Open City Project: Field Data, 2021-2023

The three-year project, funded by the ESRC, looked at the social and political life of the city to test whether the utopian ideal of the Open City exists in real life, and explore issues of race, migration, mobility and living with diversity. It explores how the city accommodates new forms of urban life, through the social configuration of its spaces and places, and looks at the ways urban government at the city-wide and borough scales reflect, promote or limit the idea of the Open City.

The concept of the Open City has been developed by architects, planners and theorists to describe a place of social integration, cultural diversity and collective identity, where different cultures and lifestyles co-exist and interaction leads to enrichment. It contrasts with urban spaces where commercial malls, gated communities and poor transport networks drive increased fragmentation and new diversities are characterised by dynamics of intolerance and antagonism.

The project investigated the assumption that the open city is the good city, or not, by examining the real lived experienced of the open and closed dimensions of city life.

The collection consists of the following data:
- Hilgrove Housing Estate Household Survey Data - 130 Households, data includes the raw survey data, the survey questionnaire, and the survey data analysis report including survey methodology.
- Ethnographic notes: Estates - Hilgrove and Chalcots Estate residents. Data include two field diaries extensive field work in North Camden 2021-2023.
- Ethnographic notes: Cycling - 9 Refugee and Asylum seeking women . Data include two field diaries from arts-based co-production project taking place during the summer of 2022 with women seeking asylum given bicycles by The Bike Project in London.
- Participatory mapping - Hilgrove and Chalcots Estate residents. Data include two maps generated from workshops with local residents discussing their ideas of neighborhood boundaries and locations, and the agenda for the workshop.