Local Social Interaction Research Articles

Critical factors for the success of historic food markets: insights from Bolhão market, Portugal

ABSTRACT Historic food markets (HFM) have become prominent attractions, offering visitors a unique blend of local culture, social interaction, traditional foods, and authentic experiences. Recognised as important to both tourism and community life, HFM are now integrated into urban development strategies worldwide. Despite their importance, there is a notable lack of research on HFM. This study addresses this gap by analysing the specific HFM elements influencing visitor satisfaction and revisit intentions at Bolhão Market, a historic landmark in Porto, Portugal, which reopened in 2022 after extensive rehabilitation. Surveying 371 visitors, we used PLS-SEM to examine various dimensions of the market, including some previously unexplored in the literature. Multigroup analysis identified differences between first-time and repeat visitors. Results reveal that product perception is the strongest determinant of visitor satisfaction, followed by the market’s physical environment, authenticity, and aesthetics. Price and events do not influence satisfaction or revisit intention, suggesting the unique market experience outweighs these factors. First-time visitors prioritise the physical environment, while repeat visitors value aesthetics more. This study not only provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the subject, but it also fills a significant research gap and provides actionable insights for managers and policymakers.

A new direction for neighbourhood governance and community construction in China: the case of Zhejiang province’s ‘Future Communities’

ABSTRACT In March 2019, Zhejiang province introduced a new approach to China’s neighbourhood governance, placing digital technology at the centre of communities. Utilizing a case study design, we examine this approach and the role of technology in cultivating community autonomy, public participation, and local social interaction. The findings show how sociospatial dynamics guide the orchestration and reception of smart innovations for community engagement and empowerment, indicating what works and for whom. The empirical work provides a basis for future recommendations, signalling the limitations of digital innovation within communal life and reinforcing a human-centred approach to developing smart systems of community development.

Cartographies of Everyday Conflicts in Public Spaces. Informal Micro-activities on Formal Infrastructure. Carapungo Entry Park, Quito

Through the understanding of cartography as an alternative representation tool, this paper researches the existing and usually invisible relationships between informal micro-activities and formal public spaces. For this purpose, Carapungo Entry Park located in the north of Quito (Ecuador), is taken as a case study, being a paradigmatic case of the complexity and multiplicity that constitutes informality in Latin American cities. After a first analysis based on the formal planning of this park, we will focus on dissident spatial practices carried out by inhabitants who occupy and appropriate a formal space. These situations of conflict originate spatial constructions based on spontaneity, fluidity, adaptability, movement, and temporality, which include local culture, economy, and social interaction. With the production of cartographies, the processes and activities generated by formal and informal vendors, passers-by, and public transport passengers, are made visible and analyzed. The expected results based on cartography as an alternative representation, are the presentation of relations of tensions, forces, conflicts, and negotiations that allow us to identify patterns, trends and behaviors that have no place in the supposed precision and rigor of the regulations in the formal planning of public space.

Evaluating area-based policies using secondary data: the neighbourhood management pathfinders programme

This study explores the feasibility of evaluating neighbourhood-based initiatives using secondary data. As a case study, we consider the Pathfinders programme, an area-based UK intervention and evaluate its impact on a broad range of outcomes in both short and longer term. We use grid reference data from a household panel survey to identify individuals living in ‘treated’ areas before and after and appropriate control individuals living in ‘untreated’ areas. Using a difference-in-difference approach complemented with matching, we find that the programme had positive effects on reported neighbourhood problems as well as on local social interaction, which was not an intended outcome. We also show the practical usefulness of combining secondary data and geographical identifiers to evaluate area-based policies. Using data not collected for this purpose enables the consideration of a broad range of intended and unintended outcomes over the long-run. A drawback of the approach is to require large scale geographical initiatives to ensure a sufficient number of targeted units.

Local social interaction and urban equilibria

In this paper we investigate the effect of local interaction in a simple urban economics model. Agents interact with others if and only if their interaction benefit outweighs their travel cost and therefore meet others only within finite geographic windows. We show that two or more cites may co-exist at the equilibrium provided that they are sufficiently distant. For any interaction surplus function, there exists a unique spatial equilibrium on not too large city supports. The population density within a city is determined by a second order advance-delay differential equation, whose solutions are fully characterized for linear interaction surplus functions. Numerical analyses show that more localized interactions yield flatter population density and land rents over larger extents of the city support. They do not give support to the idea that multiple subcenters can be caused by small and finite geographic windows of interaction.

Hubungan Memorable Culinary Tourism Experiences dan Minat Berkunjung Kembali Wisatawan di Warung Kopi Klotok Yogyakarta

Several studies have confirmed that experience is the main goal of the tourism industry and as a significant impression for the tourist. However, there has been few studies investigating the memorable tourism experience (MTE) concept in culinary tourism, and more specifically in traditional culinary tourism, which is called the Memorable Culinary Tourism Experience (MCTE). This research aims to investigate the application of MCTE in traditional culinary tourism of Warung Kopi Klotok, and to discover the correlation between MCTE and the tourist revisit intention. Five aspects of MCTE were applied, namely local culture, decore, service quality, social interaction, and novelty. There were 267 respondents involved in this research coming from various areas in Indonesia. Two steps of data analysis were performed. We conducted a descriptive analysis to investigate level of agreement of tourist toward MTCE variables. In addition, we conducted a correlation analysis to investigate the extend of which MCTE variables are correlated with tourist revisit intention. This study shows that local culture has the highest level of agreement among the tourists, followed by social interaction, décor, service quality and novelty. Social interaction has the higest and positive correlation with tourist revisit intention, followed by décor. Interestingly, local culture has the second lowest and positive correlation with revisit intention after novelty variable.
 Keywords: culinary tourism, memorable culinary tourism experience, revisit intention, Warung Kopi Klotok Pakem, Yogyakarta

Advancing ‘Environmental Subjectivity’ in the realm of neoliberal forest governance: Conservation subject creation in the Lokkere Reserve Forest, India

State-based governance mechanisms, such as the ‘fortress model’ and ‘regulatory community’, have proven to be ineffective to overcome forest degradation. Neoliberal interventions adopted by NGOs that provide economic incentives for communities to govern forests are presented as an alternative approach. This article suggests that different neoliberal interventions produce different modes of governance and may involve multiple environmentalities. The work of the NGO ‘Junglescapes’ in the Lokkere Reserve Forest was examined through its community engagement in, (a) lantana craft making in the village and, (b) restoration in the forest. Interviews, focus group discussion, and shadowing research took place during ten field-visits between June 2017 and June 2019. Within the neoliberal governance domain, communities engaged in village occupations were provided with economic incentives through a top-down ‘neoliberal NGO apparatus’. ‘Environmental subjects’ resulted, by which individuals regulate their actions by reducing their dependence on the forest but not necessarily inculcating environmental norms or values. In contrast, actors employed in the forest exhibited independence, effected their own strategies, incorporated local knowledge, and achieved improved ecosystem conditions. This occurred due to the facilitation of local social interaction and leadership through a non-hierarchical ‘conservation network’. An advanced form of environmental subjects emerged and are proposed as ‘conservation subjects’. The latter argued as actors that are produced within a neoliberal conservation model, and are empowered and self-mobilised to act independently to conserve the ecosystem, thereby achieving more-sustainable conservation. Research results have the potential for replication across similar ecosystems, particularly within severely-degraded landscapes in India and globally.

Remembering the City: Changing Conceptions of Community in Urban China

Adopting complimentary integrative research methodologies, this article examines changing conceptions of community among urban residents within the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. Through local residents’ past memories, “everyday” experiences of (former) urban communities, and reflections on a particular way of life, we focus upon the subjective/affective meanings and memories attached to processes of urban change. We place emphasis on the manner in which residents make sense of sociospatial transformations in relation to the (re)making of community, local social interaction, and a sense of belonging. Discussion centers on the affective and embodied notions of a particular way of life in (older) communities; sensory performances that were deemed difficult to replicate within modern development zones and the broader field of contemporary Chinese society.

Civic Engagement as a Second-Order Public Good: The Cooperative Underpinnings of the Accountable State

Effective states provide public goods by taxing their citizens and imposing penalties for non-compliance. However, accountable government requires that enough citizens are civically engaged. We study the voluntary cooperative underpinnings of the accountable state by conducting a two-level public goods experiment in which civic engagement can build a sanction scheme to solve the first-order public goods dilemma. We find that civic engagement can be sustained at high levels when costs are low relative to the benefits of public good provision. This cost-to-benefit differential yields what we call a leverage effect because it transforms modest willingness to cooperate into the larger social dividend from the power of taxation. In addition, we find that local social interaction among subgroups of participants also boosts cooperation.

International students’ intercultural sensitivity in their academic socialisation to a non-English-speaking higher education: a Korean case study

ABSTRACT As global competition has intensified in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade, HE institutions of many non-English-speaking societies have strategically concentrated on internationalisation and increased the international population of their campuses. This case study investigated non-native English-speaking international students’ academic socialisation in a Korean engineering university devoted to internationalisation. A mixed method was adopted to analyse the questionnaire responses of 141 international students, along with qualitative interviews with ten of the respondents. The factors significant in their academic socialisation included their affective reactions to local cultures (intercultural sensitivity), in-class English-mediated interaction, and the need for the local language and social interaction. While their negative view of classroom interaction in the context of English-medium instruction was frequently associated with the use of the local language in class, their sensitivity to the local culture was found to exert a greater influence on their academic socialisation than the factor of the local language used by their local peers in a classroom. Notably, the negative correlation between attentiveness to the local culture and the need for social interaction illuminated the participants’ limited understanding of the local norms of interaction, such as politeness. The findings highlight a balanced approach towards locality and internationality which promotes intercultural interactions in both class and systemised language and culture education programs.

Impact of acculturation and psychological adjustment on mental health among migrant adolescents in Guangzhou, China: a cross-sectional questionnaire study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine the pathway and associations among acculturation (ie, language, social interaction and lifestyle), psychological adjustment and mental health of internal migrant adolescents in...

Becoming ‘the Internationals’—how Place Shapes the Sense of Belonging and Group Formation of High-Skilled Migrants

Within the context of the transformation of work, mobility turns into a characteristic of contemporary (work-)lives and a pre-requisite for career biographies. High-skilled migrants who are employed in academia, IT or engineering increasingly incorporate the mobility demands of their ‘mobilised professions’. This paper examines how mobile professionals relate to their current place of residence, what kind of frictions they face and what forms of (alternative) belonging they develop in response. In doing so, the paper links ideas from governmentality studies with recent work from migration studies and the spatial sciences. Our analysis draws on interviews with high-skilled migrants in Manchester (UK). While broadly accepting the mobility demands of their respective fields of work without questioning, their resulting mobile practices often undermine the development of a sense of belonging based on place attachment and local social interaction. Our empirical material suggests that this potential conflict is mediated through the constitution of a group of ‘internationals’ who share mobile biographies and the experience of in-betweenness. Based on our findings, we suggest three directions for future research: to focus on the relational aspects of place ties, to investigate the role of the workplace and more specifically the employer, and to explore how places shape differential politics of belonging.

The impact of consumer local engagement on local store patronage and customer satisfaction

This paper examines the drivers of local grocery retail patronage. Drawing on institutional and social network theory literature, we develop a framework to investigate how consumers’ personal values and engagement with local communities affect their satisfaction and local store patronage. We test our model with survey data on 1504 Finnish consumers. Our results show that the relationship between customer local engagement and local retail patronage is indirect rather than direct, and it is mediated by the vitality of local services, social interaction, and consumer satisfaction.

Residents’ preferences for walkable neighbourhoods

ABSTRACTThe ‘walkable neighbourhood’ is promoted by planners and designers as a normative goal yet resident responses to this environment, the ultimate occupants of these settings, remain unclear. Completing focus groups with 11 diverse residents’ groups, a critically understudied politically engaged population which often seeks to shape planning practice, this paper unpacks residents’ environmental preferences and examines their relationship to neighbourhood attributes commonly associated with walking. Five dominant preferences relating to local amenities, social interaction, noise, greenspace and density were identified. Positive interactions between these and the considered attributes suggest that groups might find much to like in the walkable neighbourhood. The implications for delivering walkable neighbourhoods are considered.

Analyzing the effect of nature on social interaction in urban squares (case examples: squares of Tehran)

One of issues that have been considered in the urban environment is improving the quality of these spaces. Enjoying nature and its elements can play a role in promoting them; this role can be searched in the relationship between man, nature and characterization of natural effects on the built environment and their interactions with each other. Because of the importance of urban environments as one of the most important of this space and their role in the development of society, the focus is on squares and the influence of nature on social interactions and how to respond to some psychological needs of human nature is assessed. In this study, using descriptive-analytical study and library method it was confirmed that vitality and sociability in urban areas, have a significant impact on increasing social interaction and increasing these factors improve urban spaces. By using correlation method and questionnaire and their analysis using SPSS software it was concluded that proper use of designed natural space, has a significant impact on satisfaction, socialization, creating vitality and ultimately increase local identity and social interaction. Keywords: Urban Space, Square, Natural Space, Vitality, Sociability, Social interaction

A multilevel analysis of factors influencing local social interaction

Social interaction is an important aspect of people’s quality of life. Since social networks are becoming more spatially spread as a result of the development of transportation and communication technology, it is interesting to investigate to which extent local social interactions still take place. This paper therefore analyses to what extent local social interactions are affected by characteristics of the residential environment as well as personal and mobility attributes. The analyses are based on data collected in 2008 in Eindhoven and a number of smaller surrounding villages in the south of the Netherlands among 747 respondents. The data collection instrument consisting of a two-day social interaction diary was used to gather detailed information about the respondents’ interactions and the persons they contacted. Using these data a multilevel binomial logit model is estimated analyzing whether or not a social interaction took place with a local tie (someone within 1 km distance). The results indicate that the likelihood of interacting with a local tie is affected by personal characteristics (age, gender, household size, work), mobility characteristics (number of cars, commuting time), size of the community and the presence of facilities (supermarket, sports, public transport) in the residential area.

E-Shadow: Lubricating Social Interaction Using Mobile Phones

In this paper, we propose E-Shadow, a distributed mobile phone-based local social networking system. E-Shadow has two main components: (1) Local profiles. They enable E-Shadow users to record and share their names, interests, and other information with fine-grained privacy controls. (2) Mobile phone based local social interaction tools. E-Shadow provides mobile phone software that enables rich social interactions. The software maps proximate users’ local profiles to their human owners and enables user communication and content sharing. We have designed and implemented E-Shadow on mobile phones. In our E-Shadow system, we allow users to perform dynamic and layered information publishing, making use of interpersonal relevance in space and time. Our system also provides a mechanism to help users perform direction-driven localization of an E-Shadow and match it with its owner. Experiments on real world Windows Mobile phones and large-scale simulations show that our system disseminates information efficiently and helps receivers find the direction of a specific E-Shadow with accuracy. We believe our E-Shadow concept and system can lead to a more tightly-knit temporary community in one’s physical vicinity.

Whose place? Whose history? Contrasting narratives and experiences of neighbourhood change and housing renewal

This paper suggests that more attention needs to be given to the historical formation and development of neighbourhood attachment in working-class areas. Notions of belonging and identity may be contingent, complex or contradictory and are shaped by the characteristics of place. The pattern of population change over time through the impact of migration is especially important in shaping notions of neighbourhood identity and perceptions of change. The sustainability of the local public realm and sites for local social interaction also figure strongly in narratives of change. The paper considers whether it is valuable to analyse these processes of change and continuity through the concept of path dependence. The paper suggests path dependence is of limited heuristic value, as it is difficult for this frame work to capture self-reinforcing, reactive, punctuated or incremental patterns of change – all of which were evident in the six research neighbourhoods. The paper suggests that a less deterministic “pathways” approach to neighbourhood change may be a more productive way forward

Internet for the Internationals: Effects of Internet Use Motivations on International Students' College Adjustment

Drawing upon the uses and gratifications approach, the current study examined how international students' Internet use motivations affect their academic, social, and emotional adjustments in the new environment. A total of 166 Chinese students studying in Korea participated in a web-based survey. First, a factor analysis identified four distinct motivations for Internet use: homeland orientation (to stay connected to the home country), local information seeking (to learn about the host society), local social interaction (to form interpersonal relationships locally), and entertainment. After controlling for the effects of sociodemographic variables (i.e., gender, year at school, length of residence, Korean language proficiency) and personality traits (i.e., extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism), Internet use motivations were found to be significant predictors of international students' social and emotional adjustments. Specifically, those seeking to build a local social network through the Internet reported greater satisfaction with their social life, whereas homeland orientation was associated with poorer emotional adaptation. Various Internet activities, such as e-mail, blogging, and instant messaging, were not significantly related to college adjustments, suggesting the multi-functionality of Internet-based communication channels.

Aspirations, Segregation, and Occupational Choice

This paper examines steady states of an overlapping generations economy with a given distribution of household locations over a one-dimensional interval. Parents decide whether or not to educate their children. Such decisions are a ected by location: parental aspirations depend on the earnings of their neighbors. At the same time, economy-wide wages endogenously adjust to bring factor supplies into line with demand. The model therefore combines local social interaction with global market interaction. The paper studies steadystate configurations of skill acquisition, both with and without segregation, and studies the macroeconomic and welfare effects of segregation on aggregate economic outcomes.