Collaborative Research: Democracy and Public Life in the United States and United Kingdom

合作研究：美国和英国的民主与公共生活

• 批准号: 0852445
• 负责人: Lynn Staeheli
• 金额: $ 4.42万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2013-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0852445&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Democracy; Public; Life

Public spaces of the city are often thought of in two contrasting ways -- as sites where people come together and forge a feeling of being a public or a community and as sites that are a bit scary or uncomfortable because behaviors of troublesome people are not controlled. Public spaces often are idealized as places where democratic communities can come together, making it possible to forge the bonds that enable debate and disagreement in a democracy. That ideal, however, is challenged by disorderly and disruptive acts. Sometimes these acts are overtly political, such as a protest or sit-in to draw attention to a particular issue. Other acts do not seem political, such as when a church offers food to homeless people outside its building or when a mosque broadcasts the call to prayer, but some people in the affected spaces may view these actions as disruption even as the churches go about what they see as acts that are central to their mission or their existence. This collaborative research project will examine the relationship between different kinds of disorder in public space, the quality of public life, and the potential for expanding the range of people included the democratic public. From this perspective, democracy is not a system of government so much as it is a set of relationships between people and institutions (e.g., government). In this sense, democracy is a process that is conditioned by norms, values, and expectations as to appropriate behaviors in different kinds of spaces. People are judged to be worthy of being included in the community or in "the democratic public" on the basis of their conformance with those social norms. The investigators will examine how the balance between order and disorder is maintained, how it shapes the quality of public life, and how this affects the quality of democracy. Sixteen case studies of conflicts in public space will be conducted in four cities: Berkeley, California, and Denver, Colorado, in the United States and Manchester, England, and Glasgow, Scotland, in the United Kingdom. Comparisons across cities are expected to reveal the roles local cultures and expectations of public behavior play in shaping how spaces are used and managed. Comparisons between countries ought to reveal the ways in which variations in national legal structures condition the kinds of conflicts that arise, the ways they are understood, and the strategies used in making claims on public spaces. The case studies will be developed using ethnographic methods and data to construct narratives of the conflicts. The narratives will combine data collected through intensive interviews, newspaper searches, government documents, and observations at the sites of the conflicts.By developing a spatially-sensitive analysis of the paradox of order and disorder in public space, this research will combine the results from the 16 case-studies to provide broader insights into how conflicts arise, how disorder is accommodated, and what strategies exist for managing public space. It also will reveal the complex sources of public life and democracy and assess the importance of difference and diversity to this, and it will help redefine the idea of "best practices" by showing the importance of local spatial and political cultures to processes of democratization. The project will provide education and training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Research results will be made available beyond scholarly publications though the preparation of "white papers" on democracy and public life for each city and a documentary film on the Denver case study.

城市的公共空间通常被认为是两种截然不同的方式--人们聚集在一起，形成一种公众或社区的感觉，另一种是有点可怕或不舒服的地方，因为麻烦的人的行为不受控制。 公共空间往往被理想化为民主社区可以聚集在一起的地方，从而有可能建立民主国家中辩论和分歧的纽带。 然而，这一理想受到无序和破坏性行为的挑战。 有时这些行为是公开的政治，如抗议或静坐，以提请注意一个特定的问题。 其他行为看起来并不具有政治性，例如教堂向建筑物外的无家可归者提供食物，或者清真寺广播呼吁祈祷，但受影响地区的一些人可能会认为这些行为是破坏，即使教堂正在进行他们认为对其使命或其存在至关重要的行为。 这个合作研究项目将研究公共空间中不同类型的混乱之间的关系，公共生活的质量，以及扩大包括民主公众在内的人群范围的潜力。 从这个角度来看，民主与其说是一种政府制度，不如说是一套人与机构之间的关系（例如，政府）。 从这个意义上说，民主是一个过程，它受到规范、价值观和期望的制约，这些规范、价值观和期望是关于在不同类型的空间中的适当行为的。 人们被判定为值得被纳入社区或“民主公众”，其依据是他们是否符合这些社会规范。 调查人员将研究秩序与混乱之间的平衡是如何维持的，它如何塑造公共生活的质量，以及这如何影响民主的质量。 将在四个城市进行关于公共空间冲突的十六个案例研究：美国的伯克利、加州和丹佛、科罗拉多以及英国的曼彻斯特和苏格兰的格拉斯哥。 跨城市的比较有望揭示当地文化和公众行为的期望在塑造空间使用和管理方式方面的作用。 国家之间的比较应该揭示国家法律的结构的差异是如何影响所产生的冲突类型的，它们是如何被理解的，以及在对公共空间提出要求时所使用的策略。 将利用人种志方法和数据编写个案研究报告，以便对冲突进行叙述。 这些叙述将结合联合收割机的数据，这些数据是通过密集的采访、报纸搜索、政府文件和在冲突现场的观察收集的。通过对公共空间中秩序与混乱的悖论进行空间敏感的分析，本研究将联合收割机的16个案例研究的结果结合起来，提供更广泛的见解，以了解冲突是如何产生的，混乱是如何被容纳的，以及管理公共空间的策略。 它还将揭示公共生活和民主的复杂来源，并评估差异和多样性对此的重要性，它将通过显示地方空间和政治文化对民主化进程的重要性，帮助重新定义“最佳做法”的概念。 该项目将为研究生和本科生提供教育和培训机会。 除了学术出版物外，还将通过为每个城市编写关于民主和公共生活的“白色文件”和关于丹佛案例研究的纪录片，提供研究成果。