Reading Socio-Spatial Interplay - Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i ...

R E A D I N G S O C I O - S P A T I A L I N T E R P L A Y P A R T 2encounters in public open space or related to shopping or entertainment, thedescribed neighbourhood activities at Furuset are oriented towards sports andplay, organized leisure activities (for children), and participation in voluntaryorganizational work or organized neighbourhood arrangements (for adults).In addition to described social distinctions between likeminded friends andacquaintances versus other strangers, many informants from Furuset alsodescribe social distinctions between those with shared interests – i.e. thosewho participate in organized neighbourhood activities – and those who don’t.In the interviews from Furuset the informants to a larger extent than in theother study areas differentiate between what kind of people they socializewith in different ways and in different places: there are likemindedacquaintances (for instance colleagues), acquaintances with shared interests(such as neighbours and co-parents related to children’s school or leisureactivities) and family and friends (which one discusses private and personalmatters with):A school teacher at 48 living with her husband and a grown updaughter says that she likes it here, they have friends and asocial network, the house is nice and well-situated close toMarka. Her family has owned this house since 1925, theirannual Christmas party is a neighbourhood tradition, and thewhole family is engaged in the residents’ association (“FurusetVel”), in organizing “dugnader”, social activities for themembers, meetings related to neighbourhood issues, etc. “Mostof the members of Furuset Vel come from this part of the areathat has row houses and single family houses. There are notthat many immigrants in Furuset Vel, and only a few membersfrom the high-rise buildings down at Furuset senter.” Theinformant describes that many immigrant women in the arealack a Norwegian social network; “they don’t speak Norwegianand they don’t participate in parent-teacher meetings ororganized neighbourhood activities – and they are the onesresponsible for the children’s upbringing!” She has beenworried about ghetto-tendencies lately. She feels that Furusetneeds a greater balance between Norwegians and immigrants.At Gran school the percentage of Norwegian children is muchtoo low – less than 10%. “Immigrants in the area are even moreconcerned about this than what we are”. Gransdalen (the denserhousing area at Furuset senter) is a “too dense housingmachine”, after her opinion, and “neither is it such a good ideato cluster that many social housing units as it implies clusteringsocial problems – particularly lately when so many traumatized308