Gathering Spaces Research Articles

Working Together: Leveraging Teacher Study Groups to Improve Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom

Teachers of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) may face obstacles and feel isolated when implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) programming with students. The teacher study group (TSG) offers an effective way to overcome barriers and improve SEL. These groups provide a gathering space for teachers to investigate problems of practice, celebrate points of pride, and strengthen professional learning in a focused area. In this article, we summarize existing research on SEL and TSGs and describe available SEL programs that incorporate TSGs. We provide an example of SEL-focused TSGs in practice, offering guidance and tips for early elementary school teachers—and the administrators who support them—who work with students with or at risk for EBD.

The Appropriate Third Places: A Perspective from the Muslim Youth

Third Places refers to managed gathering spaces outside the home and work where people can engage in social interaction voluntarily. These places are known to decrease stress and build a sense of community. However, third places are currently developed in a western cultural context. This paper investigates the role of third places in the context of eastern culture, specifically with Islamic values. Using a qualitative approach, the data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with young Muslim visitors of a coffeehouse in Bandung City. The results illustrate that the coffeehouse is considered a third place. Not only because of its availability for conversation and laughter but also its architectural features that support Islamic practices like praying and maintaining certain proximity with the opposite gender. This study concluded that the cultural framework in which a third place is created is critical.

Editorial Introduction

Editorial Introduction

Building Community in Virtual Space: A Community Collaborative Sustains Its Exploration of Environmental Justice and Migration Issues in the Midst of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate impacts on communities that already bear disparate burdens of environmental and climate injustice. Migrant communities and those that have been historically marginalized are especially vulnerable. Building and maintaining relationships that serve as community support is challenged by the distance mandated by the virus. In this article, research partners from neighborhood and academic communities explore ways that we have navigated related challenges. Using the organizing and research methodology of legislative theatre, our collaborative harnessed virtual space to maintain connection and further our research goals. Zoom became our virtual gathering space, which was enriched by incorporating embodied practices into our processes to deepen intimacy. We found that responsivity and consistency of connection served to support relationships in the absence of physical presence. While these practices and approaches allowed us to move our work forward while prioritizing equitable relationships, challenges remain. Accessibility is a key barrier, as both technology and internet connection are unreliable in many communities. Equity work, regardless of the form of engagement, requires time and engagement with place. Yet, we found that storytelling combined with embodied practices, responsivity, and consistency of connection, can transcend virtual space to promote healing and change.

Expanded geographic distribution and host preference of Anopheles gibbinsi (Anopheles species 6) in northern Zambia

BackgroundNchelenge District in northern Zambia suffers from holoendemic malaria transmission despite a decade of yearly indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide-treated net (ITN) distributions. One hypothesis for this lack of impact is that some vectors in the area may forage in the early evening or outdoors. Anopheles gibbinsi specimens were identified in early evening mosquito collections performed in this study area, and further insight was gleaned into this taxon, including characterizing its genetic identity, feeding preferences, and potential role as a malaria vector.MethodsMosquitoes were collected in July and August 2019 by CDC light traps in Nchelenge District in indoor sitting rooms, outdoor gathering spaces, and animal pens from 16:00–22:00. Host detection by PCR, COI and ITS2 PCR, and circumsporozoite (CSP) ELISA were performed on all samples morphologically identified as An. gibbinsi, and a subset of specimens were selected for COI and ITS2 sequencing. To determine risk factors for increased abundance of An. gibbinsi, a negative binomial generalized linear mixed-effects model was performed with household-level variables of interest.ResultsComparison of COI and ITS2 An. gibbinsi reference sequences to the NCBI database revealed > 99% identity to “Anopheles sp. 6” from Kenya. More than 97% of specimens were morphologically and molecularly consistent with An. gibbinsi. Specimens were primarily collected in animal pen traps (59.2%), followed by traps outdoors near where humans gather (24.3%), and traps set indoors (16.5%). Host DNA detection revealed a high propensity for goats, but 5% of specimens with detected host DNA had fed on humans. No specimens were positive for Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites. Animal pens and inland households > 3 km from Lake Mweru were both associated with increased An. gibbinsi abundance.ConclusionsThis is the first report of An. gibbinsi in Nchelenge District, Zambia. This study provided a species identity for unknown “An. sp. 6” in the NCBI database, which has been implicated in malaria transmission in Kenya. Composite data suggest that this species is largely zoophilic and exophilic, but comes into contact with humans and the malaria parasites they carry. This species should continue to be monitored in Zambia and neighbouring countries as a potential malaria vector.

Preference of online friends over face-to-face friends: Effect of interpersonal fears on online relationship building preference

The emergence of online social networking has increased development of exclusively online friendships. Individuals in online environments are willing to invest considerable time and effort to develop and maintain relationships as they would in other gathering spaces. In some cases, individuals find it preferable to make friends via the internet over more traditional means of relationship formation. The current study examines preference for online friends over face-to-face friends. Initially, we developed a brief, one-dimensional, 11-item questionnaire assessing online friendship preference based on semi-structured interviews. Confirmatory factor analysis showed support for a one-factor model. Internal consistency was established using inter-item correlation, corrected item-total correlation, and Cronbach’s α. Subsequently, we examined the psychological determinants and consequences of preference for online friendship formation. Participants who reported higher fear of intimacy and perceived relationship vulnerability reported greater preference for online friends over face-to-face friends. Preference for online friendship was related to increased risk of problematic internet use. The findings suggest that interpersonal fears, combined with attributes of online communication (e.g., reduced social cues and more personal control) motivate some individuals to prefer online intimacies over face-to-face friendships, thereby increasing time spent online.

Public Health Issue of Indoor Dilution Ventilation for Disease Prevention Versus PM2.5 in Intake Air in Auditoriums of Premier Engineering Institutes in India.

Background: Dilution ventilation by enhancing fresh air intake has been prescribed to reduce airborne infection spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is all the more important in assembly spaces like auditoriums. Premier technology institutes have large campuses with large auditoriums for academic and cultural events in India. These institutes serve as role models for society, where gatherings are essential, but there is also the possibility of transmission of all airborne respiratory infections, including tuberculosis, into the community. The fresh air taken in should also be filtered for pollution to prevent other lung issues.Aims: Fresh air intake and filtration have been studied in order to understand whether the outside air supplied indoors is filtered for PM2.5, which is a major ambient polluter in India.Settings and design/methods: In this study, the Right to Information Act of 2005 has been used to obtain first-hand information from the institutes with respect to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in their auditoriums. Twelve of the 19 institutes fall in cities with non-attainment of ambient air quality standards.Results: Eleven out of all those had recently integrated fresh air supply, and six replied in the negative. Only one out of all of them had appropriate filters.Conclusion: This study highlights the need for a possible trade-off between the use of air conditioners for thermal comfort + assumed protection against PM2.5, which is the switching off of air conditioners and manually opening up windows and using fans for ventilation. Indian HVAC design for gathering spaces, especially educational institutes, needs to factor in fresh air for dilution ventilation as well as PM2.5 filtration.

The Reclamation of an Industrial Site and Design Impacts on Environmental, Social, and Economic Resilience

Background and objective The industrial crisis in Michigan, USA calls for the redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites into functioning public spaces. Neglected spaces have negative impacts on the surrounding communities, promoting aesthetic, safety, economic, and environmental issues. The purpose of this study was to explore and discuss the possible redevelopment of an underused site, with particular focus on its industrial site elements; quantitative measures were then applied to determine redevelopment's effects on the nearby community. Methods The Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan, USA was selected as a case study. Landscape performance research methods were applied to quantitatively analyze the environmental, social, and economic benefits of reclaiming this abandoned industrial site and its various elements. Results The findings show that implementing the case study redesign would result in positive environmental impacts. These impacts include expanded areas of ecologically valuable land, a reduction in sulfur dioxide, and increases in carbon sequestration, retained stormwater, and the use of recycled contents. The case study redevelopment project would impact the surrounding economic context through savings on water treatment costs obtained from the use of retained stormwater, increased property values, and job creation. Furthermore, the redesign would also impact social aspects by increasing the available gathering spaces and public open areas and enhancing safety by adding sidewalks and bike lanes. Conclusion The findings of this study will help designers and planners recognize the value of reusing existing industrial sites instead of undertaking harmful demolition processes, eventually leading to more sustainable community designs.

Investigating the Idea of Multifunctional Public Spaces for Sustainable Communities

In order to accommodate the needs of a rapidly growing population, cities are losing their open urban spaces to provide infrastructure. These spaces act as lungs of a city, areas of traditional occupations, and community gathering spaces during social events. This paper takes up the case of open spaces used for traditional livelihoods. This research investigates whether multifunctional spaces can generate economic opportunities alongside urban experiences for traditional communities. This paper assumes that a multifunctional urban space is the integration of different functions in time and space. A technique of questionnaire-based study coupled with architectural design iterations is used to analyze and propose sensitive design solutions to the problems identified with the multifunctional urban space. The chosen area is Ulsoor Dhobi Ghat in Bangalore, a historic site in an upcoming heritage precinct of the city, thus providing the opportunity to transform it while creating an identity for the Dhobi community.

Rock With Lots Of Holes

We perceive our surroundings differently when fully engaged with them. Interactions with spaces begin to define our experience of the world. This research is a modern story of matter and philosophy, investigating the rock Scoria to produce a series of public architectural spaces that uniquely engage with the beholder. By taking part in the Material Imaginaries Research Collective - AUT Spatial Design department - I ask the following: 'What is our world made of? How might an expanded sense of 'material' and a focus on meaning, provenance, story, and performance recast how we make space?' With an imaginary read on the rock Scoria, the research explores both abstract and tangible ways to unfold a narrative of matter. Engaging with geographical, cultural, and social aspects that define the scoriaceous element and its connection to the “Tamaki Makaurau Volcanic landscape” (Tūpuna Maunga Authority). The exploration of Scoria's materiality becomes the driving aspect of the study, bridging learning and processes into practice-led research to uncover the existing history of the volcanic rock, challenging conventional methods and developing Le Mappe Del Mondo, Lavoro Manuale, and Il Giornale as a creative alternative to organize the various tools and techniques that shape the creative practice. The choice to incorporate Italian terminology becomes a playful way to acknowledge my background through the research. The project wishes to provide a set of interventions that engage with the geographical heritage features of Tāmaki Makarau in shaping a collection of public gathering spaces that activate unfurnished and unutilized areas around the territory. By celebrating the Tūpuna Maunga to showcase the heritage values associated with preserving those sites and considering the broader landscape's role in supporting our growth as a society. By providing a range of public spaces for the collective, such as gatherings and recreation, the designer considers all the components to ensure “sustainable” (Project for Public Spaces) city life engagement.

Banging tunes in the basement: Finding online community in COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unique restrictions on human sociability. In response, exceptional initiatives using a range of existing technologies and platforms have emerged to mitigate lockdown isolation. Basement Traxx, a kind of hybrid DJ set streamed from a Glasgow basement, was one of these initiatives. As the lockdown was extended, it became a virtual gathering space, with unexpectedly powerful impacts on its audience. This research seeks to define and describe this phenomenon. In this study, we find new permutations of engagement in space, in time and in presence. We find expressions of joy in the show’s particular sociability. In the isolation of lockdown, here is an experience in which participants felt affirmed, validated and re-constituted as subjects and actors. In their response, we find an enthusiastic push-back in favour of communal musical spaces and against a political economy of music that has pressed relentlessly towards isolation, individuation and commodification.

Effectiveness of gathering activities and spaces for community recovery in GEJET-2011-affected areas

ABSTRACT Natural disasters are becoming more frequent around the world; as a result, more citizens are losing their homes, and community bonds are becoming weaker. To address this issue, scholars have emphasized the importance of providing diverse gathering spaces and activities within shelters, temporary housing sites, and permanent housing areas, to help rebuild communities. Providing such services helps to strengthen social bonds between different genders and groups, and it can facilitate the recovery of both the built environment and community cohesion. During the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011, many communities lost their settlements and were forced to relocate to new areas or reconstruct the old ones. Based on a series of site visits, interviews, and questionnaire surveys conducted for selected case studies, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of gathering spaces and recovery activities on the rebuilding of communities at different stages after the disaster. Different factors (e.g., gender and dwelling type) are found to be potentially effective at improving the benefits of such services; however, an inclusive approach providing diversified gathering spaces and activities is found to best help reduce bias between the beneficiaries and residents of gathering services and restore the community after a disaster.

Rethinking Art Museum Spaces and Investigating How Auxiliary Paths Work Differently

It has been recognized that one of the key issues in designing museums is the interaction between the layout of space and the layout of objects, and spatial configurations are strongly related to didactic narratives, social implications, and curatorial intentions. However, it has not yet been examined thoroughly how museums work from a spatial perspective. Apart from the layout of objects, spatial configurations play an important role in creating various walking sequences, ranging from main routes to auxiliary paths. Art museums in particular can be characterized by such deviations generated by the auxiliary path, but they are hardly understood from this aspect. Therefore, this study aims to explore the auxiliary paths and examine how they work through in-depth theoretical analysis based on space syntax. By analyzing four art museums in terms of isovist attributes, syntactic measures, spatial sequences, and possible trails, it has been concluded that in the cases of the Uffizi Gallery and the Moderna Museet, spatial sequences work conservatively, so that auxiliary paths are channeled back to the gathering space. This is because the walking experience is strongly correlated with visual syntactic features such as connectivity, integration, and intelligibility. Conversely, walking sequences in the case of the Centre Pompidou and the Alte Pinakothek work generatively, and auxiliary paths are rarely related to the gathering space because the walking experience is strongly concerned with visual geometric properties such as isovist area/perimeter and occlusivity.

(Re)Constructing Community after Disaster: Survivors’ Use of Facebook Groups 1 Year after the Camp Fire

Due to the widespread destruction of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California in November 2018, residents faced long‐term displacement and disruption to community life. In response, digital spaces emerged as an important gathering space for survivors. While research has addressed the role of social media during disasters, less is known about the long‐term uses of digital platforms in post‐disaster recovery. This study presents a content analysis of the use of public Facebook groups created by and for survivors of the Camp Fire approximately 1 year after the event. It examines 480 posts from seven groups during a 2‐week period from November 19, 2019 through December 2, 2019. Users were most often seeking or providing informational support, but they also frequently used the groups for community‐building. Less frequent uses included instrumental, material, and emotional supports. Social media provide an alternative space for these community functions and also enable the recovery of the town itself.

Impact of the socio-environmental quality of the courtyard house on occupant satisfaction:

In the old traditional houses, the inner central courtyard was the focal point of the house. Most of the rooms, if not all of them, are directly connected to the courtyard. Privacy is the watchword for the courtyard as expressed by maximizing interior relationships and openness, while excluding the exterior. In addition to its socio-cultural role as family gathering spaces, the courtyard provides daylight from the shade, airflow and thermal comfort inside the rooms of the house, factors that help to create more or less comfortable living conditions during the day and sleeping conditions at night. The main objective of this research is to investigate the impact of the courtyard’s socio environment quality on the degree of the occupant satisfaction as well as on their perceptual behaviour in traditional houses with central courtyards in the oasis of M'chouneche. The survey has been used as a method for data collection. A questionnaire was the tool addressed by the researcher in a face to-face mode with 18 householders. These latter lived in these traditional houses. The analysis of the collected data was undertaken by using STATISTICA software and mainly based on descriptive and inferential statistics. The results illustrate the influence of the socio-cultural and organizational role that the courtyard plays on the level of user satisfaction. As conclusion, M’chouneche traditional courtyard houses were designed founded on a considerable interest to climatic requirements in their socio-cultural context, in order to provide both physical and psychological comforts for residents.

Authorization and levels of justice in recovery of gathering spaces after the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011

Public meeting spaces can enhance justice in communities by providing a suitable platform where all community members can attend events, meet others, and express themselves freely. Many homes and gathering spaces were destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, and as a result, important platforms where communities could gather had vanished. Even though different types of organizations restored gathering spaces, in terms of enhancing justice, the recovered spaces served the affected people differently. This study aims to identify how different aspects of justice (procedural, distributive, and interactional) vary in gathering spaces that were created through different authorizations. For this study, cases from communities in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures of Japan were selected based on a process-oriented approach combined with literature review, field visits, semi-structured interviews, questionnaire surveys, and an evaluation of justice criteria in different cases.The research found that among the studied cases, different organizations targeted communities distinctively. According to the justice criteria evaluation, gathering spaces created by residents' associations and non-profit organizations had better results than those created by local governments. These communities were empowered to administer the spaces, which were provided with well-connected multiple gathering spaces and a balanced ratio of social, optional, and necessary gathering activities. In contrast, local governments offered centralized large-scale gathering spaces with minimum connections to other gathering spaces, spaces were combined with various functions and did not authorize community members to be involved in their administration. It was concluded that procedural justice is an important key, as it results in the empowered authorization and administration of communities, enhances distributive and interactional justice, and leads to increased freedom of choice. It also leads to consideration of multiple gathering spaces, evenly distributed in the recovered area, and maximizes the accessibility and useability of such spaces.

The Freston Causewayed Enclosure

Current models view southeast England as where Neolithic lifeways were first introduced to Britain from continental Europe c. 4000 cal BC, however, there has been little work detailing this process in coastal East Anglia. In 2019, work at the Freston causewayed enclosure provided the first view of a major gathering space associated with semi-mobile farming communities of the Early Neolithic in the county of Suffolk and located on a major estuary close to the North Sea. Excavation produced a rich assemblage of worked flint and Mildenhall Ware pottery (potentially for feasting), plus evidence for the consumption of cereals and hazelnuts.

Student-Collaboration in Online Computer Science Courses – An Explorative Case Study

As a result of the current Covid-19 pandemic, a shift in teaching and learning from face-to-face to video-based online instructional settings has also occurred in higher education. For online teaching, strategies are required to allow collaboration and interaction between learners, similar to face-to-face teaching. Therefore, it is essential to identify how students perceive group work in online classes in order to be able to draw relevant conclusions for the design of online classes. This paper examines the learning climate and the perceived key features of collaborative learning in two different computer science courses with (N = 9) pre-service-teachers in computer science and (N = 7) computer science majors which have taken place in the virtual gathering space gather.town. We chose this platform to provide a wide opportunity for interaction, especially during collaborative group work. Even though we can draw no conclusions that the possibility of interaction in gather.town platform had an impact on the learning atmosphere, results indicate that the learning atmosphere was perceived as similar to that in face-to-face courses. Furthermore, the results based on the qualitative content analysis indicate that students perceived a high activation as working better in online collaboration than in face-to-face settings.

Functioning and environment: Exploring outdoor activity-friendly environments for older adults with disabilities in a Chinese long-term care facility

ABSTRACT Older adults with disabilities are very dependent on the physical environment, but evidence concerning outdoor activity-friendly environments is limited. This study developed the functioning and environment model to analyse the interactions among body functions and structures (physiological or psychological functions of body systems and anatomical parts of the body), outdoor environments, and outdoor activities in older adults with disabilities. Demographic and health surveys of older adults (N = 95), interviews with older adults (N = 95) and staff members (N = 28), and behavioural observations of older adults (N = 12) were conducted at a typical Chinese long-term care facility. Environmental needs were revealed by thematic analysis in five themes: natural environments with positive sensory stimuli, accessible and personalized gardening spaces, safe and comfortable walking environments, spaces and equipment for playful exercise, and gathering spaces mixing diverse people. The results showed that the outdoor environment could facilitate outdoor activities by compensating for impairments and utilizing remaining body functions and structures, which could further improve body functions and structures. This study enriches understanding of the relationship between functioning and the environment, providing a new perspective for interdisciplinary cooperation between medical and design fields on environments for healthy ageing.

Competitive survival in a devastated industry: Evidence from hotels during COVID-19.

In the face of COVID‐19, the federal government scrambled to provide emergency funding to businesses, but did not always take into account the heterogeneous nature of firms, especially within industries. Using the lodging industry as the application, this article shows that businesses' failure risk in a pandemic depends on a business' native ability to adapt to changing safety needs, in particular its ability to provide a socially distanced environment. Hotels not well suited to social distancing—for example, destination‐type hotels with large gathering spaces and many personalized services—offered deeper price discounts or closed down altogether during the pandemic. Simpler hotels with fewer ancillary services were more likely to remain open, with a substantial proportion actually increasing prices. Area infection rates mattered little. Effects are identified by comparing prepandemic expectations of outcomes to updated within‐pandemic expectations of outcomes, all while holding the place and the time of consumption fixed.