Sometimes. . . Sometimes. . . Sometimes. . . Witnessing Urban Placemaking from the Immanence of “the Middle”

Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of how urban placemaking as a top-down or bottom-up action, involving organizational intervention or facilitation, is typified by problematic angles of approach. Instead, we evidence a flat ontological perspective, entering into urban assemblages to feel the chaotic and ever-changing forces that make places. Specifically, we use the Deleuzoguattarian lens of the refrain to employ a transversal analysis of the placemaking inherent within an urban event—the Manchester and Salford Whit Walks, a Church of England procession that has been iterated for over 200 years. This reveals the importance of always-becoming place, characterized by ongoing repetition with difference, and embodied in the notion of Sometimes. . . Sometimes. . . Sometimes. . .. We conclude that urban placemaking is not something that can be simply started through organizational intervention, or facilitation of community-led approaches, but a process that needs to be engaged with from the middle.

Leisure, religion and the (Infra)secular city: the Manchester and Salford Whit Walks

“…(p. 64). Platt and Medway (2020) argue that the Whit Walks are a refrain in the DeleuzoGuttarian sense whereby the Walks are repeated, but with difference. The historical approach adopted here gives insight to how the Whit Walks have historically blended religion into the civic and secular identity of the city, ebbing and flowing through the changing physical, social and cultural landscapes.…”

“…As della Dora notes, 'sacred space must be approached not as a static entity, nor as a disembodied set of practices and discourses, but as an assemblage, always made and remade' (p. 65). Seen through this perspective, the Whit Walks, are not static, despite their seeming historical uniformity (see Platt & Medway, 2020), but have persisted through changing landscapes and evolving codes of moral conduct in relation to religious practice, leisure and civic society. Indeed, one interpretation of infra-given by della Dora is that which is invisible -or concealed.…”

“…Many of these are adorned with the name of the parish or the town from which the church is based. They literally carry their parish location with them on banners, inserting the space of their church into the urban setting asserting a sense of micro-local pride (see Platt & Medway, 2020).…”

(Re)crafting belonging: cultural-led regeneration, territorialization and craft beer events

“…Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980), such an approach seeks to understand the boundaries created within and around spaces and places, which result in belonging for some, while potentially leading to others feeling out of place. Others have adopted a territorological lens to study a range of urban environments such as public squares and precincts (Kärrholm, 2017); urban parks (Cheetham et al, 2018); (pop-up) retail (Kärrholm, 2009(Kärrholm, , 2013Shi et al, 2019); urban mega-events (Duignan & Pappalepore, 2019;McGillivray & Frew, 2014); and urban processions (Platt & Medway, 2020). This paper builds on this work, whilst also being novel in utilising a territorological lens to explore craft beer events, and the territorialization processes that shift across online and offline spaces.…”

Cultural festivals and the city

“…Indeed, the argument that festivals are merely temporary interventions in places (that may or may not be parachuted in) has been challenged, with Edensor and Andrews () suggesting that the everyday experience of places contribute to the temporary festival experience. Indeed, annual festivals, in particular at a grassroots level are embedded in the everyday lives of those who take part year on year through cycles of preparation and anticipation (Platt & Medway, ). Here, the everyday is evidently still salient in processes related to the creative city narratives that emerge in towns and cities around the globe (Evans, ).…”