Policy Press
3 Experiencing diversity in London: Social relations in a rapidly changing neighbourhood
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Abstract
This chapter discusses how residents of the London Borough of Haringey perceive the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of their local neighbourhood. The positive perceptions of neighbourhood diversity of Haringey residents revolve mainly around the opportunities for new experiences and greater levels of tolerance, understanding, and comfort, and access to more diverse places of consumption. The chapter then assesses the extent to which positive perceptions of diversity translate into meaningful and sustained practice across lines of difference. For the majority of the Haringey residents, relations with their neighbours are ‘pleasantly minimal’, and they choose to visit spaces run or attended by people with similar characteristics. Neighbourhood diversity is a natural part of everyday life for the residents, but this typically only extends as far as the public sphere. In the private sphere, the networks and activities of most residents are far more insular than perhaps their perceptions of diversity would suggest.
Abstract
This chapter discusses how residents of the London Borough of Haringey perceive the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of their local neighbourhood. The positive perceptions of neighbourhood diversity of Haringey residents revolve mainly around the opportunities for new experiences and greater levels of tolerance, understanding, and comfort, and access to more diverse places of consumption. The chapter then assesses the extent to which positive perceptions of diversity translate into meaningful and sustained practice across lines of difference. For the majority of the Haringey residents, relations with their neighbours are ‘pleasantly minimal’, and they choose to visit spaces run or attended by people with similar characteristics. Neighbourhood diversity is a natural part of everyday life for the residents, but this typically only extends as far as the public sphere. In the private sphere, the networks and activities of most residents are far more insular than perhaps their perceptions of diversity would suggest.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables and figures vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Understanding super-diversity in deprived and mixed neighbourhoods 1
- Who are the strangers? Neighbour relations in socially and ethnically heterogeneous residential buildings in Geneva 25
- Experiencing diversity in London: Social relations in a rapidly changing neighbourhood 47
- ‘Others’ in diversified neighbourhoods: What does social cohesion mean in diversified neighbourhoods? A case study in Istanbul 69
- Nurturing solidarity in diversity: Can local currencies enable transformative practices? 89
- Interculturalism as conservative multiculturalism? New generations from an immigrant background in Milan, Italy, and the challenge to categories and boundaries 113
- Bringing inequality closer: A comparative outlook at socially diverse neighbourhoods in Chicago and Santiago de Chile 139
- Ambiguities of vertical multi-ethnic coexistence in the city of Athens: Living together but unequally between conflicts and encounters 165
- Beyond the middle classes: Neighbourhood choice and satisfaction in the hyper-diverse contexts 187
- Living with diversity or living with difference? International perspectives on everyday perceptions of the social composition of diverse neighbourhoods 211
- Conclusion: Super-diversity, conviviality, inequality 235
- Index 245
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables and figures vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Understanding super-diversity in deprived and mixed neighbourhoods 1
- Who are the strangers? Neighbour relations in socially and ethnically heterogeneous residential buildings in Geneva 25
- Experiencing diversity in London: Social relations in a rapidly changing neighbourhood 47
- ‘Others’ in diversified neighbourhoods: What does social cohesion mean in diversified neighbourhoods? A case study in Istanbul 69
- Nurturing solidarity in diversity: Can local currencies enable transformative practices? 89
- Interculturalism as conservative multiculturalism? New generations from an immigrant background in Milan, Italy, and the challenge to categories and boundaries 113
- Bringing inequality closer: A comparative outlook at socially diverse neighbourhoods in Chicago and Santiago de Chile 139
- Ambiguities of vertical multi-ethnic coexistence in the city of Athens: Living together but unequally between conflicts and encounters 165
- Beyond the middle classes: Neighbourhood choice and satisfaction in the hyper-diverse contexts 187
- Living with diversity or living with difference? International perspectives on everyday perceptions of the social composition of diverse neighbourhoods 211
- Conclusion: Super-diversity, conviviality, inequality 235
- Index 245
