienced by users, but also regulated
    and managed by authorities.

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Data Collection
  • Observations (Aug 2004 Dec 2005).
  • On-site interviews.
  • Expert interviews.
  • Attending community group meetings and events
    organised by the SBC.

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My research so far
  • The variegated imposition/development and
    consequences of borders and boundaries (cf.
    Sennett, 2004) around the South Bank Centre.
  • The regulation of public space.
  • The various manifestations of play in public
    space and their significance.

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The regulation of public space?
  • To consider how public space at South Bank is
    actually regulated to uncover the mode or modes
    of regulation in operation at South Bank on a
    day-to-day basis.
  • To use actors (security guards, undesirables,
    skaters, buskers etc.) as a way into the
    discussion, and not abstract notions.
  • To posit what I term a discretional politics as
    one way of understanding the regulation of public
    space at South Bank.
  • To try to illustrate my findings through a small
    case-study of skateboarders.

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Security Guards at South Bank
  • Security guards a constant presence at South Bank
    paired patrols.
  • Public space at South Bank therefore not only
    used space, but also worked space.
  • The social (rather than technological and
    physical (cf. Sorkin, 1992 xiii)) regulation of
    space key at South Bank.

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A discretional politics of regulation
  • A threefold, context-specific notion
  • Guards at South Bank employ discretion according
    to context in the application of rules.
  • That signs do not foreclose activities (or at
    least render them a priori deviant).
  • Hence users of South Bank can invoke more
    discretion in terms of the ways that they act.

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Skateboarders and theregulation of public space
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Skater Informant (1)
  • I mean here around the SBC, theres liketheir
    security guards, theyre cool, you know, some of
    them say hello and just walk past, you know,
    theres no, no trouble. Sometimes they
    might, like, say, you know, do you mind not
    riding on the, erm sort of, concrete blocks
    of the Arena sculpture opposite the National
    Theatre just cos theres loads of little kids
    round there, but I dont really ride round
    there, likecos theres loads of little kids
    round there, really.

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Skater informant (2)
  • Well, the security, I mean, like, the Mayors
    office the GLA when you go and jump down the,
    sort of, thing big spiral set of masonry
    blocks they the security guards come over in
    thirty seconds private property, and all
    that, yeah Everyone rides down there, and
    then gets kicked off and then come back the
    next day, you know emphasis added.

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Conclusion
  • At South Bank, it is not the case that
    visibilityassures the automatic functioning of
    power (Foucault, in Bridge and Watson eds.,
    2002 377).
  • Exclusions based on activity rather than
    identity/personhood (cf. Cooper, 1998).
  • Ad hoc policing strategies in line with the slow,
    piecemeal development of the SBC. How will this
    change once the ongoing transformation of the
    Centre is complete?

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