3.4 METHODOLOGY

Methods & Process

Our aim was to approach our research strategy in an interactive format that could be reviewed and rearranged based on the information gathered while onsite. During our preparation stages, we acknowledged and expected the current situation to guide the conversations and exercise that will help us situate the systems of care and the subjectivities of food in their production. Our methods of inquiry were guided by the following questions:

• How can diasporic geographies be framed as living heritage? • What type of socio-spatial strategies can be imagined in adapting just and inclusive urban transformations to foster the legacies of diasporic communities?

Narrowing our focus through the lens of systems of care and solidarity, we created an action plan that enabled us to look at survival strategies that have been woven within individual, social and political bodies that cannot be detached from wider structural inequities. Our inquiry sought to find answers but was not limited to the following questions.

• Who is responsible for care production? • Where are care structures located? • Who are the actors that maintain the systems of care and respond dynamically to the changing narratives and requirements of individuals and the community as a whole? • How does the City of Sheffield care for SADACCA and its community members?

The focus was to review these questions in two scales: the meso and macro. That of SADACCA/the Wicker Building and throughout Sheffield.

Plan of Action

Fig 8. Plan of Action (Source: Authors)

During the practice engagement, our plan of action was divided into 4 sections: Co-production of Knowledge, Shadowing and Collective discussions, Co-Creation of Strategies and Co-Design of Interventions. These activities were planned to ensure participatory principles of design research, enable co-benefits and duality for all stakeholders.

Co-production of Knowledge: had us embarking on tours within the Wicker building to identify possible sites for intervention at the meso-scale. Our tours and walks were around significant neighbourhoods in the city to identify the networks of solidarity, specifically the differences and synergies between physical space and social interactions. During each of these tours, we identified physical nodes of food infrastructures, such as ethnic grocery stores, restaurants, congregate neighbourhoods of African-Caribbean communities, and the people that operated within them.

Using a satellite view of Sheffield, we identified systems of care within SADACCA and Sheffield with individuals from the community to map areas that were of significance within the community based on their lived experience. The mapping activity was conducted by volunteers at SADACCA and professional service providers operating within Wicker, spanning various ages. The data collected was aggregated into a Sheffield wide place-based initiatives whereby groups and organisations were recorded as significant and of places of interest to members of the African-Caribbean community.

This exercise allowed us to understand the scale of place-based groups in the city, the trajectories of their establishment, locations of importance and the relevance to SADACCA’s existing care services.

Shadowing and Collective discussions: in order to capture the values of the relationships, we engaged in discussions with our partner (SADACCA) and community members (store owners in Sheffield as well as mental health experts, volunteers, the tenant organisations within and members of social clubs within the Wicker building).

Some of these discussions began as structured interviews but we quickly learnt that the organic and informal conversations during cooking sessions, grocery runs,

visits to garden allotments and most importantly social lunches provided more insights into how food was a central determination in the production, maintenance, and dispersion of care cultures.

Co-creation and Co-design Stage: these exercises involved informal discussions and interviews to establish SADACCA’s priorities and create a collective vision within SADACCA and its various spatial agencies.