Perception Of Space Research Articles

The Border as a Political Space and its Economic Correlate: The Case of McMahon Line

The border as a political space involves the issues of identity, territory and sovereignty. The political undercurrent in the border discourse makes conflict a permanent category. It becomes a contested space involving the interests of two opposing nations fighting over the determinacy of the border space. In this regard, the McMahon Line, named after the foreign secretary and negotiator of the 1914 Shimla Convention, Henry McMahon, constituted an 890 km boundary from Bhutan to Burma between Tibet and British India in the eastern Himalayan region. The Shimla Convention was attended by Henry McMahon (British India), Lonchen Shatra (Tibet) and Ivan Chen (China) to determine Tibet’s sovereignty. The exercise ended in an aporia. The political developments that took place following the Chinese annexation of Tibet and the Sino-Indian War in 1962 complicated the border politics between India and China. Therefore, this article discusses the political dimensions of the McMahon Line and explores the cross-border economic engagement with China at Kenzamane (Zemithang Circle) and Bum La in Tawang District, Gelling (Kepangla Pass), Upper Siang District, Mechuka (Lolla Pass) and Monigong (Dumla Pass), West Siang District and Kibithoo, Anjaw District of Arunachal Pradesh, India, to transform the political territoriality of border space into an economic one. Through the mediation of economy and trade participation, this transformative act is assumed to change the perception of border space from a restrictive to a participatory one. The economy may emerge as a catalyst to initiate peace between two contesting countries.

Augmented reality as a tool for improving perception of authenticity of the built heritage site

PurposeThe present study focuses on analysing the impact of augmented reality (AR) on enhancing the perception of the “Authenticity of Heritage Sites” in an off-site condition. It also aims to assess participants’ satisfaction with a smartphone AR application experience of heritage sites.Design/methodology/approachThrough a literature review, the paper outlines the perception of spaces in light of digital technologies and the state of art of augmented reality (AR) applications. It then identifies criteria and indicators for assessing the “Perception of Authenticity of the Attraction Site” in AR experiences. The authors proceed with a practical implementation in two stages. The first stage involved digitally reconstructing the remains of the Sassanid Palace of Khosroes in Ctesiphon-Iraq, which dates back to the 3rd to 6th centuries AD. This reconstruction aimed to restore the lost parts of the building, and then design a proposed smartphone application for augmented reality of this heritage site. In the second stage, the application was tested through an off-site video presentation to a selected sample of participants, to simulate the application. Followed by data collection using a questionnaire.FindingsThe results revealed high percentages of positive indicators, indicating the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) in enhancing the perception of authenticity of the heritage site. Furthermore, participants expressed positive satisfaction with the AR application simulation video and advocated for the integration of new technologies in heritage experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThe study used a video presentation to simulate the proposed augmented reality application. Although this experiment defines the research benefit in the condition of pre-visit to heritage sites, the importance of the study lies in presenting the public’s interaction with these applications in Iraq as an example for Middle Eastern countries. Consequently, it is relevant to studies interested in heritage in this region, and to those comparing the conditions and results of this study with other areas in the world. Additionally, it points at the necessity for heritage managers to focus on integrating modern interactive technology applications to enhance public engagement and understanding of heritage sites.Practical implicationsThe paper gave positive results regarding the use of augmented reality technology in heritage places and results regarding satisfaction with using the application.Social implicationsProviding the public’s interaction with these applications in Iraq as an example of the Middle East countries. Consequently, understanding the heritage and calling for preservation, it is related to studies concerned with heritage in this region, in addition, the need to focus on heritage managers on integrating modern interactive technology applications to enhance general participation.Originality/valueThe paper establishes its originality by addressing the limited use of augmented reality applications in Iraq, a country in the Middle East. It highlights the audience’s recognition and endorsement of these applications. The paper examines the role of this interactive technology in raising public awareness in the region about the significance of built heritage and enhancing understanding of its authenticity. Additionally, it underscores the importance of a neglected built heritage site: the Sassanid palace in Ctesiphon. The paper highlights its considerable global tourism potential if properly considered by relevant authorities.

The mediatisation of space in the age of social media: three cases from the Liuhua Clothing Wholesale Market in China

PurposeThis research focuses on people’s activities in the Liuhua Clothing Wholesale District in Guangzhou, China. The increasing use of social media in business, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has created inevitable changes to the way space is utilised. Lockdowns and transport restrictions pushed the clothing wholesale traders to engage in livestreaming to maintain their business. This research aims to understand how spaces have been mediatised with the use of social media.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate changes in the use of spaces, this research draws on actor-network theory and regards spaces as actors, adopting qualitative research methods, including observation, semi-structured interviews and mapping.FindingsThe research finds that spaces are mediatised for presentation on social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person activities were suspended, the virtual space, constituted by elements that exist in physical and virtual spaces, became more valued. Physical space is no longer perceived as a whole but as elements, such as background, sound and light, all of which are involved in the construction of virtual space on social media. The perception of physical space has become less important than the images presented on social media.Originality/valueSocial media now exists in many people’s everyday lives, but its influence on architecture and space has received insufficient attention. This research interrogates this phenomenon in a clothing wholesale district in China to reflect on the influence. Its significance lies in documenting the spatial implications of dependence on social media and the changes to spatial use in the age of social media.

Mental maps, generational insights and symbols of urban spaces in a Romanian context

This paper contributes to the field of urban mental geography by studying the perception of urban spaces in Timisoara, Romania. It does so through an analysis of mental maps drawn by 559 survey respondents, and a qualitative analysis of these urban mental maps. The aim of this study is to identify patterns and discrepancies in the representations of urban space across different age groups. The findings suggest that children and the elderly typically map smaller areas of their daily existence, while adults have a clearer and broader image of the city. Furthermore, young adults more frequently recall recreational spaces such as clubs and restaurants, while older adults recall sports facilities and cultural spaces more. Finally, the analysis led to the establishment of a hierarchy of urban symbols, indicating that Timișoara continues to serve as one of Romania's multifunctional attraction poles due to the range and diversity of its urban symbols. As respondents associated affective elements and brands with the city, the urban brands most often recalled were the local brands. These findings are valuable for understanding urban image and community-space interactions, and they contribute insights for age-inclusive urban planning.

Enhancing resilient sustainable cities: public perspectives of urban resilient design

Resilient design contributes to sustainable urban development. This study investigates the public perception of a public space with resilient design characteristics and explores the effectiveness of these characteristics. In-depth interviews with 14 participants and on-site tours were conducted. This study also conducted a thematic analysis of the public perception of urban resilient design characteristics based on the landscape perception theory. It found four themes related to resilient design perception – meanings of place; function and needs; space form and use patterns; and it also revealed the relationships between the characteristics. The insights optimise the consideration of resilient design and have important significance for resilient design in cities.

The relationship between professional identity and the assessment of the educational environment of the university by students majoring in psychology

Introduction. The active and widespread implementation of digital learning tools (massive open online courses, webinars, blogging, etc.) has led to the emergence of new questions regarding the role of the university, including in terms of forming students' self-concept and their place in the professional community. For students of psychological profiles of study, it is extremely important to be able to competently build communication with other people, which requires a significant self-disclosure at the stage of professional training. In the conditions of the digital environment, it is quite difficult, and the effectiveness of the face-to-face format is closely related to the perception of the learning space as comfortable. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in the first half of 2023 by using Google forms. The sample included students at the Novosibirsk State Technical University studying in the field of Psychology (N=70), average age – 19 years. There were used the following questionnaires: Questionnaire of the educational environment by V.A. Yasvin; Questionnaire of social and psychological comfort of the educational environment by G. Yu. Avdienko; Digital educational environment rating scale; Questionnaire for studying professional identity by L.B. Shneider. KEYWORDS Results. 90% of students have an unaccepted identity with the university environment, 80% show signs of low self-esteem associated with activities at the university, 63% have an unsatisfied need for security within the university, 58% there is an unstable professional orientation associated with the educational environment, 50% are characterized by unstable motivation for learning. Students who feel safe in the educational environment of the university evaluate the educational environment of the university as freer (Rs=0.48, p<0.05) and creative (Rs=0.41, p<0.05), and also do not consider it difficult to acquire competencies in practical activities in digital educational environment (Rs=-0.57, p<0.01) and do not experience difficulties when planning educational activities in it (Rs= 0.66, p<0.01). Conclusion. The discovery of a correlation between professional identity and the perception of the digital educational environment among psychology students suggests that among humanitarian specialists the level of mistrust in digital technologies in education is quite high. Accordingly, the digital educational environment of a university must change significantly for the use of digital tools in learning to be associated with quality education. Identification of new data on assessing the educational environment of a university will provide opportunities for the development and implementation of sociopsychological practices to accompany students in the educational process.

Study of gender self-esteem and the specifics of subjective gender space among young men who have committed violent crimes of a sexual nature and prosocial young men

Introduction. A growing personality, in adolescence, finding itself on the threshold of adulthood, faces difficulties in determining its own intimate perspective and value guidelines for the future. Different directions and views on intimate relationships create a situation of choice, self-understanding and quick response. At the same time, personal attitudes, stereotypes, and expectations, which often are not just unformed, but destructive, are becoming increasingly important. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of gender self-esteem and characteristics of subjective gender perception in three groups of young men: those who committed sexual crimes, violent crimes and prosocial young people. Materials and methods. The study involved 135 young men aged 16-18, including those accused of violent, sexual crimes and representatives of the prosocial group. The analysis of the features of gender self-esteem and subjective gender perception was carried out using the "Personal Semantic Differential" technique. KEYWORDS Research results. Unique aspects of gender self-esteem and perception of gender space in young men involved in violent sexual crimes have been revealed. Thus, the indicators of self-esteem of representatives of this group indicate its inadequacy, which is expressed, on the one hand, in reliably lower assessments of the formation of masculine characteristics in themselves, in particular, activity (Ac = 23,14; p < 0.05) and reliably more pronounced emotional qualities (Ac = 10,08; p < 0.05). On the other hand, the inadequacy of self-esteem is revealed as a low level of self-acceptance (Ocs = 12,66), the differences with similar indicators in the "assessments of men" are statistically significant (p < 0.05). The profiles of the ideal man and men in general are characterized by higher indicators of the expression of masculine qualities, reliably (at the 95% level) differing from similar indicators in the group of prosocial young men. In the gender perceptions of violent delinquents, female peers are attributed with a greater expression of masculine characteristics (Acd = 22.07; Vd = 16.12; p < 0.05) and a lesser expression of traditionally feminine properties (Emd = 15.63; Nrd = 10.24; p < 0.01). Conclusion. The study provides a basis for the development and implementation of programs aimed at preventing and correcting the behavioral tendencies of young men predisposed to committing sexual crimes. The data obtained can help in developing programs aimed at supporting the social adaptation of young men with behavioral problems and increasing the effectiveness of the work of teachers, psychologists and social workers.

A measuring instrument for the perceptual dimensions of road traffic noisea).

Road traffic, especially in urban environments, is one of the major sources of our everyday soundscape and its impact on human well-being and health is well documented. While most studies have used perceived annoyance as an indicator of perceptual impact, little is known about the dimensions that define the perceptual space evoked by the different characteristics of road traffic noise and the acoustic correlates of these dimensions. Therefore, the present study developed a psychological instrument to measure the qualities of road traffic noise. Based on a sample of contrast pairs created from third-order Ambisonics recordings of various traffic scenes in and around Berlin and reproduced in the laboratory, attributes were elicited using a standardized but open-ended procedure. Subsequently, 45 of the recorded traffic scenes were rated by 115 participants using a redundancy-adjusted set of attributes. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the questionnaire data yielded two optimal solutions with five and seven factors spanning the perceptual dimensions. The resulting psychometrically validated instruments, in the form of 15-item and 21-item questionnaires, can be used for the perceptual assessment and for the further development of technical parameters to predict not only annoyance but also other salient qualities of traffic-related soundscapes.

The effects of professional design training on urban public space perception: A virtual reality study with physiological and psychological measurements

The effects of professional design training on urban public space perception: A virtual reality study with physiological and psychological measurements

공간과 장소에 따른 뱀요괴의 존재 양상과 의미 - 이시미와 지킴이를 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to reveal the connection between space and place in the representation of monster through a comparison of the snake monster ‘Isimi’ and ‘Jikim-i’, a type of Gasin. Ishimi is a Korean snake demon known by the alternative name of Imugi. However, in the Ishimi folktales that are passed down, Ishimi has a distinct hierarchy from Imugi and is perceived by people as a monster that should be ‘hunted’. This is because Ishimi has the animal nature of a ‘snake’, So, the name “Ishimi” is based on the fear of snakes. However, there is another entity that is equally animalized as a snake, and that is the ‘Jikim-i,’ a type of Gasin. The ‘Jikim-i’ is a type of ‘Upsin,’ a Gasin that protects the property of a house, and in the stories that are passed down, the ‘Jikim-i’ usually refers to a big snake. The guardian is the same animal, a snake, that protects the house and is considered a sacred being that should not leave the house, but there is a difference in how it is perceived by people. The difference between the name and level of recognition of Ishimi and Jikim-i, who share the same animal nature of ‘snake’, is related to the place where they exist. Ishimi appear mainly in natural ‘spaces’ and are perceived as threatening to people. Jikim-i, on the other hand, exist in ‘places of living,’ such as homes and villages, and are perceived as sacred. Space universally symbolizes freedom, and people feel a sense of openness in vast spaces. However, this sense of openness can also be intimidating. On the other hand, when space is given definition and meaning, it becomes a ‘place’, which is something people already recognize. These ‘places’ become something that people feel attached to, and they become tolerant of them. This sense of spatiality and place applies not only to spaces and places, but also to the beings that inhabit them. Ishimi appear in natural spaces such as mountains and caves, which are unknown ‘spaces’ that people do not know. Ishimi’s presence in these spaces reinforces people’s fear of the animal nature of snakes. On the other hand, Jikim-i’s presence is in places that people consider ‘meaningful,’ such as homes and villages. As a result, they are perceived as elements that make up the places that people are attached to. As a result, Jikim-i, whose animal form is a snake, is perceived as a sacred being who, unlike Ishimi, is ‘meaningful’ for protecting the home. These perceptions of space and place affect not only snake monster such as ishimi-Jikim-i, but also various representations of them, and the representations of yokai continue to change due to the changing perceptions of space and place in contemporary society.

Perceptions of procedural fairness and space for personal narrative: an experimental study of form design

AbstractApplication forms – the most mundane of documents – are often the compulsory interface between an individual and the state. From social security and immigration, to health and social care, application forms are ubiquitous across almost all areas of government bureaucracy. However, socio‐legal research on administrative justice tends to examine these forms from the perspective of front‐line decision makers, instead of form fillers. Drawing on a survey experiment with 655 recipients of Universal Credit (a means‐tested social security benefit) in the United Kingdom, we demonstrate how the inclusion of space for personal narrative in a local welfare application form – the ability to set out one's circumstances in full – significantly increases perceptions of procedural fairness. Our findings demonstrate how seemingly small changes to form design can have a considerable impact on the perceived fairness of an application process and the importance of grounding administrative justice research in the experiences of people who regularly interact with the administrative processes of the state.

Assessing Urban Public Space Quality: A Short Questionnaire Approach

This study introduces a concise questionnaire designed to evaluate the quality of urban public spaces as a simplified method for collecting community needs and perspectives, enabling these insights to be effectively combined with metrics and viewpoints from policymakers and decision-makers. The case study was carried out in one of the smallest municipalities of Attica, in the town of Kaisariani, Athens, with an emphasis on the central square and the park of the area. Findings show that the majority of respondents prioritize improving the vegetation and lighting of Kaisariani Square, as well as demands for more benches and cultural/art elements. The most important negative experience was the feeling of neglect and lack of cleanliness. Concerns about lighting and lack of care/cleanliness were also key at the park. Addressing current gaps in the public space assessment literature, the study lays the groundwork for future research and supports the creation of easy-to-use quality assessment tools. In contrast to more analytical approaches, the proposed questionnaire tool provides a streamlined and efficient method for capturing users’ perceptions of public spaces. Its design ensures that evaluations are not time-consuming or resource-intensive, allowing citizen feedback to be seamlessly integrated into various public space management processes rather than being limited to exhaustive and costly research efforts. As urban environments continue to expand, the adoption of such techniques will be essential for fostering sustainable and resilient communities that prioritize the well-being of their citizens.

Waste Around Longhouses: Taphonomy on LBK Settlement in Hlízov

Abstract The research investigates the waste management and taphonomy of a Linear Pottery Culture (c. 5600–4900 BC) settlements. Waste deposition significantly shaped the archaeological record of the Early Neolithic in Central Europe and its reconstruction fundamentally influences our perception of the settlement space and the daily life of Neolithic people. Traditionally, it has been assumed that individual households discarded waste near their longhouses. However, findings from the site Hlízov (Czech Republic) reveal a more complex waste management system, with designated disposal areas and differential treatment of various waste types. Additionally, two overlapping waste distribution networks were identified, indicating distinct models of production and waste management organisation. These settlement-wide networks were discovered due to the abandonment of the rigidly used house unit model, which appears to be inadequate for this site.

Social processing distorts physical distance perception

Psychopathy is traditionally linked to higher-level cognitive processes, but its impact on low-level cognitive functions has remained largely unexplored. This study investigates the relationship between the fundamental cognitive function of physical distance estimation and our social predisposition towards others, as captured by psychopathic traits, grouped into the three facets of Fearless Dominance, Self-Centered Impulsivity and Coldheartedness. Using an innovative experimental design, participants estimated the distance of an approaching avatar agent. We demonstrate that social processing, as reflected in the scale of Psychopathy in the general population, significantly distorts egocentric space perception. Strikingly, this distortion is absent with non-anthropomorphic agents. The study also reveals that agent emotional expressions do not affect distance estimation, when they are task-irrelevant, suggesting a disocciation between the effect of psychopathic traits on social processing and emotion processing. These results uncover a direct top-down effect of psychopathic traits on basic spatial cognition, in the presence of others. These new insights into the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying social interactions have broader implications for any field involving interpersonal spatial behaviour.

Perceptual space and adjective rating of 2.5D tactile patterns

The present study investigates the human haptic perception of 2.5D tactile patterns based on adjective ratings and how physical factors, such as the bump diameter of the pattern or material, affect their tactile perception. We designed fifty tactile patterns by varying the pattern’s bump diameter, pattern uniformity, and material and evaluated the effect of the parameters on haptic perception by conducting a couple of human subject experiments. In Experiment 1, the perceived intensities of the tactile patterns were tested for a total of ten properties (adjective pairs). The experimental results indicate significant effects of the factors, the bump diameter, pattern type, and material on the perceived intensities of the 2.5D patterns. In Experiment 2, a cluster sorting of the tactile patterns was conducted, and a haptic perceptual space was constructed with an MDS (multi-dimensional scaling). The results indicate a grouping of the samples by bump diameter and an effect of sample pattern uniformity for larger 2.5D tactile patterns. Overall, the present study showed that bump diameter, pattern type, and material significantly affected the perception of 2.5D tactile patterns based on the adjective ratings, and the 2.5D patterns could be grouped by the pattern’s bump diameter and uniformity.

Deriving the impact mechanism of urban green space environment on community social capital based on multi-source data integration: a case study of nanjing city, China

Abstract With the orderly progression of urban renewal in China, social capital, as an important factor in analyzing the relationship between stakeholders, has once again become a key topic in urban planning research. Green spaces have proved to have a more notable impact on social capital than other built environment factors. In light of this, the present study is based on the data of 1,282 residents’ questionnaire surveys conducted in Nanjing in 2022 and extracts spatial characteristic information of green space through multisource big data such as remote sensing data, street-view data, and points of interest, to investigate the influence mechanism of physical and perceived attributes of urban green space on community social capital. The study found that there are differences in the influence mechanisms and dimensions of these dual attributes of green space on social capital. The direct effect of perceptual attributes is more substantial, while physical attributes almost exclusively affect social capital indirectly through the perception of green space. Notably, among the physical attributes, only the total coverage of neighborhood vegetation has a considerable direct effect on neighborhood relations, whereas community sentiment, a willingness to participate, and larger and more aggregated green spaces do not enhance community social capital effectively. Lastly, community social capital is affected substantially by exogenous variables of socioeconomic attributes, and there is group differentiation. Results reveal the direction of renewal and optimization of urban green spaces from the perspective of promoting social capital, which provides a reference for the synergistic and high-quality development of the community’s physical and nonphysical environments.

Development and First Validation of the Perceived Young Adult Lockdown Parental Relationship Scale (PYALPRS): An Italian Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic and the confinement experience have significantly affected the relationship between young adults and their parents. The present study focuses on the design and validation of the Perceived Young Adult Lockdown Parental Relationship Scale (PYALPRS), a measure assessing two dimensions of the child–parent relationship associated with the COVID-19 lockdown period: Oppression-Conflict and Closeness-Support. After a phase of construct definition and item design and purification, 100 Italian young adults (M = 24; SD = 3.9) were recruited to explore the factor structure of the scale. Then, a sample of 259 Italian young adults (aged 18–35; M = 24; SD = 3.8) was used to demonstrate the psychometric validity of the scale. The results of our confirmatory factor analysis, which resulted in high goodness of fit scores, support two identifiable factors reflecting the theory-based constructs of the PYALPRS. Moreover, internal consistency and convergent and divergent validity analyses show that the PYALPRS can be considered a reliable and valid instrument. ANOVA demonstrated that there were significant differences between being a cohabitant or single as well as between different perceptions of the home space during lockdown on the Oppression-Conflict dimension, while a larger home space perception was associated with the Closeness-Support dimension.

Ideas about the structure of the firmament in the worldview of an Orthodox Christian of the X–XVII centuries (based on canonical and apocryphal texts)

The author analyzes a fragment of the religious worldview of the Eastern and southern Slavs associated with the perception of celestial space. The research was conducted on the basis of canonical biblical texts and works popular in Ancient Russia of the X-XVII centuries containing information about the world order (Severian Gabalsky "Six speeches about the universe / Shestodnev"; John Damascene "Theology"; "Palea the Sensible"). The study of the field of verbalizers of the concept of "Heaven" in the texts of the Holy Scriptures revealed the presence of several meanings of the noun "heaven". The biblical texts contain references to the components of the firmament: the firmament of heaven, created on the second day of Creation, and the spiritual invisible sky– the place of God's presence. However, an analysis of exclusively classical biblical texts and their commentaries did not make it possible to build the structure of the concept of "Heaven" in the Christian worldview. To this day, interpretations of the semantics and etymology of the name "firmament" for the designation of the firmament are controversial. In non-canonical Christian texts, ideas about the heterogeneity of the aboveground space are concretized and illustrated with examples that are understandable to the reader. The sky is interpreted as a plane that exists parallel to the earth's surface; as a dome resting on the earth; as a sphere that has no support and is held only by the power of divine design. The differentiation of the sky into "existing, visible" and "heaven - the upper sky" is complemented by the concept of a boundary separating the material world from the higher ideal world. The overlap was associated with masses of water that turned into ice and looked like crystal. The verbalizers of these representations were the linguistic units "firmament", "firmament of heaven", "condensation of ice". Consequently, in the ancient Russian worldview of the X–XVII centuries, the first level of the sky could act as the very "solid" boundary that separated the material world from the higher ideal world. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by an attempt to recreate the concept of "Heaven" in the worldview of an Orthodox Christian of the X-XVII centuries.

PERCEPTION OF BUCCAL CORRIDOR SPACE ON SMILE ESTHETICS

Objective: To evaluate the perception of Buccal corridor space on smile esthetics by different age groups. Materials and Methods: One frontal digital photograph of both the gender displaying the left first molar to right first molar was taken. The buccal corridor was modified digitally in increments of 5%, from 0% to 25% compared with the inner commissural width. After that six photographs for each gender were obtained with decreasing width of the dental arch and increasing width of the buccal corridor. Using the Visual Analog Scale, the altered photographs were evaluated by different groups of 180 persons according to age: Group I- Adolescent (10-19 years), Group II-Young adults (18-35years), and Group III-Middle aged group (36 to 55 years) and each group consists of 60 persons. Each subject of the group was asked to score the attractiveness of each smile in different gender on the basis of mobbed Buccal corridor space. Results: Significant difference was obtained in finding the effect of the buccal corridor on smile attractiveness between males and female by all the other groups. Conclusion: The hypothesis was rejected. All three Groups preferred narrow buccal corridors in comparison to the broad buccal corridor in males and females, especially by Group I and Group II subjects.

Mobility in an Imagined Global Knowledge Space: Chinese STEM Undergraduates’ Decision to Study in Europe

This paper examines how the “imagined global knowledge space” influences the mobility of Chinese STEM students in Europe, based on interviews with 28 participants. It finds that, firstly, Chinese students perceive a diverse global knowledge landscape, acknowledging China's rapid progress and questioning the traditional “center-periphery” model. Secondly, students’ views on the global knowledge space vary by their exposure to this space, career plans, and disciplinary background, impacting their motivations to study abroad-whether knowledge-seeking, pedagogical, or consumer-oriented. Thirdly, this study finds that Chinese STEM students in Europe view destination choices through a triadic “US/Europe/other countries” perspective, moving beyond the traditional “center-periphery” dualism model. With rising geopolitical tensions between China and the US, Europe emerges as a favorable alternative for education. The findings highlight that students’ study-abroad decisions are shaped not by fixed global structures but by subjective, imagination-based perceptions of the global knowledge space.