Community glue?
Finsbury Park is a multicultural area of North London with large Turkish, Kurdish, Caribbean and North African populations and a high number of refugees and asylum seekers. It is also a historical park that has received a Heritage Lottery Fund award for regeneration. How does a large urban green space in a multicultural area such as Finsbury Park serve different ethnic communities? Does it break down social barriers, increase social inclusion and help build a sense of community? Ninni Ikkala reports.
The sheer diversity of users can be witnessed at its best on Sundays, when Finsbury Park becomes a hub of activity where community members from all backgrounds come to have picnics, walk around, take part in activities or just sit back and relax. A group of Romany gypsies may be gathered picnicking and playing a guitar. A number of different informal football teams play on separate side fields, each occupying a particular space. The most prominent of these groups are the Latin American football players who gather on average 200 viewers. Families and friends get together to chat, exchange news, tell jokes and sing. South American food is sold from stalls and portable radios play Latin American music. The park is a unique space for the Latin Americans to unite and have ‘their space’, a home away from home.
The park is also used for community celebrations such as Kurdish New Year, Newroz. Patterns of park usage differ between ethnic communities. White British users are more likely to come to Finsbury Park for jogging and exercise, or to take dogs for a walk. People of non-White minority background come to the park mainly to take children to play or to socialise on the grass in large groups with family or friends. These types of user patterns have implications for park design, such as allowing for seating provision suited for large picnics and group gatherings.A number of interviewees believed the broad appeal of the park is due to the fact that it is a free space that is open to all. This is particularly important in an area such as Finsbury Park where income levels are low.
Whilst the park is used broadly by different ethnic communities, increasing interaction between groups and building a sense of community requires organised activities and active use of the park. For example, there is a children’s community centre, the Jamboree, in the park and also a Sunday arts club for children, the Art Hut. Both attract users from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds. Further, children help bring parents together. As Susanne, a worker at the Jamboree commented: “Especially for people new to the community or living in temporary accommodation, taking children out is a unique opportunity to learn what’s happening in the area and make connections”. Sports are another way of increasing interaction. The Access to Sports project also operates in Finsbury Park and aims to make sports accessible to children from disadvantaged areas and to broaden the demographics of typically white middle class sports such as tennis. Using urban parks for their potential as public space, accessible to all, can help bring people together and attract new park users, whilst providing services to groups such as asylum seekers who may be hard to reach.
Finsbury Park is also used for events. Finfest, the ‘Finsbury Park Festival of Diversity’ is the event par excellence that celebrates and promotes the diversity of the local area. It attracts thousands of attendants to watch performances such as this year’s school dance performances, Kurdish music and Mauritian dancing. Finfest shows how the park can act as a community space that also allows people to express their own culture and build awareness of other cultures. However, according to the Friends of Finsbury Park (a voluntary group that acts as a forum for people interested in the park), certain events held in the park, such as large commercial concerts, do not cater for the local community who cannot afford to buy tickets. Further, there has been talk of making the childcare facilities and some of the sports facilities payable. Since questions of income and ethnicity are linked in the area, designing spaces for profit can exclude local users, especially those from minority backgrounds with lower income levels. It is hard balancing the need to have revenue raised in parks, yet also catering for the needs of a diverse local community.
By being public spaces open to all, parks also provide the potential for people and activities to conflict. There have been struggles in Finsbury Park between the informal football players over access and use of pitches. A space in the park that is regularly used by the Latin American football teams becomes more than a pitch; it is their self-proclaimed territory that is to be defended even through fist fights. The park constable also told of how people may complain of groups of asylum seekers gathering and making a mess in parks. However, such complaints are often unwarranted, there is nothing illegal about a large group of people gathering in a park and enjoying themselves in their own community. Don Mitchell (2003) argues that access to public space can reflect struggles over the shape of the city, access to the public realm and even rights to citizenship. For example, groups of asylum seekers gathering in Finsbury Park are seeking a place to be with their own community and are forging a space for themselves in a society which has not yet granted them right to permanent residence.
The needs of ethnic communities need to be taken into consideration in parks consultation and management. However, Liz Leverton, Finsbury Park Community Development Officer, commented that accessing ethnic minorities for council parks consultations has been problematic. She believes there are language problems; people may see consultations as intrusive or tokenistic; and consulting informal groups may disrupt some of their spontaneous activities in the park, especially where refugees and asylum seekers are involved. It is possible that more creative consultation approaches may be needed, such as planning for real, participatory theatre and working with children. Also, inclusiveness and involvement in park work could be increased through the Manor House Gardening project that has just begun in Finsbury Park, especially if it were to be developed into a cultural garden that reflected plants from different plants of the world and had volunteers from all ethnic backgrounds. The Friends of Finsbury Park have also failed to attract members from ethnic minorities. Members believe this is due to the alienating committee structure and time limitations. People have more urgent priorities and may lack a sense of belonging in the local community. Inclusion could be increased through organising activities, such as incorporating local art by different ethnic groups into park design, and through more community events.
Finsbury Park attracts a broad range of users across ethnic boundaries. Activities such as arts projects or children’s play clubs help bring people together and break down social barriers. A sense of community exists in events such as Finfest or in particular activities. However, there are also barriers to sharing space between different groups. Further, outreach to ethnic communities by both the Council and the Friends of Finsbury Park requires more work. Using more creative consultation methods and approaches such as the gardening project will help make the most out of the potential of parks acting as sites of social interaction between ethnic communities. This will help build a sense of community from which broader urban regeneration can flourish.
This article is based on a postgraduate research project carried out by Ninni Ikkala,
For more information, please contact N.M.Ikkala@lse.ac.uk.
The sheer diversity of users can be witnessed at its best on Sundays, when Finsbury Park becomes a hub of activity where community members from all backgrounds come to have picnics, walk around, take part in activities or just sit back and relax. A group of Romany gypsies may be gathered picnicking and playing a guitar. A number of different informal football teams play on separate side fields, each occupying a particular space. The most prominent of these groups are the Latin American football players who gather on average 200 viewers. Families and friends get together to chat, exchange news, tell jokes and sing. South American food is sold from stalls and portable radios play Latin American music. The park is a unique space for the Latin Americans to unite and have ‘their space’, a home away from home.
The park is also used for community celebrations such as Kurdish New Year, Newroz. Patterns of park usage differ between ethnic communities. White British users are more likely to come to Finsbury Park for jogging and exercise, or to take dogs for a walk. People of non-White minority background come to the park mainly to take children to play or to socialise on the grass in large groups with family or friends. These types of user patterns have implications for park design, such as allowing for seating provision suited for large picnics and group gatherings.A number of interviewees believed the broad appeal of the park is due to the fact that it is a free space that is open to all. This is particularly important in an area such as Finsbury Park where income levels are low.
Whilst the park is used broadly by different ethnic communities, increasing interaction between groups and building a sense of community requires organised activities and active use of the park. For example, there is a children’s community centre, the Jamboree, in the park and also a Sunday arts club for children, the Art Hut. Both attract users from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds. Further, children help bring parents together. As Susanne, a worker at the Jamboree commented: “Especially for people new to the community or living in temporary accommodation, taking children out is a unique opportunity to learn what’s happening in the area and make connections”. Sports are another way of increasing interaction. The Access to Sports project also operates in Finsbury Park and aims to make sports accessible to children from disadvantaged areas and to broaden the demographics of typically white middle class sports such as tennis. Using urban parks for their potential as public space, accessible to all, can help bring people together and attract new park users, whilst providing services to groups such as asylum seekers who may be hard to reach.
Finsbury Park is also used for events. Finfest, the ‘Finsbury Park Festival of Diversity’ is the event par excellence that celebrates and promotes the diversity of the local area. It attracts thousands of attendants to watch performances such as this year’s school dance performances, Kurdish music and Mauritian dancing. Finfest shows how the park can act as a community space that also allows people to express their own culture and build awareness of other cultures. However, according to the Friends of Finsbury Park (a voluntary group that acts as a forum for people interested in the park), certain events held in the park, such as large commercial concerts, do not cater for the local community who cannot afford to buy tickets. Further, there has been talk of making the childcare facilities and some of the sports facilities payable. Since questions of income and ethnicity are linked in the area, designing spaces for profit can exclude local users, especially those from minority backgrounds with lower income levels. It is hard balancing the need to have revenue raised in parks, yet also catering for the needs of a diverse local community.
By being public spaces open to all, parks also provide the potential for people and activities to conflict. There have been struggles in Finsbury Park between the informal football players over access and use of pitches. A space in the park that is regularly used by the Latin American football teams becomes more than a pitch; it is their self-proclaimed territory that is to be defended even through fist fights. The park constable also told of how people may complain of groups of asylum seekers gathering and making a mess in parks. However, such complaints are often unwarranted, there is nothing illegal about a large group of people gathering in a park and enjoying themselves in their own community. Don Mitchell (2003) argues that access to public space can reflect struggles over the shape of the city, access to the public realm and even rights to citizenship. For example, groups of asylum seekers gathering in Finsbury Park are seeking a place to be with their own community and are forging a space for themselves in a society which has not yet granted them right to permanent residence.
The needs of ethnic communities need to be taken into consideration in parks consultation and management. However, Liz Leverton, Finsbury Park Community Development Officer, commented that accessing ethnic minorities for council parks consultations has been problematic. She believes there are language problems; people may see consultations as intrusive or tokenistic; and consulting informal groups may disrupt some of their spontaneous activities in the park, especially where refugees and asylum seekers are involved. It is possible that more creative consultation approaches may be needed, such as planning for real, participatory theatre and working with children. Also, inclusiveness and involvement in park work could be increased through the Manor House Gardening project that has just begun in Finsbury Park, especially if it were to be developed into a cultural garden that reflected plants from different plants of the world and had volunteers from all ethnic backgrounds. The Friends of Finsbury Park have also failed to attract members from ethnic minorities. Members believe this is due to the alienating committee structure and time limitations. People have more urgent priorities and may lack a sense of belonging in the local community. Inclusion could be increased through organising activities, such as incorporating local art by different ethnic groups into park design, and through more community events.
Finsbury Park attracts a broad range of users across ethnic boundaries. Activities such as arts projects or children’s play clubs help bring people together and break down social barriers. A sense of community exists in events such as Finfest or in particular activities. However, there are also barriers to sharing space between different groups. Further, outreach to ethnic communities by both the Council and the Friends of Finsbury Park requires more work. Using more creative consultation methods and approaches such as the gardening project will help make the most out of the potential of parks acting as sites of social interaction between ethnic communities. This will help build a sense of community from which broader urban regeneration can flourish.
This article is based on a postgraduate research project carried out by Ninni Ikkala,
London School of Economics and Political Science.
For more information, please contact N.M.Ikkala@lse.ac.uk.