An ethnographic exploration of community engagement with proposals for Britain's first spaceport
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sci
Abstract
As plans move ahead to build The United Kingdom's first spaceport in the Scottish Highlands, I seek to understand how the world is shaped by divergent imaginations of the future. The spaceport itself is future-orientated; its development is tied to the future of the British Aerospace industry which has been impacted by Britain's proposed withdrawal from the European Union. Britain is widely considered a leader in the field of microsatellites and the government seeks to capitalise on growing demand in this sector by constructing launch facilities throughout the nation. However, sceptical crofters in the nearby village of Talmine have concerns about the impact of a spaceport on the future of their community and way of life. I am interested in the diverse 'imagined futures' of the many actors and stakeholders involved and how they shape and are shaped by the Sutherland Spaceport development.
I will spend 12 to 18 months on the A'Mhoine Peninsula in the village of Talmine which is home to the Melness Crofters Estate. Using ethnographic methods and living among the crofters and other residents, I will build an accurate image of their daily lives. By participating in and observing their daily realities, I will construct the many 'imagined futures' that the locals of the A'Mhoine Peninsula envision. Alongside this research I will conduct structured and semi-structured interviews with spaceport personnel to grasp their understandings of the project and the images of the future they see tied to its completion.
My main focus is to understand how people, groups, institutions and industries envision, plan, resist or prepare for change. The future, an inherently 'imagined' place, holds great sway over the present. The United Kingdom finds itself in ta situation where the future constantly debated, with Brexit, a potential second Scottish independence referendum and climate change all collapsing into the present and the everyday lives of British residents in significant ways. It is through these 'imagined futures' that national plans are forecast; the spaceport on the A'Mhoine Peninsula is just one of the many plans moving a head to create a future that is desirable over potentially dreadful possible alternatives.
I ask, how do people organise their lives in ways both to plan for what they think the future will be and to influence what direction it will take? The findings of this study will highlight the interrelationships between various stakeholders in the development of the spaceport project and thus may help shape policy regarding consultation processes for similar developments in the future. The study will also advance interdisciplinary discussions around methodological issues related to studying 'the future' empirically, a growing area of interest within the social sciences. As this study encompasses the relationships between people, governments, scientific knowledge, technology, the environment and commercial markets, dissemination of the research findings will aim for broad public engagement. The insights from this research will help demonstrate how the imagination plays a key role in decision making, both at the individual level to large scale government development.
I will spend 12 to 18 months on the A'Mhoine Peninsula in the village of Talmine which is home to the Melness Crofters Estate. Using ethnographic methods and living among the crofters and other residents, I will build an accurate image of their daily lives. By participating in and observing their daily realities, I will construct the many 'imagined futures' that the locals of the A'Mhoine Peninsula envision. Alongside this research I will conduct structured and semi-structured interviews with spaceport personnel to grasp their understandings of the project and the images of the future they see tied to its completion.
My main focus is to understand how people, groups, institutions and industries envision, plan, resist or prepare for change. The future, an inherently 'imagined' place, holds great sway over the present. The United Kingdom finds itself in ta situation where the future constantly debated, with Brexit, a potential second Scottish independence referendum and climate change all collapsing into the present and the everyday lives of British residents in significant ways. It is through these 'imagined futures' that national plans are forecast; the spaceport on the A'Mhoine Peninsula is just one of the many plans moving a head to create a future that is desirable over potentially dreadful possible alternatives.
I ask, how do people organise their lives in ways both to plan for what they think the future will be and to influence what direction it will take? The findings of this study will highlight the interrelationships between various stakeholders in the development of the spaceport project and thus may help shape policy regarding consultation processes for similar developments in the future. The study will also advance interdisciplinary discussions around methodological issues related to studying 'the future' empirically, a growing area of interest within the social sciences. As this study encompasses the relationships between people, governments, scientific knowledge, technology, the environment and commercial markets, dissemination of the research findings will aim for broad public engagement. The insights from this research will help demonstrate how the imagination plays a key role in decision making, both at the individual level to large scale government development.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Lee McNeish (Student) |