ABSTRACT
The chapter initially brings together everyday multiculture with the work of urban geographers on public space. Working with non-representational theory (NRT) as a 'background hum' it focuses on: first, social practices and the quotidian ways in which urban green spaces are used and, second, the extent to which the materialities of parks may become a part of popular vocabularies of affect and attachment, community and belonging to local places. The chapter argues that parks can work as both elective and affective spaces; repeated use and routine visits to them build layers of familiarity and memory which in turn facilitate and mediate as well as disrupting and unsettling senses of attachment and belonging among those multicultural populations in which parks are situated. It also argues that urban greenness can usefully contribute to debates around shared public spaces and resource through its emphasis on social practices, sensory materialities and the non-human in generating cohesive multi-cultural recognition.
