Connecting physical and social dimensions of place attachment: what can we learn from attachment to urban recreational spaces?

This paper is concerned with the ways in which people form attachments to recreational spaces. More specifically it examines the relationship between recreational spaces associated with sporting activity in urban neighbourhoods and place attachment. The focus is on the ways in which changes to these spaces exposes the affective bonds between people and their surroundings. The paper applies a qualitative methodology, namely focus groups and photo elicitation, to the case study of Parkhead, a neighbourhood in the East End of Glasgow. Parkhead has historically been subjected to successive waves of redevelopment as a result of deindustrialization in the late twentieth century. More recently redevelopment associated with the 2014 Commonwealth Games involved further changes to neighbourhood recreational spaces, including refurbishing of existing sports facilities and building new ones.This paper reflects on the cumulative impacts of this redevelopment to conclude (a) that recreational sports spaces provoke multi-layered and complex attachments that are inextricably connected to both temporal and spatial narratives and (b) that research on neighbourhood recreational spaces can develop our understanding of the intricate relationship between the social and physical dimensions of place attachment

Resisting relocation and reconceptualising authenticity: the experiential and emotional values of the Southbank Undercroft London UK

The tagline, ‘You Can’t Move History: You Can Secure the Future’, encapsulated the battle at the heart of the campaign to retain the Southbank Undercroft skate spot in the light of planned redevelopment of the Southbank Centre, London. The 2013-15 campaign against relocation adopted a position of no compromise and provides a lens through which three key areas of heritage theory and practice can be examined. Firstly, the campaign uses the term found space to reconceptualise authenticity and places a greater emphasis on embodied experiences of, and emotional attachments to, historic urban spaces. Secondly, the paper argues that the concept of found space opens up a discussion surrounding the role of citizen expertise in understanding the experiential and emotional values of historic urban spaces. Finally, the paper considers the wider relevance of found space in terms of reconceptualising authenticity in theory and practice. The paper is accompanied by the award-winning film ‘You Can’t Move History’ which was produced by the research team in collaboration with Paul Richards from Brazen Bunch and directed by skater, turned filmmaker, Winstan Whitter

‘Look at What We Made’: communicating subcultural value on London’s Southbank

This article sets out key findings of an interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project that uses Long Live Southbank’s (LLSB) successful campaign to retain London’s Southbank Undercroft for subcultural use – skateboarding, BMXing, graffiti art etc – as a case study to generate discussions about young people’s experiences and engagements with (sub)cultural heritage and political activism. At the heart of this inquiry is the perceived contradiction between the communicative practices of subcultures and social protest movements: the former typically understood to be internally-oriented and marked by strong boundary maintenance, and the latter, to be successful, to be externally-oriented to a diverse range of publics. In explaining the skaters/campaigners negotiation of this contradiction, we look to the inclusive and everyday concepts of ‘inhabitant knowledge’ (Ingold 2000), ‘vernacular creativity’ (Burgess 2009) and ‘affective intelligence’ (Van Zoonen, 2004). In eschewing the exclusionary and contestatory language of (post)subcultural and spatial theories, this article proposes new frameworks for thinking about the political nature of young people’s bodily knowledge and experiences, and the implications of this for the communication of (sub)cultural value

Engaging youth in cultural heritage: time, place and communication

Debates about heritage have posed questions about what is of value and who can ascribe value. These debates often centre on the types of places that are afforded official heritage value as well as the kinds of ‘experts’ who are sufficiently trained and educated to be able to ascribe this official value. At the root of all of these debates is a desire to try and understand why something is so valuable that it should be retained for future generations. Contained within this is a belief summed up by the National Trust that heritage is “forever” and by English Heritage that it belongs to “everyone”. These totalising statements provide the impression that access to heritage is equal and in the name of the greater good of future generations. However, certain groups remain disadvantaged within this system. Young people are one of these groups as they “remain largely anonymous from heritage conservation policy and practice” (Azevedo, 2012: 3). Similarly, the role of heritage within the youth sector more generally is also undervalued as “(youth) organisations were found to not immediately connect heritage to youth work, with heritage viewed as an abstract construct” (CPI, 2015: 37). However, research carried out on the “world’s oldest surviving skateboard spot” as well as documentary analysis of the Young Roots programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund has illustrated that engaging young people with heritage can have wider benefits for both the heritage and built environment sectors. This report will examine some of the ways in which young people both form and powerfully express their value of historic places. In doing so it is intended that the views of young people can inform the ongoing evolution of the heritage sector in the UK. To achieve this the report will focus on how the relationship between young people and heritage develops and in particular the role of place and time within this. In doing so it is intended that the abstract nature of heritage will be broken down with the aim that the findings can provide “youth workers and professionals the right tools to engage young people with heritage and encourage them to think about heritage projects” (CPI, 2015: 37)

Why Do Historic Places Matter? Emotional Attachments to Urban Heritage

The significance of heritage and its potential to contribute to a range of public policy agendas is now acknowledged in Scotland and internationally. But despite the role of emotion becoming an increasingly influential theme within heritage studies, the heritage sector has not yet fully evidenced the reasons why the past matters emotionally to a range of individuals. These emotional attachments are often latent but can be unlocked at times of change. So key questions for this project are, how, and to what extent, are emotional attachments to place considered during the designation and management of historic urban assets? The project focuses on several case studies. The findings have emerged from the textual and visual analysis of a range of existing archival documents and from place-based oral histories and emoji-based workshops which captured the thoughts and feelings of people involved with and/or impacted by urban change, including built environment professionals and local residents. The evidence comes from Scottish and English towns and cities and predominantly covers the period from 1975 to 2019. This data was analysed to explore the extent and the reasons why the past matters to a range of individuals, including heritage professionals, non-heritage professionals, and people, such as residents and activists, who are embedded within their local historic urban environment

Advancing People-Centred, Place-Based Approaches

No abstract available

Developing a People-Centred, Place-Led Approach: The Value of the Arts and Humanities

No abstract available