Questioning One's Interest

Often in the field I am analysing the direction of my project, which at times can lead to my questioning the entire purpose of my project! All of this is actually good in my opinion because it allows me to tweak it or its direction when necessary. I try not to be obsessive over it for fear that I'll never get anything done but when, for example, explaining my project to others, certain things tend to peak my interest in ways I have yet to come across. Yesterday was one of these times.

I met with another scholar yesterday who asked if I would provide him with a quick run-down of my project, something which I have done many times before and so I began: 'Well, my project looks at how individuals interact, connect to, and have an interest in certain public places. I've decided to use the neighbourhood as one means by which to understand how unique individuals connect with one another. So I will be looking into why certain connections happen in the neighbourhood? And why that is. What interests there are, etc. etc.'.

My answer prompted another question from him: 'But what then is the difference between places and spaces?' Oh, well...'In my usage of the terms, places are specific areas that are involved with human understandings, experiences, or are connected to humans in some way. Spaces are those areas that have no immediate connection with particular or group of individuals. Those in-between or container areas'. I then explained that I was also interested in learning how public places and the understanding of what proper behaviour within these places were (as conceived of by those in positions of authority). And that I also wanted to understand how these places were used in accordance with or contradiction to these more official understandings by different and unique individuals. Finally (I swear), I also wanted to know how the physical make-up of places affected one's use, and understanding of that space, as well as how and when this usage changes. For more theoretical background see Henri Lefebvre's 'Production of Space'. If you can't tell already, I had many exam questions on this topic. If it makes your head spin it's alright, I still don't have it all worked through either.

This however, brought up another question in my own mind: how can I know whether or not the people that I speak with from the neighbourhood are actually interested in their neighbourhood or just involved because of their proximity to activities that happen to fall within neighbourhood jurisdiction? Is the neighbourhood important? If it is not, does that matter? Right away I thought that there are some people, like those who belong to the neighbourhood association, who are pretty easy to peg in terms of their preliminary ideas about the importance of the neighbourhood. They're heavily involved in the administrative activities of the neighbourhood because they're interested in its outcome/future. But what about others?

So I decided to look up the definition of 'interest' to see whether or not my new lens (that of the neighbourhood) would stand a test of importance. Is the neighbourhood important in its own right?

The following are different definitions that I received from dictionary.com with examples and explanations from my fieldwork.
1. Interest: the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or curiosity is particularly engaged by something. For example, she has a great interest in the affairs of her own neighbourhood. Yes, I've met some people like this, genuinely interested in the future of their own neighbourhood whether it be for personal or other reasons.
2. Interest: something that concerns, involves, draws the attention of, or arouses the curiosity of a person. It is true. The idea of ‘neighbourhoods’ and the categorization of certain neighbourhoods as either good or bad, has produced more discussion about neighbourhoods in the Dutch media. Supposed 'problemwijken' have become a matter of debate (in terms of what to do about them) since a list of those offending neighbourhoods was leaked to the press in early 2009.
3. Interest: a concern. The fact that there are newly instituted Stadswacht which is a security group that walks around problem areas, who are not the police, but are in charge of the moral order and with providing security and atmosphere on the street (but are only present in certain neighbourhoods) is an interesting example where interest turns to concern (although I'm sure this can be interpreted differently).

So to answer my own question, yes, I believe neighbourhoods are becoming an important topic in the Netherlands. As a physical place, many unique individuals come together through different interest programs which allow me to look into processes of interaction between individuals and groups within places and interaction between individuals and their environment. Now does everything that individuals living within a certain neighbourhoods do, constitute as something 'of the neighbourhood'? Certainly not! But as a lens, the neighbourhood and different interests (whether personal or group) within and concerning the neighbourhood are one avenue by which to understand use of place and ideas concerning belonging and involvement.

Not that any of this is concrete as of yet. Ask me next week and I’ll probably give you another take on the matter. For now, I’ll continue to think about it.