Enshrining Terror for the Nation: Affect and Nationalism at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Gruenewald
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Affective Intensity ◽  
Excessive Number ◽  
Memorial Space

Abstract The National September 11 Memorial and Museum (9/11 MM) employs affective rhetoric to enshrine the trauma of September 11 in support of U.S. nationalism. Applying Brian Massumi's understanding of affect as intensity, I examine how the site's rhetoric amplifies affect. The memorial pools and many signifiers of destruction magnify affective intensity through scale and repetition. The 9/11 MM continues its affective onslaught through an excessive number of shocking visuals and narrative details in its historical exhibition. The site’s affective intensity culminates in a non-linear and non-narrative memorial space of seemingly infinite individualized mourning. The article discusses the site's political and social impact by considering Nigel Thrift's idea of affect in the built environment as imbedded thought and Georg Böhme's theory of atmosphere, understood as the reciprocal relationship between affective urban space and its impact on people.

scholarly journals How to do things with jokes: Speech acts in standup comedy

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Aarons ◽  
Marc Mierowsky
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Noticeable Effect ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Linguistic Pragmatics ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Standup Comedy

How to do things with jokes: Speech acts in standup comedyIn How to Do Things with Words (1962), the philosopher John Austin claimed that we use words to do things in the world, not merely to express a state of affairs. This proposal introduced speech acts, and essentially initiated the study of linguistic pragmatics. Speech acts in everyday communication include persuading, apologizing, criticizing, humiliating, complimenting and a host of other intended behaviours. Austin accentuated the idea of speaker intention, on one hand, and hearer’s response to that intention if successfully conveyed, on the other. We consider some of the speech acts used in the work of selected standup comedians to analyse the way they determine the relationship of performer and audience. We argue that there is a reciprocal relationship between the licensing of certain speech acts in standup comedy, and the success of these speech acts in shaping the social lives of the audience. We show that this relationship is at the forefront of standup comedy’s social impact and that it can generate heightened consciousness of the social and political environment of the time.  Finally, we consider the question of whether socially critical standup can have any noticeable effect on the attitudes or behaviour of both live and digitally mediated audiences.

scholarly journals Non-Linear Effects of the Built Environment and Social Environment on Bus Use among Older Adults in China: An Application of the XGBoost Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 9592
Author(s):  
Lanjing Wang ◽  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Xiaofei Liu ◽  
Xumei Chen ◽  
Chaoyang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Dwelling Unit ◽  
Bus Stop ◽  
Environment Variable ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Unit Density

Global aging has raised increasing concerns on the health and well-being of older adults. Public transport is a viable option to improve the mobility and quality of life among older adults. However, policies that promote the public transport use among older adults are rare. This study utilizes the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) decision tree to explore the non-linear associations of the built and social environment with bus use among older adults in China. The bus use of older adults was obtained from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. Results show that non-linear relationships exist among all built environment and social environment characteristics. Within certain thresholds, the percentage of green space land use, land use mixture, bus-stop density, and dwelling unit density are positively related to bus use among older adults. Likewise, one social environment variable, the proportion of older adults in a neighborhood, is the key social environment variable. Furthermore, the dwelling unit density and proportion of older adults appear to have an inverse U-shaped relationship. Additionally, age, ownership of motorcycles, and distance from home to the nearest bus stop also show non-linearity. The findings presented in this paper facilitate effective planning interventions to promote bus use among older adults.

scholarly journals Non-linear Relationships Between the Built Environment and Walking Frequency Among Older Adults in Zhongshan, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiani Wu ◽  
Chunli Zhao ◽  
Chaoyang Li ◽  
Tao Wang ◽  
Lanjing Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Additive Model ◽  
Walking Behavior ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Walking Activity ◽  
Non Linear

Aim: Promoting walking activity is an effective way to improve the health of older adults. Walking frequency is a critical component of walking behavior and an essential determinant of daily walking levels. To decipher the association between the built environment and walking frequency among older adults, this study's aims are as follows: (1) to empirically test whether non-linear relationships between the two exist, and (2) to identify the thresholds of the built environment characteristics that promote walking.Methods: The walking frequency of old adults was derived from the Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS) in 2012. The sample size of old adults aged 60 or over was 4784 from 274 urban and rural neighborhoods. A semi-parametric generalized additive model (GAMM) is used to analyze the non-linear or non-monotonic relationships between the built environment and the walking frequency among older adults.Results: We found that non-linear relationships exist among five out of the six built environment characteristics. Within certain thresholds, the population density, sidewalk density, bus stop density, land use mixture, and the percentage of green space are positively related to older adults' walking trips. Furthermore, the land use mixture and the percentage of green space show an inverse “V”-shaped relationship.Conclusions: Built environment features can either support or hinder the walking frequency among older adults. The findings in the current study contribute to effective land use and transport policies for promoting active travel among older adults.

scholarly journals Wpływ kapitału społecznego mieszkańców na kształtowanie przestrzeni wspólnych w środowisku mieszkaniowym

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-54
Author(s):  
Anna Cudny
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
National Development ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Aesthetic Quality ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

Influence of social capital of inhabitants on shaping common spaces in a housing environment The last two decades of the century have brought unusually many changes in the built environment. These include not only changes directly related to the emergence of a new urban fabric, but also changes in social attitudes towards common spaces located in residential areas. The built environment has never been evaluated so strongly. This assessment translates not only into the everyday outdoor activities of residents (necessary, optional and social activities), but also to economic projects (purchase, sale and rental of real estate). At the same time, the city ceases to be, as it has been so far, mainly subjected to criticism, and the residents are gradually changing their demanding attitude concerning the development of space to participate in the process of its creation. Society wants to have a real impact on urban space, especially on the space closest to them. Thus, the right to the city is no longer a privilege or a duty, but it becomes a need. Trying to meet this need results in a phenomenon which we can increasingly observe in Poland, and which we have been witnessing abroad for many years: activities in public space are changing into activities for public space. They include the transformation of common spaces related to the place of residence—improving their aesthetic quality, functional changes, modernization of development elements. Observing numerous examples of public participation in shaping public spaces, it was noticed that the initiation, course and effects of activities largely depend on the social capital of the group undertaking said activity. Accordingly, there is a need for research on the mutual relation between the level of social capital and the issue of shaping and managing public space with the participation of local communities, which will be the main topic of the paper. To investigate the above-mentioned issue, qualitative research methods were used in relation to the relationship: site visit, non-participant observation and focus interviews. This contributed to a comparative study of three selected Warsaw case studies. They were analysed in terms of meeting the qualitative criteria selected for the study. These criteria have been indicated on the basis of the Social Capital Development Strategy 2020, which is one of the parts of the Medium-Term National Development Strategy. The result of the analyses is an indication of derived factors from within the group of space users and external factors that have a positive and negative impact on initiating, carrying out and maintaining the effects of changes in common spaces developed with the participation of local communities in Polish conditions. The conclusions can be used to improve future participation processes related to urban space - both by non-professionals participating in them, as well as experts - architects and town planners.

scholarly journals Examining non-linear built environment effects on elderly’s walking: A random forest approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 102552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Cheng ◽  
Jonas De Vos ◽  
Pengjun Zhao ◽  
Min Yang ◽  
Frank Witlox
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Environment Effects ◽  
Non Linear

scholarly journals Do–It–Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal “Improvement” Through Unauthorized Alteration

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon C. C. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Analytical Category

There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space. This study identifies and analyzes one that has been largely ignored in social science: explicitly functional and civic–minded informal contributions that I call “do–it–yourself urban design.” The research, which began as an investigation into more “traditional” nonpermissable alterations, uncovered these cases—from homemade bike lanes and street signs to guerrilla gardens and development proposals—that are gaining visibility in many cities, yet are poorly accounted for by existing perspectives in the literature. This article examines the existing theories and evidence from interviews and other fieldwork in 14 cities in order to develop the new analytical category of DIY urban design. I present findings on the creators of these interventions, on their motivations to “improve” the built environment where they perceive government and other development actors to be failing, and on the concentration of their efforts in gentrifying areas. This introduces the possibility of conflict and complicates their impact. I argue that DIY urban design has wide–ranging implications for both local communities and broader urban policy.

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