Socio-spatial Perspective Research Articles

Realizing the potential for circularity in Glasgow through the socio-spatial dimension of urban systems

ABSTRACT With urbanization trends impacting on levels of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation, resource consumption and associated waste; the quest for stronger mitigation and adaptation approaches has put more pressure on solutions to be viewed at the city scale. A plethora of concepts has emerged under the umbrella of sustainable cities, aiming to make cities greener, smarter, resilient, eco-friendly, decarbonized, and more recently, ‘Circular’. This research aims to contextualize the alignment of the circular economy to socio-spatial issues by leveraging the discussions on the implications of circularity in urban planning and design. Drawing on a combination of methods: literature review, stakeholder interviews and the exploration of Glasgow as a case study; a synthetic view of an urban circularity framework is aided by the visualization of four urban systems (building and property assets, social-productive, energy and mobility, and natural and ecological) and initiatives affecting them (policies, plans, projects) enabling a socio-spatial perspective to circularity. Applied to Glasgow, the maps showcased current practices and their potential for moving towards a circular city, promoting inclusive, collaborative planning and stakeholder engagement not only on the macro scale (city) but at the meso (neighbourhood) and micro (buildings/sites/citizens) scales. The framework presents the potential for advancing urban metabolism in a way that is visual and relatable to urban decision-making, and encourages a more holistic interpretation of circularity in the built environment.

Participatory governance for the temporary use of urban abandoned areas. A socio-spatial approach to the “Old Hospital” area in Alexandroupolis, Greece

The reuse of urban abandoned areas, which is constantly increasing, is necessary for urban sustainable development. This paper seeks to examine whether temporary use adopting participatory processes is an appropriate tool for the reuse of urban abandoned areas, while studying the implications for social capital by taking advantage of the social dynamics of space, reinforcing sustainable urban development. We focus on the case of the “Old Hospital” of Alexandroupolis, in Greece, a long-term abandoned area in the inner city. Adopting a socio-spatial perspective through the approach of Lefebvre and Remy, it highlights that temporary use of urban abandoned areas strengthens the socio-spatial dynamics, in conjunction with the logics of space production and appropriation, spatial practices, representations of space and representational spaces. The qualitative survey with local government and stakeholders shows how the production of space applies “top-down” governance and captures visionary scenarios of reuse via temporary use. The quantitative survey with locals identifies weak social capital, which poses obstacles to urban development and community's acceptance of the reuse scenarios. We suggest new logics of space production, through participatory governance for the temporary use of the urban abandoned areas that could enhance social capital and sustainable development, exploiting the social dynamics.

The mall as heterotopia under Greece’s economic crisis: a sociospatial analysis in Thessaloniki

ABSTRACT This paper examines the socio-spatial constitution of the mall, as a basic consumption place, in the aftermath of the 2008 global economic crisis, employing a geographical approach to malls and a socio-spatial perspective on heterotopia, as a conceptual theoretical tool on the exercise of power and production of space. Introducing the concept of crisis-heterotopia, the case of the Mediterranean Cosmos shopping Centre in Thessaloniki, Greece, is employed, carrying out questionnaires and interviews with residents of Thessaloniki. The findings highlight the internal constitution of the mall as a crisis-heterotopia identified by the socio-spatial and cultural profiles and spatial representations of the consumers.

Towards Just and Integrated Energy Transition in Taiwan: A Socio-Spatial Perspective

Energy justice remains relatively under-researched outside of the Western context, especially in Asia. This paper addresses that gap by investigating the process of energy transition in Taiwan through the socio-spatial lens and institutional points of view. The paper underscores the urgency of recognizing and addressing the overlooked social injustices across different territories, advocating an integrated planning approach that incorporates a just energy transition perspective to reduce the uneven negative impacts of deploying renewable energies across communities and regional territories. Drawing on a case study of the Changhua region, the paper identifies conflicts arising from the rapid deployment of renewable energy, such as land use changes that displace farming activities and negatively affect rural stakeholders. The findings suggest the need to urgently address the gap between top–down goals in energy transition and bottom–up considerations to raise awareness and prevent injustices that risk deepening the existing socio-economic inequities. This paper also proposes a new framework for both new research and policy for (just) energy transition, incorporating distributional, procedural, and recognitional concerns together with a critical view on the cross-scale and cross-sectoral integration as part of the spatial planning process.

Reconceptualising urban space with second home tourism: The emergence of an urban second-home tourism enclave

Growing interest surrounds second homes in tourism and urban planning. Despite the strong conceptual foundation pertaining to rural second-home tourism, limited discourse assesses its development mechanisms and impacts in urban contexts. By leveraging enclave concepts from geography, this study employs a socio-spatial perspective to examine how second-home tourism shapes the urban environment. A case study approach was adopted to investigate the formation of second-home tourism spaces in Sanya, China. Findings from 34 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders identified three attributes differentiating second-home tourism spaces from their surroundings. These findings inform the development of a conceptual framework for understanding the emergence of second-home tourism enclaves, which considers potential economic leakage and threats to sustainable urban development.

Visiting the Modern Wunderkammer: Social-spatial Inequalities in Ways of Knowing

Based on the assumption that museums have been spatially transformed in recent decades in the course of globalization, decolonization, and mediatization, we investigate from a socio-spatial perspective what influence this has on visitor experience and whether it leads to inequalities in ways of knowing. To this end, we conducted a visitor study in a science exhibition in a newly opened museum complex in Berlin, by using a mixed methods approach combining movement tracking, visitor survey and ethnographic observation. By analyzing the spatial practice in and spatial perception of the exhibition, we developed parameters along which spatial appropriation in the museum differs and correlated them with variables relating to museum spatial knowledge and scientific expertise. By integrating the spatial and social data using a multiple correspondence analysis protocol, we show that the legibility of museum space varies according to the visitors' cultural and specific symbolic-spatial capital. As this unequal access to the museum space has a direct influence on ways of knowing, the study shows that inequalities are reproduced by the current spatial refiguration of the museum.

A socio-spatial exploration of rural livability satisfaction in megacity Beijing, China

Building livable rural settlements has been an important goal in China's rural revitalization strategy. However, few studies have conducted to explore the livability of rural areas in the metropolitan area like Beijing. This study establishes a comprehensive index system from a socio-spatial perspective to examine the rural livability and its influencing factors in Beijing, using the structural equation model (SEM). Empirical data was collected from 466 respondents in Beijing’s twenty-five villages between October 2021 and February 2022. The results suggest that, in general, respondents are moderately satisfied with rural livability, and mountain residents tend to have higher satisfaction levels than residents in plain areas. SEMs analysis reveals significant associations between the five dimensions of rural livability (including infrastructure condition, village appearance, economic burden, social atmosphere, and public service level) and overall satisfaction. Public service level emerges as the most important determinant. Then, mediation effects are also identified. Specifically infrastructure condition and environmental quality can influence overall satisfaction by affecting village appearance, while public service level indirectly influences overall satisfaction through the mediation of social atmosphere. Additionally, there are differences in the impact of the factors influencing rural livability between the plains and the mountains, with the mountainous region experiencing a greater influence from multiple factors. The article contributes to the academic discourse on rural livability by providing empirical evidence on determinants of satisfaction in metropolitan area such as Beijing. The findings provide insightful policy suggestions for improving rural livability.

Benefits of implementing the 15-minute city concept in stimulating the potential of social urban resurgence

The issue presented in the article is a proposal to look at a specific vision of the sociospatial organization of the city, namely the concept of the 15-minute city. In this proposed approach, this concept can become a source of inspiration for urban development, as well as a stimulating factor for the social potential of the urban community, which form the basis for the resurgence of cities after the crisis. In the theoretical realm, the basis for the considerations presented in this text is a socio-spatial perspective, according to which the city is perceived as a socio-spatial structure that is reproduced through daily social practices, reflecting both institutionalized patterns and the material organization of space. This text contributes to the discussion about the potential benefits of applying the 15-minute city concept for the development and resurgence of cities in line with the idea of livable cities, ensuring a high quality of life for their residents.

Revisiting a Positive Living Group Climate as a Citizenship Climate: A Socio-Spatial Perspective on Residential Youth Care

Abstract The concept of a positive living group climate is currently used as a key strategy to substantially realise the citizenship of youngsters in residential youth care. The concept focuses mainly on what happens inside the residential youth care facility, as the interpersonal relationships between the professionals and the youngsters are identified as the main component of a positive living group climate. How the youngsters practise and experience their citizenship in their everyday lives is also socio-spatially shaped and accommodated outside the residential youth care facility. We implement a multi-method qualitative research approach to explore how the pedagogical climate in residential youth care is socio-spatially shaped and accommodated as a living environment. The findings show that residential youth care is embedded in a wider social living environment in which youngsters navigate physically and socially through different relationships, circumstances and pedagogical milieus. This results in a synergy between dynamics in residential youth care and the wider social living environment, in which meaningful pedagogical interventions can take place. We consider it necessary to deepen and broaden the concept of a positive living group climate in residential youth care, revisiting the pedagogical climate as a citizenship climate.

The evaluation of inclusive school environments: a scoping review of the literature

This article reviews the literature on the evaluation of inclusive school environments. It adopts a socio-spatial perspective to explore what the literature says about the spatial/environmental factors that may influence the participation of learners with disabilities in learning and in the life of their school. Despite increased international attention towards inclusivity in schools over recent decades, research into how the physical environment can contribute to meeting the needs of all learners remains limited. Nevertheless, the review revealed four thematic clusters relating to the impact of the physical environment on the inclusion of learners with disabilities in schools. These included environmental performance, sensory factors/qualities, participation, and design process.

Ethnoreligious identities in home–school–society relational spaces: The case of Turkish immigrant parents in Germany

ABSTRACT Applying a socio-spatial perspective, this study examines the ethnoreligious identities of Turkish immigrant parents in Germany within home–school–society relational spaces. A total of 22 qualitative interviews with parents of children aged 3–6 years or 8–12 years were conducted and analyzed using content analysis. The findings show that parents construct a home space by adopting religious congruence with or separation from school and societal spaces based on their ethnoreligious identities. The inclusive or exclusive school and societal spaces reproduce each other and, in turn, shape parental identities that influence beliefs and practices related to ethnoreligious upbringing within the home space. Besides contributing to the spatial perspective in educational research, this study has implications for policy and practice.

Let’s eat together! The production of commensality in the spatial setting of the flexible office

This paper draws attention to commensality -eating and drinking in the presence of others- and the spatial production of sharing food at work. We propose to add a socio-spatial perspective to the research agenda on the triad of food, work, and organization. In particular, we conceptually and empirically discuss the potential for understanding commensality space in a way that addresses its productive force, and its inherent dialectics and tensions. Applying insights from Lefebvre’s work on dialectics and space, we analyze the case of a French Banking organization's new flexible office, and we argue that and how commensality is meaningful to everyday working life. The contribution of this paper is three-fold: it argues that organizational space is a set of multiplicities that enact particular practices and organizational dialectics; it extends the concept of commensality; it adds to typical forms of commensality in sociology.

REESTRUTURAÇÕES PRODUTIVAS DE CORUMBÁ-MS NA REGIÃO PANTANEIRA

A fundamental geographical argument is that the irruption of significant economic or technical groupings impacts the rhythm and content of transformations in a preexisting space. These forces affect these spaces and are identified in a temporal perspective of economic cycles. This line of reasoning is undeniable since, in the case of Corumbá-MS, several changes occurred cyclically. Nevertheless, in contrast to a uni-causal explanation and abrupt changes, we defend a socio-spatial perspective based on the idea of coexisting and juxtaposed economic agents and processes, which provoke productive restructuring, whose impact can be sinuous and realign into new functions and ongoing geoeconomic dynamics. Keywords: Urban Geography, Socio-Spatial Restructuring, Midwest Region, Corumbá-MS

Spatial evolution and influencing factors of religious places from a socio-spatial perspective: An empirical analysis of Christianity in China.

The mismatch between the supply and demand of religious places has resulted from a lack of management, population mobility, and urban socio-spatial differentiation. Furthermore, the identity of religious groups and the localized characteristics of their behavioral practices continue to dominate the evolution of religious places. Therefore, this study analyzed the spatio-temporal patterns of Christian activity places, and further studied the characteristics and mechanisms of various influencing factors on the spatial distribution of places using a geographically weighted regression model from a socio-spatial perspective. The following results were obtained: (1) Christian activity places form a distribution pattern of circling aggregation within the core area and polycentric dispersion outside the core area. There is a certain coupling relationship between spatio-temporal patterns of places and marketization in Yiwu City. (2) The spatial differentiation pattern of influencing factors has an obvious circle-layer characteristic. The regression coefficients of population mobility, age structure, public services, and jobs-housing space are larger, and social structure and spatial resource allocation are becoming the main driving forces of spatial differentiation. (3) Due to the differences in spatial resource allocation and believers’ behavioral choices, the above factors have distinct differences in urban core areas, urban-rural transition areas and rural areas.

Domestic refugee architecture in Jordan: a socio-spatial analysis of chaotic camps

This paper explores the evolution of re-appropriated refugee dwellings in protracted scenarios in Jordan through the interrogation of humanitarian design solutions by mapping and analysing spatial enclosures of shelters in three separate camps. By exploring the ways temporary emergency shelters in camps built and managed by the humanitarian sector developed into a chaotic and aggregated built environment, we present a socio-spatial perspective on the architecture of containment. Interrogating the relationship between the traditional spatial practices of the region and the creation of what we call ‘domestic refugee architecture’, we unpack discussions on the occurrence of lived-in spaces that cross over imposed humanitarian tangents and subvert the conception of refuge as shelter for human bodies in the absence of culture and tradition. We conclude that, while displacement may mean geographic and physical dispossession from a homeland, it does not imply social and cultural dispossession.

The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Youth Relationships with Nature: A Socio-Spatial Perspective

The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Youth Relationships with Nature: A Socio-Spatial Perspective

Environmental Gerontology During COVID-19: Aging in Place Since the Pandemic Onset

The COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally changing neighborhood landscapes as we shelter in place and adjust our lifestyles. To age-in-place is to live in one’s home and/or community “safely, independently, and comfortably.” The ability to age-in-place is a public health priority for all, regardless of income or health status, and requires a variety of community resources to be sustainable. Since the pandemic onset, access to neighborhood resources was limited to reduce transmission risks. Changes to economic arrangements and socio-spatial norms have profoundly impacted daily life, though how these influence health and well-being is largely unknown. It is likely that these effects may vary in different communities and contexts; for example, neighborhoods that are able to self-organize to safely provide social support and resources may fare better. This symposium brings together cutting-edge studies in urban and rural U.S. places to explicate how the pandemic is transforming aging-in-place experiences and perspectives. The first presentation shows how rapidly community-based services have adjusted operations to meet the needs of their communities. The second presentation explores strategies to provide social support in rural communities. The third presentation highlights the social health needs of a subset of older adults who had not formed friendships with their neighbors. Together, these studies suggest that close examinations of aging-in-place conditions and mechanisms from organizational, socio-spatial, and social network perspectives are evermore important amid a pandemic. We discuss the implications of these empirical findings in relation to emerging theories within environmental gerontology.

Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards

Since hazards act upon vulnerability and exposure to become disasters, the understanding of societal challenges is key for disaster risk reduction. This condition is even more critical when more than one hazard is in place. Taking the case of flooding and water shortage, this study is built upon the premise that disasters are a social phenomenon; therefore, it is essential to comprehend the social context in which they occur. Particularly, this study aims to evaluate the similarities and differences in risk perception and the coping capacity of residents in the multiple-hazard context. For this, a place-based citizen science approach was developed in this study in Campina Grande, a semiarid region of Brazil, with the collaboration of 199 participants. Risk perception and coping capacity were analysed through the citizens’ participation, while combining subjective and objective methods. The results indicate that even though residents have experienced severe flooding and water shortages in the past, they still have low coping capacity. The findings highlight the need to combine a triad of societal challenges, namely information, trust, and incentives, to improve coping capacity in the future and increase resilience. This study underlines the need to understand multiple hazards according to social, spatial, and temporal scales in a socio-spatial perspective.

Drawing on knowledge: Visual narrative analysis for critical environment and development research

Counter-narratives to dominant development discourses are made possible using research methods designed to elicit marginalized voices. In this article, we propose a new analytical framework called the interpretive schema for drawings for analyzing visual narratives. The interpretive schema for drawings consists of five themes or interpretive lenses ( scale, centrality, inclusion, connections, and relationality) that were generated from maps of fuelwood collection in rural India. We suggest that the interpretive schema reflects and animates a range of spatialities that are central to geographic studies of human–environment dynamics. Using the interpretive schema for drawings in this way enables us to emphasize emic socio-spatial perspectives, and offers a critical research avenue through which everyday realities can be represented, understood, and validated. While other image-based research approaches, critical cartographies and participatory mapping exercises may encourage the expression of alternative knowledges, our proposed interpretive schema for drawing presents a specific set of guidelines for interpreting and making sense of visual narratives through explicit socio-spatial analysis.

Religious revival or control? Reading the spatial politics of an officially atheist country’s planning of religious scenic areas: Three cases in Shaanxi, China

This article re-conceptualizes the secular-religious relationship by examining the ‘secularized’ sacred sites (temples) and the ‘sanctified’ secular places (religious-themed scenic areas built upon the temples). This article begins with acknowledging the dialectical secular-religious relationship and pushes this line of theorization further from a socio-spatial perspective. By using the ‘trialectics of spatiality’ analytical framework, this article examines the production/reproduction of both the secular and the religious spaces that determined and were simultaneously determined by the diversified religion-state relations. Contextualized in the 2000s when the Chinese state held ambivalence towards religions, this article presents a comparative study of the spatial interaction between the local state and the religious personnel respectively around the planning of three state-sponsored religious cultural scenic areas. By delving into the territorial strategy of simulation, this article demonstrates how and why Chinese secular and religious agents deliberately crossed over the socially constructed boundaries between the normatively defined secular and religious domain.