Throughout our project we’ve learned a lot about how residents and community members perceive safety. Specifically, we’ve studied what safety means for Regent Park community members, from youth residents in the community as well as community workers (ie: the police officers we interviewed). From here, we’ve begun analysis on how we can improve safety and feelings of safety in the neighborhood.
This week, we’ve begun planning how our final exhibition will run. Originally our plan was to create a multiple episode podcast on policing and safety in Regent Park and also Toronto at large. We in part wanted to do this because the topic of policing and safety is so broad we wanted to touch on as much as we could. However, in order to address this topic in an in depth manner which makes use of scholarly sources, we narrowed out area of focus to perceptions and experiences of safety Pre and Post redevelopment in Regent Park. We’ve begun planning our exhibition presentation with our core research question being: Is the Regent Park community really safer post redevelopment?
This is a particularly interesting research question because throughout our research the answer has been mixed. After academic analysis and personal interview, the answer to this question is not a decisive yes or no. Elements of pre-redevelopment Regent Park made it safer, while development brought increased resources and attention to the neighborhood. Our final presentation will address this question more directly.
Because of the amount of data we collected, our challenge this week was deciding what to use and what to focus on. Our scope for this project turned out to be much too large given the timeframe and guidelines. We had collected over two hours’ worth of interview data, not including research data, which is not consumable for viewers in an exhibition format of presentation.
Photos from the U of T Radio Studio! We are here this week recording and mixing more of our podcast.
This week, our main challenge is bringing together all we’ve learned and trying to put it into a single forty-five minute podcast. This is not going to be an easy task. We want to convey a number of things. Firstly, we want to be clear that while redevelopment is consistently portrayed as a positive thing in a lot of mainstream academic media, with regards to community safety, it can actual hinder individual experience. However, given that this is a complicated subject, it can also have a number of benefits. It is important to remember, not all community members are equal, so an act that might improve the safety of one would not necessarily improve the safety of another. Additionally, we want to highlight that while certain aspects of a community might make it seem dangerous, it can actually benefit the community a lot and make it safer. We do this through discussion of rap culture and rap music production in the Regent Park community.
Because we’re creating a podcast, our media project is highly auditory. In order to make our exhibition more enticing we want to add a more visual element to our assignment. Our plan thus far is to have multiple laptops set up at our exhibition station for people to listen to our podcast. Included will be a full transcript of our podcast. There will also be an index for each interview question. For example, if someone want to hear the answer to: “What do you think could be done to bridge connection between the police and the Regent Park community” as answered by Regent Park police, the individual could skip to 22:05. We will also showcase photos taken throughout our project and will include our group’s description and goals.
Finally, to tie the project together and increase interest, we are compiling a mixtape/playlist of Regent Park local rappers. Rap is intricately linked to our analysis of how communities deal with safety and engagement, at least in the Regent Park area. We want to make sure we direct attention to local rappers who have had influence in the neighborhood, and have helped put Regent Park on the map apart from the highly idealistic discussion of “social mix housing” in which Regent Park is often mentioned.
The On Air Police is comprised of Faduma Hagi, Anita Ifeadi, Marwa Hassan, and Katie Glancy
Instagram: @onairpolice
Facebook: OAP UofDivas
Email: onairpolice@gmail.com
Phone: +1 437 217 7302