Deathscapes and Diversity in multicultural England and Wales. Making space for minorities' and migrants' bodily remains, ritual and remembrance.

In light of increasing ethnic and religious diversity in the UK (ONS 2012), many challenges have been raised practically and politically about living together in difference within in Britain (Keith, 2005). Much attention has focused upon Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) patterns of housing, education, employment and leisure, but migrant and established minority needs relating to cemetery, crematoria and sites of ritual and remembrance ('deathscapes') are less well understood or provided for.

While death, sites of bodily disposal and practices of mourning and remembrance are universal phenomena, they are negotiated, practiced and ritualised in diverse ways within a multicultural society. Given the lack of systematic planning policy for this at national or local levels, we argue that diversity-ready deathscapes are a necessary but currently neglected aspect of an integrated multicultural society. Creating the conditions for integration is a government priority in multicultural Britain (UK Gov 2012). Government policy recognises that challenges are multifaceted and that integration comes from finding common ground in everyday life; it seeks to 'inspire and enable civil society and local areas to take action on integration issues that are important to them' (ibid., p19). Here, we propose using four case study towns in England and Wales (Huddersfield, Northampton, Swindon and Newport) in order to explore everyday deathscapes and diversity issues across a range of geographical regions and varied dynamic multicultural settings.

This project will work with members of a range of minority and migrant communities to bring new insight to understanding diversity, death and remembrance in England and Wales, investigating:
a) demand for culturally-specific spaces of bodily disposal and remembrance, both physical and virtual
b) evidence of shared socio-cultural practice and diversity within communities of place, practice and/or belief
c) the role of lifecycle rites such as funerals and memorialisation in identity formation and sense of belonging within a multicultural society
d) how local authority planners and Bereavement Service providers can respond to better meet these needs.

The project will be innovative in its use of Death Cafés to meet local people and learn about death-related issues and concerns in each area before collecting data through focus groups and biographical interviews, as well as using creative practices of drawing, model-making and photo-logs to understand current provision and ideal cemetery/crematoria/memorial site design. This visual material will feature in the end of project feedback touring exhibition which will be shown in each case study town, alongside a final Death in each exhibition venue.

The project will prompt public debate around the subject of minority deathscape provision in England and Wales, especially in the case study towns, as well as providing policy recommendations to local authority Planners and public and private Bereavement Service providers, which will feature in a report launched at a public workshop with participants, providers and policy-makers, including the Royal Town Planning Institute and Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management. We anticipate local and national media interest in the project findings, recommendations and its end of project touring exhibition.

The 'Deathscapes and Diversity' research project will produce a series of outputs which will be of interest to public audiences, prompt public debate, and shape public policy and professional service provision, as well as addressing gaps in wider academic research in Geography, Planning and Death Studies.

Who will benefit and how?
The project will 'map' existing cemetery, crematoria and sites of remembrance provision, which will be compared with participant-identified migrant and minority cremation, burial and remembrance needs in the four case study towns. This will allow the identification of specific and evolving needs, leading to the identification of good practice and any shortfall of provision within the case study towns. The project will provide participants (both providers and users) with an opportunity to identify ideal provision, opportunities for community involvement and voice issues and concerns; it will provide each town with an agenda to address any shortfall in provision which will inform local authority Plans and both public and private service provider practice.

Participants will include first generation migrants and established minorities, from a range of ethnic and religious/ secular backgrounds, age groups and genders, in order to represent a wide range of groups, including those who may be marginalised in public debate e.g. elderly women.

A website will be designed at the start of the project, to include project updates and news of events, including a Twitter feed, links to outputs, including a PDF of the project report and policy booklet, and the end of project virtual exhibition. This will allow maximum access, locally, nationally and internationally to the project's programme, findings, recommendations and outputs.

An Executive Summary booklet of findings and policy recommendations will be launched at the end of project knowledge exchange workshop to be held at UWE with project participants, case study town local authority representatives, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and Institute of Cemeteries and Crematoria Management (ICCM) and academics, coupled with the project's participant-focused visual exhibition. The report will be of particular insight and use for Planners, Bereavement Service Providers e.g. cemetery managers and funeral directors, as well as any minority groups lobbying for improved provision, locally, and in the wider UK and EU. Policy for and improved provision of diversity-ready cemetery, crematoria and remembrance sites, will enhance migrants' and established minorities' sense of 'belonging' and social integration in multicultural Britain, supporting UK government policy for social inclusion.

The 'Deathscapes and Diversity' touring exhibition will provide feedback to participants and case study towns and will be curated at a suitable venue for two weeks at each case study town as a means of communicating findings back to the towns and participants. This will include participant-curated photo-log images, sketches and Lego models of current and ideal memorials, cemeteries etc. from focus groups, as well as researcher photos. Copies of the policy report will be available at each exhibition, where there will also be an interactive pop-up display allowing visitors to express their own views/ ideals regarding memorialisation on postcards for display and a visitor book for additional comments. All participants including LAs, planners, local clergy, community leaders and Bereavement Service providers, plus local secondary schools will be invited. A second Death Café will be held in conjunction with each Exhibition to encourage people to continue public dialogue on death-related issues. A digital version of the exhibition will be curated on the project website for 3 years after the end of the project to ensure widespread access, impact and longevity. A press release will go out to local and national media highlighting the report and exhibition