Interaction In Public Spaces Research Articles

Inconvenient Samples: Modeling Biases Related to Parental Consent by Coupling Observational and Experimental Results.

In studies involving human subjects, voluntary participation may lead to sampling bias, thus limiting the generalizability of findings. This effect may be especially pronounced in developmental studies, where parents serve as both the primary environmental input and decision maker of whether their child participates in a study. We present a novel empirical and modeling approach to estimate how parental consent may bias measurements of children’s behavior. Specifically, we coupled naturalistic observations of parent–child interactions in public spaces with a behavioral test with children, and used modeling methods to impute the behavior of children who did not participate. Results showed that parents’ tendency to use questions to teach was associated with both children’s behavior in the test and parents’ tendency to participate. Exploiting these associations with a model-based multiple imputation and a propensity score–matching procedure, we estimated that the means of the participating and not-participating groups could differ as much as 0.23 standard deviations for the test measurements, and standard deviations themselves are likely underestimated. These results suggest that ignoring factors associated with consent may lead to systematic biases when generalizing beyond lab samples, and the proposed general approach provides a way to estimate these biases in future research.

Social psychology in the street: knowing the graffiti practices in the daily dispute for the public space

This writing has two main purposes: first, make some initial aproximations from social psychology, and others nearby disciplines, to contribute in understanding of the interaction in public spaces , and second, present partial results of an ongoing investigation. From a qualitative methodology and an ethnographic design, some initial categories about meanings and practices in the public space of young graffiti artists in the city of Puerto Montt are put into dialogue with the way in which these collective action proceedings interact with some institutions and regulations, which seek to regulate the uses and possibilities of inhabiting the city. As a first results, the meanings of update, whitening and recycling can be observed as practices that young people carry out in public spaces and the experience of constant dispute in the interaction between graffiti artists and other inhabitants of the city.

Growing up African Canadian in Vancouver: Racialization, Gender and Sexuality

Vancouver is one of the most diverse cities in North America, with 49% of the population identifying as people of colour. However, residents who are racialized as Black or claim an African ethnic origin make up just over 1% of the population. These residents may constitute a hyper-visible minority in the local context, but they are firmly embedded in discourses about Blackness that transcend local geographies. Based on interviews with 35 adult children of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, this paper explores some of the ways that gendered and sexualized discourses of Blackness shape the lives of men and women in metro Vancouver. Interactions in public spaces include challenges to competency, honesty, and respectability, while private lives are marked by differences in heterosexual desirability that enhance the romantic prospects of men and limit those of women. The following discussion illustrates that processes of racialization are simultaneously gendered and sexualized.

1663. Community Engagement for Ebola Prevention in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

BackgroundThe second largest outbreak of Ebolavirus in history is currently ongoing in Eastern DRC. The epidemic is characterized by social resistance to foreign-led response teams. Trusted local health practitioners, including medical students, may be valuable social mobilizers in this challenging context.MethodsWe report on a student-led educational campaign to increase community awareness and engagement in EVD control efforts. We evaluated student and community participant satisfaction using standardized questionnaires.ResultsThe outreach was conducted in November 2018, involving parades, speeches, branded banners and T-shirts, and interpersonal interactions in public spaces. Key messages, linked to previously identified resistant attitudes, included: “Ebola exists in Butembo,” “Bring infected family members to the Ebola Treatment Unit,” and “Leave burials to the official team.” Medical students (n = 355) and community participants (n = 319) evaluated the outreach campaign. Satisfaction was high: 320 (90%) students agreed that medical students could contribute to the EVD response effort, and 233 (73%) community members agreed that the students had helped them understand Ebola in the area. Lower satisfaction scores were associated with self-reported “resistant” attitudes (e.g., intention to hide infected family member from authorities, ρ = -0.25, P < 0.0001), denial of the existence of Ebola in the area (ρ = -0.17, P = 0.0018), and mistrust of the foreign response team (e.g., belief in mercenary motive, ρ = -0.11, P = 0.042). Higher satisfaction scores were associated with the view that local engagement was critical to ending the epidemic (ρ = +0.13, P = 0.017). Both students (77%) and community members (71%) agreed that they were more motivated to combat Ebola as a result of the outreach, suggesting that the activities fostered empowerment.ConclusionMedical students can lead satisfactory community engagement and educational activities during an EVD epidemic. As trusted local health agents, medical students may be valuable allies in building public trust and cooperation in this epidemic complicated by social resistance.Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Turning the Passer-by into a Customer: Multi-party Encounters at a Market Stall

ABSTRACTInteractions at a fruit and vegetable stall in a public market are analyzed—focusing on the moments of configurative change as one sales encounter comes to an end and another begins. Market participants address the lack of structural regulation endemic to an open market stall by interactively achieving an order for sales. Participants’ role transformations from passersby to customers turn out to be finely intertwined with respective changes to the entire configuration at the market stall. The evidence demonstrates that various forms of interactions are at play in a public market that go beyond the boundaries of dyadic and focused sales encounters. Furthermore, the complex nature of multiple actors in informal settings managing divergent action trajectories can result in participants entering encounters “at the wrong moment,” thus lacking situational knowledge to interpret a constellation “correctly.” Overall, the findings connect conversation analytic studies on service encounters with sociological and ethnomethodological research on interaction in public spaces. The data are in Swiss German with an English translation.

Eating outdoors: an inscription–prescription analysis of user behaviour in public spaces

This paper examines how public spaces deal with users’ demand for eating food under the framework of inscription–prescription (Akrich, in: Law and Bijker (eds) Shaping Technology/Building Society: studies in socio-technical change, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1992), which is based on actor-network theory (ANT). This concept approaches to a physical setting of space working for eating activity, and reveals the social–material interactions in public space. The empirical research was conducted in two small public spaces in London—Fortune Street Park and Kingston Ancient Market. This research reveals (1) the detailed inscription (materialisation) process from the social interests connected with eating to the physical objects in public space; (2) the different relational dynamics between various actors in the prescription for eating; and (3) how the eating prescriptions in each case respond to the other activities. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the prescription framework as an empirical tool for exploring diverse public space issues.

100 The Factors Which Impact Non-Familial Intergenerational Interaction within Public Space: An Integrative Review

Abstract Background Intergenerational interaction is the communication which occurs between people from two or more generations and known benefits include improved psychological wellbeing and decreased social isolation. Intergenerational programs therefore have the potential to decrease risk of loneliness for older people. Public spaces are accessible and open for use to all people, irrespective of age or ability, and are therefore an important environment to consider for intergenerational interaction development. The aim of this review was to identify factors which impact non-familial intergenerational interaction within public spaces. Methods An integrative review of qualitative and quantitative peer reviewed literature was completed, from inception through January 2019. Academic Search Complete, Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, CINAHL, Science Direct, SCOPUS, Social Sciences Citation Index and Web of Science were searched. The search yielded 488 articles, 16 of which were included. Research studies were critically appraised using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool and key data were extracted and synthesised to identify the factors which impact non-familial intergenerational interactions in public spaces, through a method of constant comparison analysis. Results Three key themes were identified: ‘Comparing naturally occurring non-familial intergenerational interactions with structured intergenerational programs’; ‘Barriers to non-familial intergenerational interactions in public spaces’ and ‘Successful non-familial intergenerational interaction achieved through shared activity’. Conclusion The findings highlighted that structured intergenerational programs have a greater chance of facilitating positive intergenerational interaction, as the presence of a group facilitator directly enabled non-familial intergenerational interactions. Successful non-familial intergenerational interactions were achieved through shared experiences of fun and meaningful activities. Barriers to non-familial intergenerational interaction in public space included lack of opportunities, negative attitudes held of different generations, age stereotypes and age segregation. Older people have the potential to benefit most from non-familial intergenerational interaction, due to increased risk of loneliness and high participation rates in non-familial intergenerational interactions in public spaces.

Reconstituting the Urban Commons: Public Space, Social Capital and the Project of Urbanism

This article outlines a framework for connecting design-oriented research on accommodating and encouraging social interaction in public space with investigation of broader questions regarding civic engagement, social justice and democratic governance. How can we define the “kind of problem a city is” (Jacobs, 1961), simultaneously attending to the social processes at stake in urban places, the spatial ordering of urban form and the construction of the forms of agency that enable us to make better places on purpose? How can empirical research be connected more systematically to theories of democratic governance, with clear implications for urban design, urban and regional planning as professional practice? This framework connects three distinct theoretical moves: (1) understanding the sociological implications of public space as an urban commons, (2) connecting the making of public space to research on social capital and collective efficacy, and (3) understanding recent tendencies in the discipline of urban design in terms of the social construction of a “program of action” (Latour, 1992) at the heart of the professional practices relevant to the built environment.

Philadelphia Playful Learning Landscapes: Scaling strategies for a playful learning movement

Playful Learning Landscapes seeks to transform everyday spaces into playful learning opportunities to maximize “the other 80 percent” of time that children spend outside school. It lies at the intersection of the growing Child Friendly City movement and a global development agenda that calls for access to high-quality early childhood education for all. A joint project of Temple University’s Infant and Child Laboratory and the Brookings Institution, Playful Learning Landscapes is a broad umbrella initiative that marries community involvement and learning sciences with placemaking in order to design carefully curated playful experiences in everyday spaces. As it focuses on learning outcomes, particularly for children and families from under-resourced communities, Playful Learning Landscapes offers a new way to involve families in the kinds of experiences that enrich relationships and enhance children’s development. This report documents the scaling journey to date of Philadelphia Playful Learning Landscapes (PPLL) and the lessons learned, to help inform further expansion in Philadelphia and with adaptation and adoption by other cities and countries. Lessons are targeted toward city-level actors—policymakers, implementers, researchers, and funders in Philadelphia and beyond—who wish to expand and sustain evidence-based approaches that foster learning and caregiver–child interactions in public spaces and everyday spaces where people regularly go and can be easily engaged. The aim is to move beyond supporting the replication of a single installation, to shaping the mainstream practices of business, government, and other organizations to incorporate playful learning principles and design into their own work.

Multiple Communication Roles in Human–Robot Interactions in Public Space

This study looks at robots as media and aims to explore the multiple communication roles that they can play in public space. We have analyzed three scenarios: European Researchers’ Night in Pisa; the inauguration of the University of Udine’s 39th academic year; and the official video of the inauguration in Udine. These three scenarios represent three types of media interactions. The first is a human–robot interaction based on a one-to-one or circular communication model; the second is a robot–human interaction based on a one-to-many communication model in-presence; and the third is a robot–human interaction, based on the classical one-to-many communication model mediated through a television screen. Results show that public patterns of behavior toward the robot tend to replicate the ritualization of encounters between humans in the one-to-one model, and audience rituals in public events toward human characters in the one-to-many model. Second, greater proximity and familiarity with the robot increases the respondents’ positive evaluations of all the aspects of the interactions. These results are in line with results coming from research on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use.

Improving the Quality of Urban Lives through Public Art in Taman Suropati, Jakarta

A successful public space requires good infrastructures and atmosphere so that it can successfully invite and engage its users in various activities. The placement of public art in a city park may stimulate and invite active contacts rather than just passive observation, thereby promoting social interaction. The purpose of this study is to discuss the use public art as well as its role in improving social interaction in public space. The aesthetic quality in a work of art can transmit impulses resulting particular suggestions in human’s imaginative life and even attract activities that in turn create a great public space that sustains stronger communities. As a case study is public art in Taman Suropati, Menteng, Jakarta, which is known as the first garden city in Indonesia. In 1984, six statues from six pioneer countries of ASEAN were placed in this garden. This garden functions not only as a green open space and a recreational area for nearby residents but also as a place for some art communities to meet and hold their activities. The phenomena of a park that enhances community’s activities in Taman Suropati becomes the focus for the study especially how the idea of public art is initiated, sustained, and affected urban lives. This study also suggests some possibilities of improving urban life’s quality by using public art located at public spaces as the medium.

How great and how good?: Third places, neighbor interaction, and cohesion in the neighborhood context

Though Ray Oldenburg's (1989) notion of “third places”, or places conducive to sociality outside of the realms of home and work, has received both scholarly and popular attention over the past several decades, many of the author's central claims remain empirically untested. The present study considers the association between neighborhood third places, cohesion and neighbor interaction. Drawing on various literatures regarding interaction in public space and neighborhood use-value, we consider how the role of third places might vary according to neighborhood socioeconomic context. Using data from Wave I of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS) and data on third places from the point-based business data of ReferenceUSA, we test the effect of third places on cohesion and neighbor interaction across neighborhood poverty strata. We find support for the hypothesis that third places are associated with greater cohesion and neighbor interaction, and that neighbor interaction mediates the relationship between third places and cohesion in poor neighborhoods.

Geographies of ethnic segregation in Stockholm: The role of mobility and co-presence in shaping the ‘diverse’ city

This article assesses how urban segregation and ethnic diversity in Stockholm have been shaped by spatial policy and migration trajectories over time. Much of the urban studies and planning literature defines segregation as a measure of residential mixing. In contrast, our research suggests that segregation could be understood as a lack of opportunities for interaction in public space. In the case of Stockholm, space syntax network analysis and the establishment of ethnicity as a statistical category suggest that despite the social infrastructure provided by the Swedish state, the city’s specific spatial configuration alongside its policies of housing allocation have resulted in severe constraints on the potential for co-presence between new immigrants and the native Swedish population. Spatial analysis suggests that the city’s public transport infrastructure is a contributory factor in maintaining separation between foreign-born and ethnic Swedes. Coupled with a high level of social deprivation amongst new immigrants, the result is a multi-dimensional spatial segregation process that persists amongst the second immigrant generation, reinforcing ethnic and socio-economic area-based housing segregation. We conclude that despite Sweden’s long-standing political vision of social integration, its capital is suffering from increasing ethnic spatial differentiation, which will most likely persist unless a greater consideration of spatial connectivity and an introduction of ethnic and racial equality data in policy and practice are brought to bear.

Encounters in Public Space: How Acquainted Versus Unacquainted Persons Establish Social and Spatial Arrangements

ABSTRACTThis article studies how people enter into interactions in public space by examining casual encounters initiated either by strangers or acquainted persons. It contributes to the study of openings of interactions in public space from a conversation analytic perspective. The analysis reveals systematic similarities and differences between these two kinds of encounters, with regard to the prospective participants’ recognition, identification, and categorization, their spatial approach, the absence vs. presence of greetings, the delivery of a reason for the encounter vs. the manifestation of the social relation, and the shaping of the embodied participation framework. Data are in French and Italian with English translations.

Revisiting Lively Streets: Social Interactions in Public Space

Given the investment in streets, it is imperative for planners and urban designers to determine what makes streets social places. Defining street liveliness as stationary social behavior and duration of stay, we present an empirical longitudinal study extending previous research findings. Using observations and visual surveys, regression analysis and factor analysis, we study liveliness and determine its correlation with street characteristics. Extending prior findings, we ask, what changes in street characteristics over time predict increases in liveliness? Complementing previous results, we found liveliness was significantly predicted by increases in commercial seating, public seating, block variety, independent businesses, and community-gathering places.

Sentiment Architectures as Vehicles for Participation

What if the large programmable surfaces of media architecture were used to empower citizens, instead of for commercial purposes? Designer, maker and researcher Moritz Behrens and his collaborators have created Sentiment Architectures with this aim in mind. Here he describes how two of their projects – the Smart Citizen Sentiment Dashboard and the Sentiment Cocoon – encourage interaction in public spaces, allowing individuals to express their feelings and enabling a better understanding of communities' needs.

"Do You Have Any Empties?" Bottle Collectors’ Interactions in Public Spaces in Zagreb

This paper describes the practices of people who collect discarded bottles and cans during public events in Zagreb, Croatia, which they return to recycling centers in order to receive a deposit needed to supplement their low incomes. In addition to an ethnographic section in which we briefly describe this underrepresented aspect of everyday life in Zagreb, we address the symbolics at play in collectors’ interactions among themselves and with bottle providers – people who gather in public spaces and consume drinks from bottles and cans. In so doing, we describe how the presence of a marginalized social group becomes visible in public spaces.

Digital absolution

Based on online observation of communication in a web-based weight loss forum, this article identifies the relevance of confession and absolution as characteristics of online interactions. Our close study of forum messages, arranged as web diaries open to comments from participants, shows that self-blaming posts elicited absolutional replies. With a primary interest in those personal posts which had a confessional character, we identified three aspects of absolution in replies: collective, prospective and supportive. Of special sociological interest is how online interaction in the forum challenges the concept of ‘civil inattention’ (Goffman, 1971) as a basic social norm for interaction in public spaces. Rather, absolutional attention defines the interactional order within the forum, in which diary authors receive feedback on their accounts of challenges, problems and failures. Studying online communication in detail may contribute to an important theoretical refinement of interactionist sociology, which currently strongly rests on studies from pre-Internet times.

LEGIBILITY OF NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIAL INTERACTION IN A PLANNED RESIDENTIAL AREA

Neighbourhood parks are designed to provide opportunities for leisure and communal activities for the residents. However, studies have indicated that social interactions in these spaces are not at a satisfactory level. In the urban design context, a good public space should be legible to the observers. Legibility refers to the apparent clarity of the cityscape that directs people’s movement, pattern of activities and form of interaction in public spaces. This paper discusses park’s legibility and its impact on social interaction within a neighbourhood. The results presented are based on a questionnaire survey and a mental mapping exercise conducted with residents in the city of Putrajaya, Malaysia. The results demonstrate a strong relationship between the park’s legibility and the social interactions among the park users. A clear structure of the setting and fewer sight obstacles found within the parks influence residents’ pattern and the Intensity of outdoor activities. The findings contribute to the development of legible environments in neighbourhood park design, its positive impact on social interaction, and social bonding among the residents.

Lateral Surveillance in Singapore

With the high Internet penetration rate, and the dense saturation of audio-visual-capturing mobile smartphones among its citizens, Singapore provides a ripe technological infrastructure for a surveillance society. Its citizens have been serendipitously capturing, on photo or video, socially undesirable and controversial incidents of daily living. Widespread adoption and use of social media have enhanced the viewership of these behaviours captured, and provided a platform for responses of criticisms.Panopticism, in the modern day context, is used as a metaphor to describe the effect of surveillance by authorities that shapes and manipulates social behaviour. Lateral surveillance is an opposite of panopticism, which portrays the impact of surveillance of the few, by the unseen many. This study explored the perception and impact of these activities on citizens’ social behaviours. Respondents were questioned on their awareness of surveillance in different milieu of their daily lives, such as commuting, driving, interactions in public spaces, and checking into, or uploading of photos onto social media, and its impacts on their social behaviours in those public spaces.This study recruited a sample of 223 university students, aged between 19 and 24 years, comprising of both genders, to undergo an online survey. These students were directed to an online survey, which did not capture identifiable information, by the authors who have access to the students at their university.Data collected provided descriptive statistics of the awareness and impact of panopticism, and lateral surveillance, by media-rich and media-savvy young citizens. Comparisons were made between panopticism versus lateral surveillance’s effect on social behavior. This study found that lateral surveillance had a more powerful effect on social behaviours, contributed significantly by the presence and usage of publicity channels such as FaceBook, and other local popular news websites.