People In Urban Spaces Research Articles

The great equalizer? Mixed effects of social infrastructure on diverse encounters in cities

Casual encounters with diverse groups of people in urban spaces have been shown to foster social capital and trust, leading to higher quality of life, civic participation, and community resilience to hazards. To promote such diverse encounters and cultivate social ties, policymakers develop social infrastructure sites, such as community centers, parks, and plazas. However, their effects on the diversity of encounters, compared to baseline sites (e.g., grocery stores), have not been fully understood. In this study, we use a large-scale, privacy-enhanced mobility dataset of >120 K anonymized mobile phone users in the Boston area to evaluate the effects of social infrastructure sites on the observed frequencies of inter-income and inter-race encounters. Contrary to our intuition that all social infrastructure sites promote diverse encounters, we find the effects to be mixed and more nuanced. Overall, parks and social businesses promote more inter-income encounters, while community spaces promote more same-income encounters, but each produces opposite effects for inter-race encounters. Parks and community spaces located in low-income neighborhoods were shown to result in higher inter-income and inter-race encounters compared to ordinary sites, respectively, however, their associations were insignificant in high-income areas. These empirical results suggest that the type of social infrastructure and neighborhood traits may alter levels of diverse encounters.

Assessing the impact of double-skin façades on social activities of people in urban spaces using empirical and syntactical analysis

ABSTRACT Despite the fact that previous literature has validated the significant role of urban facades in the initiation of social behaviors, there is still an existing scientific gap regarding the impact of double-skin facades on the establishment of social activities within an urban context. The main objective of the present study is to scrutinize the impact of double-skin facades on the establishment of social activities. A quantitative and qualitative research method was applied using Space Syntax and empirical observations methods. A t-test was also used to compare the independent groups using the SPSS software. The results indicated that the establishment of social and behavioral activities in front of double-skin facades were found to be significantly higher than single-skin facades. Meanwhile, the types of observed behaviors in front of double-skin facades were found to be more social and optional compared to those observed in front of single-skin facades. The implication of this study may contribute to urban and landscape designers, planners, and architects, and assist them in creating a more socially sustainable and walkable built environment.

Exploring the Link between Street Layout Centrality and Walkability for Sustainable Tourism in Historical Urban Areas

Walkability is considered a vital component of the urban configuration; urban spaces should promote pedestrian walking, which is healthier and increases social sustainability by connecting people in urban spaces. This article aims to find the link between the street layout centrality values and the people’s walkability for sustainable tourism in historic areas. Moreover, it attempts to explore the linkage between the urban layout and visiting historical spaces in the urban layout. The approach to the research has two phases; the first is to find people density (the tourist density) in the historical areas, and the second is to measure the centrality values of the urban layout utilizing the spatial design network analysis tool (sDNA). The research found that the street network considerably impacts the final tourist distribution, mainly because of the betweenness centrality; consequently, spaces with low betweenness centrality values are less reachable by the tourists in the historical area, although it has a high closeness centrality. The research concluded that considering the street network is necessary concerning the tourists’ walkability since it affects their density in the urban layout.

Urban-semantic computer vision: a framework for contextual understanding of people in urban spaces

Increasing computational power and improving deep learning methods have made computer vision technologies pervasively common in urban environments. Their applications in policing, traffic management, and documenting public spaces are increasingly common (Ridgeway 2018, Coifman et al. 1998, Sun et al. 2020). Despite the often-discussed biases in the algorithms' training and unequally borne benefits (Khosla et al. 2012), almost all applications similarly reduce urban experiences to simplistic, reductive, and mechanistic measures. There is a lack of context, depth, and specificity in these practices that enables semantic knowledge or analysis within urban contexts, especially within the context of using and occupying urban space. This paper will critique existing uses of artificial intelligence and computer vision in urban practices to propose a new framework for understanding people, action, and public space. This paper revisits Geertz's (1973) use of thick descriptions in generating interpretive theories of culture and activity and uses this lens to establish a framework to approach evaluating the varied uses of computer vision technologies that weigh meaning. By discussing cases of implemented examples of urban computer vision—from LinkNYC and Numina's urban measurements to the Detroit Police's use of DataWorks Plus's facial recognition technology—it proposes a framework for evaluating the thickness of the algorithm's conclusions against the computational method's complexity required to produce that outcome. Further, we discuss how the framework's positioning may differ (and conflict) between different users of the technology, from engineer to urban planner and policymaker, to citizen. This paper also discusses how the current use and training of deep learning algorithms and how this process limits semantic learning and proposes three potential methodologies toward gaining a more contextually specific, urban-semantic, description of urban space relevant to urbanists. This paper contributes to the critical conversations regarding the proliferation of artificial intelligence by challenging the current applications of these technologies in the urban environment by highlighting their failures within this context while also proposing an evolution of these algorithms that may ultimately make them sensitive and useful within this spatial and cultural milieu.

Evaluation of road traffic noise in terms of acoustic comfort on sidewalks at ring road of Konya-Istanbul, Turkey

Walking is an activity that can be easily done by many people in urban spaces even in short periods. The most common areas of walking in urban spaces are the sidewalks. In order for pedestrians to travel comfortably in these areas, acoustic comfort should be fulfilled. This study aims to seek an answer to the question of “Can accurate results be obtained by using an alternative method which is more efficient in terms of time, energy, and cost, in noise measurement studies?”. In this study, minimum and maximum noise measurements were made in three different time periods during the day on a part of D300 ring road in Selçuklu district, Konya province, Turkey. The obtained data were subjected to reliability analysis, unreliable data according to Cronbach's Alpha coefficient were not included in the calculations. The reliable data were evaluated in terms of compliance status according to the “Assessment and Management Regulations of Environmental Noise”. As a result of this study, it was determined that even the recorded minimum noise values have a very high potential in terms of exceeding the limit values stated in the related regulations. The results of this study showed that more efficient results can be obtained in terms of time, energy, and cost by the way of short-term (momentary) measurements, compared to the long-term (time-weighted) noise measurements.

Evaluation of walkability and mobility requirements of visually impaired people in urban spaces

The objective of this work is to evaluate the walkability of urban environments from the perspective of visually impaired people, developing a qualitative analysis based on Commented Paths Method (CPM) to derive subjective evaluations from the practical experience of specific paths. Multiple-choice questions, in applying Likert scale were used to assess physical characteristics (e.g. slope surface, sidewalk width) related to infrastructural elements of the analyzed path and their influence in the difficulty of movement, as well as interferences (e.g. need to stop, help from other people) and feelings (e.g. anxiety, tiredness) experimented along it. The elaboration of single judgments allowed the calculation of disaggregated and global Walkability Indices and the elaboration of associated thematic maps, as an innovative integration of the method, to highlight the critical aspects related to each stretch in which the path was divided.Results deriving by the implementation of a case study in the city of Enna (Italy) have revealed a greater weight to infrastructural criticalities with respect to perceived interferences, demonstrating coherence with the current situation of the analyzed area and increasing the study's validity. The research moves towards more inclusive public policies, capturing the subjective point of view of this specific target of users with visual disabilities, which is fundamental in the construction of the knowledge and crucial to improved walkability for all.

Explicit and implied significance of contemporary public spaces. Part 1. Spaces of attractions

This text presents considerations encouraged by thoughts and conclusions gained from research on several beach bars and their comparison with other urban public spaces, run in Wrocław from 2018 to 2019. The similarities and differences between the two types of spaces provoke a question about the meaning of what we call „public spaces” today. The question is also asked, somewhat perversely, about the validity of following best practices based on proxemic principles and focused on attracting and retaining people in urban spaces. The paper examines not so much the rules but the purpose, in other words the type of space we receive/can achieve as a result of applying these principles, since people in the urban space (private or public) are only guests, while their choice is reduced to the top-down offer. The above doubt also results from the conclusion regarding the most important feature determining attractiveness of a beach bar space, which in my opinion, is the freedom of behaviour for users. In it we can see deficiencies of the prevailing narrative about our participation in space and, above all, the possibility of choice, or what should be called the limitations of choice – the lack of possession/self-agency. Such a situation, largely conditioned by politics (and economics), reduces public space to the role of a “space of attractions” (curiosities), whose action and participation is based on experiencing – on a direct experience. The clash of these two forces – standardization and individualization, erodes the current model of common spaces based on the historical (nineteenth century) one, whose images are transferred only in the form of empty clichés. Thus, the limitation of choices, the need to fall into line and appearances of a community lead to an escape upwards – enclaves for the chosen ones (omnitopia) and downwards – niches for the rebellious ones (heterotopia), while beach bars represent both ways of escape. Against this background, the purposefulness of expert/ top-down creation of public spaces, carried out in isolation from other essential values and laws, appears problematic.

The influence of social interactions on the behavioral patterns of the people in urban spaces (case study: The pedestrian zone of Rasht Municipality Square, Iran)

This study attempted to investigate the influence of social interactions on behavioral patterns of the people in urban spaces. Accordingly, a combination of empirical axial line and visibility graph analysis was implemented using the Space Syntax technique and empirical observation of pedestrian activities in the course of static and dynamic was applied. In order to determine the behavioral patterns of the people, four types of observation techniques on pedestrians has been adopted, which are named, gate counts, static snapshots, movement traces and people following. Observations were considered at a specific time between 6 and 8 pm, which is considered as a relatively overcrowded hour in that specific pedestrian zone. It should be noted that the ArcGIS software has also been used in order to evaluate the consistency of the findings. The results of this study show that social interactions have a profound impact on the way that people behave in urban spaces; so that, this behavioral impact which is derived from the quality of the built environment, is transferred to the people and affects the way they behave in their own personal lives. This research contributes to architects, urban designers, environmental psychologists, policy makers and tourism managers by demonstrating the effective factors of sociable urban spaces in order to promote the level of quality in public spaces.

The Influence of Stadia and the Built Environment on the Spatial Distribution of Crime

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of “micro-” (e.g., pubs and fast-food restaurants) and “super-facilities” on area level counts of crime. Soccer stadia were selected as an example of a super-facility as their episodic use provides conditions not unlike a natural experiment. Of particular interest was whether the presence of such facilities, and their influence on the flow of people through neighborhoods on match days affects crime. Consideration was also given to how the social composition of a neighborhood might influence crime. Crime, street network, and points of interest data were obtained for the areas around five UK soccer stadia. Counts of crime were computed for small areal units and the spatial distribution of crime examined for match and non-match days. Variables derived from graph theory were generated to estimate how micro-facilities might influence the movement flows of people on match days. Spatial econometric analyses were used to test hypotheses. Mixed support was found for the influence of neighborhood social composition on crime for both match and non-match days. Considering the influence of facilities, a selective pattern emerged with crime being elevated in those neighborhoods closest to stadia on match but not non-match days. Micro-facilities too were found to influence crime levels. Particularly clear was the finding that the influence of pubs and fast-food restaurants on estimated movement flows to and from stadia on match (but not non-match) days was associated with area level crime. Our findings provide further support for ecological theories of crime and how factors that influence the likely convergence of people in urban spaces affect levels of crime.

Relationship Among Religious Orientation, Individual Attributes, and Presence of People in Urban Public Space.

The purpose of this paper is to study the rate of presence in an urban space and how it is related to people's intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations and individual attributes. For measuring religious orientation, the Allport's Scale of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation was used. The information was collected from 100 residents of Mashhad, an important religious city of Iran. Results show that internal and external religious orientations do not have a significant relationship with the presence of people in urban spaces. But there is a strong relationship between individual attributes (marital status, employment status, income level, and family relationships) and the presence of people in urban spaces. This research shows that designing with attention to environmental factors affecting mental states and attention to the presence of social strata with different income levels in urban spaces can have more impact on the presence of people in urban spaces.

Thermal comfort in urban spaces: a cross-cultural study in the hot arid climate.

This cross-cultural research is an inaugural attempt to investigate the outdoor thermal comfort and the effect of cultural and social differences in hot arid climates. Case studies were carefully selected in two different parts of the world (Marrakech in North Africa and Phoenix, Arizona, in North America) to represent two different cultures in similar climatic context. Field surveys, carried out during winter and summer, included structured interviews with a standard questionnaire, observations and microclimatic monitoring. The results demonstrate a wide thermal comfort zone and prevalence of air-conditioning influencing thermal comfort requirements. The work also provides evidence of substantial cross-cultural differences in thermal comfort requirements between residents in Marrakech and Phoenix. It shows that adaptive measures, such as level of clothing, changing place, cold drinks consumption and thermal experience, varies between cultures and this influences the thermal evaluation of visitors in outdoor spaces in the hot arid climate. Evidence between the time spent in outdoor spaces and thermal expectations has been found. Moreover, environmental variables such as air temperature and solar radiation have a great impact on the use of the outdoor spaces in the hot arid climate and may determine the number of people in urban spaces. The study also identified significant differences in thermal comfort requirements between different socio-economic groups, highlighting the need for comfortable open spaces.

Religious superdiversity and intersectionality on the field

Abstract In contemporary Western-European cities, religious diversity and street football are both characteristics of urban life. Based on ten months of ethnographic research amongst young Muslim residents of the Schilderswijk, an urban neighbourhood in the Netherlands, this article discusses how to study religious diversity in relation to girls’ football in urban spaces. It critically discusses how religion in intersectionality scholarship and in feminist scholarship on religion and gender is narrowly conceptualised as a form of racialised oppression or as piousness. I argue that these conceptualisations fail to capture the urban experiences and practices of ‘religious but not so religious’ young residents of the Schilderswijk who play football together. I conceptualise these young residents as ‘space invaders’ in urban football playgrounds and show that they have diverse experiences and strategies of playing football, which include but also exceed Islam, Islamophobia, and racism. I argue that their practices are, in addition to an intersectionality analysis, best understood through the concept of religious superdiversity (Becci, Burchardt, & Giorda, 2017), which provides a perspective that combines both religious and non-religious practices in urban life. Religious superdiversity emphasises the lived religious and secular experiences of young people in urban spaces beyond, on the one hand, piousness, and, on the other hand, racialised oppression and Islamophobia, and therefore provides an innovative approach to religious diversity in urban spaces.

Living dangerously: securityscapes of Lyuli and LGBT people in urban spaces of Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACTImaginations of existential threat do not only express themselves in exceptional actions – as prominently suggested by securitization theory – but also in routine, day-to-day practices. They can become a part of ‘normal’ life. We demonstrate this by following the everyday activities of individuals from the Lyuli as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Kyrgyzstan. Individuals from both groups actively and consciously secure themselves by employing a mix of practices that range from deterrence and open confrontation to avoidance, adaptation and hiding tactics. For the purpose of tracing and discussing these activities, our article develops and applies the innovative concept of securityscapes.

Are Trees Always ‘Good’? Urban Political Ecology and Environmental Justice in the Valleys of South Wales

AbstractThis article explores the potential of Urban Political Ecology analyses to reveal the nuanced relationships produced by nature and social relations in urban forests. A critique of the Urban Political Ecology forest literature, it focuses on the assumption in much of the literature that people in urban spaces perceive themselves to be advantaged by the presence of trees and disadvantaged by their absence. This critique leads to a call for an increased emphasis on the importance of different urban forest contexts and on the differential insights produced. The article constructs a narrative of the complex relationships, both historic and current, between communities, forest and the regulatory authorities in the governance of the urban forest of the valleys of south Wales. It then draws on recent research to reveal tensions in capitalist production and consumption relations, and identifies specific issues. Analysing these relationships and comparing the south Wales valleys case with other examples in Urban Political Ecology literature, the article seeks to promote the utility of Urban Political Ecology as a concept and to advance theoretically both Urban Political Ecology and, by extension, environmental justice.RésuméL'écologie politique urbaine, à travers ses analyses, est susceptible de révéler les relations en demi‐teintes que génèrent la nature et les relations sociales dans les forêts urbaines. Dans une critique des publications d'écologie politique urbaine sur la forêt, cet article s'intéresse à l'hypothèse courante selon laquelle les habitants des espaces urbains ressentent la présence d'arbres comme un avantage, et leur absence comme un désavantage. Il apparaît nécessaire de souligner l'importance des différents contextes de la forêt urbaine, ainsi que la diversité des perspectives qu'ils créent. L'article expose les rapports complexes, tant passés qu'actuels, entre communautés, forêt et autorités de réglementation dans le cadre de la gouvernance de la forêt urbaine de ‘The Valleys’ en Galles du sud. De plus, à partir de travaux de recherches récents, il repère des tensions dans les relations entre production capitaliste et consommation des espaces forestiers, et identifie des problèmes spécifiques. L'analyse de ces relations et la comparaison du cas des vallées des Galles du sud avec d'autres exemples traités dans les textes d'écologie politique urbaine encouragent à voir cette discipline comme un concept utile, donc à développer son cadre théorique et, par extension, celui de la justice environnementale.

Disparity and diversity in the contemporary city: social (dis)order revisited1

Disparity and diversity in the contemporary city: social (dis)order revisited¹

Urban Free Flow: A Poetics of Parkour

Urban Free Flow: A Poetics of Parkour