Socio-spatial Structure Research Articles

Syntactic analysis of traditional houses in urban kampung

This research investigates a syntactical study and comparative analysis of the statistical and spatial characteristics of traditional houses in an urban kampung settlement, focusing on a selected case study built by a participatory Arabic community in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. This research aims to determine a formal rule basis for spatial configurations to reveal identical sociospatial structures based on syntactical analysis. This experiment measures spatial layout variation through space syntax analysis to provide a better understand of how the correlation between spatial configuration and sociospatial structures in traditional houses can be deconstructed. This syntactical analysis applies four distinctive procedures: a selected case study, data collection, statistical and graphical analysis, and graph analysis. The results indicate that the spatiality of all traditional houses in this kampung settlement highlights the spatial hierarchy order as a formal rule-based system, and approximately an average of 10% of this community is concerned with designing intelligible layouts. Rumah Batu and other dwellings have a similarity and closeness. The main dwelling’s function involves more steps to separate public and private functional rooms, but a functional transformation from a dwelling into a public facility creates a short distance for easy access by users. Additionally, this separation affects occupants, especially in terms of spatial distribution activities, movement flows, and other social phenomena. This approach provides practical and tangible benefits for preservation values related to buildings; this strategy may also change how buildings are perceived in other built environments.

СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННый АНАЛИЗ В ПРЕДПРОЕКТНЫХ ГРАДОСТРОИТЕЛЬНЫХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯХ В КУРСОВОМ ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИИ

The formation of modern residential structures and the design of new residential areas must take into account the latest results of sociological research; it is necessary to solve current issues of organizing social processes in the existing and designed residential environment. The developed directions and latest publications on the subject of social research in urban planning and the possibilities of their implementation in the training of students of architects and urban planners are considered. The methodology of socio-spatial research within the framework of the cognitive approach to urbanism has been studied in more detail. The possible development of the methodology is analyzed on the main aspects of sociocultural changes in society and their impact on urban planning. The need for students to master various methods of socio-spatial analysis, to obtain skills in assessing the socio-spatial structure of established residential areas and urban planning solutions is substantiated. The main directions of studying methods of socio-spatial analysis by urban planning students are considered. An example of a socio-spatial analysis of a residential area in the city of Syktyvkar, carried out as part of the course “Pre-design urban planning research”, is presented. A socio-spatial analysis of the residential area under consideration helped to identify the problems of this territory and identify possible ways to solve them. Examples are given of the possible use of socio-spatial analysis in course design, in final qualifying works of bachelors and masters. The main directions for applying the methodology of socio-spatial research in teaching urban planning students are proposed.

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.

Green infrastructure and socioeconomic dynamics in London low-income neighbourhoods: A 120-year perspective

Green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly adopted as urban planning and development solutions to enable sustainable and healthy urban transitions. However, urban green(ing) has featured as an instrument of urban planning for several centuries. The extent and causal effect of these instruments in delivering environmental and social sustainability outcomes are, however, often unclear, but raise concerns of green gentrification. This paper presents a 120-year analysis of GI in London low-income neighbourhoods drawing on below (soils) and above (urban greenery) components of GI. Three testable relationships are analysed in a long-term perspective (1881–2001): soils, geology and initial socio-spatial structures; impact of urban greenery in comparable low-income neighbourhoods; and the impact of urban greenery in low-income neighbourhoods set in their wider urban systems adjustments. The results suggest that new greenery in comparable low-income neighbourhoods had little independent effect on neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics. Where gentrification does occur, wider processes of social, economic, and technological adjustment, rather than urban greening, is likely causal. The non-random distribution of soils is found to anchor socio-spatial structures. Future productivity of GI and NBS, e.g., sponginess or mass of green that can be sustained, will likely also vary spatially, and continue to anchor socio-spatial structures.

Socio-spatial structure of urban communities and the distribution of crime in Makurdi, Nigeria

Socio-spatial structure of urban communities and the distribution of crime in Makurdi, Nigeria

Public Open Space Arrangement Model In Summarecon Bekasi Residential Area Based On Covid-19 Pandemic Mitigation

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), a highly contagious respiratory virus, has spread to more than 200 countries and regions. The high number of Covid-19 cases has led to various regulations regarding social restrictions. Some of the changes that occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic changed the socio-spatial structure and affected physical and psychological well-being and overall quality of life. The impact of Covid-19 has also occurred in the Summarecon Bekasi settlement, which provides facilities, a commercial center, and various public open spaces that the people of Bekasi City widely use to become more restricted. Researchers used a qualitative approach and descriptive qualitative analysis techniques with interview observations and documentation as the data sources. Research on public open spaces in Summarecon Bekasi, including downtown walk, waterfront, pedestrian paths, and bus stop shuttle bus, shows that these public spaces cannot fulfill all variable indicators of public open space readiness in dealing with post-pandemic conditions Covid-19. The results obtained are based on the weighting of values from the results of observational studies and interviews on each variable indicator of public open spaces. The empirical mean value of public open spaces in Summarecon Bekasi is 89, which is still below the hypothetical mean value of 110 and is at the lower limit of the category 'Not Enough .'Thus, to overcome the condition of public open spaces that are not yet adaptive to Covid-19, a structuring model is designed for public open spaces in Summarecon Bekasi. This structuring model is expected to reduce the percentage probability of social disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic or other similar things.

Rethinking sustainable urban management: Effects of urbanization on the socio-spatial structure of the Tamale Metropolis

The urbanization process in countries in the global south has enormous implications for the social and the spatial structure of cities. Despite the complexities associated with urbanization and the socio-spatial structure of urban centers, there is limited research in this area of study. This study seeks to assess the effects of urbanization on the socio-spatial structure of the Tamale Metropolis. The research relied on both secondary and primary sources of data. The primary data was collected through the interview of 68 respondents in the Central Business District of the Tamale Metropolis. The researchers also interviewed representatives of the Physical Planning Department, Development Planning Office and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority. The results of the study showed that there is a major shift from the extended family system to the nuclear family system. The changes in the social structure have led to a considerable urban expansion with the built-up area increasing from 12% to 24%. The urbanization process has led to the creation of sub-CBDs to respond to the changes on the spatial structure. This has resulted in the paradigm shift in the spatial structure of the metropolis from a monocentric structure to a polycentric structure. This research therefore concludes that there is a direct relationship between the social structure and the spatial structure of the Tamale Metropolis and this has implication for sustainable urban management.

Navigating Dahiyeh, negotiating everyday peace: mediation practices across Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

ABSTRACT How do ‘ordinary’ residents in violently contested cities navigate everyday conflict? Who do they turn to and how do they induce more powerful actors to step in and resolve their conflicts? How do socio-spatial structures shape everyday mediation practices? And what do these practices tell us about the constructive potential of cities? To explore the duality of destruction and construction in contested cities, we draw on fieldwork conducted across Beirut’s Southern Suburbs (Dahiyeh), bringing it into dialogue with a Bourdieusian framework to analyse residents’ experiences of informal mediation as everyday urban peace practices. While these practices are shaped by Dahiyeh’s particular context, they speak to practices in other urban contexts, in both the Global North and Global South. We make theoretical contributions by bringing the everyday peace and urban peacebuilding literatures together and contributing to their vernacular, spatial and practice turns, and by developing a spatialised subaltern reading of Bourdieu.

Characterizing the geography of artisanal production: case of handloom industry in Varanasi, India

Although cultural and creative industries (CCI) have been recognized as drivers of sustainable development, those based in developing countries have received scant scholarly attention. Unlike technology-intensive CCIs concentrated in post-industrial cities of developed countries, CCIs in developing countries are majorly based upon cottage-based labour-intensive manufacturing of traditional crafts and artisanal products. Such production is typically led by artisan communities practising hereditary skill transfer over generations, while living in dense geographical clusters spread over urban and/or rural areas. Such a symbiotic interrelationship between place, culture, and economy has been explored in this paper by examining the geography of handloom production units in Varanasi, one of India’s oldest textile centres. Based on census data, location quotient analysis revealed that handloom weavers stay in two dense geographical clusters. Analysis of the sampled data on key qualitative attributes of production, particularly types of weaves and weaving techniques, identified spatial patterns to be heterogenous. It has been further argued that such heterogeneity is correlated with the distinctive identity of a weaver, which is shaped by his location, socio-economic status, and religious and sectarian belief. Hence, creative economic growth policies in developing countries require a deeper understanding of the latent socio-spatial structure of its artisanal production.

Comparative Study on Socio-Spatial Structures of the Typical Plain Cities of Chengdu and Beijing in Transitional China

China’s socioeconomic transformation and rapid urbanization since the end of the 20th Century have had an important impact on the social spatial structure of large cities. Social differentiation within cities is becoming increasingly prominent. Using detailed data gathered by the Fifth National Population Census of 2000, this study compares the social spatial structure and dynamic mechanisms of the core areas of the cities of Beijing and Chengdu. Factorial ecology analysis is used at the mesoscale to explore the following research questions: ‘How did factors shape the social spaces of two cities with similar topography but at different stages of development during China’s transition from a planned to a market economy?’; and ‘Are the traditional Western theories of socio-spatial interpretation equally applicable to China?’. The results show that Chengdu exhibits a combination of a concentric circle, fan-shaped, and multi-core socio-spatial structure, while Beijing shows a fan-shaped structure. In 2000, influenced by its overall level and stage of socioeconomic development, Beijing was experiencing a faster socio-spatial transformation than Chengdu, and the driving effect of capital on social differentiation and spatial competition was more obvious. The main dynamic mechanisms driving the formation of socio-spatial structures in Beijing and Chengdu include the natural environmental foundation, historical inheritance, urban planning, housing policies, and international influence. The three major variables in the study of traditional Western social spaces, namely economy, family, and ethnic status, were confirmed as applicable to our two case study cities with socioeconomic status as measured by occupation and housing conditions exerting the strongest effect. This perspective of comparing different cities in the same transitional period offers unique insights in identifying the key drivers of socio-spatial differentiation and polarization and their relative magnitude of effect, while enriching the catalog of empirical urban social space research both in China and in the rest of the world.

Agile office work as embodied spatial practice: A spatial perspective on ‘open’ New Work environments

An increasing number of companies transform their traditional office spaces into open work environments, often as part of an effort for working relations to evolve away from rigid and hierarchical structures. Contrary to intentions, recent studies show how open office projects tend to re-produce social hierarchy and norms but say only little about how these socio-spatial structures come into being. In this study, we demonstrate how a workspace designed as ‘open’ is being (re-)produced and negotiated in everyday spatial practices. We investigate this question in an ethnographic research design using the example of office redesign at a German financial service company and from the perspective of social theories of space. First, we develop a critical perspective on the ‘new office’ by demonstrating that office work redesign is a political process. Through a focus on spatial practices of office work, we disclose movement and sound as crucial dimensions in the socio-political construction of ‘agile’ office work and of a social hierarchy in the open office. Second, based on our findings we propose that openness in organizational space, rather than being a design feature of a specific work environment, needs to be understood as a generative social process.

Relaxed territoriality amid female trickery in a solitary carnivore

Territoriality (the defence of exclusive home ranges) is a strategy utilized within mammal populations to maximize individual fitness by monopolizing available resources. There is a trade-off, however, between acquiring the resources necessary for survival and reproduction and the cost of defending their exclusive use. Clarifying the sociospatial organization of wildlife populations is vital for understanding intraspecific competition and reproductive behaviour and, ultimately, conserving vulnerable or endangered species. We evaluated territorial behaviour in a solitary carnivore, the African leopard, Panthera pardus, under high-density conditions. We also assessed the influence of resource availability, sex-specific mating tactics and kinship on space sharing within the observed sociospatial structure. Both male and female leopards exhibited relaxed territoriality, with considerable intrasexual overlap occurring among both sexes, indicative of a risk aversion strategy. The risk of serious injury or death due to frequent territorial altercations in such a high-density system negated the benefits of strict spatial boundaries. Space sharing occurred more frequently in resource-rich areas: males overlapped more commonly in areas with high female density, and males and females overlapped more commonly in areas of high prey density. Males competed for access to females rather than monopoly of their home ranges; we hypothesize that the extralimital mating excursions undertaken by female leopards probably reduce the benefit of female monopoly (and consequently, of female defence) in this polygamous species. Space sharing among females was primarily driven by kinship; related females exhibited greater overlap than unrelated females, suggesting kinship benefits to space sharing among mother–daughter pairs. The contributions of resource availability, sex-specific mating tactics and kinship towards creating conditions permitting relaxed territoriality illustrate the complexity of ecological, demographic and behavioural factors involved in the sociospatial organization of solitary carnivores. • Male and female leopards display relaxed territoriality indicative of risk aversion. • Considerable intrasexual overlap occurred among male and female leopards. • For males, space sharing occurred more often in areas with high female density. • Males competed for access to females rather than monopoly of their home ranges. • Space sharing among females was primarily driven by kinship.

Workers’ motile subjectivities and the socio-spatial formations of Chinese state-owned enterprises

This paper explores the interplay between labor agency and the socio-spatial structure of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the context of globalization. Drawing on Coe & Jordhus-Lier’s theorization of constrained labor agency with insights from new mobilities paradigm, we develop the concept of motile subjectivity to explain the multiplicity of constrained agency and workers’ different employment practices intervened in SOE socio-spatial formations. Based on field research conducted in SOEs in the Northeastern provinces of China, our analysis unfolds that workers’ motile subjectivities mainly drive three threads of employment practices, namely demission, positional promotion, and part-time work, which involve workers’ variegated mobile and immobile experiences. These (im)mobilities affect workers’ ongoing social and spatial practices and further conjoin with the reproduction of SOE socio-spaces with both manifestations of stable danwei and multi-scalar modern enterprises. Our study contributes to labor geography scholarship by theorizing the actualization of workers’ motile subjectivities in SOE socio-spatial formations. It also provides insights for future SOE studies to seriously consider workers’ motile subjectivities.

Tempo-Spatial Modelling of the Spread of COVID-19 in Urban Spaces.

The relationship between the social structure of urban spaces and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming increasingly evident. Analyzing the socio-spatial structure in relation to cases may be one of the keys to explaining the ways in which this contagious disease and its variants spread. The aim of this study is to propose a set of variables selected from the social context and the spatial structure and to evaluate the temporal spread of infections and their different degrees of intensity according to social areas. We define a model to represent the relationship between the socio-spatial structure of the urban space and the spatial distribution of pandemic cases. We draw on the theory of social area analysis and apply multivariate analysis techniques to check the results in the urban space of the city of Malaga (Spain). The proposed model should be considered capable of explaining the functioning of the relationships between societal structure, socio-spatial segregation, and the spread of the pandemic. In this paper, the study of the origins and consequences of COVID-19 from different scientific perspectives is considered a necessary approach to understanding this phenomenon. The personal and social consequences of the pandemic have been exceptional and have changed many aspects of social life in urban spaces, where it has also had a greater impact. We propose a geostatistical analysis model that can explain the functioning of the relationships between societal structure, socio-spatial segregation, and the temporal evolution of the pandemic. Rather than an aprioristic theory, this paper is a study by the authors to interpret the disparity in the spread of the pandemic as shown by the infection data.

Social innovation in Italian cities. A southern European perspective

Social innovation practices have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Especially in cities and urban areas, they have represented both a response to emerging social needs seldom addressed by declining forms of state welfare support and a platform for innovating inherited understandings of collective action and activism in cities. The authors argue that a regional perspective is needed when looking at such practices in southern European urban contexts. By looking at a variety of cases in Italian cities, this section aims to illuminate how key dimensions such as local governance models and legacies, social inclusiveness patterns, the relationship with formal and informal economies and the role of specific socio-spatial structures contribute to the shaping of social innovation practices in Italian cities.

Neighborhood Characteristics, Deprivation, and Attachment: Evidence From Guangzhou, China

Housing reform since the 1990s has created a new sociospatial structure in Chinese cities. However, neighborhood deprivation remains one of the key challenges for urban housing policies. This study investigates the relationship among perceived neighborhood characteristics, deprivation, and attachment, based on a survey of 59 neighborhoods across Guangzhou, China. We adopt an objective approach to measure the index of multiple deprivation (IMD) on the neighborhood scale. The descriptive statistics indicate that while residents in deprived neighborhoods generally report lower level of perceived neighborhood physical environments and neighborhood attachment, their evaluations of neighborhood social environments are not necessarily lower. Results from the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) show that perceived housing conditions, perceived neighborhood environment, neighborhood ties, and sense of security are significantly correlated with neighborhood attachment. Furthermore, the moderation analysis reveals that the effect of perceived housing conditions on neighborhood attachment is stronger in more deprived neighborhoods. We propose that residents’ subjective feelings, timely and direct measurement of IMD, and context-based strategies should be used in urban housing policies to reduce the negative impacts of neighborhood deprivation.

Edo-Tokyo and the Meiji Revolution

This essay explores the changing sociospatial structures of Edo-Tokyo as the city emerged as the dominant political, economic, and cultural center of modern Japan through the Meiji Revolution of the mid-nineteenth century (conventionally called the Meiji Restoration). In the process of relocating the capital after the defeat of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the new government replaced the old ruling class through the disposal of the samurai estates that had once constituted most of Edo. The government’s strategy was to divide the city into two territories: the Inner Precinct ( kakunai), which would now house the political core transferred from Kyoto, and the Outer Precinct ( kakugai), where former feudal lords and others forced out of the center were relocated. The government used the land of kakunai in projects to enhance the authority of the emperor. Meanwhile, land owned by former feudal lords in the vast area of the kakugai was newly rented out to people who were banned from doing business on the street by the government. The government relied on powerful commoners to act as brokers in this redevelopment. In addition, former feudal estates linked Tokyo and the rest of the archipelago by providing dormitories for youth from the lords’ former fiefs. Modern Tokyo was thus configured by political choices made in the immediate context of the revolution. Other castle towns underwent a similar restructuring at the same time. This process of conversion reorganized spatial hierarchies within Japanese cities, creating a dual urban structure that has continued to shape urban development since.

The global division of labour as enduring archipelago: thinking through the spatiality of ‘globalisation in reverse’

AbstractContemporary globalisation faces several challenges, for instance related to climate change, technological disruption and shifting geopolitics, that have repercussions for the organisation of value chains and the global division of labour. Analysing the long-term geographies of globalisation we observe how successive reconfigurations of ‘new’ and ‘newer’ global divisions of labour share an archipelagic socio-spatial structure. The paper theorizes the articulations of this archipelago spatial figure as a combination of de/bordering, dis/connecting and dis/association. We apply this framework to provide a nuanced assessment of how global capitalism might restructure when some processes that defined globalisation during the last decades kick in reverse.

Enlarging the divide? Per-Capita Income as a measure of social inequalities in a southern European City

Earlier studies relating form and functions of cities address an intriguing and complex research issue, especially for specific urban typologies. Although with inherent differences on a local scale, Mediterranean cities represent diversified settlement morphologies and multifaceted socioeconomic contexts. The present study investigates the socioeconomic structure at the base of rapid development of a large Mediterranean agglomeration (Athens, Greece). Results of a multivariate analysis of the spatial distribution of average (per-capita) declared income and non-parametric correlations of contextual indicators suggest that the characteristic socio-spatial structure of the 1970s and the 1980s in Athens had slightly changed in recent times. A remarkable segregation in wealthy and disadvantaged communities - well beyond the urban-rural divide usually observed in Mediterranean regions - consolidated in recent decades. Despite economic transformations shaping urban design and infrastructural networks, persistent disparities between affluent and economically depressed neighborhoods still characterize the socio-spatial structure of contemporary Athens.

Hierarchical development of dominance through the winner-loser effect and socio-spatial structure.

In many groups of animals the dominance hierarchy is linear. What mechanisms underlie this linearity of the dominance hierarchy is under debate. Linearity is often attributed to cognitively sophisticated processes, such as transitive inference and eavesdropping. An alternative explanation is that it develops via the winner-loser effect. This effect implies that after a fight has been decided the winner is more likely to win again, and the loser is more likely to lose again. Although it has been shown that dominance hierarchies may develop via the winner-loser effect, the degree of linearity of such hierarchies is unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether a similar degree of linearity, like in real animals, may emerge as a consequence of the winner-loser effect and the socio-spatial structure of group members. For this purpose, we use the model DomWorld, in which agents group and compete and the outcome of conflicts is self-reinforcing. Here dominance hierarchies are shown to emerge. We analyse the dominance hierarchy, behavioural dynamics and network triad motifs in the model using analytical methods from a previous study on dominance in real hens. We show that when one parameter, representing the intensity of aggression, was set high in the model DomWorld, it reproduced many patterns of hierarchical development typical of groups of hens, such as its high linearity. When omitting from the model the winner-loser effect or spatial location of individuals, this resemblance decreased markedly. We conclude that the combination of the spatial structure and the winner-loser effect provide a plausible alternative for hierarchical linearity to processes that are cognitively more sophisticated. Further research should determine whether the winner-loser effect and spatial structure of group members also explains the characteristics of hierarchical development in other species with a different dominance style than hens.