scholarly journals How the Presence of Newly Arrived Migrants Challenges Urban Spaces: Three Perspectives from Recent Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Martina Bovo

This article explores the notion of arrival spaces in the recent urban studies literature, and it outlines three emerging perspectives on their role and the associated processes and complexities. Recently, within changing migratory trajectories, the dimension of arrival has gained increasing relevance, and scholars have discussed the growing complexity underpinning it. Within this framework, some contributions reflect on the role of arrival spaces, which currently represent a rapidly changing research subject. However, by the term ‘arrival space,’ authors refer to various types of space, and the article argues that a clearer reference to the spatial dimension of arrival is needed. Spaces are contexts where different actors interact and intervene in the city, and their understanding represents a preliminary step for future research. In this sense, this contribution aims to unpack the previous decade’s debate on arrival spaces. It outlines three main perspectives: The first discusses the role of trans-local contexts, working as nodes in international migration networks; the second follows the debate on arrival neighborhoods; the third suggests that arrival spaces may be defined as all those parts of the urban fabric with which newcomers interact at the moment of arrival. Finally, drawing from this review, the article underlines that arrival spaces are not only specialized areas with migrant newcomers’ concentration, but they may also be ordinary urban spaces that temporarily work for arrival. Hence, future research should further deepen this perspective and more explicitly investigate the relation of arrival spaces to the city and its actors.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Dorota Wojciechowska

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to present the latest scholarly trends in the field of social capital in libraries, to review research concepts published by LIS professionals and to suggest further research possibilities in this area. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a review and critical analysis of literature associated with research on social capital in libraries to highlight its importance for the development of LIS and its impact on the functioning of environments linked with various types of libraries. The goal of literature analysis was to determine the current condition of research on social capital in libraries. The main trends were identified and the need for further qualitative analyses, which are missing at the moment, was confirmed. Findings It was determined that, so far, LIS professionals have focussed mainly on the role of municipal libraries in developing social capital, the problem of building trust, especially in immigrant circles and the impact of libraries on promoting a civil society. Academic libraries, rural libraries, organisational capital in libraries and individual social capital of librarians were a much less frequent subject of research. The role of libraries in developing social capital in educational (primary and secondary education) and professional (non-university professionals) circles is practically non-existent in research, and it will require in-depth studies and analyses in the coming years. Originality/value This paper constitutes a synthetic review of the latest research concepts concerning social capital in libraries. It identifies the most important research trends and areas that so far have not been explored and suggests research methods to help LIS professionals design future research in this area more effectively.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 712-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Cornut

Immersed in the flow of activities, diplomats and other international practitioners are simultaneously influenced by past experiences and constantly innovating in response to situations that are never exactly the same. The conceptual tools of International Relations scholars must be capable of capturing this practical reality. To that end, I introduce in this article a relational approach to agency that can make sense of practitioners’ innovative ways of doing things in practice. Practice theorists in IR often emphasize hierarchies, struggle, and the role of habitus in shaping practices. Both building on and departing from them, I dig into the logic of practical sense and discuss Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of regulated improvisations, virtuosos/amateurs, and illusio to grasp agency in practice. I develop the idea that international actors are primarily practical and put improvisations and virtuosity — rather than rationality, cognitive processes, emotions, norm-compliance, path-dependency or even habits/habitus — in the foreground. I contend that this approach holds broader promise for the analysis of international politics than existing conceptions. We have much to gain by focusing on how international practitioners in their local contexts actually improvise in the moment. These improvisations in specific sites are constitutive of the ‘big picture’ of international politics. I take diplomatic practices in embassies and in permanent representations as an illustration.


Author(s):  
Sadegh Fathi ◽  
Hassan Sajadzadeh ◽  
Faezeh Mohammadi Sheshkal ◽  
Farshid Aram ◽  
Gergo Pinter ◽  
...  

Along with environmental pollution, urban planning has been connected to public health. The research indicates that the quality of built environments plays an important role in reducing mental disorders and overall health. The structure and shape of the city are considered as one of the factors influencing happiness and health in urban communities and the type of the daily activities of citizens. The aim of this study was to promote physical activity in the main structure of the city via urban design in a way that the main form and morphology of the city can encourage citizens to move around and have physical activity within the city. Functional, physical, cultural-social, and perceptual-visual features are regarded as the most important and effective criteria in increasing physical activities in urban spaces, based on literature review. The environmental quality of urban spaces and their role in the physical activities of citizens in urban spaces were assessed by using the questionnaire tool and analytical network process (ANP) of structural equation modeling. Further, the space syntax method was utilized to evaluate the role of the spatial integration of urban spaces on improving physical activities. Based on the results, consideration of functional diversity, spatial flexibility and integration, security, and the aesthetic and visual quality of urban spaces plays an important role in improving the physical health of citizens in urban spaces. Further, more physical activities, including motivation for walking and the sense of public health and happiness, were observed in the streets having higher linkage and space syntax indexes with their surrounding texture.


Author(s):  
Anna Anatol'evna Akasheva ◽  
Andrei Vyacheslavovich Chechin

A present-day task of historical GIS is to geotag ancient maps within еру modern coordinate system. These maps are sure to have many inaccuracies. In this regard, there is a need to develop algorithms accounting for these inaccuracies and allowing one to position sources with the smallest deformations and drawbacks. This task is also relevant for Russian plans of the General Survey. Their peculiarity is that they have accurate geodetic characteristics of plots. The research subject is a set of Nizhny Novgorod plans of the late 18th сentury which were the basis for a technique used to reconstruct the city borders and land survey plans. The research methodology is based on the historicism principal, systematicity and objectivity. The authors emphasize the role of statistical methods and apply specifically historical (historical and typological as well as historical and genetic) methods, the geodetic method to process and equalize transit traverse, modeling and cartometry. The research novelty is determined by the algorithm of city borders and historical land survey plans reconstruction, technological solutions for studying the object by means of geodetic programs, new data on land management and cartographic materials based on land management results in the specific region of Russia. The main conclusions are the positioned borders of Nizhny Novgorod in the conditional coordinate system. It was found that transit traverses of plots studied had significant angle linear errors. For settlement plots they are 3°29' and 1/31 and for pasture plots they are 2°49' and 1/80. For Blagoveshchenskiy Monastery they are 0°37’and 1/139. A raster land survey plan of Nizhny Novgorod has been made. It can be further used for geotagging and creating historical GIS.


Author(s):  
Hoe Su Fern

This chapter examines the role of the arts and artists in rejuvenating urban spaces in Singapore, where place management ideas are currently being used to rejuvenate parts of the city centre. Coexisting alongside state-driven initiatives are artist-led strategies where local art practitioners and organizations activate latent and/or under-utilized spaces. Through an analysis of policy documents and qualitative ethnographic fieldwork, this study explores the interplay between top-down aspirations and formal place management efforts, and the organic ways artists have activated and engaged with spaces. Ultimately, I argue that there is a need to balance formal governance structures with more support for artists engaging in organic, ground-up initiatives.


Inter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-28
Author(s):  
Kseniia N. Kalashnikova

The article is devoted to the consideration of the concept of authenticity set forth by S. Zukin in the book “Naked City: Death and Life of Authentic Urban Spaces”. The sources of the concept are traced in the author’s early works, the main subjects described in them are: the process of gentrification; power relations forming the urban landscape; symbolic economy and the power of cultural characteristics. These subjects became the basis of the idea of authenticity. Its manifestations are described by the example of “uncommon” and “common” urban spaces. A separate place in the article is considered by the development of individual ideas of Sh. Zukin, their interpretations, as well as applications for specific studies in the work of followers. The conclusion is drawn about the variety of interpretations offered by researchers and the ambiguity of using authenticity as a tool for analyzing the city.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Haitham El Sharnouby

Egyptian urban spaces suffer from a chaos that is the result of crowded and disordered pedestrian sidewalks, streets and shop signage. This chaos creates a negative effect on, both, the image of the city and the quality of life within these urban spaces. Many legislations and regulations in Egypt attempted to deal with these issues. Similarly, the Egyptian government established many organizations and authorities in order to deal with these issues with little success. The National Organization of Urban Harmony (NOUH) is one of those organizations established by the government to take the responsibility of dealing with pedestrian sidewalk and shops’ signage while the municipality deals with road occupations. These organizations should perform their responsibilities through the Egyptian legislations. The research at hand aims to find a solution to that particular problem which has influenced the quality of the street and its reflection to the quality of life as result. In order to find a solution, the research attempts to find a mechanism to boost the role of shop signage as an element of urban spaces in order to emphasize street quality. Thus, the research well be divided into four parts: part one reviews the quality of urban spaces and the meaning of its terms while part two reviews the concept of the quality of life and the relation between the quality of life and urban spaces. Part three demonstrates the urban quality of life through tangible and intangible approaches. Finally, part four reviews the Egyptian legislations that deal with research issues and attempts to find the difficulties that faced when enforcing laws. Finally, the research conclusion illustrates the most important issues in the research and their proposed solutions.


2018 ◽  

This book examines the active role of urban citizens in constructing alternative urban spaces as tangible resistance towards capitalist production of urban spaces that continue to encroach various neighborhoods, lanes, commons, public land and other spaces of community life and livelihoods. The collection of narratives presented here brings together research from ten different Asian cities and re-theorises the city from the perspective of ordinary people facing moments of crisis, contestations, and cooperative quests to create alternative spaces to those being produced under prevailing urban processes. The chapters accent the exercise of human agency through daily practices in the production of urban space and the intention is not one of creating a romantic or utopian vision of what a city "by and for the people" ought to be. Rather, it is to place people in the centre as mediators of city-making with discontents about current conditions and desires for a better life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Fuentealba ◽  
Hebe Verrest

Facing climate emergency and disaster risks, cities are developing governing arrangements towards sustainability and resilience. Research is showing the ambivalent results of these arrangements in terms of inclusion and (in)justice, as well as their outcomes in emptying the ‘properly political’ through depoliticised governing techniques. Acknowledging this post-political thesis, however, critical analyses must also engage with re-politicization and focus on disruptive and transformative governance efforts. This article addresses the dual dynamics of de—and re-politicisation, focusing on the interplay of different modes of governing urban risk. We follow the political philosophy of Jacques Rancière and related interpretations in critical urban studies to recover the politics of the city. We focus on a post-disaster area in the foothills of Santiago, Chile. After a 1993 disaster, the State constituted a mode of governing risks based on physicalist interventions that discouraged local conflicts. This techno-managerial policing order made risks invisible while favouring real estate development. However, we show how local initiatives emerge in the interstices of formal and informal arrangements that contest this course. This emerging mode of governing risk, we argue, has the potential to recover incrementally urban politics and disrupt the dominant one through an egalitarian principle on the margins. Our contribution shows that, although these modes of governance coexist and are still evolving, advancing more just and inclusive cities require moving beyond consensus-based governance and focusing on the role of dissent and disruptive politics.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0262283
Author(s):  
Iris Schelhorn ◽  
Swantje Schlüter ◽  
Kerstin Paintner ◽  
Youssef Shiban ◽  
Ricardo Lugo ◽  
...  

In stressful situations such as the COVID-19-pandemic, unpleasant emotions are expected to increase while pleasant emotions will likely decrease. Little is known about the role cognitive appraisals, information management, and upregulating pleasant emotions can play to support emotion regulation in a pandemic. In an online survey (N = 1682), we investigated predictors of changes in pleasant and unpleasant emotions in a German sample (aged 18–88 years) shortly after the first restrictions were imposed. Crisis self-efficacy and felt restriction were predictors of changes in unpleasant emotions and joy alike. The application of emotion up-regulation strategies was weakly associated with changes in joy. Among the different upregulation strategies, only “savouring the moment” predicted changes in joy. Our study informs future research perspectives assessing the role of upregulating pleasant emotions under challenging circumstances.


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