scholarly journals New spatialities of work in the city

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110091
Author(s):  
Darja Reuschke ◽  
Carol Ekinsmyth

This introduction discusses the objectives and concepts underlying the Special Issue on the new spatialities of work in the city. It highlights the urban impact of both the changing spatiotemporal working patterns and the increased diversity of workspaces that have resulted from post-industrial restructuring, globalisation, labour market flexibilisation and digitisation. Even pre-COVID-19, when the research in this Special Issue was undertaken, this impact on the urban structure and the social fabric of cities was significant, but it had remained underexplored. Here, therefore, we question models of work and commuting that continue to assume the spatially ‘fixed’ workplace, and explore how new understandings of workspace and multi-locality, developed in this Special Issue, can inform future research. This, we argue, is more important than ever as we come to understand the medium- and long-term impacts of pandemic-altered work practices in cities. We further argue that the spatialities of work need to be connected with research on health, job quality and wellbeing in cities – such as, for example, on the risks that COVID-19 has exposed for driving and mobile work.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7533
Author(s):  
Jakub Bil ◽  
Bartłomiej Buława ◽  
Jakub Świerzawski

The article describes the risks for the mental health and wellbeing of urban-dwellers in relation to changes in the spatial structure of a city that could be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A year of lockdown has changed the way of life in the city and negated its principal function as a place of various meetings and social interactions. The danger of long-term isolation and being cut-off from an urban lifestyle is not only a challenge facing individuals, but it also creates threats on various collective levels. Hindered interpersonal relations, stress, and the fear of another person lower the quality of life and may contribute to the development of mental diseases. Out of fear against coronavirus, part of the society has sought safety by moving out of the densely populated city centres. The dangerous results of these phenomena are shown by research based on the newest literature regarding the influence of COVID-19 and the lockdown on mental health, urban planning, and the long-term spatial effects of the pandemic such as the urban sprawl. The breakdown of the spatial structure, the loosening of the urban tissue, and urban sprawl are going to increase anthropopressure, inhibit access to mental health treatment, and will even further contribute to the isolation of part of the society. In addition, research has shown that urban structure loosening as a kind of distancing is not an effective method in the fight against the SARS-COV pandemic. Creating dense and effective cities through the appropriate management of development during and after the pandemic may be a key element that will facilitate the prevention of mental health deterioration and wellbeing. It is also the only possibility to achieve the selected Sustainable Development Goals, which as of today are under threat.


Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802097265
Author(s):  
Matthew Thompson ◽  
Alan Southern ◽  
Helen Heap

This article revisits debates on the contribution of the social economy to urban economic development, specifically focusing on the scale of the city region. It presents a novel tripartite definition – empirical, essentialist, holistic – as a useful frame for future research into urban social economies. Findings from an in-depth case study of the scale, scope and value of the Liverpool City Region’s social economy are presented through this framing. This research suggests that the social economy has the potential to build a workable alternative to neoliberal economic development if given sufficient tailored institutional support and if seen as a holistic integrated city-regional system, with anchor institutions and community anchor organisations playing key roles.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 218-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Koziura

This article is part of the special cluster titled Bukovina and Bukovinians after the Second World War: (Re)shaping and (re)thinking a region after genocide and ‘ethnic unmixing’, guest edited by Gaëlle Fisher and Maren Röger. This article explores ways in which Habsburg nostalgia has become an important factor in contemporary place-making strategies in the city of Chernivtsi, Western Ukraine. Through the analysis of diasporic homecomings, city center revitalization, and nationalist rhetoric surrounding the politics of monuments, I explore hybrid and diverse ways in which Habsburg nostalgia operates in a given setting. Rather than a static and homogenous form of place attachment, in Chernivtsi different cultural practices associated with Habsburg nostalgia coexist with each other and depending on the political context as well as the social position of the “nostalgic agents” manifest themselves differently. Drawing from my long-term ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that in order to fully understand individuals’ attachment to space, it is necessary to grasp both the subtle emotional ways in which the city is experienced by individuals as well as problematize the role of the built environment in the visualization of collective memory and emotions of particular groups. The focus on changing manifestations of the Habsburg nostalgia can bring then a better understanding of the range and scope of the city’s symbolic resources that might be mobilized for various purposes.


Author(s):  
Г.А Акимниязова

Развитие торговли и экономических связей привело к необходимости строительства специальных заведений, предназначенных для торговцев, путников, с помещениями для вьючных животных. Это в свою очередь привело к появлению постоялых дворов. У каракалпаков постоялый двор назывался шарбақ. Он были двух видов: для кратковременного пребывания, расположенный в черте города недалеко от базара, и долговременного пребывания, устанавливавшийся при въезде в город. Второй из них предпочитали путешествующие издалека. Посетители же первых постоялых дворов останавливались в нем для разгрузки привезенного для продажи товара, реализовав который в течение дня, покидали заведение. Функции шарбақ заключались не только в предоставлении приюта, возможности отдыха, размещения товаров и животных, но и в общении, обмене новостями. В базарные дни сюда стекались жители со всей округи для того, чтобы узнать последние новости. Для старшего поколения шарбақ был, в первую очередь местом проведения досуга. Постоялый двор играл важную роль в жизни каракалпаков. Об этом свидетельствует их количество. К середине XX века постоялый двор начинает терять свою значимость в связи с развитием городской инфраструктуры и появлением гостиниц. The development of economic ties entailed arranging special establishments for traders and travelers, with premises for beasts of burden. This resulted in the construction of hostelries. The Karakalpaks called them sharbak. There were two types of sharbaks: located within the city near the bazaar, intended for a short stay, and installed at the entrance of the city for the long-term visitors. Travelers from far away preferred the second type. Guests of the first type of hostelries usually stayed there just to unload the goods and sell them at the bazaar during the day. The sharbaks not only provided shelter, recreation, and accommodation of goods and animals, but also served as a place for communication and news exchange. On market days, residents from all over the area flocked there to find out the latest news. For the older generation, sharbak was a place of leisure. The hostelry played an important role in the social life of the Karakalpaks, which is evidenced by their large number. By the middle of the 20th century, the sharbak began to lose its significance due to the development of urban infrastructure and modern hotels


Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rzasa ◽  
Marek Ogryzek

Many Polish cities have objects in them that have ceased to function in accordance with their intended use, for one reason or another. These are often post-industrial objects and former military facilities. As a result of the social, political and economic transformations that have taken place in Poland over the years after the Second World War, these objects have lost the meaning of their existence and functioning. Quite often such objects also have a historical character, which may, under Polish law, serve to hinder the possibility of them being reused. A well prepared revitalisation is often the only way for such objects to regain their earlier functionality, or gain a new one. Selected examples of the revitalisation of historic buildings located in Olsztyn (the capital of Warmia and Mazury, the Voivodeship in North-East Poland) were analysed by the authors in this article, and the effects of such actions, connected to the development of the city, were presented. The study included examples of the revitalisation of post-industrial objects and former military facilities. The analysis was performed in the years 2010–2016. The history and previous functional status of the tested objects were presented, as well as their present form and function. The authors have performed a comprehensive analysis of the compliance of new functions of objects with the idea of the sustainable development of the city. The results show the extent to which the analysed activities comply with the principles of sustainable development, in social, economic and environmental terms.


Author(s):  
DIANE E. DAVIS

What constitutes modern Mexico? Is there a clear distinction between the historic and modern Mexico City? And if there are, does this distinctions hold up throughout the twentieth century, when what is apparent is a mix of legacies coexisting overtime? This chapter discusses the semiotics of history and modernity. It discusses the struggle of the Mexico City to find its own image including its struggle to preserve historic buildings amidst the differing political alliances that either promote change or preserve the past. However, past is not a single entity, hence if the preservation of the rich history of Mexico is pursued, the question arises as to what periods of history represented in the city are to be favoured in its future development. In this chapter, the focus is on the paradoxes of the Torre Bicentenario and on the pressures to preserve Mexico’s past, the ways they have been juxtaposed against the plans for its future and how the balance of these views has shifted over time. It determines the key actors and the institutions who have embraced history as opposed to progress, identifies the set of forces that dominated in the city’s twentieth-century history, and assesses the long-term implications of the shifting balance for the social, spatial and built environmental character of the city. The chapter ends with a discussion on the current role played by the cultural and historical authorities in determining the fate of the city.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Bergström

Aim: This study accounts for how people aged 55-69 with ongoing long-term alcohol problems conceptualize past, present and future. Methods: A total of 19 interviews were performed, from which reflective life reviews were obtained and analyzed as narrative life accounts. Three structuring thematic traits were identified: resentment of life, acceptance of life and gratitude towards life. Results: The study shows how past, present and future intertwine into meaningful entities incorporating certain governing master narratives about recovery, familiar for example from expert discourse and the AA movement. When it comes to the theme of resentment, the participants articulated disappointment over what life had become and emphasized especially the missed work-related opportunities that the drinking had caused. In the theme of acceptance letting go of the past was viewed as important for creating a sober future. Within the dimension of gratitude the past was seen as a resource for self-development and future recovery. Conclusions: How long-term alcohol problems are conceptualized in the long view of a life narrative may have great implications for outlooks of a sober future. A closer look at the social and cultural material incorporated in the stories of this age group is an important task for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1839-1860
Author(s):  
Anja Neundorf ◽  
Grigore Pop-Eleches

This introductory essay outlines the key themes of the special issue on the long-term impact of autocracies on the political attitudes and behavior of their subjects. Here, we highlight several important areas of theoretical and empirical refinements, which can provide a more nuanced picture of the process through which authoritarian attitudinal legacies emerge and persist. First, we define the nature of attitudinal legacies and their driving mechanisms, developing a framework of competing socialization. Second, we use the competing socialization framework to explain two potential sources of heterogeneity in attitudinal and behavioral legacies: varieties of institutional features of authoritarian regimes, which affect the nature of regime socialization efforts; and variations across different subgroups of (post-)authoritarian citizens, which reflect the nature and strength of alternative socialization efforts. This new framework can help us to better understand contradictory findings in this emerging literature as well as set a new agenda for future research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 955-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaveri Qureshi ◽  
Sarah Salway ◽  
Punita Chowbey ◽  
Lucinda Platt

Iraq ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Karel Nováček ◽  
Narmin Ali Muhammad Amin ◽  
Miroslav Melčák

This study presents a first attempt at an archaeological topography of the city of Arbīl (Arbela, Urbilum, Arbail). Arbīl's large tell and citadel are among the most famous sites in northern Iraq, although research on the site has begun only recently. The study of the immediate hinterlands of the tell, complementary use of written sources, remote sensing and surveys offer a perspective on the extremely long-term evolution of the lower town, whose architectural remains have entirely disappeared under modern building development. Despite many lacunae in the data and a predominance of indirect hypotheses, the urban structure of Assyrian Arbail becomes comprehensible in the context of other Assyrian royal capitals. During the Islamic period, the city underwent a transformation, which merged the once prosperous Sasanian provincial capital with the expanding Muslim community.


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