ABSTRACT
Since the founding of the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary, London, London has emerged as a premier multi-cultural, or even super-diverse city, and the nature of minority cultures has shifted (Vertovec, 2007). This has involved a ‘diversification of diversity’, with a population characterised by multiple ethnicities, countries of origin, immigration statuses and age profiles (Hollinger, 2006). Rather than waves of discrete migration flows arriving and settling in singular areas of the city, London has experienced synchronous multiple arrivals, creating areas of first settlement that cannot be easily labelled as ‘Bengali’ or ‘Jewish’, as was the case in the past. The city itself has transformed in many ways and the aim of this chapter is to present an overview of the way in which the urban realm itself can help to shape encounters within and between immigrant and host communities in this super-diverse context. It proposes that the public realm plays an essential role in bringing together what society divides, especially in settings such as that of London, where multiplicities of identities, backgrounds, languages, religions and cultures would – on the face of it – naturally give rise to tensions or even hostilities. The very fact that London has (with the exception that proves the rule of the recent riots, which were more about poverty than ethnicity) managed to integrate successive waves of migration is indicative of its almost unique character. Some examples of this integrative role are described in the latter part of the chapter.
