4th Global Conference

Tuesday 5th July - Thursday 7th July 2005
Mansfield College, Oxford

Conference Programme, Abstracts & Papers

Session 8B: Industry, Public Space and Consultation
Chair: Michael Tarrant

Action Against Irreversible Risks: The Impacts of GM Court Cases on the UK Beekeeping and Biotechnology Industries
Chie Ujita, Liz Sharp & Peter Hopkinson
Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom

Protestors about Genetic Modification (GM) have been demonstrating their resistance in various ways: one of the most well known has involved protestors destroying Genetically Modified crops (GM crops) at GM trial sites. This paper elaborates on the impacts of anti-GM direct action on UK society through an investigation of the different approaches to GM issues taken by two different industry sectors.
The paper follows a sociology of scientific knowledge approach, focusing on UK beekeeping and biotechnology industries’ perspectives on GM issues. The paper examines whether and how their interpretation and implementation of the concept of the Precautionary Principle differ from that of anti-GM protestors. Our case study investigates (1) how the UK beekeeping and biotechnology industries are involved with GM debates and anti-GM activities, and (2) how the consequences of these involvements influence these industries. The analysis draws on the documents produced for the non-legal contexts as well as those for the UK court cases in which the anti-GM protestors were prosecuted for uprooting GM crops.
The paper concludes that anti-GM direct action stimulated UK beekeepers’ awareness of GM issues. However, this stimulation also accelerated the process of fragmentation of opinion among UK beekeepers. In contrast, anti-GM direct action seems to have contributed to the major biotechnology companies withdrawing their R&D facilities from the UK . The paper identifies ambiguity in the views of both industries stated in the non-legal contexts. However, the institutional setting of the court reduces the vagueness through the polarised positions adopted in court (i.e. the Defence v the Prosecution), and by requiring them to be subject to the relevant law which restricts the range of the arguments to be brought in courts.

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Urban Regeneration of a Public Space Using Environmental Analysis and Public Consultation as a Design Guide
Cheryl Pilliner-Reeves
Architectural Association School of Architecture, United Kingdom

The research explores how the design of new public space can work to knit the existing urban fabric together, to the advantage of the local community, by providing a gathering space in which to collect common interests and activities. The architectural strategy developed combines the wealth of knowledge and inspiration of the local community with climatic understanding and urban design.
The proposed square is situated in a deprived urban borough, defined by the census as ACORN profile Type 24; partial gentrified multi ethnic area. This type is found almost exclusively in Inner London and consist of highly cosmopolitan neighbourhoods which contain a mix of rich and poor and people from different ethnic backgrounds living side by side.
The project, which was initiated by a local resident on a community email forum, was to transform a neglected and prominent corner of a high street crossroad into a public square, to create a paved amenity area for the community that inspires civic pride.
On the site, in the street, public consultation involving the proposals of landscape design students invoked wide commentary from the local community. Harnessing their ideas, further public consultation introduced sustainability as the motive behind the design proposal.
Environmental experience questionnaires were completed to reveal issues of comfort. Recorded data taken during the winter and summer for climate, thermal comfort and public space use, was analysed to consider possible relationships.
The outcome is the tailored design proposal for an outside room in the city, based on climatic comfort and community research for the benefit of consolidating local people and regeneration of the area. As consultation has continued within the virtual realm through a dedicated community website, this is physically manifested in wireless internet access in the square, alongside physical space for meeting and events. The research exemplifies how, using multi-disciplinary techniques in architecture, environmental design and consultation, a successful community space can be used to generate civic pride as an urban landmark.