Ce mémoire s’intéresse, à travers une étude de cas, aux facteurs environnementaux de l’espace public qui facilitent ou rendent difficile un rapprochement entre groupes sociaux différents. Il vient également mettre à l’épreuve des théories occidentales partagées entre les sciences sociales et le domaine de l’aménagement dans un contexte du sud global, plus précisément au Vietnam, à Hanoï. Le site d’étude est dans le quartier de Tan Mai au sud d’Hanoï, un quartier parmi les plus densément peuplés de la ville où l’on retrouve une forte concentration de migrants ruraux. Selon la littérature, il existe une forte discrimination entre les migrants ruraux et les Hanoïens. Dans le même temps, la sous-provision d'espaces publics ouverts à Hanoï limite les possibilités pour ces deux groupes de se côtoyer dans les mêmes espaces récréatifs et de socialisation. Face à ces constats, la fondation HealthBridge, l’entreprise sociale ThinkPlaygrounds! et le bureau d’UN Habitat au Vietnam ont développé une aire de jeux couplée à un jardin communautaire dont l’un des objectifs était de favoriser les relations entre migrants et non-migrants au cours de l’année 2019. Une étude post-occupationnelle de ce projet a été menée durant l’été 2022. Combinant enquête par questionnaires, entretiens semi-directifs et observations de terrain. Cette étude a permis d’identifier certains des facteurs liés à l’aménagement qui contribuent à faciliter ou à freiner les interactions intergroupes et qui participent à soutenir les relations entre migrants et non-migrantes dans cet espace. La recherche met en évidence non seulement un manque de connaissances, mais aussi les défis opérationnels auxquels sont confrontés les praticiens du domaine de l'aménagement lorsqu'il s'agit de concevoir des espaces favorisant les rencontres intergroupes. L'étude suggère une collaboration accrue entre les disciplines de l’aménagement et les sciences sociales pour améliorer l'opérationnalisation d'un design d'espace public soutenant les relations intergroupes. / Through a case study, this dissertation examines the environmental factors in the design of public spaces that facilitate or hinder interactions between different social groups. It also puts to the test Western theories shared between the social sciences and the field of planning in a context of the global South, more precisely in Hanoi, Vietnam. The study site is located in the Tan Mai district to the south of Hanoi, one of the city's most densely populated areas, with a high concentration of rural migrants. According to the literature, there is strong discrimination between rural migrants and Hanoians. At the same time, the under-provision of public open spaces in Hanoi limits the opportunities for these two groups to rub shoulders in the same recreational and social spaces. In response to these findings, the HealthBridge Foundation, the social enterprise ThinkPlaygrounds! and UN Habitat's Vietnam office developed a playground coupled with a community garden, one of the aims of which was to foster relations between migrants and non-migrants over the course of 2019. A post-occupancy study of this project was carried out during the summer of 2022. Combining a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews and field observations, this study identified some of the environmental-related factors that contributed to facilitating or hindering intergroup interactions. The identified factors also helped sustain relationships between migrants and non-migrants in the space. The research highlights not only a lack of knowledge, but also the operational challenges faced by planning practitioners when it comes to designing spaces that encourage intergroup encounters. The study suggests increased collaboration between planning disciplines and the social sciences to improve the operationalization of public space design supporting intergroup relations.

Continuous Curatorial Conversations is a practice-led exploration of conversation, both as a medium and as a tool for capturing supplementary histories of the curatorial. The primary question of this research project is how the medium of conversation can be explored to write supplementary histories of the curatorial which thus far have been omitted from extant publications on the subject. Three important sub questions guide this exploration. First, what is and has been the role of conversation within the curatorial? What are the possibilities and limitations within the medium of conversation? What roles do conviviality and hospitality play within the process of conversation? This thesis reflects upon a series of curated projects that explore the sp/pl/ace for curatorial conversation and also reviews a collection of one-to-one recorded conversations conducted by the author, including conversations with Alfredo Cramerotti, Hedwig Fijen, Mel Gooding, William Furlong and Sarah Lowndes. Sites of fieldwork include: the 54th Venice Biennale; Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. Through these projects and related recordings it unpicks the norms and possibilities of what and when one can record on the subject of the curatorial. The hypothesis of this study is that a great deal of curatorial activity is locked up in conversation, yet a disproportion makes it to the pages of the history of the field. Furthermore, in its clean transcribed form it misrepresents the fragility and nuance of the original exchange. The theoretical context of this research looks at Nicolas Bourriaud’s notion of Relational Aesthetics, the writing of Maria Lind and Paul O’Neill, with a focus on Audio Arts. A new methodology relating to curatorial conversation and its recording has therefore been identified as ‘critical conviviality’. The writing relating to Continuous Curatorial Conversations research takes the form of four books. The book ‘An Introduction’ comprises the PhD thesis and sits next to a bespoke online platform www.continuous-curatorial-conversations.org which hosts a selection of audio recordings collated during the research process. The books ‘Continuous’, ‘Curatorial’, and ‘Conversations’ unpack the lineage and context of Alexandra C.M. Ross’s practice and projects conducted during her research and are to be read in no strict order. The new knowledge resulting from this thesis and relating practice is the attention to the subtleties of conversation and its capture as it relates to the instigation, recording and presentation of semi-private matters in semi-public contexts.