UC Irvine

My dissertation is organized in three chapters that examine the role of identity, social context, and agency in shaping safety and belonging across micro public spaces. I draw from interviews with 44 residents of Long Beach, California, 30 of whom identify as LGBTQ. Overall, I ask, what role do social identities have in shaping experiences of safety and belonging in micro public spaces? I examine the following research questions in each chapter: 1) What role does safety play in constructing feelings of belonging? How do gender, sexuality, and race affect feelings of safety in Long Beach micro public spaces? 2) How do LGBTQ individuals, particularly those who identify as gender expansive, experience and navigate visibility and belonging in micro public spaces? 3) How do LGBTQ couples experience visibility and navigate tensions in belonging together? I develop the Spectrum of Belonging framework, that traces the relationship of safety to social exclusion and inclusion. The framework explains how insecurity diminishes belonging while a sense of safety promotes it. I theorize a spectrum of belonging with four gradients: hypervisibility, invisibility, visibility and affirming visibility that emerge to the degree that people feel safe, valued, and connected to people and landscapes in their social environment. The framework is based on participants who experience a spectrum of belonging, and whose experiences in micro public spaces are shaped by city policies, social norms, and social interactions.