Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces Experiencing Cultural and Social Diversity in a Multicultural City By Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson

Negotiating Space for Encounters lives and how these experiences are af- If I tell first when I came to Finland, if I talk about fected by cultural encounters. the Myyrmäki area, it is my beloved area. I really We have chosen Myyrmäki as one of love it. At the time when I came, I didn’t know any our focus areas1 as it represents a part of foreigners, there were not that many in Myyrmäki. the city where cultural diversity is higher All my closest friends are Finnish, truly nice than the average in the city of Vantaa. All people (Female, September 27, 2017). in all, in Vantaa, 16.6 per cent of the in- The description of Myyrmäki as a beloved habitants have some other language than area is a fragment from the beginning of Finnish, Swedish or Sami as their mother an interview with a woman who came to tongue. This makes Vantaa the most di- the Finnish suburb of Myyrmäki for the verse city in Finland. The most frequently first time 23 years ago. As the discussion spoken foreign languages are Estonian, proceeds she reflects a couple more times Russian, Somali, Albanian and Arabic on her attachment for Myyrmäki and ex- (Vantaan väestö 2016/2017 2017:15–16). plains it very distinctly through the social Compared with the suburban neigh- relations which form the basis for her bourhood of Myyrmäki, the research deal- everyday life. These relations have given ing with the “cosmopolitan turn” has usu- her support and provided her with a feel- ally dealt with urban spaces with longer ing of security whenever she has needed and more diverse histories.2 In order to an- help or just a friend to talk to and spend swer our research question, we deliberate time with. She herself has a background in about some concepts that have evolved the Mediterranean and she analyses the within the cosmopolitan turn, namely cos- formation of her friendships on the axis of mopolitan canopy and conviviality, by ap- foreigner/Finnish. For her, the neighbour- plying them in the context of a somewhat hood has become a good place to live remote suburb in the larger metropolitan through encounters with her “Finnish” area. In other words, we are trying to see friends. how such concepts concerning large-scale The “cosmopolitan turn” in research global trends, both “on the ground” and has emphasized the way urban environ- within humanistic theories, can help to ex- ments can be spaces for – if not positive plain the practices of cultural encounters then neutral – encounters between people in everyday life. Furthermore, we want to from different kinds of backgrounds examine whether these concepts are ap- (Valentine 2008:324). Tolerance, con- plicable in a slightly different context viviality and intercultural civility are em- (from what they were invented for) and phasized as features of cosmopolitan how they can help in creating more in- spaces (see e.g. Gilroy 2004; Noble volving meeting places. Then not only the 2013; Valluvan 2016). In our article, we empirical evidence but also ideas for such focus on Myyrmäki, located in the Hel- meeting places as well as knowledge of sinki metropolitan area, more specifical- obstacles to their functioning would be of ly in the city of Vantaa. We ask how value. With such an approach we can people with a migrant background ex- strengthen the social impact of ethnologi- perience suburban spaces in their daily cal urban studies.

Ethnologia Scandinavica, Vol. 48, 2018 140 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

The underlying idea of our article is that this he stresses the cultural dialogue to un- urban space affects the ways urbanites ex- derstand the processes as active ones, in perience their social environment also in contrast to understanding multicultural- relation to cultural differences. The ism either as cultural differences prevent- American sociologist Elijah Anderson has ing communication or as speculative cos- introduced the concept of cosmopolitan mopolitanism (Amin 2002:959–967). To canopy by which he refers to semi-public join the interculturality with the cosmo- urban spaces encouraging people to adopt politan canopy means to us that we look a positive attitude towards one another in for the many, sometimes banal, ways of a way that reflects civility and tolerance. interacting in urban spaces. This expressed civility is a key to a social The urban space we are discussing control that further emphasizes the specif- comprises the public or semi-public ic nature of the space. For Anderson, cos- spaces in the suburb, i.e. spaces which are mopolitan canopies are “settings that offer basically open to all city dwellers to ac- a respite from the lingering tensions of ur- cess in their everyday lives. This means ban life and an opportunity for diverse that we include in our research also pri- people to come together”. He states that vately owned spaces when their foremost “ethnic and racial identities are never ‘for- purpose is to be open to the general public gotten’”, but sometimes places where they (Tani 2015:131). Sara Ahmed (2000:7–9) do not define the encounters can be has defined the term encounter to “suggest formed. Even though Anderson focuses a meeting, but a meeting which involves on race and ethnicity in his study, he de- surprise and conflict”. She emphasizes fines the canopy-like space as something that encounters are not only about the that resonates with other kinds of differ- present but that they always also reopen ences as well, such as social differences previous encounters. In consequence, dif- (Anderson 2012:xiv, 10–11, 145; also An- ferences are not defined in a particular derson 2004). space or encounter but in a continuous his- Especially the emergence of the con- torical relation, and this layered nature of cept of super-diversity in academic and encounters is something that becomes policy discourses has foregrounded the very noticeable also in the interviews done idea that the previous ethnicity-based ap- in Myyrmäki. proach no longer provides an adequate The cosmopolitan canopy can be cate- analytical tool for understanding the com- gorized as one of the ideas linked to the plexity and dynamism of urban multicul- “cosmopolitan turn” in which the urban turalism. Along with the turn to diversity, potential for culturally hybrid environ- the focus has changed from entities to re- ments has been emphasized. However, lations (Berg & Sigona 2013:348). Differ- this view has also been criticized because ences are negotiated daily in everyday ur- the literature seldom analyses the actual ban spaces. Ash Amin has emphasized the processes where this kind of cosmopoli- role of “micropolitics of everyday social tanism can be realized. The geographer contact and encounter” but also the “inter- Gill Valentine (2008:324–325) has argued cultural” aspects of this negotiation. By that some of the research might even give Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 141

a romanticized picture of urban encoun- see also Ojanen 2018). We find it impor- ters where respect for others would auto- tant, however, to look for clues to under- matically evolve from contacts with the stand which factors create better opportu- “other”. We consider this criticism impor- nities for some spaces rather than others to tant while examining the fieldwork data become spaces for these kinds of cosmo- produced within the project. The very first politan canopies. This approach will hope- encounters with our interviewees have fully support the future urban planning clearly shown that in our focus areas ur- and urban renewal processes as well. In ban encounters can be very multisided and order to be able to find such connections problematic. we will now turn to the closer reading of Elijah Anderson, who in his work dis- Myyrmäki central area – not arguing it to cusses “the colour line” that becomes vis- be a cosmopolitan canopy but looking for ible also in the cosmopolitan canopies, has the factors that support it to become one or argued that “the gloss of the canopy pro- prevent it from becoming one. vides cover, allowing some people to mask their true feelings. Some good Joined and Differentiated Spaces for comes from this, for prejudiced people are Encounters practicing tolerance, which may eventual- The focus of our study has been on public ly take root.” So, at the same time as we spaces and encounters between people of are aware that we should not idealize the varying ethnic and cultural backgrounds. urban environment, we want to look at the Since the Myyrmäki area was not very fa- ethnographic material3 produced within miliar to us in advance, the fieldwork our project as a potential source for open- started with observation aiming at identi- ing up the mechanisms behind cultural en- fication of spatial practices which would counters in urban spaces. reflect the social characteristics of the We have previously discussed the diffi- area. The most obvious place to start with culties that have arisen from applying the the observation was the Myyrmanni shop- concept of “cosmopolitan canopy” in our ping mall which is situated in the very project and especially in the places we centre and gathers shops, supermarkets, have chosen as our research areas. When many coffee shops and restaurants under analysing our research sites in Vantaa in the same roof, making it a natural and easy general we have realized that the cosmo- meeting place for people in Myyrmäki. politan canopy there might be more of a Such public services as the health care state of mind than actually taking shape in centre, social services and the library as relation to a specific space. This would well as the railway station are also located also mean that the relationship between close to Myyrmanni. The impression after the planned city and the production of the various visits to the Myyrmanni shopping cosmopolitan canopy might be difficult to centre is that the range of customers re- establish. All in all, the canopy is not a flects the ethnic diversity of the popula- static feature of a particular space but can tion living in the Myyrmäki area. Actual- be created anew or shattered by the people ly, it may be that this is one factor that cre- within the space (Lappi & Olsson 2018; ates a feeling of hominess along with the 142 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

centre not being too large. Especially the no one group but is shared by different restaurants and the coffee shops on the groups. It is space for thrown-togetherness second floor encourage groups, from in which civility pervades at least momen- young schoolgirls to old men with differ- tarily. According to Anderson (2012:xvi, ent cultural backgrounds, to spend time 15, 26):this is also a possibility to develop with friends and acquaintances. Whether understanding with one another and to it is a multicultural space is another ques- share ideas and practices. At the same tion and depends greatly on how it is de- time these experiences of encounters also fined. create local knowledge. The Myyrmanni A shopping mall is literally a place for shopping centre might be even looked at shopping. However, in recent studies it as what Susanne Wessendorf (2014:393) has been analysed also as a place for other calls the parochial realm characterized by kinds of activities. It can actively be used more communal relations between users for social encounters, as many of the of that space than they would be in a clear- studies about youth and their culture of ly public space, where one meets mainly hanging out show (see e.g. Tani 2015; strangers. For the younger people espe- Lampela & Tani 2015; see also Anderson cially, Myyrmanni may even be at times 2011:31–71). Shopping malls can also be too familiar, not providing enough privacy described as spaces where the attributes of or freedom from otherwise appreciated “loose” and “tight” space4 become visible social networks: in different kinds of actions and where Guess why we don’t want to spend time in cafes they sometimes also become subjects of and restaurants here? Suddenly your uncle is sit- negotiation (Tani 2015:142). In the con- ting next to you, so you have to leave. There aren’t text of “cosmopolitan canopy”, we have our people anymore [outside Myyrmäki] and you looked at the shopping malls as a space for want to have your own time. I don’t want to see cultural and social encounters that people my neighbours, my aunts, I want to have my own experience just by coming there (see An- time, that’s why we go out of Myyrmäki (Female, November 17, 2017). derson 2011). By this we mean that they do not need to actively and knowingly en- Conviviality increasingly appears in the gage in some premeditated encounter in context of normative concerns with how the surroundings but that the mall as a to make spaces more positively interac- semi-public space5 in itself creates a spe- tive, or conversely how spaces might be- cific space for potential encounters. come more convivial through everyday As later became clear, the shopping practices and routines of people inhabiting mall is not exclusively a place for positive them (Nowicka & Vertovec 2014:350). experiences. However, during the inter- Positive encounters cannot be forced but it views none of the interviewees brought up is possible to think about obstacles and negative incidents or experiences con- barriers preventing people from varied cerning the cultural or ethnic encounters and unexpected encounters, and work to- in the shopping centre.6 This could be seen wards dealing with these hindrances. It is as an allusion to an urban sociability exactly these hindrances that Sophie Wat- where the sharing of space is claimed by son has focused her study on city publics Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 143

and urban encounters. Her main interest edgements and hostilities, all of which are lies in exploring different aspects and differently embodied (Watson 2006:20). forms of constraint operating in the public Especially research on young people has arena which limit the “coming together of emphasized the meaning of places where strangers”, the “living with difference”, encounters with others are typical. Famil- the “enchanted encounters”, the pleasures iar places and memories connected to and displeasures of association and con- them can be seen as strengthening both nection. She argues that “it is only when young people’s friendships and their these constraints and limitations, and the self-image. Even brief unwanted encoun- fragile, interstitial and partial forms of ters in the public space create insecurity connection across difference are under- and sometimes an experience of outside- stood that we can begin to think about how ness (Ponto 2017:85–86). These different to support or construct the kinds of public kinds of experiences affecting the space spaces which may enhance these very relation are visible in the following ex- connections” (Watson 2006:19). tract, as the interviewee describes the In the canopy like space people can feel change in her familiar neighbourhood: more relaxed and secure than in other This area, you know why it is nice, everyone is places of the city. One of the basic prem- close to me. My best sisters live here, my Finnish ises for this to happen is that people visit- sisters. Whenever I need them, they are there and ing the space understand it to be open, or they have supported us very much. They are the belong, as Anderson puts it, to all. There is same as friends, but I call them sisters, we have a very deep connection. Every time I needed some- no priority to the space for any one group thing, whatever happened to me, even at twelve (Anderson 2012:3, 5, 36). In any case, as o’clock at night, I call and they come. They are all Suzanne Hall (2017:1569) points out, the Finnish. I trust this environment, but it’s not the relationship between an individual and a same as before. When I came to Finland in 1995, public space is more about “being public” if I was out at night, I wasn’t afraid of anything, than being “in” the public space. The ways but today I can’t feel trust (Female, September 27, we experience the city – either through 2017). positive or negative encounters – give di- Having lived over twenty years in Finland rections to our ways of being public. the informant we quoted also at the begin- Encounters in general have an effect on ning of the article had a long time perspec- how people experience either insideness tive on how attitudes towards migrants, or outsideness and subjectivities are pro- even in a very familiar and otherwise ap- duced symbolically, discursively and ma- preciated environment, along with the terially through networks of power rela- general atmosphere in society, have tions and practices articulated in space in changed especially over the past ten years. complex and shifting ways. Urban en- Even though she has Finnish women as counters are woven across a multiplicity her best friends, she has used a lot of time of spaces that are visible and invisible, and energy to help all migrants, especially performed, experienced and conducted women, as much as possible in order to through words and silences, glances and enhance all kinds of cultural and social en- gazes, regard and disregard, acknowl- counters in Myyrmäki. During the inter- 144 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

view, she stressed many times how impor- mäki is an important meeting place, espe- tant it is to get out of the home and take cially for the Muslim men, where mi- part in all kinds of activities to meet other grants with a variety of backgrounds come people and exchange ideas with them, as together to pray but also to meet each she brings out also in this quotation. This other for discussions and coffee. is what could be interpreted in Anderson’s Women don’t necessarily go to the mosque. But if words as “folk ethnography” or “people there is an Eid festival, you can go if you want to. watching”, which leads people to gradual- Different people go to the mosque, for example ly learn about other people in the sur- Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians, Chechens, Al- roundings. Through this process they banians, Somalis, and yes, they have a very good learn to read different kinds of signs and connection. It is not just a mosque but at the same time also a cultural meeting place (Female, Sep- symbols from other people’s appearances tember 27, 2017). and behaviour and also to put these in per- spective. This people watching happens One interviewee mentioned that in her all the time in our everyday routines in the opinion especially different kinds of activ- city (Anderson 2012:125). However, the ities preferably taking place in public interviewee emphasized active doing in space would bring people together and mixed groups and was perhaps a little dis- while doing something together it would appointed as people were mostly active in be easier to start talking to someone and their own social environment and mixing get to know people with culturally and so- with others in an active way was more un- cially varying backgrounds. In her words: usual. A place where Finnish people and migrants, all in I have invited many times, come, come little bit the same place, not just migrants. If there are just away from your daily routines, come and try to in- migrants, problems may arise later on or someone tegrate with Finnish people, come to talk, come to wants to attack or wants to do something bad. But change ideas, but they are not active. I have been a place for both, that kind of place, there isn’t such really jealous, especially when the Somalis, if they a place in Myyrmäki. When you don’t know other want to organize something, it’s the whole group, people, strangers, you may be afraid of them, but not just one. I say that not many foreign women if you know at least a little bit, they do not scare are really active and I can say straight that when you anymore. This is very important (Female, No- the Somalis came, they are very active (Female, vember 2, 2017). September 27, 2017). She also talked about how more attention This leads to another related topic coming should be paid to integration in housing up in the research data, namely, that many based on her own experiences of feeling activities as well as spaces used for these safer in her current neighbourhood where activities are quite separated, focused ei- the majority of inhabitants are not mi- ther mainly on migrants or on people in grants. She felt that having more non-mi- general in Myyrmäki, but not attended by grants people living close by in a way pro- migrants. In a similar vein, there are tects her and her family from potential at- places and activities which are attended tacks and other possible hate-related inci- and organized by the migrants but not fa- dents. In most interviews the question of miliar or inviting to the majority popula- how to become acquainted with majority tion. For example, the mosque in Myyr- people comes across somehow: Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 145

Earlier [the Finns] they just asked, what do you Q: Are there any unpleasant places [in Myyrmäki] want and didn’t talk, but now [after many years in where you don’t want to go? Finland] they are friends. They talk a lot and if A: One thing are the bars, it’s not safe there [close there is a meeting in the housing cooperative, they to where the bars are situated] and walking later in elect migrants as members of the board. Now I the evening, that might be scary. It’s best to go in have friends, earlier it was just work [for meeting the daytime. I have felt uncomfortable and have Finnish people]. When you know a Finn in your not wanted to walk around that much after what spare time, they talk a lot. A neighbour of mine happened in Turku, that man, I have become more moved to Helsinki, we meet once in a while and scared. Another thing is when there was a bomb we talk a lot, we go to the market place and have attack in Myyrmanni shopping centre. It was real- coffee. Things have changed but there isn’t any ly frightening and I didn’t want go even near that meeting place in this area (Male, May 9, 2017). shopping centre. I was in Sweden when it hap- pened, but the next day I came back and was afraid When saying that there isn’t any meeting to go home, so I stayed with friends for the night. place in Myyrmäki, the informant above It was really bad. And now my best place is a cof- means especially a place where every- fee shop on the second floor [in Myyrmanni], one, regardless of their cultural or reli- where I spend time with my friends. Yes, we go gious background, can meet for different there with friends quite a lot. But sometimes, activities or just to meet other people for when I go with my children, I wonder if some- a chat, for example. He mentions that thing like that could happen again (Female, No- vember 11, 2017). things have changed since he first came to Finland, referring especially to shops For the interviewee, the shopping mall etc. being open for longer hours and at was ambiguous by nature. On the one weekends, which gives more freedom to hand it was a place for social encounters arrange one’s leisure time and daily life where she spent a lot of her time but on outside of work. In addition he brings up the other hand it aroused difficult memo- the wider variety of food supplies avail- ries and even fear that something bad able for diversified demand, both in spe- might happen. She was not the only one cialty shops and in local supermarkets. talking about the bomb attack in Myyr- Despite these changes in society in gen- manni in 2002. A young man brought a eral, having made urban lifestyles more bomb to Myyrmanni in his backpack and internationally oriented and culturally di- its explosion killed seven people and in- verse also “at home”, the fact remains jured 59, which made it the most serious that it is still hard to find places and ac- civilian incident to have happened in the tivities for social engagements crossing metropolitan area since the Second cultural boundaries. World War. Some of the informants who have lived in Myyrmäki for a long time Practices of Avoidances said that they still remember the incident Even though Myyrmanni was described quite often when spending time in Myyr- by many as a comfortable place for doing manni. their shopping or spending time other- In recent years, however, it has be- wise, another, more tragic, aspect was also come almost self-evident to suspect im- brought up by some informants who have mediately a probable terrorist connection lived in Myyrmäki for a longer time: in any kinds of unexpected incidents 146 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

aimed at injuring innocent people. These any way to defend themselves as individ- incidents have had a clear effect on uals. It is quite often that these changes in people with a migrant background, espe- attitudes towards migrants are experi- cially on those recognizable as Muslims, enced particularly while present with as is the case with many informants inter- others in urban public spaces. viewed in the study. This is visible in the The fragment also shows how encoun- previous extract as the interviewee ters are affected by very subtle actions, moves from the incident in Turku to the such as gazes. Sara Ahmed (2000:38–39) Myyrmanni bombing.7 In many conver- calls these kinds of encounters “eye-to- sations after what happened in Turku eye” or “skin-to-skin” encounters. Words people brought up the change in the at- are not used but the distrust is expressed mosphere towards migrants, which they through the body, with emotion. Although felt was very unfair, as described by a sometimes difficult to put into words, young Somali woman: “facetime” with other people or fixing one I remember, I was working the next day [in cus- another’s eyes can be used both to create tomer service], people were looking at me like we conviviality and aggression, but can also were traitors. [Laughing.] Sorry, I’m not laughing reflect interest (Anderson 2012:60; Isota- because it’s funny, but because I’m just so con- lo 2016:12–13; see also Ahmed 2000). fused about how people think. People were look- ing at me like, that it was doing of your people, Anderson (2012:113) uses the term “eye that I’m to blame for what happened. And I hear work” for those short moments when that it’s my fault that these things are done, that blacks and whites encounter each other, one person is responsible for everything happen- their eyes briefly meeting. This is a time ing in the whole world. Like it was up to me to go when both parties assess the nature of and fix everything that’s happening in the world, their encounter. Here the meaning of an in Syria and everywhere, also in Somalia. I can’t do anything about it, it’s not my fault. Just because eye-to-eye encounter is clear, however: I’m dark, just because I wear a scarf, just because the recognition of a stranger (Ahmed I look like a Muslim, then it’s suddenly my fault, 2000:25). I’m to blame for what is going on in the world (Fe- Some other examples of the more pub- male, November 17, 2017). lic open spaces in the centre of Myyrmäki This relates to the idea that minorities are were discussed by many informants and often the visible expression of the pro- referred to as sites where it is good to cesses inherent in globalization and while spend time at least with some caution, es- their growth is often seen as the cause of pecially in the evenings. Most of the inter- changing social and cultural patterns, they viewees were women, which has an effect are simply the consequence of that change on how urban spaces are used and experi- making them highly vulnerable to ten- enced (see e.g. Beebeejaun 2017). Even in sions and conflict (Cantle 2012:6). The the public spaces that are most cosmopol- quotation above shows how people with a itan, tensions occur. For people coming migrant background may become subjects from minorities, certain spaces can be of ethnic or religious prejudices and hard- confusing when not knowing what to ex- ened attitudes caused by something that pect from the potential encounters. These happened somewhere else, without having environments can be tolerant but still re- Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 147

mind them of their marginal position. character of Myyrmäki. While the train is These reminders can be sudden and sur- appreciated for its convenience, it also prising and tell about the social dynamics came up as a site for concrete racist en- of inequality (Anderson 2012:41–44, 151, counters which take place on the train, 154, 157). The spaces the interviewees such as this one: from Myyrmäki discussed as spaces for One time I was on the train with an African friend, everyday racism (Essed 1991:52) were, we were sitting there and young Finnish people however, foreseeable for them. came to sit opposite us. They had had something The experiences of the interviewees to drink and even if it says on the train that drink- are in line with the report published by ing is forbidden, they had a bottle of wine. Then they spat straight at the face of that African. Many the Finnish Ministry of Justice. This ar- older Finnish people say, please, please, go away gues that harassment targeted at people from here. There is a lot of racism these days (Fe- with a migrant background is very com- male, September 27, 2017). mon in public spaces. For example, in the The train is a very limited space and often group that responded to the inquiry, those quite crowded, which means that people speaking a foreign language, having for- are physically close to each other, having eign nationality or a migrant background, hardly any chance to avoid these kinds of 44 per cent of them had experienced har- situations. That may be the reason why assment 2–5 times within the last 12 most actual racist incidents and confronta- months and 11 per cent experienced it a tions people talked about have happened couple of times a month (Oikeusminis- on the train, which can be looked upon as teriö 2016:34–35). Everyday racism in a kind of a “no mans land”. It is a very dif- the public spaces can have many forms. It ferent environment from the familiar can be experienced from looks, it can be neighbourhood where one is likely to in the form of verbal harassment or it can know people and places better in order to become visible in the situations of inter- feel safe when potential conflicts can be action as people’s behaviour manifested avoided more easily. in deeds, words, gestures, and other ex- Other sites mentioned as a potential pressions (Isotalo 2016:7). place for unwanted encounters are the lo- When describing Myyrmäki, the major- cal bars and their surroundings, especially ity of the interviewees mentioned the rail- at later hours even if in the company of a way station, which is located right in the Finnish person, as explained by this in- centre of Myyrmäki. The station as such formant: may not be that important, but what is If you go to a bar together and your friend is Finn- brought up is the easy access to Helsinki ish, then there are different kinds of Finns, those and to the airport in the opposite direction who don’t like migrants or they are racists or they as well. It was often stated that people are prejudiced against foreigners. And then they mostly have access to what they need in may come and tell you off and especially if it is a Myyrmäki, which is one reason why it is a young person it may be difficult to resist saying something back and you can’t keep on fighting all popular place to live. But if you need to go the time. Then it becomes a problem if you just anywhere else, it is quite easy and this is can’t let it go. This is a problem that affects many something that in a way even defines the encounters, if you go there and someone comes to 148 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

tell you off, you just have to keep out of the way, especially in the form of divergent place- it is the only option (Male, May 9, 2017). based discourses with Finnish informants, The interview continued with this topic have produced research data in which and especially with the question of how more weight has been actually ascribed to these “practices of silent avoidance” also the material and aesthetic aspects of the prevent many potentially positive encoun- built environment. In addition nature, ters from becoming realized. This is re- even in the city, is something people bring lated to what troubles many public spaces, up along with thinking about their person- namely, that they are lacking in certain do- al life histories in relation to the sites of mestic qualities. That is, they fail to pro- their habitation or the city at large (see e.g. vide a sense of trust, comfort or amenity Lappi 2004; 2007; 2013). There seem to that might invite multiple publics to in- be particular ways of observing urban en- habit them (Koch & Latham 2013:9). vironments and constructing narratives Suzanne Hall (2017:1568–1570) re- about them. However, when interviewing minds us that city spaces can simultan- migrants living in Myyrmäki, their focus eously be spaces for cross-cultural partici- is clearly on the social environment in- pation and growing inequality. The way stead of physical structures, aesthetics or we learn and experience the city affects functional aspects. Time and time again the way we are “being public” in our during the interviews one aim was to find everyday life. The different experiences out what the informants thought about define how and where we engage or resist Myyrmäki as a concrete physical place, the city. She suggests that we should have but somehow the discussions always a more mobile conception of being public turned to social relations and practices. as it is through these movements from Based on our study, we propose that place to place and in-betweens that we this difference has something to do with keep learning the city. For people with a the fact that for many migrants their rela- migrant background this learning the city, tions with other people form the basis for however, raises the risk of everyday stability and safety in their everyday lives, racism. The interviewees also highlight whether they have a strong social network how the relationship with the environment in order to belong and feel accepted by is not just built between the person experi- others or they are aware of potential nega- encing the city and the specific urban tive encounters. While it has proven to be spaces experienced but, as Hall argues, quite difficult for many urban dwellers there are many other factors working as with a migrant background to integrate well. In the case of Myyrmäki, the mean- themselves socially in a larger society ing of both the personal history and the even in the close neighbourhood, it be- history of the place is visible when people comes quite obvious that in order to feel at narrate their place experiences. home or find a place in the community one turns to where a network of trust and mu- Conclusions tual support can be found. Not feeling ac- Our earlier research engagements with ur- cepted or safe in particular spaces or situ- ban dwellers’ reflections on urban spaces, ations makes people avoid such places, Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 149

and potentially unwanted encounters easi- one site, but less in another” (Amin 2012: ly lead to more separated spatial practices 65). and social encounters. While doing fieldwork in Myyrmäki, Regan Koch and Alan Latham question the initial aim at the beginning was to find the division of urban space into public and and observe places where people would private and instead aim at better under- gather together and “share the urban standing of the publicness of a space by space”. After a number of interviews and focusing on the relationship between the observing spatial practices it became ob- two. They argue that much of what hap- vious that such places were actually hard pens in the public space is actually pri- to find, even if not totally non-existent at vately directed, when people go from one least for an outsider to detect. This led to place to another, shop, eat, relax, meet the idea of introverted urban spaces, friends etc. The public quality of such ac- which may be quite common in suburban tivities is connected to the ways in which settings, such as Myyrmäki. they involve some kind of orientation to- For the interviewees in Myyrmäki the wards others with whom one collectively public and semi-public spaces were divid- inhabits the space. In public spaces, which ed into three kinds of spaces: (1) Spaces work well, these relationships and prac- that could be identified as high risk spaces tices are inclusive, convivial and demo- for everyday racism, such as spaces close cratic. In short, they are shared (Koch & to bars and closed spaces like public trans- Latham 2013:14). portation; (2) spaces for casual intercul- According to Ash Amin, “every public tural encounters such as the shopping mall space comes with its distinctive rules or that could be argued to have at least some orientation enshrined in principles and of the features connected to cosmopolitan acts of public organization and order that, canopies; and (3) differentiated spaces in signalling clear cartographies of per- that were shared, safe and familiar spaces missibility and possibility, fix the terms of but which did not enhance multiple inter- engagement between subjects in the pub- cultural encounters. Not undermining the lic arena.” The chances of different social meaning of shopping centres as spaces for groups and their position in the social urban encounters, there are also limita- hierarchy are usually decided and directed tions in them in the creation of a culturally by those having political and economic diverse urban landscape. They are – at power along with the urban planners least in Myyrmanni – mainly spaces for through the specifics of land use alloca- consumption, which also limits the use of tion, social and cultural policy, economic space. And in the end, it is a very limited strategy, housing distribution, governance space considering the Myyrmäki area in of public space, access to collective ser- general. vices, and symbolic projection of the city. While emphasizing the meaning of Ash further argues that “the multiplicities micropublics and microcultures of place of urban flow and excess are regulated by Ash Amin (2002:967) wants to make vis- these silent fixes or urban order, allowing ible the importance of everyday enact- more breathing space to the stranger in ment for people’s identity and attitude for- 150 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

mation. This emphasis does not overlook and developed further based on ethno- the general influences but highlights the graphic knowledge of spatial experiences. layered nature of the process. In the Myyr- Based on our analysis, we argue that spa- mäki interviews these micropublics tial equality should be created through seemed to be culturally differentiated. For possibilities to express more freely differ- Anderson (2012:29, 34), who in his eth- ences, social particularities, or cultural nography focuses especially on Philadel- multiplicities in urban spaces. Further- phia, the city is formed by a “patchwork of more, such diversity can be understood as racially distinct neighbourhoods” where a way to move towards more involving “taking keen notice of strangers is the first and accepting urban societies. line of defense”. In Myyrmäki, this kind of clearly defined distinction between Tiina-Riitta Lappi Adjunct Professor neighbourhoods was not to be made. Department of Cultures However, the social spaces sometimes re- University of Helsinki, flected a patchwork rather than mixed, di- P.O. Box 33 (Yliopistonkatu 4) verse urban spaces. The importance of FI-00014 Helsinki email: [email protected] these cultural patches is understandable, but to work against the high-risk spaces Pia Olsson that limit people’s use of space we need Adjunct Professor, University Lecturer more such spaces where casual, everyday Department of Cultures University of Helsinki, encounters are possible. Deeper under- P.O. Box 33 (Yliopistonkatu 4) standing of spatial as well as social as- FI-00014 Helsinki pects of place-making is crucial for the de- email: [email protected] construction of these cultural differentia- tions and divisions within urban space. Notes Following Amin’s thinking about 1This article is a part of a larger project called “Shared City”, which is funded by the Helsin- spaces having distinctive rules calls for ki Metropolitan Region Urban Research Pro- better understanding particularly of space- gramme. In the project, we analyse the ways related experiences, not just spatial prac- urban space is connected with interethnic en- counters, focusing on six specific areas in tices: listening to what people say instead Helsinki and Vantaa. In addition we aim at of just looking at what they do. Especially developing methods for integrating ethno- the practices of avoidance are something graphic knowledge into city planning. that influences the uses of space, people’s 2At the same time as there is an ongoing pro- cess of Finnish cities becoming more and behaviour in particular places as well as more hyperdiverse through immigration the formation of the entire social land- (about hyperdiversity, see Noble 2011), it is scape in the suburb. All these “silent important not to over-emphasize this. Finnish culture has for long misleadingly been la- fixes”, to use Amin’s term (2012:65), af- belled as homogeneous (see e.g. Tervonen fect how inclusive or exclusive public 2014), and this also affects to the ways people spaces are understood. Physical spaces experience the changes within their environ- can be fixed material constructions, but ment. 3The actual fieldwork in Myyrmäki was done how they function as social and cultural by Tiina-Riitta Lappi and the direct impres- spaces can be more easily reconstructed sions from the field are hers. The research Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces 151

data in Myyrmäki was gathered between May Space and the Right to Everyday Life. Journal and November in 2017 by observing spatial of Urban Affairs 37(3):323–334. practices and different social activities in pub- Berg, Mette Louise & Nando Sigona 2013: Eth- lic places and pursuing 13 interviews (two nography, Diversity and Urban Space. Identi- group interviews with four informants in one ties 20(4):347–360. and five in another) with people with migrant Cantle, Ted 2012: Interculturalism. The New Era background currently living in Myyrmäki. In of Cohesion and Diversity. Basingstoke: Pal- addition Tiina-Riitta visited a number of grave Macmillan. times two local associations offering services Essed, Philomena 1991: Understanding Everyday and a place to meet for migrants and had Racism. An Interdisciplinary Theory. Sage Se- many informal discussions with both migrants ries on Race and Ethnic Relations 2. Newbury and people working closely with them both in Park, London & New Delhi: Sage. these associations and in municipal public Franck, Karen A. & Quentin Stevens 2007: Tying services. Interviews were mainly done in Down Loose Space. In Loose Space. Possibility Finnish, which meant that most informants and Diversity in Urban Life, ed Karen A. had already lived in Finland for a longer time Franck & Quentin Stevens, pp. 1–33. London: and that way they also had a temporal per- Routledge. spective on changes related to the topics dis- Gilroy, Paul 2004: After Empire. Melancholia or cussed during the interviews. Convivial Culture? Oxford: Routledge. 4The concepts of loose and tight space are Hall, Suzanne 2017: Mooring “Super-diversity” from K. A. Franck and Q. Stevens (2007). to a Brutal Migration Milieu. Ethnic and Racial 5Sometimes to define a shopping mall as pub- Studies 40(9):1562‒1573. lic or semi-public space can be ambiguous, as Isotalo, Anu 2016: Rasismi kaupunkitilassa. Sirpa Tani (2015) has shown in her article Tilallinen valkoisuusnormi ja somalitaustaisten dealing with shopping malls as places for naisten vastarinta. Sukupuolentutkimus – Ge- hanging out. nusforskning 29(4):7–21. 6This was not particularly elicited or addressed Koch, Regan & Alan Latham 2013: On the Hard in the interviews. Work of Domesticating a Public Space. Urban 7In Turku, a young man stabbed two people to Studies 50(1):6–21. death and injured eight in August 2017. At the Lampela, Pauliina & Tani, Sirpa 2015: Ulossulke- time of writing, the man was on trial, charged misesta tilan jakamiseen. Nuorten ja kontrollin for murders comitted with terrorist intent. kohtaamisia kauppakeskuksessa. Yhdyskun- tasuunnittelu 53(3). References Lappi, Tiina-Riitta 2004: Nature in the City. In Ahmed, Sara 2000: Strange Encounters. Em- Memories of My Town. The Identities of Town bodied Others in Post-Coloniality. London & Dwellers and Their Places in Three Finnish New York: Routledge. Towns, ed. Anna-Maria Åström, Pirjo Korkia- Amin, Ash 2002: Ethnicity and the Multicultural kangas & Pia Olsson, pp. 235–249. Studia Fen- City. Living with Diversity. Environment and nica Ethnologica 8. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Planning A 34:959–980. Society. Amin, Ash 2012: Land of Strangers. Cambridge: Lappi, Tiina-Riitta 2007: Neuvottelu tilan tulkin- Polity Press. noista. Etnologinen tutkimus sosiaalisen ja ma- Anderson, Elijah 2004: The Cosmopolitan Cano- teriaalisen ympäristön vuorovaikutuksesta py. In Being Here and Being There. Fieldwork jyväskyläläisissä kaupunkipuhunnoissa. Jyväs- Encounters and Ethnographic Discoveries, ed kylä Studies in Humanities 80. Jyväskylä: Elijah Anderson, Scott N. Brooks, Raymond Jyväskylän yliopisto. Gunn & Nikki Jones. The Annals of the Ameri- Lappi, Tiina-Riitta 2013: Kuinka mennyt merki- can Academy of Political and Social Sciences tyksellistyy kaupunkipuhunnoissa? Narratiivi- 595:14–31. sia tulkintoja kaupunkiympäristöstä. In Ur- Anderson, Elijah 2012: The Cosmopolitan Cano- baani muisti. Tulkintoja kaupungista kokemuk- py. Race and Civility in Everyday Life. New sellisena tilana, ed. Katja Lento & Pia Olsson, York & London: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 324–347. Helsinki: Finnish Literature So- Beebeejaun, Yasminah 2017: Gender, Urban ciety. 152 Tiina-Riitta Lappi & Pia Olsson, Encounters and Avoidances in Suburban Spaces

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