Professor Clare Rishbeth

As outlined above, my research is concerned with how our experience of place is shaped by personal and community histories of migration.

There is a professional remit here: how does the broad ambition and practice of landscape architecture respond to contexts of superdiveristy, plurality of values and the different ways that these places may be used? Are we culturally competent in identifying, reflecting and responding to issues of equity, justice and inclusion in public places?

I have gradually moved from research methods which have aimed to `share benefit´ with participants to ones where the objectives, methods and analysis is co-produced with non-academic organisations.

Research projects

Included Outside: interventions for a more inclusive public realm in conflict settings (starting 2021)

This project is based in Beirut, in collaboration with Lebanese academics (University of Notre Dame, American University of Beirut) and third sector/NGOs (Public Works and Collective for Research and Training-Action), and builds on the findings and methods of #Refugeeswelcome in Parks. I am the PI and it is funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund.

For most people across the world, spending time in public spaces improves quality of life: different types of open spaces (formal parks to street corners) offer opportunities to informally socialise, exercise, gain respite from work or home pressures, feel part of a local neighbourhood and enjoy contact with nature. However, these opportunities can be constrained in many ways, reflecting wider patterns of individual and community marginalisation. This project addresses how histories of conflict shape experiences of public space exclusions for local residents whose life experiences include forced displacement and/or sectarian divides (focusing on the experience of women, a double marginalisation) and through the diminishing of the public realm in Beirut through historic destructions and severe under-investment.

The aim of the project is to engage with organisational stakeholders as allies-in-practice who have the ability to initiate change within their activities well beyond the timeframe of this research project. We will do this in three steps:

• Interviews to understand and learn from stakeholders' values, priorities and experience of initiating effective change,
• Undertake participatory pilot fieldwork to improve understanding of inclusions and exclusions of being outside by residents most impacted by conflict histories,
• Through discussion and networking, share with stakeholders the findings of our pilot fieldwork, and support them in connecting their existing activities with improving access to local public open space.

#Refugeeswelcome in Parks (2018)

Though the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers are complex and varied, circumstances of under-employment, poor living conditions, limited social opportunities and mental health pressures are commonly reported. Can the use of parks support social networks, improve local awareness and give a sense of belonging or a peaceful moment?

In the #refugeeswelcome in parks (link: https://refugeeswelcomeinparks.weebly.com) project we looked at how using outdoor places in cities and towns, in particular visiting parks, has the opportunity to improve the wellbeing of these new residents and support integration on the local scale. Our project methods were founded on three principles: careful listening, learning from different contexts, and giving back so as to support change. We interviewed refugees and asylum seekers (16 interviews and many informal conversations), and a range of stakeholder groups (35 interviews) from both the refugee sector (support and orientation services, conversation clubs, mental health services) and the greenspace sector (management, design, advocacy, community support). We worked in three places, Sheffield, London and Berlin in collaboration with The Young Foundation (London) and Minor (Berlin). I was PI on this project which was funded by the AHRC as a follow on to ‘The Bench Project’.

Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature (2016-2019)

‘Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature’ (IWUN) was a significant three year project based in the Department of Landscape Architecture, with PI Anna Jorgensen (funding from NERC). It sought to explore questions around urban nature and urban residents’ mental health and wellbeing in Sheffield, a northern British city. Within the IWUN study, I led on a qualitative strand exploring cultures and values of nature, health and wellbeing in a diverse city. 90 people aged 17–86 years were involved with in-depth life-course interviews in order to understand a general population experience of nature and mental wellbeing. Additionally, we used arts-based workshops to understand more deeply the experience of urban nature for wellbeing in the context of lived experience of mental health difficulty. Resulting publications (co-authored with Dr Jo Birch) focus on the nature connections and greenspace benefits for young people and for first generation migrants, and include practical guides for supporting nature connections and wellbeing (young people, people with mental health difficulties, challenging inequalities) (link http://iwun.uk/publications/)

The Bench Project (2015)

I was the Principal Investigator for The Bench Project, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council within their Connected Communities programme. The focus of this research is on locations where people often 'hang out', the act of everyday sitting on a bench or low wall, near a takeaway, a park entrance or in an urban square.

The project has explored the stories, memories and activities of people using benches in these places and questions how they provide places for social interaction. We were keen to find out how different aspects of people’s identity (age, ethnicity, gender, life situation) shape how people see and are seen when they sit outside.

The project team included documentary filmmaker Esther Johnson who made a short film with bench-users in the two fieldwork locations (a Gustafson Porter-designed square in Woolwich and an urban green space in Sutton).

Though the urban bench is often seen as a delightful, sometimes even romantic place, the research also investigated aspects of confrontation and control.

In particular, we noted a context of increasing concern about gathering in public places (such as use of dispersal orders) and how places are often made cleaner but also more boring. This can include removing of benches, with the aim of deterring longer-stay use of the public realm.

The findings show that policies and actions that respond to certain groups of public space users as problematic (for example, young people) is at odds with understandings of mental, physical and social wellbeing, which often show many benefits to being outdoors and spending time with friends.

Walking Voices (2006-2007)

This ESRC funded project aims to investigate perceptions and values of neighbourhoods as described by first generation migrants. Focusing on the spatial, temporal and sensory context of the local environment, the research addresses how experience of place contributes to settlement processes and cultural identity.

Deepening understandings of both motivations and barriers towards engagement in the public realm will help inform initiatives regarding cohesive communities and healthy lifestyles.

The research uses qualitative and reflective methodology working intensively with a small group. Ten participants from a range of home countries and currently living in north Sheffield, are loaned mini-disk recorders and asked to make real-time commentaries of walks or journeys in their daily lives.

Supported by training from BBC Radio Sheffield, each makes weekly recordings over a three month period. Individual interviews and participant guided tours will help contextualize the immediate accounts, and will inform an ethnographic and social mapping of the neighbourhood.

The research scope includes interviews with environmental and community organizations to relate findings to policy and practice. Outputs include academic papers, a radio programme and interactive website.

Viewfinder (2004 – 2005)

This ESRC-funded project aimed to investigate migrants´ perceptions and experiences of exploring urban open spaces; to explore the role of homeland memory in this; and to test innovative participatory and visual methods.

The research was developed in close partnership with a voluntary sector media training organisation. `Fieldwork´ was conducted during a 12 week accredited photography programme, the subject of which was urban open spaces.

A variety of qualitative and visually focused methods were used. In total there were six participants, all asylum seekers and refugees, and ten sites in Sheffield were visited.

The key themes of the research findings are: the importance of memory and nostalgia in participants´ experiences; the significance of plants; the novelty of visiting British `parks´; the role of urban open space in quality of life of refugees, factors of engagement and detachment.

The findings provide an insight into how designers and managers can encourage greater use of urban parks, woodlands and public gardens by these communities.