Urban Space and Social Cognition: The Effect of Urban Space on Intergroup Perceptions

Author(s):  
Kim Knipprath ◽  
Maurice Crul ◽  
Ismintha Waldring ◽  
Xuechunzi Bai

Cities and neighborhoods are key sites of migration-related diversity. Differences in lifestyle, class, ethnicity, or religion become visible in urban spaces, such as neighborhood bars, shops, or cafes. This article applies a social cognitive approach to explore how urban spaces shape the relationship between ethnic encounters and intergroup perceptions. Theoretical work on urbanism suggests that public and private spaces have different effects on people’s perceptions of group interdependence and relative group status. This article contributes to the ongoing debate between conflict and contact schools of thought by defining how contextual conditions promote ethnic diversity’s positive or negative effects on intergroup perceptions.

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 2160-2178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayra Mosciaro ◽  
Alvaro Pereira

The entrepreneurial city discourse has been adopted around the globe by policymakers, with the urban redevelopment project as one of its most representative symbols. The predominantly favourable discourse revolving around this new political economy of urban space is supported by claims that newly regenerated areas bring multiple benefits to the city and its citizens. These narratives have been used in Brazil to justify increasing reliance on an urban planning tool known as Urban Operations. This planning tool, developed in the 1990s, seeks to facilitate cooperation between public and private actors in the production of new urban spaces. While projected by some as a ‘magic formula’ that enables major urban redevelopment projects without public expenditure, the outcomes of Urban Operations often differ significantly from expectations. The cases of Água Espraiada (São Paulo) and Porto Maravilha (Rio de Janeiro) are used to demonstrate that regenerated areas, as preferred spaces for the penetration of financialised practices into the built environment, have brought forward new dynamics that are serving to reinforce pre-existing social inequalities and to exacerbate uneven development in Brazil’s main cities.


Author(s):  
Юлия Робертовна Горелова ◽  
Александра Мартановна Маматулина

Данная статья посвящена исследованию отражения образных характеристик архитектурной среды города в пейзажах художников. Анализируя индивидуальные образные интерпретации разных художников, авторы предпринимают попытку обозначить общие тенденции в отображении архитектурной составляющей городского текста в целом и в частности его отдельных элементов (архитектурных объектов и пространств) в изобразительном искусстве. При этом авторами актуализируется внимание на специфике отображения различных типов городских пространств как публичных, так и камерных. При анализе публичных пространств центральной части города, формирующих «парадный портрет города», основное внимание уделяется отражению образов так называемых «визитных карточек»: наиболее значимых в семиотическом отношении архитектурных объектов и пространств, формирующих позитивный и презентабельный образ города. Некоторые фрагменты городского пространства выступают излюбленными мотивами городских пейзажей, написанных омскими художниками. Именно эти пространства воспринимаются жителями в качестве визитных карточек города и представляют собой наиболее значимые в семиотическом отношении фрагменты городского текста. В Омске, несомненно, к таким ключевым пространствам и объектам следует отнести архитектурные ансамбли ул. Ленина (Любинский проспект) и ул. Тарской, ансамбли Соборной и Никольской площадей, здания Драматического театра, Серафимо-Алексеевской часовни и Речного вокзала и др. Можно констатировать наличие излюбленных ракурсов при изображении архитектурных пространств центральной части Омска. Одним из таких является вид из окон Дома художников на реку Омь, мост и перспективу Любинского проспекта на противоположном берегу реки. Изображение Любинского у разных художников отличается не только выбором ракурса, а более настроением и своим отношением к данному пространству. Некоторые художники в своих работах выходят на глубокий уровень философского осмысления пространства, другие – показывают его будничным и обыденным. Камерные пейзажи, как правило, изображают фрагменты городской среды, относительно изолированные от центральных городских публичных пространств. К таким можно отнести дворы, арки и др. Камерным пространствам характерна близость, интимность. Большинство камерных пространств являются анонимными. Самым ярким примером камерного городского пространства являются дворы. Мотив строчной рядовой многоэтажной застройки, характерный для большинства городских окраин, также находит отражение в работах омских художников. У некоторых художников образ окраины передается как пустынное пространство, где высотная застройка перемежается с пустынными пространствами. Другой вариант осмысления данного образа предполагает трактовку окраины как пространства привычного, обжитого, наполненного утилитарными функциями и обустроенного людьми под свои нужды. This article aims to examine the reflection of figurative characteristics of the city’s architectural environment in artists’ landscapes. By analyzing individual figurative interpretations by different artists, the authors attempt to determine global tendencies in the reflection of the city’s architectural environment in general, and in its individual elements (architectural objects and spaces) in visual arts in particular. The authors focus attention on the specifics of the presentation of different types of urban spaces, both public and private. Analyzing public spaces of the city center, which form the “grand portrait of the city”, the authors concentrate on the reflection of the city’s landmarks—the most significant semiotic architectural objects and spaces that form a positive and presentable image of the city. Some parts of the urban space are favorite topics of urban landscapes by Omsk artists. It is these spaces that residents perceive as landmarks; they represent the most valuable, in semiotic terms, parts of the urban text. In Omsk, undoubtedly, the landmarks of the city are architectural ensembles in Lenin St. (Lyubinsky Prospect) and Tarskaya St.; ensembles of the Sobornaya and Nikolskaya Squares; the buildings of the Drama Theater, of the Seraphim-Alekseevskaya Chapel and of the River Boat Station, etc. Artists have favorite perspectives in depicting the architectural spaces of the central part of Omsk. One of them is a view from the windows of the House of Artist on the Om’ River, the bridge, and the perspective of Lubinskiy Prospect, which is on the other bank of the river. Artists show Lubinskiy Prospect in different ways: due to not only the chosen angle, but also their mood and attitude to the space they depict. Some artists go to the deep level of a philosophical understanding of the surrounding space, while others illustrate it as ordinary. Private landscapes, as usual, show parts of urban environment that are relatively isolated from public central urban spaces. Yards and arches are examples of it. Private spaces usually have a close, intimate atmosphere. Most private spaces are anonymous. The most vivid examples of the private urban space are yards. Omsk artists also reflect the motif of multistorey buildings, mainly concentrated in the outskirts, in their works. Some artists depict the outskirts as an empty space, while others interpret them as a habitual, familiar space full of utilitarian functions and arranged by people to meet their needs.


Author(s):  
Y. Ma ◽  
G. Li ◽  
H. Xie ◽  
H. Zhang

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> In the process of modern urban development, cities face various challenges such as climate change, air pollution and poverty, which have negative effects on urban sustainable development and self-regulation. The construction of smart cities can effectively improve the capability of urban management and operation. In this paper, we aim to explore how to use the big data in urban physical, social and cyber spaces to construct smart cities. The concept of digital urban space is proposed to help achieve the construction of smart cities, and city profiling is accordingly presented as a construction method of digital urban spaces and city profile as a product. According to the goals of constructing digital urban spaces, we illustrate the conception and core implementation steps of city profiling, including urban facets modelling and urban facets profiling with smart data. With three application scenarios, we discuss how city profile can be used to meet the factual needs of management, operation and decision-making. City profile can model the cities with urban data and make them become organisms managed and operated by data, so that various information services related to the city can be provided to different users.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-249
Author(s):  
Ronja Weiblen ◽  
Melanie Jonas ◽  
Sören Krach ◽  
Ulrike M. Krämer

Abstract. Research on the neural mechanisms underlying Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) has mostly concentrated on abnormalities in basal ganglia circuits. Recent alternative accounts, however, focused more on social and affective aspects. Individuals with GTS show peculiarities in their social and affective domain, including echophenomena, coprolalia, and nonobscene socially inappropriate behavior. This article reviews the experimental and theoretical work done on the social symptoms of GTS. We discuss the role of different social cognitive and affective functions and associated brain networks, namely, the social-decision-making system, theory-of-mind functions, and the so-called “mirror-neuron” system. Although GTS affects social interactions in many ways, and although the syndrome includes aberrant social behavior, the underlying cognitive, affective, and neural processes remain to be investigated.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Georg Weber ◽  
Hans Jeppe Jeppesen

Abstract. Connecting the social cognitive approach of human agency by Bandura (1997) and activity theory by Leontiev (1978) , this paper proposes a new theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding employee participation in organizational decision-making. Focusing on the social cognitive concepts of self-reactiveness, self-reflectiveness, intentionality, and forethought, commonalities, complementarities, and differences between both theories are explained. Efficacy in agency is conceived as a cognitive foundation of work motivation, whereas the mediation of societal requirements and resources through practical activity is conceptualized as an ecological approach to motivation. Additionally, we discuss to which degree collective objectifications can be understood as material indicators of employees’ collective efficacy. By way of example, we explore whether an integrated application of concepts from both theories promotes a clearer understanding of mechanisms connected to the practice of employee participation.


Author(s):  
Lauren Kuykendall ◽  
Lydia Craig ◽  
Melissa Stiksma ◽  
Katie Guarino

Author(s):  
Alessia Grigoletto ◽  
Mario Mauro ◽  
Pasqualino Maietta Latessa ◽  
Vincenzo Iannuzzi ◽  
Davide Gori ◽  
...  

This systematic review aimed to investigate the type of physical activity carried out in green urban spaces by the adult population and to value its impact on the population’s health. Additionally, another purpose was to examine if the presence of outdoor gyms in green urban spaces can promote participation in physical activity among adults. Searches of electronic databases, with no time restrictions and up to June 2020, resulted in 10 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. A quantitative assessment is reported as effect size. Many people practiced walking activity as a workout, which showed improvements in health. Walking is the most popular type of training due to its easy accessibility and it not requiring equipment or special skills. Outdoor fitness equipment has been installed in an increasing number of parks and has become very popular worldwide. Further, outdoor fitness equipment provides free access to fitness training and seems to promote physical activity in healthy adults. However, other studies about outdoor fitness equipment efficiency are needed. People living near to equipped areas are more likely to perform outdoor fitness than those who live further away. The most common training programs performed in green urban spaces included exercises with free and easy access, able to promote physical health and perception.


Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802199172
Author(s):  
Chris KK Tan ◽  
Tingting Liu ◽  
Xiaojun Gao

Urban spaces in China have traditionally been marked by hetero-patriarchy, making them key sites for exploring gendered power relations. Reflecting on the growing importance of companion animals, this study investigates the roles that these animals now play in the lives of unmarried women in urban China. Using transspecies urban theory to examine interview data gathered primarily from Guangzhou, we draw three conclusions. Firstly, as material conditions increasingly define pet keeping, companion animals have become both a class symbol and a safe refuge from the stressful demands of working life. Secondly, as professional Chinese women construct positive intimate relationships with their companions to preserve their autonomy as persons at work, they increasingly turn their backs on traditional marriage and family in an instantiation of ‘emergent femininity’. Thirdly, pets offer a new venue of online sociality for their owners. By centring women in Chinese urban studies, we argue that companion animals co-construct the living conditions of their urban, female, middle-class owners.


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