Sound, spatial justice and social infrastructures: participatory listening research for public engagement and policy mobilisation

一波又一波的危机和两极分化的不平等重新引起了政策上的关注，即地方社区本身如何能够在制定解决办法方面提供至关重要的支持、知识和领导。深度贫困的增加需要彻底的改变和新的方法来想象和塑造我们的转型，以摆脱这种根本性的挑战(Joseph Rowntree Trust，2023)。英国脱欧和大流行同时展示了赤裸裸的不同地理位置和邻里复原力的潜在力量(Unwin，2023)。对于社会基础设施、再生、公共卫生和可持续性，既有咨询的需要，也有疲惫(Wynn等人，2022；RTPI，2023)。创造性的实践提供了一种变革的源泉，可以刺激新的联系，想象不同的未来，并激励行动(Vervoot等人，2023)。我的博士研究开创了一种创造性的参与式方法，可以及时为公众参与这些社会政策领域做出贡献，这是本奖学金旨在动员的。我已经开发了一种共同方法，参与式倾听研究，可以扩展和应用于公共参与。参与式听力研究是一种与他人一起倾听我们所处环境的一种方式，可以产生新的知识，同时接受不同的听力体验、实践和立场。具体地说，博士研究将这种方法应用于中产阶级化，提出了一个问题：与英国南海岸的居民交谈，可以告诉我们关于城市海滨中产阶级化和流离失所不公正的什么？士绅化是普遍存在的争议，并深深植根于与政策相关的空间动态，为了解更广泛的社会趋势提供了一个窗口(Smith，2005)。倾听创造了一种不同的方式，可以连接到过度排练但仍然存在的空间不公平问题。通过将声音(Oliveros，2003；Robinson，2020)和移动研究(Sheller，2020)与参与性精神(Beebeejaun等人，2013)相结合，倾听居民可以扩大我们对地方关系和超地方社会环境变化的理解。看看地理不均匀的另一个极端，政府的提升议程关注的是恢复留守社区的自豪感和社会基础设施(APPG，2023)。社会基础设施被定义为“支持共享公民生活的机构和物理空间的框架”(同上：6)，社会基础设施可以孕育社会资本(英国学院和变革力量，2023)。这使公众参与的注意力重新集中在下放和邻里主导的基础设施上，例如工党的平行收回控制权(Norris，2023)。我的特定于中产阶级化的分析可以扩展到这些更广泛的政策关切，质疑超本地化的社会环境变化如何通过以下方面产生共鸣：服务不足的社区的重新参与、去中产阶级化、公共卫生和可持续发展议程。参与式听力研究为公众参与提供了一种新的方法，这种方法是互惠的、恢复性的和富有想象力的。研究金活动将通过创造性的参与、知识交流和学术传播来扩展、应用和深化这一方法。首先，我将在工具箱中添加一种新颖的传播方法，通过共同创建互动聆听行走、地理位置移动声音行走、播客和数字故事来分享士绅化的发现。这些活动将与当地以艺术为基础的组织Bright ton&Hove Music for Connection共同设计，并与居民咨询和社区团体进行磋商。其次，利用这些创造性成果，将与相关的学术、实践和政策网络共同主办一系列知识交流研讨会。第三，我将通过期刊出版物、会议论文和资金提案来深化这种方法的学术意义。总体而言，该奖学金将使我能够从博士学位过渡到职业生涯，成为一名应用和参与的社会政策研究员。

Wave after wave of crises and polarising inequalities have renewed policy attention onto how local communities themselves can provide vital support, knowledge and leadership in forging solutions. The rise in deep poverty requires radical change and new ways to imagine and shape our transition out of such foundational challenges (Joseph Rowntree Trust, 2023). Brexit and the pandemic have simultaneously demonstrated stark uneven geographies and the potential power of neighbourhood resilience (Unwin, 2023). There is both a consultation need and fatigue around social infrastructures, regeneration, public health and sustainability (Wynn et al., 2022; RTPI, 2023). Creative practices present a source of transformational change that can stimulate new connections, imagine different futures and inspire action (Vervoot et al., 2023). My PhD research pioneers a creative participatory methodology that can make timely contributions to public engagement in these social policy realms, which this Fellowship aims to mobilise.I have developed a co-methodology, participatory listening research, that can be extended and applied to public engagement. Participatory listening research is a way of listening with others to our environment that generates new knowledge whilst embracing different listening experiences, practices and positionalities. Specifically, the PhD research applied this approach to gentrification, asking: What can listening with residents on the UK south coast tell us about urban seaside gentrification and displacement injustices? Gentrification is popularly contested and deeply rooted in policy-relevant spatial dynamics, offering a window onto broader societal trends (Smith, 2005). Listening creates a different way of connecting to over-rehearsed yet persistent issues of spatial injustice. By combining sound (Oliveros, 2003; Robinson, 2020) and mobile studies (Sheller, 2020) with a participatory ethos (Beebeejaun et al., 2013), listening with residents can expand our understandings of relationships to place and hyperlocal socio-environmental change.Looking to the other extreme of uneven geographies, the government's Levelling Up agenda is concerned with restoring pride in place and social infrastructures in 'left behind communities' (APPG, 2023). Defined as 'the framework of institutions and the physical spaces that support shared civic life' (ibid:6), social infrastructures can seed social capital (British Academy & Power to Change, 2023). This has refocused public engagement attention onto devolved and neighbourhood-led infrastructures, such as Labour's parallel Take Back Control (Norris, 2023). My gentrification-specific analysis can be expanded to these broader policy concerns, questioning how hyperlocal socio-environmental change resonates through: the re-engagement of underserved communities, de-gentrification, public health and sustainability agendas. Participatory listening research offers a new method for public engagement that is mutually beneficial, restorative and imaginatively-oriented. The Fellowship activities will extend, apply and deepen this methodology through creative engagement, knowledge exchange and academic dissemination. Firstly, I will add a novel dissemination method to the toolbox by co-creating interactive listening walks, geo-locative mobile soundwalks, a podcast and digital story that share the gentrification findings. These will be co-designed with local arts-based organisation, Brighton & Hove Music for Connection, in consultation with residents advisory and community groups. Secondly, using these creative outputs, a series of knowledge exchange symposia will be hosted with relevant academic, practice and policy networks. Thirdly, I will deepen the academic significance of this approach through journal publications, conference papers and funding proposals. Overall, the Fellowship will enable me to transition from the doctorate into a career as an applied and engaged social policy researcher.