The importance of 'place' for ICD projects

Shared, neutral spaces have an important role to play in maintaining civil society and democratic engagement. Spaces should be used to allow people to meet in low-key ways, based on aspects of their identities and interests which they hold in common but where there is room to explore difference. Choosing a place to host ICD can be critical in determining whether the dialogue is successful or not.

ICD that is conducted in a neutral setting in which the participants are neither hosts nor guests and no one is excluded on the basis of gender, race, disability and so forth is more likely to be successful.

Space can be both institutional and non-institutional. Within institutional spaces there are those which strive to ensure equality of participation by all groups at levels of both governance (making decisions) and management (execution of the project) and which bring the activities of minorities and migrants in from the margins and into the mainstream.

Non-institutional spaces such as the neighbourhood, city streets, train stations, public parks, market places etc., but also virtual environments, are important spaces for intercultural dialogue. It can be easier for people to understand how they themselves could become innovators of change, if ICD activities become part of their daily life experience rather than a separate activity. See ERI Carts: Sharing Diversity 2008, Executive Summary (88.46KB).

Research conducted in the UK on the importance of 'place' in promoting interactions between different people has identified eight types of space (see DEMOS: Equally Spaced? Public space and interaction between diverse communities (1342.05KB)):

• Exchange spaces: places where people exchange ideas, information and goods
• Productive spaces: used by people engaged in activities to grow or create goods
• Spaces of services provision: support services are run from these spaces, either by statutory or voluntary providers
• Activity spaces: where people gather for leisure, such as for play, sport or informal events
• Democratic / participative spaces: for shared decision making or governance
• Staged spaces: 'one-off' special occasions where people are brought together for a specific purpose
• In-between spaces: places which are located between communities
• Virtual spaces: non-physical spaces, such as those created online by social networking sites.

It is helpful for projects to identify at the outset which type of space is most relevant to the specific ICD project, in order to get the desired outcomes. For instance, engaging T1s (High level Decision makers and leaders overseas and in the UK)  in democratic/participative spaces may be more effective than in activity spaces; engaging post-conflict groups in ICD may be more effective in in-between spaces; and engaging young people across many continents may be most effective through virtual space.