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Abstract
ABSTRACT Cities need social infrastructure, places that support social connection in neighborhoods and across communities. In the face of austerity in many places, the provision of such infrastructures are under threat. To protect such infrastructures, it is important to have robust arguments for their provision, maintenance, and protection. Through a case study of a dispute about the appropriate use and provisioning of an everyday park located in London, UK, this article examines what social infrastructure is and why it matters. The dispute has brought to the surface a number of critical questions about how to fund and provide collective, public social life. It has also raised questions about what types of social and collective life should be valued. To examine the dispute a sixfold typology is developed to explore the different registers of sociality afforded by social infrastructure: co-presence, sociability and friendship, care and kinship, kinesthetic practices, and civic engagement.
Highlights
It is a typical late summer Saturday in Finsbury Park
The dispute – introduced at the start – around how Finsbury Park is being used for events and festivals, is in many ways a dispute about the kind of social infrastructure the park is, the kinds of social life it should be supporting, and how it should be supporting it
Rather than framing this singularly as a dispute about public space, working with the concept of social infrastructure we can begin unpacking the different dimensions of sociality to be found in the park – and why some have become the focus of conflict and contestation and others not
Summary
It is a typical late summer Saturday in Finsbury Park. In the morning 300 runners gathered for the weekly 5 km parkrun. Through the case study of Finsbury Park, we aim, to demonstrate how thinking about public space as social infrastructure enhances understandings of the public life of cities. The dispute – introduced at the start – around how Finsbury Park is being used for events and festivals, is in many ways a dispute about the kind of social infrastructure the park is, the kinds of social life it should be supporting, and how it should be supporting it Rather than framing this singularly as a dispute about public space, working with the concept of social infrastructure we can begin unpacking the different dimensions of sociality to be found in the park – and why some have become the focus of conflict and contestation and others not
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