The choreography of everyday multiculture: Bowling Together?

一个混合的休闲公共空间和使用它的人之间的关系揭示了当代城市的社会动态？戴维•卡梅伦（David Cameron）和安格拉•默克尔（Angela Merkel）等欧洲领导人已经宣布多元文化主义已死。然而，这并不能解释人们在不同空间中“相处”的日常方式（Watson, 2009），也不能解释继续创造“超级多样性”空间的历史、经济和移民背景（Vertovec, 2007）。这项研究从一个看似普通的地方开始，一个保龄球馆，由不同年龄、阶级和种族的不同人群使用，它位于伦敦三个行政区交汇处一个快速变化的街区的繁忙十字路口。虽然目前的室内设计借鉴了美国的铬和霓虹灯，但使用它的各种保龄球爱好者反映了当代伦敦。通过对谁使用空间以及如何使用空间的深入研究，该研究试图找出：空间产生了什么样的互动、紧张、回避和谈判策略？空间共享的限制是什么？保龄球馆之外的划分是如何在保龄球馆内发挥作用的（例如，年轻人之间的领土形式）？除了研究保龄球馆内的空间共享和交流外，该研究还试图研究保龄球馆内的社会关系与当地更广泛、更复杂的世界之间的关系。首先，研究将揭示该遗址用途的变化如何反映塑造该地区的社会历史进程（包括经济进程和移民历史）；保龄球馆只是这座建筑的最新化身，它曾经是一个电车车站，一个从未开放的溜冰场，一个电影院（在第一次世界大战期间因赌博，卖淫和“多情的士兵与放荡的女人联络”而臭名昭著），一个舞厅和一个宾果厅。其次，该社区将经历重大的重建，因此保龄球馆和本研究的时间段将为调查这些变化过程和讨论什么构成了有价值的城市空间，什么保留，什么消失提供了一个绝佳的地点；保龄球馆的顾客和其他当地利益相关者是如何选择、抵制或庆祝变革过程的。此外，该研究将探索这种多样性空间如何通过移民模式和历史将社区与更广阔的世界联系起来。为了回答这些问题，该项目采用了多种方法，包括对保龄球手和当地利益相关者的采访，参与观察以及摄影和视频的使用。研究参与者将被要求分享他们在保龄球馆内活动的照片和视频。此外，还将拍摄新的纪录片片段，使用日常技术（iphone）来反映参与者使用的技术。该项目不仅将制作书面报告和学术期刊文章，还将制作一部简短的纪录片和一个互动网站，供公众访问并积极推广。总体而言，本研究旨在通过研究一个地点以及通过人们的实践将其联系起来的跨国社会经济力量来分析不同人口如何共存和互动。

What does the relationship between a mixed public space of leisure and the people who use it reveal about social dynamics in the contemporary city? European leaders such as David Cameron and Angela Merkel have proclaimed multiculturalism dead. However, this does little to account for either the everyday ways that people 'rub along' (Watson, 2009) in diverse spaces, or the historical, economic and migration contexts that continue to create spaces of 'super-diversity' (Vertovec, 2007). This research starts with a seemingly ordinary place, a bowling alley, used by a diverse population in terms of age, class and ethnicity and standing on a busy crossroads in a fast changing neighbourhood at the intersection of three London boroughs. While the current interior design borrows the chrome and neon of Americana, the diverse collection of bowlers who use it reflect contemporary London. Through an in-depth examination of who uses the space and how, the research seeks to find out: What kinds of interactions, tensions, strategies of avoidance and of negotiation, does the space engender? What are the limits to the sharing of space and how do divisions outside the bowling alley play out within (forms of territoriality among young people, for example)? As well as examining space sharing and exchanges in the bowling alley, the research also seeks to examine the relationship between social relations inside the bowling alley and the wider and complex world of the local area. Firstly, the research will uncover how the changing uses of this site reflect the social historical processes (including economic processes and migration histories) that have shaped the area; the bowling alley is only the most recent incarnation of this building which has been a tram depot, a roller rink that never opened, a cinema (notorious during the First World War for 'gambling, prostitution and "amorous soldiers liaising with loose women" Harper, 2011), a dance hall and a bingo hall. Secondly, the neighbourhood is set to undergo major redevelopment and so the bowling alley and the time period of this research will provide a prime location for investigating these processes of change and debates about what constitutes valuable urban space, what stays and what goes; how processes of change are co-opted, resisted or celebrated by both customers at the bowling alley and by other local stakeholders. Furthermore, the research will explore how this space of diversity enacts how the neighbourhood is connected to the wider world through patterns and histories of migration. In order to answer these questions, the project uses a variety of methods including interviews with bowlers and local stakeholders, participant observation and the use of photography and video. Research participants will be asked to share photos and video taken of their activities within the bowling alley. In addition, new documentary footage will be shot, using everyday technologies (iphone) to mirror that used by the participants. The project will produce not only written reports and academic journal articles but also a short documentary and an interactive website that will be accessible, and actively promoted, to the general public.Overall, this research seeks to analyse how a diverse population co-exist and interact through the study of one site and the transnational, socioeconomic forces that connect in it through the practices of people.