Space In Town Research Articles

Towards One health for All; Maintaining Human health in a town through Integration of an integrated scientific projects into a healthy landscaped site.

Chronic diseases in big town as a result of over crowded streets, waste pollutants and factories lead us to work suriously and regourously in order to provide a healthy environment suitable for traitment in ecological town with a suitable density of population for healthy living. In this research through landscape architecture and the concept of ONE HEALTH as well as the fabric space, we promote health for all through a modern healthy structure in Ouzera town with a salutogenic architecture. The research in the medical fields is also being developed by establishing an integrated scientific space in Ouzera town according to the local schema for mangement of Médéa territories for the 2030 horizons. This space is designated with landscape Architecture and one of its research structures proposed for design is a reserch center on animal medicine and productivity that implements the one health initiative.

Cultural Streetscape: Its Value-System, Space and Significance in Oyo Town, Nigeria

Cultural streetscape is a remarkable street scene that embodies the local culture. It helps in defining and defending urban forms, improves the physical, economic, and socio-cultural mechanisms of urban streets, provides street views for buildings, and shares communal activities and identities. Streetscape is a significant and multi-dynamic component of urban design that contributes to the success of cities and towns. However, as a result of constant urbanization and neglect, African streets that were previously sites of different cultural expressions and local beliefs are quickly turning into areas devoid of local values and meaning. More so, the significance of a cultural streetscape that facilitates ingenious street views, solves ecological challenges, and retains the local memory of places is becoming scarce in the literature. Through an in-depth interview, analysis of pertinent academic outputs, and firsthand observation of the core residential areas of Oyo town, this study revealed the value and significance of cultural streetscape in building, shaping, preserving and sustaining local place identity. Proper archiving and infusion of cultural streetscape elements into the old and new streets design are necessary to ensure Yoruba place identity does not completely become void.

THE OLD TOWN OF KUPANG: PERSISTENT ELEMENTS AND THE QUALITY OF THE SPACE BASED ON PUBLIC VIEWS

Kupang's Old Town has undergone significant changes over time, influenced by foreign interventions that left behind a wide variety of historical stories and physical evidence as silent witnesses to the development of Kupang's Old Town. However, these historical elements are currently under threat due to a lack of protection and management.Aims: This research aims to study the physical changes in the urban network from the 17th century to the 21st century, highlighting elements that have disappeared, changed, or survived. The study also explores the community's perception of the surviving historical aspects.Methodology and Results: Using a descriptive qualitative approach, [1]the results show significant changes within the area, including the loss of certain elements, changes in function, and the continuation of others. The community values the aspects that have survived, especially the historical buildings, which are seen as an integral part to the area's identity. There is a desire to improve the quality of space in Kupang's Old Town today.Conclusion, Significance and Implication: The study recommends the development of policies that integrate urban growth, historic preservation, and stakeholder participation to achieve a balanced management of Kupang’s Old Town.

The urban aesthetics of graffiti murals: reproducing wall space in China’s urban renewal

In China, as in the West in recent decades to a lesser degree, the semantics of ‘graffiti’ have gradually become an alternative term for graffiti murals in urban renewal. Graffiti murals, through various renewal strategies, reproduce the wall spaces of old towns, factories and villages in Chinese urban areas, giving rise to diverse aesthetic attitudes. Taking Guangzhou, China, as a case study, this article utilizes graffiti mural images defined as ‘graffiti’ by people on social media as the basic material. Visual research methods such as photo evaluation and eye-tracking experiments are employed to analyse the aesthetic attitudes and mechanisms of mainstream street art, which in fact differ from traditional graffiti. The study reveals that people perceive different types of graffiti mural spaces in various ways, with a more positive aesthetic attitude towards urban mural landscapes that exhibit aesthetic coherence. Viewers with embodied practice experiences in ‘graffiti’ show stronger aesthetic emotions compared to those who have not visited the case study location. These differences are further influenced by the aesthetic atmosphere of the environment and the aesthetic practices of different subjects onsite, deviating slightly from the spatial aesthetic operational logic of traditional graffiti. From various perspectives on Chinese ‘graffiti’, the visual methodology constructed in this study provides new insights for the aesthetic management of urban renewal.

Production and reconstruction mechanism of consumption spaces in urban fringe areas under capital intervention: Evidence from Guangming town in Shenzhen

As the rapid urban expansion and the rise of consumer society, urban fringe areas have become an essential place for urban capital to intervene and achieve spatial regeneration, and it has triggered the consumerization and transformation of space. Taking Guangming Town in the urban fringe area of Shenzhen as an example, this paper reveals the process and dynamics of spatial consumerization transformation under the influence of capital intervention. It examines the intricate mechanisms of capital operation underlie the production of space, and endeavors to explore a novel model of rural spatial regeneration in China's urban fringe areas. This paper found that the production of space in Guangming Town under the capital intervention includes the material production and social relations production. With the reconstruction of spatial form and relationships, new local products, spatial configuration, social services and organizational relations are generated, forming a consumption space with heterogeneous landscape, market institutionalized management, commercialization and symbolization. The realization of the production of consumption space in urban fringe areas is based on the joint action of core elements such as land, capital and government, which provide the material foundation, operational power and coordination organization for space consumption. These promote capital to complete the triple cycle of “acquiring land - creating space scarcity - realizing space consumption”, and then realizing space reproduction and capital appreciation. In the Chinese context, the spatial transformation and production of urban fringe areas should not be regarded as a local practice of Western counter-urbanization or rural gentrification theory. Rather, it as a new spatial regeneration mode that harmonizes urban and rural production, lifestyles and development trajectories. This paper offers valuable practical insights and analytical perspectives for promoting integrated urban-rural development and fostering a new type of urbanization, thereby broadening the regional framework of rural development.

Post-utilization Evaluation of Public Space in Traditional Villages and Towns from the Perspective of Space Syntax

After the Rural Revitalization Strategy was formally put forward in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, the protection and utilization of traditional villages and towns have received significant attention from China’s academic circle and society as an important aspect of the strategy. Although many Chinese traditional villages and towns have been reconstructed successfully, there are still relatively limited academic studies on the assessment of their performance after utilization. It is a challenge that has to be solved urgently for current academic studies on traditional village protection and updating to develop village renovation techniques to provide a suitable living environment and protect traditional regional characteristics. Therefore, a systematic study on traditional village protection in China based on demonstration areas has important academic and practical significance in implementing the rural revitalization strategy and promoting overall urban-rural development. A post-use quantitative evaluation system of traditional villages and towns was established in the present study by introducing the leading space syntax theoretical technology in the field of urban morphological analysis and combining with the AHP-fuzzy comprehensive method, combining existing qualitative and quantitative analysis means. Moreover, reconstruction strategies of traditional villages and towns were proposed according to feedback information from evaluation results. Results showed that (1) according to a case study based on typical traditional villages and towns in Shawan Ancient Town in Guangzhou City, the post-utilization evaluation system of public space in traditional villages and towns demonstrates applicability and generalizability. (2) From 2010 to 2020, the highly integrated network of Shawan Ancient Town formed a ‘cross’ pattern. The accessibility and traffic capacity of the road network improved to a certain extent after the renovation. (3) Public space in Shawan Ancient Town is ranked as ‘good’ concerning cultural construction, while the functional evaluation and economic, social effects are ‘moderate’. Finally, a public space protection and renewal framework of traditional villages and towns was established from the perspectives of an optimized spatial layout of ancient towns, enhancing users’ satisfaction and actively conducting cultural activities. This study is expected to provide scientific references to rebuild rural images and inherit regional context.

“Capitality” beyond the Capital City? Brasília and Its Satellite Towns

In 1960, Brasília replaced Rio de Janeiro as the capital city of Brazil. Although the planned urban core of Brasília—the so-called Plano Piloto—has been the subject of many in-depth studies, the urban history of the settlements on its outskirts—its satellite towns—remains underexplored to date. The national official discourse tended to either neglect the problematic conditions of satellite towns or picture them as part of the hardships that workers bravely put up with for the sake of lofty ideals. Based on 83 interviews recorded by the Public Archive of Brasília between 1995 and 2005, this article analyzes narratives on social practices and experiences that configured the urban spaces of satellite towns and provided them with new significance. It also investigates how people elaborated their memories and appropriated topics from institutionalized history to make points on their present-day needs and demands. Rather than seeing the “capitality” of Brasília as the product of a top-down political project, this article deems it to be a complex cultural artifact shaped by multiple perspectives and experiences, themselves informed by the discourses and practices of modernization.

The Structure of Beauty: Informal Green Spaces in Their Users’ Eyes

Informal Green Spaces (IGS) in towns and cities are areas of varied appearance, representing a wide range of aesthetic values. In this study, we have focused on how users perceive such space and which elements match some particular values. Based on the analysis of photographic images taken by chosen IGS visitors, the technique called Visitor-Employed Photography (VEP), we elicited three primary groups of IGS images, namely landscape, scenery, and special elements. It is possible to define several visual structures in each category, with highly preferable spatial fragments and particular attributes. They are aesthetic prototypes, centers of aesthetic preferences among users of informal green areas. Recognizing proximity to the preference core allows us to define the preferred IGS landscape aesthetics. Based on the data collected, we have concluded that IGS users prefer vast grass areas, dense groups of trees and shrubs, water, and the absence of anthropogenic elements.

An analysis of media culture in the information space of small towns in Ukraine: Identifying key characteristics and features

The ongoing transformations in the structure and essential content of the information space, driven by the global penetration of information and communication technologies, underscore the importance of examining the fundamental characteristics of media culture. The article aim was to determine the key characteristics and features of media culture in the information space of small towns. The research methodology involved applying qualitative and quantitative analysis of empirical results using the arithmetic mean and cluster analysis. To implement the study, the following tasks were performed: developing a relevant questionnaire; surveying residents of small towns to identify the features of their media culture; and processing the obtained results. Within the framework of the study, ten main parameters that determine media culture were identified. The calculation of the arithmetic mean showed that the most important role for residents of small towns is played by the presence of communicative knowledge, skills, and abilities, the peculiarities of the influence of media content on the emotional sphere, as well as interest in consuming media content. Also significant are the influence of media content on the intellectual sphere and the accessibility of media content consumption. Less relevant are the thematic diversity of media content, audience reach, generation of own content, creating feedback on consumed media content, and interaction with other consumers of media content. The application of cluster analysis revealed that residents of small towns can be divided into three clusters, where the first (62%) is characterised by an above-average level of media culture, and the two others (16% and 22%) – by a below-average level. The difference between the representatives of the second and third clusters lies in the fact that the representatives of the second cluster consciously limit the information flow of media content, while the representatives of the third cluster lack sufficient opportunities to exist in the information space. Thus, approximately two-thirds of the respondents crossed the mark of the average level of media culture, and approximately one-third did not reach it. The practical value of the work lies in the possibility of using the obtained data for planning and implementing socio-cultural activities to develop the information space of small towns

Urban Network Hotspot Consumption Space Evolution Mechanism and Crowd Differentiation Analysis: A Case Study of Lushan South Road in Changsha City

With the prosperity of the tourism industry, foreign tourists and local university students have become the main users of the university town space. The two groups have a high degree of behavioral overlap but differ in motivation due to different psychological needs. Research on urban network hotspot space needs more exploration of small-scale road sections and coverage of spatial boundary perception, social media, and other factors in space formation and evolution mechanisms. Therefore, this study will take the consumption space with the strongest interweaving of the two groups as the starting point to explore the countermeasures for spatial boundary perception with the theoretical support of scene theory. It was found that various factors such as social media, tourist experience-oriented consumption psychology, and the perception of spatial boundaries by both tourists and students influenced the drastic change in urban hotspot consumption space. This study provides some reference for understanding and guiding the development of such areas.

Thermal comfort investigation and management of public spaces of Clement Town, Dehradun, India

Thermal comfort investigation and management of public spaces of Clement Town, Dehradun, India

Serce działań publicznych w historycznych miastach: refleksje na temat programu HRIDAY

This article discusses two specific implementations from the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana, also known as the HRIDAY scheme in India, specifically how they address public spaces in historical cities. HRIDAY (2014-2019) was formulated to provide holistic development and improve infrastructure, mainly in pilgrim towns, under the Ministry of Urban Development, now the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The scheme took into consideration the complexity of dealing with entire historic cities. This is especially challenging for local urban bodies focused primarily on the core of a city, i.e. its historic centre. The goal was to revitalise the city’s unique character by “encouraging the development of an aesthetically appealing, accessible, informative and secure environment” (MOUD 2015). However, while the scheme ended, there are still many historic towns and cities across the country that could benefit from reflections and insights from already executed projects. To undertake any further development in line with the scheme, it is imperative to understand its application, specifically in terms of public space typology. HRIDAY primarily addressed the need to foster cultural identity by improving public infrastructure and promoting tourism. The article addresses how public chowks (squares) and market streets benefited from the scheme, basing on secondary sources about two selected cities. Discussion covers additions of sanitation and public conveniences, development of venues for cultural events in existing public space and interventions such as creation of interpretation centres and improvement of paths. These analyses serve as the basis for the formulation of guidelines and theories that could inform future heritage development in sensitive urban spaces in cities and towns across India.

“Ghost city” or habitable city? The production and transformation of space in China's new towns

China's new town and ghost city phenomenon has attracted interest from academics and the media since the 2010s. There is, however, little research on the lived experiences of people in new towns, or of the transformation of these new towns. This paper uses Lefebvre's spatial triad to examine how the spaces of the new town are produced and transformed by interactions between multiple actors. Using an analytical framework based on the spatial triad, we explore the interactive mechanisms and the dialectical relationships within the triad. Taking Kangbashi, a new town in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, as a case study, we explore how the spatial production of a new town is co-created by multiple actors, and local government-led conceived space plays a dominant role in that creation. Through interactions in the dynamic nexus of conceived-perceived-lived space, the new town space is in the process of transformation from an empty “ghost city” to a comfortable habitable city. This research deepens our understanding of new towns and production of space by connecting state-led and capital-driven urban construction with the lived practices of residents. Moreover, this empirical Chinese study contributes to knowledge and understanding across diverse global urban contexts.

Digital research on the resilience control of water ecological space under the concept of urban-water coupling

Introduction: The construction of digital governance of national land space depends greatly on the development of a digital model for robust control of water and ecological space. However, how changes to the urban-water coupling relationships affect the resilience control of water ecological space is rarely reported.Methods: The evolution characteristics of urban and water space in the study area from 2000 to 2020 and the correlation between them are analyzed based on the grid analysis using InVEST and Moran’I methods. Based on the theory of human-environment interaction territorial system to provide a theoretical framework to explain the urban and water space. We used digital to construct an resilience control framework in the Dongting Lake area based on the correlation between the urban and water space.Results: The results show that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the geographical evolution of towns and cities in the research area displayed obvious spatial variation in intensity, indicating a process of expansion and change. The regional and temporal fluctuations of the water conservation function are significant. The mountainous areas in the east, south, and northwest are where the high values of the water conservation function are primarily found. These regions have more vegetation, which increases the water conservation function. 2) According to the results of local binary spatial autocorrelation analysis, it can be seen that from 2000 to 2020, the high-high agglomeration of town space and water-related is mainly distributed in Linxiang City, Yueyang County, Miluo City, Li County, and Yiyang City, and the low-low agglomeration is mainly distributed in Dongting Lake, Datong Lake, and along the Yangtze River. 3) Based on how urban spatial evolution affects water ecological space, we construct a theoretical framework of urban-water coupling and establish a digital model of water ecological space resilience control in the Dongting Lake area from four perspectives: threshold, visualization, dynamics, and intelligence.

Finding a home away from home: Housing choices of itinerant immigrant retailers in the Wa municipality, Ghana

AbstractGlobally, cross‐border migration has become a common phenomenon as people search for social and economic prospects and opportunities. Intra‐regional migration and trade, as espoused in several treaties, are expected to encourage the movement of people, goods and services across national borders. Among those involved in intra‐Africa migration are itinerant retailers who have been variously studied, albeit with little attention to their housing choices when they arrive in destination areas. This study draws evidence from Wa to examine the residential choices of itinerant immigrant retailers using a qualitative research approach via in‐depth interviews with 22 immigrants, eight landlords and four informal rent agents. The itinerant immigrants were contacted at the Wa central market as well as their popular networking and relaxation spaces in town. The responses obtained from the interviews were categorized into themes and presented in narrations and quotations. The study found that itinerant immigrants preferred low‐income residential neighbourhoods close to the central business district that they secure through friends and relatives and informal rent agents. However, the housing units were generally bereft of basic amenities, and they face tenant–landlord and tenant–tenant conflicts over the payment of utility bills and home maintenance, as well as overpricing of rent by the informal rent agents. Efforts to regulate the activities of informal rent agents and petty landlords to provide minimal protection for immigrants should be the way forward in dealing with the challenges.

Humorn i stadens mångstämmiga rum

“Humour in the Polyphonic Town Space. A Reading of Hjalmar Bergman’s Novel The Markurells of Wadköping” The novelist as an accomplished artist is revealed, in Mikhail Bakhtin’s view, when the stamp of his/her voice and style is kept while interacting and intermingling with other voices and styles expressed in the novel, often taken from social, collective spaces such as the town. In addition, Bakhtin observes that a history of laughter can be read in the development of the novel as a genre. With its popular roots in carnival traditions, the novel takes place in streets and market squares, and creates an alternative social place which can overturn given social, political and economic hierarchies. Furthermore, the literary scholar Leo Spitzer shows how a novel’s narrator voice can borrow and mould the common voice of a whole community of speakers, as a sort of choir, for instance, in a village or a small town, through the use of free indirect speech (erlebte Rede). By following these stylistic clues, the article examines how comic, grotesque and fantastic effects are triggered in Hjalmar Bergman’s novel The Markurells of Wadköping, especially in case of ‘polyphonic’ scenes in which the small town participates as a unit, and as a receptive and collective conscience. When humour is in great style, it also contains a tragic dimension, as suggested by the philosopher Simon Critchley. Bergman’s humour is marked by pessimism, and the writer is ambivalent towards the apparently solid, bourgeois world prior to World War I which he comes from and depicts in his novel. The author feels close to this world and describes it with empathy, but at the same time he displays a critical distance as well as a need to part from it. The ‘polyphonic’ plurality of voices in this novel refers also to such an inner conflict. In the article, Hjalmar Bergman is considered as an interpreter of existential disharmony and shortcomings, but also as a writer who found in laughter a form of love for life despite everything.

Power and leadership in small Russian monotowns

ABSTRACT This article presents the outcomes of an empirical study of power and leadership in three small Russian monotowns, conducted in 2011–2015 and 2018–2020. The study demonstrates the variability of power relations in Russian towns, despite the policy of centralization and the strengthening of authoritarian tendencies in Russian politics. The political process in monotowns retains its specificity due to the presence of town-forming enterprises, which largely determine the life of urban communities. Town-forming enterprises retain a high potential for influence in the political space of small towns, especially those enterprises that have solid economic resources and are successfully developing; their presence creates additional opportunities for the formation of an urban regime. The role of these enterprises in local politics varies significantly—from active participation to actual withdrawal. The differences largely depend on their economic potential and development prospects, as well as on a personal factor—the position of enterprise owners and the readiness of the leaders of municipal authorities and enterprises to cooperate.

Influence of perceived social benefits on motives for visiting urban green infrastructure spaces in small and medium-sized towns in Southeast Nigeria

Although the benefits of urban green infrastructure (UGI) in sustainable development are well established in the literature, the specific benefits with the most influence on why people visit or use UGI spaces are not well understood. This study investigated the influence of perceived social benefits on motives for visiting UGI spaces in small and medium-sized towns in Southeast Nigeria. A survey of 513 participants in four main towns of Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria was done. The data were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests, descriptive and categorical regression analyses. The findings showed that the main motives for visiting UGI spaces were for enjoying nature, fresh air, relaxing, and walking these were significantly different across the respondents' age, marital status, and location. The role of UGI in promoting human-nature interactions, enhancing life satisfaction, and social interactions were the top three social benefits identified. The three social benefits with the most significant influence on motives for visiting UGI were the role of UGI in promoting physical well-being, social relations, a sense of community, and life satisfaction. The study implies that understanding public motives for visiting/using GI spaces and their predictors is vital for effective policy-making, planning, and management of UGI.

Leadership Crisis and The Challenges of Ungoverned Spaces in Border Towns of Ogun State: Implications for National Security

This research paper examines the impact of leadership crisis on ungoverned spaces in border towns of Ogun State, Nigeria, and its implications for national security. The study will explore the nature and extent of leadership crisis in these border towns, including the factors that contribute to the emergence and persistence of ungoverned spaces. It will also examine the challenges posed by these ungoverned spaces, including their potential to aggravate conflict, promote criminal activities, and undermine national security. The research will also explore the role of state and non-state actors in addressing the challenges of leadership crisis and ungoverned spaces in these border towns. The research adopted descriptive survey design, using a questionnaire structured on 5-point Likert’s rating scale of 5 – 1 to elicit information from respondents. The data collected, were analysed using SPSS. The tools used are frequency tables and percentage distribution. The findings of this study revealed that the insecurity situations in border towns of Ogun State largely dependent on the failure to control ungoverned spaces leading to high incidences of banditry attacks on farm settlements, villages, highways resulting in kidnapping and unwanted killings. The study recommends that Government at all levels should prioritize security in every nooks and cranny of the states which will in turn discourage activities of criminal elements in ungoverned spaces in Ogun state, the South-West and Nigeria at large, while also addressing the basic livelihood problems of poverty, inequality, and unemployment which has contributed to the problem of insecurity and threat to national security. The study will also have implications for policy and practice, highlighting the need for a more integrated and holistic approach to governance and security in border areas.

Spontaneous Plant Diversity in Urban Contexts: A Review of Its Impact and Importance

To promote sustainability in urban green spaces, it is necessary to know the diversity of spontaneous species in these spaces. Based on the investigation and analysis of the relevant scientific literature, the diversity of spontaneous species and their importance was contextually discussed, along with the assessment of local biodiversity impact in green spaces. Studies on green spaces, spontaneous flora, biodiversity or ecosystem services, and studies on exotic species and adaptability were summarized. Finally, the existing issues regarding biodiversity and urbanization, and the role of spontaneous plants in restoring industrial areas were discussed. Based on the research carried out, it is considered that green spaces contain unique and useful biodiversity resulting from their management. Spontaneous flora can be a generator of plants with aesthetic character, which can be grown in an ecologically sound way in private gardens and natural spaces in town and village zones, with certain remarkable farming-biological characteristics (ecological plasticity, high hardiness, etc.). Biodiversity is a relevant feature of urban landscapes, offering multiple gains, and the conservation of this biodiversity in urban green spaces is fundamental and requires an integrated approach. However, urbanisation usually has a detrimental influence on local species’ diversity.