Three tower blocks and three low-rise blocks: nearly a hundred languages and over a hundred countries of origin. A council estate in a super-diverse neighbourhood is not only a space of concentrated difference and division, but also an intercultural space where new modes of living together emerge. At the same time, it is connected in an increasing number of ways with various outsides which make its internal space more complex. This article is based on a long-term collaborative research programme that included commissioned local policy research, academic ethnography and an artistic visual collaboration. It argues that multiple research strategies, including radically collaborative modes of inquiry, are required to represent the multiple, incommensurate perspectives co-present in the dense urban space of the estate.
Gidley, B. (2013) 'Landscapes of Belonging, Portraits of Life: Researching Everyday Multiculture in an Inner City Estate', Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 20(4): 361-376