Social infrastructure and public life – notes on Finsbury Park, London

Figures & data

Figure 1. Finsbury Park and surrounds (map by Miles Irving)

Figure 2. A) Map extracted from Haringey Council (2019) Introducing: Finsbury Park [pdf leaflet]. B) Photo of basketball courts courtesy of Sean Fitzimmons. C) Photo of Finsbury Park bench licensed under creative commons from “spiraltri3e” www.flickr.com. D) Photo of footballers “12. They are Here” licensed under creative commons, installation at Furtherfield Gallery, photographer: Annalisa Sonzogni. E) Photo of perimeter fences, authors own. F) Photo of field with sign, authors own. G) Photo of major event, authors own

Table 1. Six registers of sociality

Type [1]	Description	Examples [2]	References [3]
Co-presence	Sharing space with strangers, encountering unknown others.	Food shopping; riding a bus; walking down a busy street; spending time in a park.	Amin (2008); Wilson (2013); Anderson (2011); Middleton (2018); Neal et al. (2015).
Sociability and friendship	Durable relationships with people developed over time.	Meeting up with friends; hanging out; going for dinner or a drink; gossiping.	Sennett (2017); Koch and Miles (2020); Pahl (2000); Wittel (2001); Bunnell et al. (2012).
Care and kinship	Relationships of mutual dependency and care.	Parenting; visiting relatives; looking after others; being available in times of need.	Milligan and Wiles (2010); Cloke et al. (2017); Marovelli (2019); Till (2012); Power and Williams (2020); Hall (2020b).
Kinesthetic practices	The interactions and relationships built and practiced through physical activity.	Playing sport as a team; jogging in a busy park; pick-up basketball; exercise classes; walking in a neighborhood.	Latham and Layton (2019a); Wacquant (2004); Woodbine (2016); DeLand (2012); Krenichyn (2006).
Carnival and collective experience	The experience of being part of a crowd with others.	Attending a fun fair; attending a football match; going to a music festival; block party; Holi and other religious festivals.	Finkel and Platt (2020); Smith (2012); Ehrenreich (2008); Borch (2012); Webb (2005).
Civic engagement	Organizing and acting to support social life; campaigning for change.	Volunteering; canvasing; organizing a mutual aid group; attending local body meetings; being on a school or charity committee.	Sharkey (2018); Stenning (2020); Tupper, (2020); Pries, et al. (2020); Cloke and Conradson (2018).

[1] This is by no means an exhaustive typology, but a starting point for further development. The different registers are not mutually exclusive descriptions, and there is overlap and continuity between them. And, of course, the way these registers are realized will vary depending on the type of social infrastructure (see: Latham & Layton, 2019b).

[2] The examples are not exhaustive, but illustrative of the kinds of connections and activity we have in mind.

[3] The list is of examples of research that has grappled with the kinds of social register we want to highlight and understand, again it is not meant to be comprehensive.

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