Landscape Narratives and the Construction of Meaning in the Contemporary Urban Canal-Scape
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Landscape narratives and the construction of meaning in the contemporary urban canal-scape Zoë K. Millman A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Birmingham City University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2012 BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN, BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY IN COLLABORATION WITH BRITISH WATERWAYS AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL Contents Abstract i List of plates and ii figures Acknowledgements iv Chapter One Introduction 1 Chapter Two Literature review 7 Chapter Three Methodology 50 Chapter Four Representation Walk 68 Chapter Five Postcards from the Cut study 83 Chapter Six Sensory Walk 103 Chapter Seven Individual landscape narratives 138 Chapter Eight Group landscape narratives 159 Chapter Nine Discussion 165 Chapter Ten Conclusions 179 Plates and figures 192 References 269 Appendix 1 Example of sensory analysis Appendix 2 Millman, Z.K., Coles, R.W. & Millar, G. (2008): ‘The canal environment soundscape in Birmingham: a pilot study.’ Appendix 3 Coventry and Stourport unused postcards (early drafts) Appendix 4 Representation Walk observation notes Appendix 5 Representation Walk table of participants’ responses Appendix 6 Postcards from the Cut table of participants’ responses Appendix 7 Interpretation of Annie’s ‘Identity Sheet’ Abstract The research explores the ways in which individuals within a diverse urban society perceive and interact with the regenerated urban canal-scape examining the process and dynamics by which individuals construct personal meanings relating to the canal landscape with emphasis on the central canal area (Brindleyplace) of Birmingham, UK. Specific phenomenological and performative methodologies are developed to elicit qualitative, self-reflexive landscape responses focussing on the use of walking in the landscape, combined with narrative-representational approaches, both vision and language-based. Data are collected using a series of in-situ and ex-situ studies including: collaborative ‘Walking-and-Talking’ exercises; semi- structured interviews, or ‘Conversations’; self-reflexive exercises such as diaries and a remote postcard study and participant-observation exercises based on group activities in the canal-scape. Findings suggest that individuals’ landscape perceptions are constructed through experiences and memories of other landscapes, both physically known and those only imagined. Participants display congruencies and divergences regarding notions of iconic landscape components and perceptual themes which may be contrary to the established norms of canal-scape meaning. The study stresses the use and importance of individual narratives as indicators of how participants think about and use the landscape as part of their life activities, how they perceive it, how they project themselves onto it, construct meanings around it. Results indicate that the locomotive-narrative methodologies developed in response to the research parameters are highly conducive to the evocation and expression of multi-modal landscape perceptions, including references to memories and associations. Research was carried out in collaboration with British Waterways and funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under a Collaborative Doctoral Award. i Plates and figures Plate 1 The central Birmingham canal-scape 192 Plate 2 Examples of picturesque art 193 Fig. 3.1 Network of contacts and participants 194 Fig. 3.2 Map of Birmingham study site 195 Fig. 3.3 Projects and their participants 196-8 Plate 3 Participants’ ‘Ideal landscapes’ 199 Fig. 4.4 Representation Walk route 200 Plate 4 Gas Street Basin – opportunities for changing viewpoints 201 Plate 5 Behaviour in the landscape 202 Fig.4.11 The Reflexive Cycle 203 Plate 6 Christos’ individual landscape identity 204 Plate 7 Peter’s individual landscape identity 205 Fig. 4.16 Commonality of the narrative themes (language) 206 Fig. 4.17 Commonality of the narrative themes (visual) 207 Plate 8 Viewpoints in participants’ responses 208 Plate 9 Aerial views of the canal-scape 209 Plate 10 Representations of tunnels 210 Plate 11 Views foregrounded with vegetation 211 Plate 12 The use of colour in sketches 212 Plate 13 Claire’s representations 213 Plate 14 Recollections of associated landscapes 214 Fig. 4.36 Phoebe’s response 215 Plate 15 The front and reverse of the postcard 216 Plate 16 Children’s postcards 217 Figs. 5.10 – 5.15 Image rationales 1-6 218-23 Fig. 5.16 Traditional canal postcard 224 Fig. 5.17 Places depicted in the postcard 225 Fig. 5.18 The network of respondents 226 Plate 17 The diversity of Postcards respondents 227 Fig. 5.22 The diversity of themes in Postcards responses 228-9 Figs. 5.23 – 5.28 Responses to images 1-6 230-35 Plate 18 Postcards participants’ preferences 236-37 Fig. 6.1 Richard Long’s text work ‘One Hour’ 1984 238 Fig. 6.2 A table of Sensory Walk participants 239 Figs. 6.3 – 6.5 Identity Sheet excerpts - pages 1-3 240-42 Fig. 6.6 Sensory Walk participants’ self-representations 243 Fig. 6.7 Sensory Walk participants’ prior canal experiences 244 Fig. 6.8 Sensory Walk route 245 Plate 19 The first stages of the Sensory Walk 246 Plate 20 The towpath begins 247 Plate 21 The route to Cambrian Wharf 248 Plate 22 The park area 249 Plate 23 The final stages of the Sensory Walk 250 Plate 24 Green-space on the Sensory Walk 251 ii Plate 25 Media images of the canal-scape 252 Fig. 6.26 Narrative foci 253 Fig. 6.27 Kasim’s narrative 254 Fig. 7.1 Kareema’s childhood canal 255 Fig. 7.2 “How it was” 256 Fig. 7.3 Kareema’s city centre 257 Fig. 7.4 The central bridge 258 Fig. 7.5 Moored boats in Gas Street Basin 258 Fig. 7.6 The Canalside Café 259 Fig. 7.7 Cobbled paving 259 Figs. 8.1 – 8.4 Group narratives images and tables 260 Plate 26 Consensus clouds 261-2 Plate 27 The Birmingham Canal Navigations Society 263-4 Plate 28 The Guiding Stars 265-66 Fig. 9.1 The Reflexive Cycle 267 Fig. 9.2 The Memory Loop 268 iii Acknowledgements I would have been unable to complete this thesis without the sustained support, guidance and enthusiasm of my supervisors Prof. Richard Coles (BIAD) and Glenn Millar (British Waterways). Thanks are due to Richard for his open-mindedness, to Glenn for his special insights, and to them both for meeting me in cold canal-side locations. I am deeply grateful to all the participants who made time to share their personal stories with me and who helped make undertaking this research so surprising and enjoyable. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (Collaborative Doctoral Award Scheme), British Waterways and Birmingham City University all provided essential funding, allowing me to make a career-change for which I am grateful. Thanks to Mark Cowell (BIAD) and Roger Butler (Co-originator of the research proposal) for their useful insights. I am grateful to Prof. Darren Newbury and Dr. Anne Boultwood for their invaluable PG Cert courses and their continued interest in my research. Thanks are also due to Yanyan Wang, Yvette Burn, Julia Burdett and Jerome Turner for their advice, administrative help and technical support. My family has been hugely supportive during the last four years - many thanks to them for listening to me and for distracting me when it was necessary. Finally, I would like to thank my partner Matiss for his patience, encouragement and his belief that I could finish this. iv Chapter One Introduction The research originally arose from a desire to understand more fully how a diverse urban society perceives and interacts with the regenerated canal and was formulated and enabled through the partnership of Birmingham City University with British Waterways and the Arts & Humanities Research Council in the form of a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA07/222). British Waterways are responsible for the maintenance of 2,200 miles of canals and rivers in the UK1, including the canal sites discussed in this thesis. However, this research is not and was never intended to be an exercise in visitor studies, nor is it an exposé of British Waterways’ policies. Replication of those approaches, though valid and useful in a different context, would be extraneous as British Waterways already employ them for measuring values, attitudes and efficiency. This research thesis is an exploration of the ways in which individuals think about and use the canal landscape; how they incorporate it into their lives, how they perceive it, how they project themselves onto it and construct meanings around it. As such it was anticipated that the process of enquiry would yield results both specific to the canal and more general in nature regarding notions of landscape perception. Aims and objectives Research aimed to: • investigate the ways in which a diverse urban population interacts with and perceives the regenerated urban canal-scape (in central Birmingham) • identify the process and dynamics by which individuals construct personal meanings relating to the canal-scape 1 http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/home 1 Chapter One Objectives were to: • collect and analyse the associated individual narratives of the urban canal- scape • explore, develop and apply qualitative methods for eliciting individual responses • identify and review a range of literature pertinent to the study • identify congruencies and divergences between individuals’ landscape perceptions Context The research data were acquired in various canal sites between September 2007 and September 2010, but the focus of this research thesis in on the regenerated urban canal-scape in central Birmingham, emanating from the central ‘node’ of Brindleyplace (regenerated in 1994) (Plate 1). It became evident early on in the research process that eliciting such opinion-based information as ‘landscape perceptions’ would require a qualitative, phenomenological approach via in-depth, individual, narrative representation, hence the title of the thesis. Despite the notion of narratives as methods of interpretation and representation (Mason 2004), the best and most respectful way to understand what someone thinks is to ask them (Gauntlett & Holzworth 2006).