Spatial Manifestations Research Articles

Smart cities as spatial manifestations of 21st century capitalism

Globally, smart cities attract billions of dollars in investment annually, with related market opportunities forecast to grow year-on-year. The enormous resources poured into their development consist of financial capital, but also natural, human and social resources converted into infrastructure and real estate. The latter act as physical capital storage and sites for the creation of digital products and services expected to generate the highest value added. Smart cities serve as temporary spatial fixes until new and better investments opportunities emerge. Drawing from a comprehensive range of publications on capitalism, this article analyzes smart city developments as typifier of 21st century capital accumulation where the financialization of various capitals is the overarching driver and ecological overshoot and socio-economic undershoot are the main negative consequences. It closely examines six spatial manifestations of the smart city – science parks and smart campuses; innovation districts; smart neighborhoods; city-wide and city-regional smart initiatives; urban platforms; and alternative smart city spaces – as receptacles for the conversion of various capitals. It also considers the influence of different national regimes and institutional contexts on smart city developments. This is used, in the final part, to open a discussion about opportunities to temper the excesses of 21st century capitalism.

Unraveling the influence of income-based ambient population heterogeneity on theft spatial patterns: insights from mobile phone big data analysis

While previous research has underscored the profound influence of the ambient population distribution on the spatial dynamics of crime, the exploration regarding the impact of heterogeneity within the ambient population, such as different income groups, on crime is still in its infancy. With the support of mobile phone big data, this study constructs an index of ambient population heterogeneity to represent the complexity of the social environment. After controlling for the effects of total ambient population, nonlocal rate, transportation accessibility, crime attractors, and crime generators, this study employs a negative binomial regression model to examine the influence of ambient population heterogeneity and different income groups on the spatial manifestations of thefts. The findings indicate that ambient population heterogeneity significantly escalates the incidence of thefts, with middle and upper-middle-income groups acting as more attractive targets, whereas the higher-income group exerts a deterrent effect. The interaction analysis shows that increased population heterogeneity contributes to social disorder, thereby amplifying the attractiveness of the ambient population to perpetrators. These conclusions highlight the crucial role of ambient population heterogeneity in explaining crime dynamics and therefore enrich the routine activity theory.

Spatial manifestations of order reduction in Runge–Kutta methods for initial boundary value problems

Spatial manifestations of order reduction in Runge–Kutta methods for initial boundary value problems

Pastiche of Threats: A Spatial Analysis of Military Urban Training Centres

This paper focuses on two case studies of urban military training centres, representing different combat scenarios, and generating different imaginary spatial manifestations. Using maps, drawings, photographs, and 3D models, we analyse how the architectural and urban characteristics of both cases inform the manner in which Arab built space is simultaneously conceived and perceived as what we develop in this paper as a pastiche of threats, violence, and domination. Approaching the issue from a spatial perspective, we address the materials used in each space; how spaces were planned in relation to combat legacies, and how their planners ignored noncombatant usage of public space in their creation of civilian-like military infrastructure. At the same time, we wish to address the neverending “passion for the Real”, which cannot be satisfied by any simulacra. By doing so, we map out the way abstract imaginaries are manifested and materialized spatially, attending almost literally to the “architecture of vision” involved in contemporary practices of power.

The growth of different spaces of middle-classness in Greater Maputo: A methodological approach for assessing processes of this urban transformation

In Sub-Saharan Africa, following recent macro-economic expansion, the growth of what was a relatively small middle-class has had a significant effect on urban development. In Mozambique, middle-class growth is still difficult to evaluate, since quantitative data and related research in this domain are limited. However, there have been considerable changes in urban discourse and development praxis in the country: measures directed to middle-class groups have gained more preponderance in housing strategies and land use planning activity; and, in Greater Maputo, urban development related to the growth of middle-class has become more visible.The identification and analysis of ongoing spatial transformation related to such urban discourses and praxis, and their impact on the majority of the population with lower incomes, is hampered by the still vague understanding of the middle-class in this context. This paper reflects on the possibilities and limitations of a methodological approach to identify middle-classness based on a spatial proxy, which was developed to analyse the peri-urban transformations on Greater Maputo associated with the growth of the middle-class (2016–2018). The paper argues that this methodology can potentially provide an understanding of how spatial manifestations of middle-classness can be identified and thus permit evaluation of their influence on urban transformation.

Biological Assessment of Anthropogenic Impacts in Buguma Creek, Rivers State, Nigeria

The objective of this research was to assess the anthropogenic impact on plankton and macrobenthic fauna composition, abundance, distribution, and diversity of four communities in Buguma creek. The Phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic fauna samples were collected quantitatively monthly from each of the four sampling stations between January and June 2020 using standard sampling methods. Margalef (D), Shannon Wienner (H), and Evenness indices were used to determine species richness and diversity respectively using the PAST statistical package. This study revealed that artisanal refinery activities, sand mining/dredging, and discharge of industrial, domestic, human, and animal wastes have adversely affected the aquatic biota (plankton and macrobenthic fauna) in Buguma creek. The effects of these activities have remarkable spatial manifestations; with the more perturbed especially station 2, having a lower number of species and abundance. The preponderance of indicator species is a confirmation while the community structure gave an insight into the negative impact of these activities individually and cumulatively. The brunt of these activities rests more on the macrobenthic fauna; probably due to their unique characteristics and position in the aquatic environment. The result indicated that Buguma creek had been polluted seriously to a large extent. Keywords: Aquatic biota, Bioindicator, Anthropogenic, Artisanal refinery, Diversity

How an Immune-Factor-Based Formulation of Micro-Immunotherapy Could Interfere with the Physiological Processes Involved in the Atopic March.

Allergic diseases consist of improper inflammatory reactions to antigens and are currently an important healthcare concern, especially considering their increasing worldwide development in recent decades. The "atopic march" defines the paradigm of allergic diseases occurring in chronological order and displaying specific spatial manifestations, as they usually start as atopic dermatitis (AD) and food allergies during infancy and progressively evolve into allergic asthma (AA) and allergic rhinitis (AR) or rhino-conjunctivitis in childhood. Many immune cell subtypes and inflammatory factors are involved in these hypersensitivity reactions. In particular, the T helpers 2 (Th2) subset, through its cytokine signatures made of interleukins (ILs), such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13, as well as mast cells and their related histamine pathways, contribute greatly to the perpetuation and evolution of the atopic march. By providing low doses (LD) and ultra-low doses (ULD) of ILs and immune factors to the body, micro-immunotherapy (MI) constitutes an interesting therapeutic strategy for the management of the atopic march and its symptoms. One of the aims of this review is to shed light on the current concept of the atopic march and the underlying immune reactions occurring during the IgE-mediated responses. Moreover, the different classes of traditional and innovative treatments employed in allergic diseases will also be discussed, with a special emphasis on the potential benefits of the MI medicine 2LALERG® formulation in this context.

ČITANjE INTERDISCIPLINARNIH TRANSGRESIJA DINAMIČKIH POJMOVA I ZNAČENjA U ARHITEKTONSKOM DISKURSU – FENOMEN FLUIDNOSTI

Positioning the architectural discourse in the context of language and culture, this paper presents the research of interdisciplinary transgressions of dynamic terms and meanings which change the comprehension, reflection and creation of architecture. The main topic of the research is the phenomenon of fluidity in architecture, which is analysed through the interdisciplinary framework of terminology and conceptual aspects in the theories through which it is manifested (in the border fields of architecture - culture, art, philosophy and aes- thetics), in the historical, chronological development of architectural thought from the 17th to the 20th century, as well as in the contemporary architectural theory and practice. The phe- nomenon of fluidity is also methodologically viewed as a case study for the presentation of an authentic research model that connects the theory and practice of architecture. Accordingly, such connection is manifested through the analysis, synthesis and systematization of con- cepts, meanings, aspects and spatial manifestations, through which architecture is read as a text of culture and the perception of the key points of change in architectural thought and creativity. The methodological model of the research consists of four main parts: 1. reading, 2. understanding, 3. thinking and 4. creating. Starting from the recognition of aspects of flu- idity in the contemporary context (1), the historical course of the interdisciplinary, chrono- logical development of the subject phenomenon is analysed (2), followed by the analysis of the embodiment of its meanings in the architectural space (3), and at the end the principles and procedures through which it could be expressed in contemporary architectural practice are systematized (4). The results of the research and the main theoretical and practical contri- butions are represented in the glossary of fluidity in architecture, which systematizes possible translations of terms into spatial aspects and dynamic qualities of architectural space. In this way, the connection between the terminology, which manifests the phenomenon of fluidity in the theoretical discourse of architecture and architectural creation, with which fluidity is practically operationalized, is demonstrated.

Teleconnection Patterns of Different El Niño Types Revealed by Climate Network Curvature

AbstractThe diversity of El Niño events is commonly described by two distinct flavors, the Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) type. While the remote impacts, that is, teleconnections, of EP and CP events have been studied for different regions individually, a global picture of their structure is still lacking. Here, we use Forman‐Ricci curvature applied on climate networks constructed from surface air temperature data to distinguish regional links from teleconnections. Our results confirm that both El Niño types influence the teleconnection patterns, however, with different spatial manifestations. Our analysis suggests that EP El Niños alter the general circulation which changes the teleconnection structure to primarily tropical teleconnections. In contrast, the teleconnection pattern of CP El Niños show only subtle changes to normal conditions. Moreover, this work identifies the dynamics of the Eastern Pacific as a proxy for the remote impact of both El Niño types.

Socio-spatial Consequences of Disturbed Areas Act 1991 on Urbanizing Spaces in Gujarat

Segregation on ethnic lines has often manifested in various forms of exclusion and group in equality. The spatial manifestations of violence in globalizing spaces of ‘divided cities’ also exhibit rigid patterns of community based ‘self-sorting’. The communalization of public and private housing with regard to demography has been a significantly pronounced exclusionary crisis in Indian divided cities. This paper, an abridged version of my MPhil thesis, concerns such a unique case. It assesses the impact of Disturbed Areas Act 1991 (‘The Act’) on ghettoisation in Ahmedabad city against the background of mass violence. The paper thus concerns the dynamics of spatial segregation in cities of Gujarat around residential and commercial property disputes. It conducts a socio-legal examination of ten case laws (2002–2021) by responding to the literature on divided cities. It argues that informal zoning practices of community led self-sorting behavior at the ground level, coupled with the Act’s operation (and the demand for its extension as legal protection), disparately impact existing group inequalities pertaining to housing access, afford ability and individual residential mobility in urbanizing spaces.

Spiral movement: Writingwithfascism and urban violence

How to move against the rise of the far-right and seemingly unstoppable autocratic leaders in many Western liberal democracies? Antifascism’s interest in the built environment is often limited to the collection of address data of right-wing extremists with the aim of locating its enemies. In this piece, I write with fascism and violence through vignettes of urban situatedness. I adopt an eclectic approach, engaging with diverse theories of violence and establishing loose connections between classical sociology and fascist urbanisation, liberalism in practice and historical fascism, and material aesthetics and right-wing spaces. In so doing, I highlight endemic forms of state and capitalist violence and their spatial manifestations of ghettoisation, beautification and overcoding. Acknowledging the limits of factual knowledge and liberal appeals to the truth in breaking through fascist worldviews of domination, the architecture of the text uses a circular infrastructure that connects various parties: ‘they’ (Twitter users), ‘I’ (author), ‘you’ (Walter Benjamin), and numerous ‘we’ who are thrown together in urban environments. Rather than developing a linear argument that tries to persuade fascists, I explore writing as a collective political practice that refutes totalising accounts. With the aim of opening meaning-makings through returning to and reworking numerous views, I respond to a spiral of violence with a movement that is organised around a shared commitment to an anti-oppressive, non-hierarchical world; a movement that is out of someone’s control and that spirals towards collective liberation.

A method for assessing the vitality potential of urban areas. The case study of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Italy

Vitality and Urbanity emerge as key goals of strategies for urban sustainable development as necessary prerequisites for varied and prosperous cities. Vitality and urbanity are characteristics that emerge from the diversity of urban public spaces activities and have an impact on a people's sense of place. The proposed research examines the built environment components that impact urbanity and vitality and develops an analytic method for quantifying the potential of urban form to promote urbanity and vitality. The research investigates four aspects: (i) the conceptualization of urbanity and vitality; (ii) the identification of factors affecting urbanity and vitality; (iii) the definition of indicators and protocols; (iv) the application of the proposed analytic method for measuring the vitality potential of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari (MCC), in Sardinia, Italy. This study underlines the relevance of combining space syntax and spatial analysis techniques in order to address four issues concerning sustainable urban development: quantitative description of urban-friendly conditions, identification of spatial manifestations of social and economic processes, understanding of criticalities, and formulation of policies and strategies for reinforcing vibrant urban spaces. Thus, the proposed analytic method contributes to the application of the Geodesign paradigm to the urban realm by supporting the understanding of the conditions affecting the vitality and urbanity of the built environment.

Spatial manifestation of resonant ionospheric signatures during the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake

Resonant coupling between the solid Earth and atmosphere leads to higher amplitudes of normal mode oscillations at ∼ 3.7 mHz and ∼ 4.4 mHz frequencies. Earthquake is one of the potential solid earth sources which can trigger the terrestrial resonant coupling. The present study addresses the resonant ionospheric signatures during the Mw 9.1 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake (Tohoku EQ). The Tohoku EQ ruptured off the eastern coast of Northern Honshu along a major 200 km fault. We aim to characterise the spatial manifestation of resonant ionospheric signatures following the Tohoku EQ event. Our analysis demonstrates significant north–south asymmetry in spatial distribution of the resonant signatures encompassing the epicentre. This anisotropic behaviour has been scrutinised by referring to seismic and non-seismic parameters. The non-seismic parameters mainly of geomagnetic field-acoustic wave coupling and satellite observation geometry largely governed the ionospheric manifestations of seismic energy. This attempt elaborates the role of non-seismic parameters towards efficient understanding of the spatial manifestations of resonant ionospheric signatures during great earthquakes.

Change by Activism: Insurgency, Autonomy, and Political Activism in Potosí-Jerusalén, Bogotá, Colombia

Cities today face a context in which traditional politics and policies struggle to cope with increasing urbanisation rates and growing inequalities. Meanwhile, social movements and political activists are rising up and inhabiting urban spaces as sites of contestation. However, through their practices, urban activists do more than just occupy spaces; they are fundamental drivers of urban transformation as they constantly face—and contest—spatial manifestations of power. This article aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on the role of activism in the field of urban design, by engaging with two concepts coming from the Global South: <em>insurgency</em> and <em>autonomy</em>. Through a historical account of the building of the Potosí-Jerusalén neighbourhood in Bogotá in the 1980s, it illustrates how both concepts can provide new insight into urban change by activism. On the one hand, the concept of insurgency helps unpack a mode of bottom-up action that inaugurates political spaces of contestation with the state; autonomy, on the other hand, helps reveal the complex nature of political action and the visions of urban transformation it entails. Although they were developed at the margins of conventional design theory and practice, both concepts are instrumental in advancing our understanding of how cities are shaped by activist practices. Thus, this article is part of a broader effort to (re)locate political activism in discussions about urban transformation, and rethink activism as a form of urban design practice.

‘Even in death, we’re being denied our place as human beings’: Geographic Islamophobia and Muslim Cemeteries in the English-Speaking West

Cemeteries are powerful spatial manifestations of belonging and integration for many marginalized communities, including Muslims in the west. This article examines attempts between 2007 and 2020 to establish Muslim cemeteries in four white, English-speaking, Christian-majority (WEC) countries, and the resulting backlash as a geographic form of Islamophobia. These countries are England, Scotland, Australia, and the United States. By drawing theoretically on the geographies of Muslim minorities, Islamic necrogeographies, and theories of Islamophobia and whiteness, we engage five case studies to provide a detailed examination of the Islamophobic objections to attempts to establish Muslim cemeteries. More specifically, we analyse the discursive strategies contained in the speech of hostile locals as presented in newspaper articles. Our analysis identifies a number of key themes mobilized by cemetery opponents to frame the burial sites as a threat to suburban or rural space, often in environmental terms. This preliminary transnational analysis seeks to begin a discussion of conflicts surrounding Muslim cemeteries and the geographic manifestations of Islamophobia in the context of normative WEC space in the rural and suburban English-speaking west.

Использование методов дистанционного зондирования Земли для исследования «острова тепла» города Тюмени

The authors present the results of mapping the “heat island” surface in the city of Tyumen and determining its spatial and seasonal manifestations using the Landsat-8 satellite data. Geothermic scenes of four seasons were obtained and analyzed

Exploratory walk and local cohesion— the concept and application

ABSTRACT The article outlines the concept of an exploratory walk as a method of research and co-creating social cohesion in the local context. The term exploratory walk refers to the mobile participatory research method, which is connecting cognitive aims with practical during the walks in pairs or groups. This method goes beyond the formula of ‘walking interview’, offering the participants an active role as experts or guides in the space familiar to them. The article discusses the following distinguished potentials of exploratory walks: cognitive, emotional, participatory, collaborative and transformative. They are analysed and assessed as possible to use in the study and co-creation of local cohesion, which is defined as ties between inhabitants. These ties are expressed by the ability to launch and develop positive relations, manage and share resources, and regulate the behaviour of co-citizens. Analyses presented here describe this method as promising from the possibility of knowing and strengthening social cohesion on the local scale. The concept is illustrated with an example of research on revitalisation. Moving together in cognised space – as shown in the empirical illustration – stimulates participants to perceive spatial manifestations of local cohesion or its deficits, to involvement, participation, collaboration and acting for change.

‘We will memorise our home’: exploring settler colonialism as an interpretive framework for Kashmir

In this article, we examine the practices of India’s military occupation of Kashmir in the framework of settler colonialism to map its entrenched nature in sustaining control and countering the struggle for Azaadi (freedom). Post 5 August 2019, when the Indian state proceeded with a reading down of the laws that enabled Kashmir’s permanent residents exclusive rights over land and jobs, scholars and activists noted it to be an advancement of India’s settler logic of elimination. In this essay, we complicate its trajectory and trace these recent practices as part of long drawn processes including spatial, demographic and ecological manifestations that are now further deepening and expanding a matrix of control characteristic of such a project. The paper argues that while settler colonialism could be used as a crucial interpretive framework for Kashmir and make it legible for an international audience, the reliance on a future Indian-citizen-settler runs the risk of invisibilising the Indian armed forces already permanently stationed in Kashmir and occupying vast tracts of land. The settler colonial framework can be a useful concept for Kashmir when its shrewd combination of assimilationist and eliminationist tactics is placed within the framework of military occupation, rather than as a distinct alternative.

Book Review of "The Cities, Security and Poverty"

The 2013 Meeting of the World Society for Ekistics was held in Ankara, Turkey around the theme of ‘The Cities, Security and Poverty’1. The proceedings from this international meeting, edited by Meltem Yılmaz and H. Çağatay Keskinok, form an overarching account of the changing power relations in a globalized world, discussing their socio-spatial implications for human settlements with particular reference to the key issues of the weakening public sphere and communality, increasing socio-spatial fragmentation and inequalities, and emerging security problems related to both political insurgencies and environmental degradation. Although the content of the book is not structured around certain sub-headings or themes, it is possible to categorize the 18 distinctive contributions as follows: (i) changing power relations and their implications on the public sphere; (ii) spatial manifestations of changing power relations and urban segregation; (iii) crime and security problems in urban spaces; (iv) ecological transitions, sustainability issues and environmental disasters.

The Cities, Security and Poverty

The 2013 Meeting of the World Society for Ekistics was held in Ankara, Turkey under the theme of ‘The Cities, Security and Poverty’. The proceedings of this international meeting, edited by Meltem Yılmaz and H. Çağatay Keskinok, forms an overarching perspective for the changing power relations of the global world and its socio-spatial implications on human settlements with reference to the key issues of weakening public sphere and communality, increasing socio-spatial fragmentations and inequalities, and emerging security problems related with both political insurgences and environmental risks and degradations. Although the content of the proceedings book is not structured under certain sub-headings and themes, it is possible to categorize the contributions of the compilation of 18 distinctive articles as follow: (i) changing power relations and its implications on society and public sphere; (ii) spatial manifestations of changing power relations, spatial transformation and segregation; (iii) crime and security problems in urban spaces; (iv) ecological transitions and sustainability issues; (v) disaster risks and security concerns. The review of this valuable book would bring forward the problematic issues of security and poverty by especially highlighting the recent socio-spatial experiences in Turkish cities and hopefully offer a humble contribution for the upcoming Special Issue: Turkey, Urbanism and the New Habitat.