The social, historical, cultural and democratic context of civic engagement: imagining different communities and making them happen.

我们的研究研究了社区是如何将人们联系在一起的，无论是现在还是过去。这些联系有多种形式，但通常包括人们走到一起寻求改变和追求不同的未来。我们感兴趣的是想象力在如何构思和追求这样的未来中所扮演的角色。在英国和其他地方，人们参与社区活动的历史既有成功的创新，也有挫折和失望。我们的项目将从这两种情况中学习。我们将研究不同类型的社区（有些是现在的，有些是过去的）的社区联系。利用我们的新知识，我们将一起想象社区可能会有什么不同，并尝试不同形式的社区建设。社区是由一些有共同之处，但也有不同之处的人组成的。鉴于此，我们想提出四个主要问题：1)概念化、研究和促进互联社区的最佳方式是什么，以便他们有潜力适应并受益于社会、文化和经济差异以及不同的观点和实践？2)关于社会、历史、文化和民主背景如何以及为什么对社区建设很重要，公民参与的历史告诉了我们什么？3)想象更美好的未来在捕捉和维持变革的热情和动力方面能发挥什么作用？4)社区研究是否因研究方法的发展，特别是创造性和合作性方法的发展而发生转变？我们解决这些问题的方法挑战了关注社区所缺乏的东西的想法，而是强调了利用想象力在塑造社区未来中的作用。它汇集了来自社会科学、艺术和人文学科的一系列学科的研究人员，他们对社区关系感兴趣，并与致力于社区发展的伙伴组织在一系列地点合作。国际同事将进一步扩大该联盟的活动，在活动中担任主题发言人，并担任咨询委员会成员。这些项目将采用一系列研究方法，但以协作和参与方法（社区伙伴和大学共同努力）为核心。有几个项目涉及回到以前的研究地点，探索可以学到的与今天关于社区的辩论相关的东西。回到1960年代末/ 1970年代初社区发展项目的地点将包括分析背景统计、文献记录、访谈、口述历史、社区艺术和其他社区活动，追溯该历史及其遗产直至现在。我们将重新审视文化和艺术项目，以及与弱势群体合作的项目，这些项目都旨在提高社区的复原力。对这些经验教训的反思将纳入与“弱势”社区成员一起计划的干预措施，以激发对未来的想象力，并帮助建立复原力和变革的动力。另一个项目将调查是什么促使志愿者跨越社会和地理界限，使用制图技术、调查和焦点小组来捕捉这些联系。这一提议的背景是全球范围内人们寻找新的方式来参与影响他们生活的问题的决策，以及参与涉及他们的研究——所谓的“社会研究的民主化”的强大推动力。研究团队对人们如何设想合作以及如何将这些想法在不同的社区付诸实践的共同兴趣将不同的研究方向结合在一起。要回答这些问题，需要合作研究过去和现在的一系列不同案例，并得出适当的结论，为当前的辩论和对未来的展望提供信息。

Our research studies how communities connect people, both today and in the past. These connections take many forms, but often include people coming together to seek change and pursue a different future. We are interested in the role imagination plays in how such futures are conceived and pursued. The history of people's involvement in community initiatives includes both successful innovation and frustration and disappointment, in the UK and elsewhere. Our project will learn from both scenarios. We will study community connections in different types of community (some present, some past). Using our new knowledge, together we will imagine how communities might be different and experiment with different forms of community building.Communities are made up of people who share some things in common, but also have differences. In the light of this we want to ask four main questions: 1) What are the best ways of conceptualising, researching and promoting connected communities so that they have the potential to accommodate and benefit from social, cultural and economic differences and diverse opinions and practices? 2) What does the history of civic engagement tell us about how and why the social, historical, cultural and democratic context matters to community-building? 3) What role can imagining better futures play in capturing and sustaining enthusiasm and momentum for change? 4) Is community research being transformed by developments in research methodologies, particularly the development of creative and collaborative methods?Our approach to these questions challenges ideas of community that focus on what is lacking, highlighting instead the role that harnessing imagination plays in shaping community futures. It brings together researchers from a range of disciplines across the social sciences and arts and humanities interested in community relationships together with partner organisations dedicated to community development in a range of locations. International colleagues will add further dimensions to the consortium's activities, acting as keynote speakers at events, and as advisory committee members.The projects will employ a range of approaches to research, but with collaborative and participatory methods (community partners and universities working together) being central. Several projects involve going back to sites of previous research to explore what can be learned that is of relevance to to-day's debates about community. The return to sites of the Community Development Project of the late 1960s/early 1970s will include analysis of background statistics, documentary records, interviews, oral history, community arts and other community-based activities, tracing that history and its legacies down to the present. We will revisit culture and arts projects, and projects working with disadvantaged groups, all of which have sought to promote community resilience. Reflections on the lessons of these experiences will feed into planned interventions with members of 'disadvantaged' communities to fire imagination about the future and help to build resilience and a momentum for change. Another project will investigate what motivates volunteers to cross social and geographical boundaries, using mapping techniques, surveys and focus groups to capture these connections. The context of this proposal is a strong impetus globally towards people looking for new ways to participate in decision-making about issues that affect their lives, and to participate in research that involves them - the so-called 'democratisation of social research'. The various strands of research are held together by the team's shared interests in how people envisage co-operating and how these ideas get put into practice in diverse communities. Answering these questions requires working collaboratively to look at a range of different cases, both past and present, and to draw appropriate conclusions to inform current debates and visions of the future.