Local life and the public realm

Local life is impoverished without a healthy public realm, and vice versa. We take the view that civil renewal may be meaningless without civic renewal. Civic institutions such as public libraries play a vital role in supporting and representing quality of life.

 

This page was updated 4 October 2008.

Key pieces of work

 

Local Living Library

In 2008 Local Level ran a pilot project with four library services in England, using the 'living library' process. Living library, pioneered in Denmark, allows someone to 'borrow' a person for a conversation, to explore their experience or interests and to understand other backgrounds and cultures. Our project sought to develop a community development model, taking advantage of the trusted place of libraries in the public realm.

 

The project was funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and involved Bradford, Bournemouth, Staffordshire and Kent library services. A detailed report, Like a light going on, written by Kevin Harris and Linda Constable, has now been published.

Common knowledge

 

An essay by Kevin Harris about the Havelock estate was published here by Proboscis in 2006, as part of their Cultural snapshots series.

 

The essay offers a snapshot of the physical conditions, low levels of social interaction, and civic absence that characterised the neighbourhood. It notes the sense of weakening community presence in the face of unresponsive environmental services and a looming drugs threat. It attempts to explain why participation in community initiatives is sometimes very difficult to establish or sustain, and it contrasts this reactive, fragmentary style of urban life with the contemporary image of lively urban consumption.

 

 

Localism, governance and the public realm

 

In 2007 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council published a paper by Kevin Harris on localism, governance and the public realm. Based on interviews with practitioners and policy analysts, the paper explores the potential role of the local cultural sector in reasserting the public realm, within a new context of community engagement, local governance and engaged democracy.  






Public libraries and community cohesion

 

In 2004-2005 Local Level worked on a study for the Museums Libraries and Archives Council. The report was written by Kevin Harris and Martin Dudley.

 

We explored what community cohesion means for public library services and developed a framework for indicators. The report argues firstly that community cohesion is a key component in a broad policy trend characterised as 'civil-localism,' which both challenges and creates opportunities for pluralism and the public realm.

 

Secondly it argues that community cohesion is a legitimate central focus for library services. Where the public library can demonstrate a contribution to the quality of social relations in local communities it will recover its place as a recognised symbol of the public realm. Download the report here.

 

Additional material relating to public libraries

 

In 1998 I prepared a report for the British Library Research and Innovation Centre on 'community perceptions of the social benefits of public libraries. The report, which explained how libraries tend not to be associated with social roles, was called Open to interpretation.

 

I published an article about third places and public libraries in Public library journal, 18(2), 2003. A version is available here. 

 

A summary of a presentation about third places and public libraries, for the Third Place Forum in Queensland, June 2007, is available here.