Space Well-being Research Articles

“Knowing My Way around” – The Role of Urban Spaces for Migrant Identity Content and Sense of Belonging in Germany

ABSTRACT Sense of belonging (SoB) and identity content have been studied focusing on social relations, but, as we suggest, might also involve a spatial dimension. The present project set out to better understand the relationship between space, SoB and identity content in the context of relocation. The research consisted of qualitative semi-structured and go-along interviews with 36 external migrants who live in four different German cities: Berlin, Bremen, Leipzig or Stuttgart. Using Thematic Analysis four themes were developed: Spaces to stand out and fit in, spaces of being oneself, spaces of well-being and spaces of familiarity. Results indicate that certain spaces, such as all-white or discriminatory spaces stimulate “foreigner”-identity content and evoke feelings of non-belonging. Other spaces, such as blue-green, aesthetic, familiar concept or multicultural spaces allow participants to experience identity continuity and develop SoB. Furthermore, results show two sides of being perceived in public spaces, and the importance not only of positive daily interactions, but of immersing oneself passively into social life, of blending in and of celebrating one’s culture. Results are discussed with a special focus on the role of “nodding encounters” and urban blue green spaces.

Loneliness & College Students: A Needs Assessment Regarding Georgetown Student Experiences in a Post-Virtual World

The educational adjustments to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., distance learning and Zoom) have led to instances of loneliness and isolation among college students, especially at residential campuses such as Georgetown University. Such social disengagement can have a significant impact on a student’s transition to campus and can have a lasting effect on the rest of their college life. This needs assessment (performed in the Spring of 2022) explores the impact of loneliness among students, including themes such as mental health issues, loss of campus engagement, and problems with relationship-building. Pre-pandemic data on the social experiences of high-risk populations on college campuses are included to highlight how the post-virtual environment may have exacerbated varying pre-existing levels of loneliness. This data provides background for the needs assessment of the post-virtual world, as the core focus of this paper is solely post-virtual education/post-pandemic student experiences. We hypothesized that student and faculty interviews conducted at Georgetown University, and scholarly analysis of literature, would indicate the need for improved social support in the college setting. Students reported a lack of connection and increased mental health challenges due to the virtual environment of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the research, we determined that an app to address student loneliness (Nod), opportunities to engage with faculty, spaces of well-being on campus, and quality and accessible mental health resources are recommended to combat student loneliness. The negative impacts of the pandemic are still affecting college students today. Thus, it is necessary to identify ways to mitigate increased loneliness and isolation.

Characteristics of Hospital Workers Using a Wellbeing Center Implemented During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Prevent the Emotional Impacts of the Crisis

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge worldwide for healthcare workers (HCWs) and other hospital employees. Disruptions in work and personal life may have led to mental health problems. To prevent or limit the severity of such issues, a local initiative has been implemented in a French hospital: a dedicated lounge, also called “Bulle” (literally bubble and meaning safe space) has been created to provide a quiet caring environment and health support. Other similar wellbeing centers have been implemented in other countries, but very little data are available on their practical effectiveness. The purpose of our study was to assess what type of hospital workers have frequented the Bulle and to describe their psychological state in terms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) just after the first wave, compared to those who had not come to the Bulle.MethodsFrom 15 July to 1 October 2020, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among all workers, collecting demographic information, professional data (experience and satisfaction), emotional experience during the first wave of COVID-19, and psychological specificities, including a history of burnout or symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. We asked them if they had accessed the Bulle or not.ResultsA total of 675 employees (out of 2,408; 28.0%) fully completed the survey. Approximately 199 respondents (29%) reported having accessed the Bulle during the first wave of the pandemic. Significant symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD were reported by, respectively, 41, 20, and 14% of the participants. Logistic regression analysis showed no relationship between the use of the Bulle and the prevalence of later psychological symptoms. However, employees who benefit from the solicitation of the psychological support team in their hospital unit were secondarily more prone to come to the Bulle [odds ratio (OR), 2.24; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.09; 4.59].ConclusionAnxiety, depression, and PTSD were common after the first part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the attendance in quiet and wellbeing spaces seemed easier with direct internal proactive intervention by psychological teams.

Listening through Lines: Mark making, sound and the hospital

This article explores sound in the hospital environment, using the drawing of lines to understand sound as process and agent in spaces of wellbeing. It builds on and extends the work of Tim Ingold on lines and sounds, exploring lines/sound in relation to the specific context of healthcare spaces. The article presents the methodology, process, and interpretation of lines from a workshop called ‘Listening to the Hospital’ as part of the research project ‘Sensing Spaces of Healthcare’. It focuses on engagement with recorded sounds from hospitals, showing that line-drawing might be productive in specific ways. The process aids an understanding of how sound shapes hospital ‘affective atmospheres’, and can encourage participants to engage in close listening. We argue that these routes to understanding are also potential routes to improving the wellbeing of people in hospitals, whether through hospital design or care. We also offer line-drawing as a valuable methodological and theoretical tool for scholars interested in embodied experiences of listening, of atmospheres and wellbeing, and of sound.

Spaces of well-being: Social crofting in rural Scotland

The transformation of nature-society relations towards conditions of wellbeing and sustainability is of major global concern and academic interest. Contributing to this important area, this research examines the interconnection between rural development, wellbeing and agriculture in Scotland through a qualitative study of ‘social crofting’. Social crofting is a type of care farming, which is increasingly prominent in the UK context and beyond, but under-developed in Scotland. Drawing from the existing literature, we apply a wellbeing lens to the unique conditions of crofting in rural Scotland through the concept of ‘spaces of wellbeing’. We show the diverse practices that constitute social crofting and enable different kinds of wellbeing within rural communities. Our findings point to the challenges and barriers for social crofting which is under-resourced and under-valued in Scotland and we contextualise this within a hybrid neoliberal policy context. Given the potential for transforming nature-society relations and contributing to the wellbeing agenda, greater support is needed for crofters to pursue social crofting in rural Scotland.

Integrated studio: a new undergraduate design class project to reimagine future hospital environments

In this paper we reflect on and discuss the curriculum design, results and impact of a new undergraduate design studio class project that introduced students to design for health and wellbeing in a real-world context. Through the Integrated Studio class project, 11 undergraduate final year design students from a range of traditional design disciplines worked as a single team with a large city hospital. Their brief was to rethink the future of a new healthcare facility being built on the hospital campus. The project focussed on how design could be used to facilitate more meaningful ‘health and wellbeing spaces’. This was framed as an opportunity to reimagine the future of care environments. By working collaboratively with key stakeholders, creative processes were used to better understand the needs of users and to challenge existing thinking around what a healthcare facility might look and feel like. Much like a healthcare journey, the design process was a rollercoaster of uncertainty and unknowns. In this paper we reflect on the experiences of the student group. The outcomes of this project show the value of such initiatives to generate new possibilities for healthcare, and to help healthcare organizations think differently about what might be possible.

Ideological myths of European union on the example of Laeken declaration

The European Council adopted Laeken Declaration in which it was first stated about EU aspiration to take the lead on world globalization together with USA. The subject of this study is the analysis of myths and ideological cliches of Laeken Declaration by which EU and USA legitimize their foreign policy.
 The author concludes that the future of EU was not as optimistic as stated in the text of the declaration. Until recently, the EU was a state in the process of formation, and its legal area acquired the features of a domestic order. These processes have slowed down now. An external challenge was the change in the format of relations with Russia, which openly declared its national interests and cooperation only as a equal partner. Previously unthinkable social problems appeared in the space of well-being.
 The history of Russia teaches that going to Europe can be done in different ways. The path of european integration put the Russian state on the brink of complete disintegration of the late XXth century. The consequences of this choice are currently being overcome in the framework of Eurasian integration and integration with states outside the post-Soviet space that have common interests with Russia.

Writing together to foster wellbeing: doctoral writing groups as spaces of wellbeing

ABSTRACT Candidate wellbeing is recognised as a continual challenge for doctoral programs, with government mandates requiring an institutional response. This article explores the experiences of candidates undertaking intensive writing sessions (‘Write-Ins’) and their influence on their wellbeing. Exploratory findings demonstrate opportunities for Write-In models to contribute positively to ‘Spaces of Wellbeing’. Spaces of Wellbeing theory highlights four dimensions of space that influence wellbeing: capability, security, integrative and therapeutic spaces. Findings show the Write-Ins contributed positively to wellbeing by offering space for candidates to enhance writing productivity, to work to their own pace, to connect with others, and to work flexibly.

Iceland as a therapeutic landscape: white wilderness spaces for well-being

Therapeutic landscapes are reputed to have a lasting repute for realizing healing. Traditional therapeutic landscapes have recognized natural environments as often sought after places for well-being. Such places promote wellness via their close encounter with nature, facilitating relaxation and restoration, and enhancing a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual healing. The physical environment of Iceland is explored through a case study approach, primarily employing data from the field notebooks of post-secondary students travelling in Iceland, as well as the authors’ ethnographic field experience in Iceland. Iceland is examined using both a traditional understanding of therapeutic landscapes, as well as the contemporary understanding of the coloured landscape. In addition to the colour white, reflected in the glacial ice, moving water, and geo-thermal steams, black and various other colours in combination are discussed.

Dreaming of Sweden as a Space of Wellbeing: Lifestyle Migration Among Young Latvians and Romanians

Based on 41 semi-structured interviews with young Latvians and Romanians in Malmo, Sweden, this article explores why Europeans from new European Union (EU) member states want to move to, and stay i ...

Mobile work, multilocal dwelling and spaces of wellbeing

Mobile work is increasingly common. For our purposes, mobile work entails long-distance commuting arrangements with periods living away from the primary domestic residence that may be considered ‘home’. Mobile work reconfigures the relational fabric of ‘home’, introducing multilocal mooring points into worker's lives, and thus reshaping the spatial and temporal patterns and meanings of dwelling. Geography and cognate disciplines have begun to investigate the spatialities and temporalities of mobile work and multilocal dwelling, including the complexities of space-time management, but as yet little attention has been given to implications and impacts on the wellbeing of workers and their families – this is despite growing concern for worker and family wellbeing in some mobile work sectors, such as FIFO mining. Wellbeing is also a complex and multivalent concept, taking in objective and subjective dimensions, including health indicators and quality of life. In this context, this paper reviews recent literature on mobile work and multilocal dwelling and geographies of wellbeing to identify productive intersections for conceptual and empirical development. We suggest that provocations about space-times of wellbeing (Fleuret and Prugneau, 2015) and wellbeing as a relational, situated assemblage (Atkinson, 2013) are productive for analysing wellbeing in a context of mobility and multilocality.

The social enterprise as a space of well-being: an exploratory case study

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to present an Australian case study and to explore how social enterprises may be conceptualised as spaces of well-being, that is the ways in which social enterprises, not explicitly delivering health services, may be producing health and well-being benefits for those who come into contact with them.Design/methodology/approach– A case study in Australia is used to explore in depth the mechanisms of well-being production. Data were collected using ethnographic observation, focus groups and walking interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, GIS and the lens of therapeutic assemblage.Findings– The case study social enterprise produces well-being as integration, capability, security and therapy. The social enterprise acts as a therapeutic assemblage with well-being “spoken”, “practiced” and “felt” within the social enterprise. The ways in which well-being is generated are often linked to the productive element of enterprise – and have the potential to contribute to tackling several contemporary health challenges and inequalities relating to, for example, a lack of physical activity and levels of social isolation.Research limitations/implications– This paper draws on a single Australian case study but points to the need for further in-depth work in the area of social enterprise and health.Originality/value– The paper advances our understanding of how social enterprises may be linked to health and well-being. It goes beyond quantification of, for example, number of clients helped, to consider the wider experience of well-being for those who come into contact with social enterprises.

Making Space for Wellbeing

Leaders often find themselves encumbered by many challenges. Because of these hurdles, leaders may lose sight of their holistic wellbeing. Wellbeing is a combination of the quality and cumulative effects of work, life, health, relationships, and community. Leaders with higher levels of wellbeing are likely to be more effective, productive, and foster quality relationships with followers. This practice paper details a guided meditation methodology that creates a safe space for leaders to remove mental distractions, reflect on their current state of wellbeing, and develop increased levels of self-awareness. Results to date indicate learners have responded positively to the guided meditation process and have sustained the practice of introspection. Recommendations and implications are discussed.

Assessing students' wellbeing in a spatial dimension

This paper examines the issues related to the double‐sided dimension of wellbeing: subjective and objective. In the theoretical framework developed by Fleuret and Atkinson (2007, The New Zealand Geographer 63 106–29), spaces of wellbeing are shaped by four dimensions (spaces of security, spaces of capability, therapeutic spaces and integrative spaces). In the case of the student population in Angers, we observe a major imbalance: the component that really stands out is capability, which is quite logical because students are a population in a transition between youth and adulthood. The results reveal that the student population has a specific relation to space due to a transitory presence in the university town, with, as a consequence, a simultaneous embedding in different places. This could explain why the students do not perceive the characteristics of place to be a major influence on their wellbeing; instead it is the perception they have of their wellbeing that influences their perception of place.

Immigrant women’s clubs in a health-promotion perspective

To gain a deeper understanding of the conditions for and perceived benefits of regular participation in an immigrant women's club, with special focus on the women's wellbeing and the club's potential for health promotion. A qualitative research approach was applied, including semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using the constructivist Grounded Theory method. Individual interviews of 15 women aged 40-59 years and from various ethnic backgrounds were conducted in 2010/2011. Four categories were identified during the analysis. These were labelled "Forming a place for coping with loneliness" (core category), "Learning the rules", "Social bonding and support", and "A space for wellbeing and health". The categories describe how the members deal with the club's status as a municipal association, the structure of the meetings, and the informants' perceptions of being members of a club, as well as the effects of the membership. Immigrant women may find support and perceive increased wellbeing from gathering in clubs with women from a similar background. In addition, the clubs may provide society an opportunity and a space for adapted health-promotion initiatives.