The Production of Informal Space: a Case Study of an Urban Community Garden in England
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THE PRODUCTION OF INFORMAL SPACE: A CASE STUDY OF AN URBAN COMMUNITY GARDEN IN ENGLAND LOUIS RICE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol. January 2015. Abstract This research explores the production of informal spaces in England. Informal spaces are those used by people who do not own the land. The research focused on how such a space is produced, through a variety of processes and activities. The use and function of informal spaces is rarely prescribed by governmental agencies and is often determined on an ad hoc basis by its users. These users are sometimes consensual and symbiotic, however there is often conflict and dissidence amongst users. The sub-text to these myriad inter-relationships is the production (and re-production) of power. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is employed to address the research question ‘how is informal space produced’ using an empirical case study. A multi-method approach using: interviews, observations and documentary materials/mediated data yielded a thick description of multiple actors in the research site and augmented the ANT methodology. The research contributes to knowledge in three principal areas: empirical, theoretical and methodological. The empirical contribution relates to the specific case-study area that has previously not been studied. The theoretical contribution to knowledge concerns the combination of ANT ‘translation’ framework enmeshed with the fine-grained accounts and intricate ethnographic- type work generated from the fieldwork, particularly to such a ‘spatial’ field of study. Thirdly, the adoption of a hybrid methodological approach drawn from a range of transdisciplinary practices contextualised within ANT contributes to new methodological knowledge. 2 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 8 1.1.1 Preface to Introduction .................................................................................................... 8 1.1.2 Foreword ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.1.3 Research questions ............................................................................................................. 9 1.1.4 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 10 1.1.5 The structure of the thesis ........................................................................................... 11 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................. 14 2.1 PART ONE: INFORMAL ........................................................................................ 14 2.1.1 Definition(s) of informal ............................................................................................... 14 2.1.2 Definition(s) of informal: spatial .............................................................................. 15 2.1.3 Definition(s) of informal: social ................................................................................. 17 2.1.4 Definition(s) of informal: transience ....................................................................... 19 2.1.5 Definition(s) of informal: resistance ....................................................................... 20 2.1.6 Definition(s) of informal: illegality .......................................................................... 21 2.2 INFORMALITY AND LEGISLATION .............................................................................. 22 2.2.1 Informality and Othering ............................................................................................. 24 2.3 DEFINITION(S) OF INFORMAL: SUMMARY ................................................................ 25 2.4 CAPITALISM ........................................................................................................... 26 2.4.1 Introduction to capitalism ........................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Definitions of capitalism ............................................................................................... 27 2.4.3 Consumerism ..................................................................................................................... 29 2.4.4 Resistance to capitalism ............................................................................................... 29 2.4.5 Cultural capital ................................................................................................................. 31 2.4.6 Capital(ism) and controls ............................................................................................ 32 2.4.7 Summary of capitalism ................................................................................................. 33 2.5 POWER ..................................................................................................................... 34 2.5.1 Introduction to power ................................................................................................... 34 2.5.2 Networks of power .......................................................................................................... 35 2.5.3 Production and (re)production of power .............................................................. 37 2.5.4 Manufacturing Power .................................................................................................... 38 2.5.5 Asymmetry of power ....................................................................................................... 39 2.5.6 Power/knowledge ........................................................................................................... 41 2.5.7 Power, bodies and surveillance .................................................................................. 42 2.5.8 Summary on power ......................................................................................................... 43 2.5.9 Reflexion on informality, capitalism and power ................................................ 44 2.6 SUMMARY OF INFORMALITY ...................................................................................... 44 2.7 PART TWO: SPACE ................................................................................................ 46 2.7.1 Preface to section on space .......................................................................................... 46 2.7.2 Defining space ................................................................................................................... 46 2.8 SPATIAL NETWORKS .................................................................................................. 47 2.8.1 Definition of space: geometry ..................................................................................... 47 2.8.2 Definition of space: social-space ............................................................................... 47 2.8.3 Definition of space: temporal network ................................................................... 49 2.8.4 Definition of space: the trialectic of space ............................................................ 50 2.8.5 Critique of spatiality ....................................................................................................... 52 2.8.6 Summary of spatial definitions .................................................................................. 53 2.9 SPACE & SEMIOTICS ............................................................................................. 53 2.9.1 Semiotic space ................................................................................................................... 53 3 2.10 INTRODUCTION TO SEMIOTICS .................................................................................. 53 2.10.1 Semiotics, meaning and value ................................................................................. 54 2.10.2 Semiotic networks ......................................................................................................... 57 2.10.3 Summary on semiotics ................................................................................................ 58 2.11 SUMMARY OF SPATIAL LITERATURE ......................................................................... 58 2.12 PART THREE: PRODUCTION .............................................................................. 59 2.13 FOREWORD TO PRODUCTION .................................................................................... 59 2.14 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 59 2.14.1 Physical production ...................................................................................................... 60 2.14.2 Social production .......................................................................................................... 62 2.14.3 Semiotic production ..................................................................................................... 64 2.14.4 Hybrid product/production ...................................................................................... 66 2.14.5 Reflexion on production ............................................................................................