scholarly journals Loves me, loves me not

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Sara Bencekovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Grief And Loss ◽  
Everyday Objects ◽  
Historical Climate ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Balkan Region

The Balkan region is known for its historical climate of turbulent social relations; thus, public spaces that consecrate shared experiences of grief and loss come as no surprise. One such space, however, has experienced astonishing growth in its fame and popularity, not just as a renowned cultural landmark, but as a significant Croatian cultural export. The Museum of Broken Relationships is filled with unremarkable everyday objects donated by lovers who associate them with their past relationships. The value of these objects is not necessarily utilitarian, or aesthetic, but symbolic: they represent the emotions of remorse and pain elicited by breakups. This paper is an account of the objects, stories, and narratives found in the Museum of Broken Relationships. It considers the Museum a lens through which people can scrutinize the meaning of love in their everyday lives and consequently re-shape their identities. It looks into the Museum’s transformative potency as a spiritual and sacred space that offers hope in times of despair, fosters disorientation and chaos, and offers visitors an opportunity to confirm or reject their previous perspectives on love.

scholarly journals Strategie oswajania rzeczy na „Ziemiach Odzyskanych” ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem przestrzeni prywatnej

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Praczyk
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Private Space ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Polish People ◽  
Material Environment ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Second World

Strategies of the Familiarization of Things in Polish Regained Territories with the Special Attention to the Private Space This article discusses the presence of things and their modes of functioning in the private and, to some extent, also public spaces of the Recovered Territories in Poland after the Second World War. In this article, things are perceived as active agents, crucial for developing many different social relations that have to be created anew in the unknown cultural and material environment. New things that people come across are also treated here as objects that can reveal traumatic tensions caused by the necessity of the existence in the unfamiliar space that was left behind by the war enemies. This new private space that the Polish people have to live in needs to be domesticated and treated as a part of the everyday life. Strategies that are used to familiarize the former German cultural heritage are the main focus of this article.Cтратегии освaивания вещей на воссоединённых землях Польши особенно в личном пространствеВ этой ста­тье представлена проблема присудствия вещей и способа их функционирования особенно в личном пространстве на воссоединённых землях Польши после второй мировой войны. Bещи выступают здесь как активные актёры многих разнообразных общественных соотношений, которые надо создать заново в незнакомой материальной и культурнoй среде. Oдновременно новонайденные предметы могут вызывать травматические реакции у переселенцев, которые возникают как результат необходимости жизни в домах покиданных врагом. Это новое про­странство должно быть освоенное новыми жителями. Metoды ведущие к этой цели являются темой представленного здесь анализa.

scholarly journals Features of urban public spaces in the context of globalization

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 232-246
Author(s):  
K. L. Khomyakova
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Modern Cities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Essential Properties ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

The article deals with characteristics of urban public spaces, their role in the global transformation of the social relations system is determined. The ambiguity of assessing the impact of globalization on modern cities is due to the theoretical and methodological problems of modern sociological urbanism. There is no single approach among scientists to defining the concept of urban public space, which determines the relevance of the study of its interpretation and definition of essential properties. Public spaces are considered as a connecting element between the system and social levels of urban research, which correspond to the levels of integration identified by the modern sociologist E. Giddens. The article analyzes classical and modern approaches to the study of public space, there is reveals the course of evolution of sociological thought in relation to the formation of differentiation of types of spaces within cities. Based on the analysis of the works of modern sociologists and urbanists, such key features of public spaces as openness, socio-political neutrality, and symbolism were identified. Global processes and contradictions lead to an aggravation of the problem of the presence of the category of “Others” within public urban spaces, which are representatives of various segments of the population, with a variety of claims and interests. One of the consequences of the intensive development of digital technologies is a possible situation of “competition for the citizen” between traditional public spaces and online services. Assumptions are made about future transformations of social relations within public spaces as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

scholarly journals Refugees’ Encounters With Nordic Rural Areas–Darkness, Wind and “Hygge”!

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Herslund ◽  
Gry Paulgaard
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Rural Places ◽  
Empirical Material

The paper investigates how refugees settled in rural Norway and Denmark experience and interact with their new rural places of residence. Theoretically, the paper finds inspiration in “phenomenology of practices” (Simonsen, Prog. Hum. Geogr., 2012, 37, 10–26), which emphasizes the bodily and sensory experiences of daily life that spur feelings of, for example, “orientation” or “disorientation”. The empirical material is based on fieldwork and qualitative interviews with refugees and local volunteers in 2016/2017/2019 in small towns in the rural north of Norway and rural Denmark. There are several differences between the Norwegian and Danish rural areas, in relation to distances, climate and population density. Nonetheless, the ways in which the rural areas are experienced from within, by refugees settled there, show surprisingly many similarities. Many of the informants, in both the Norwegian and Danish cases, initially expressed frustration at being placed in rural areas without having any say in the matter. Those who were former city-dwellers especially experienced moments of disorientation, as their encounters with Nordic rural life were experienced as the opposite of their urban backgrounds. Limiting structural conditions very much shape the everyday lives of refugees in the first years, when they do not have a car or the financial capacity to find their own house. They feel stressed, with busy everyday lives made up of long commuting hours on public transport. In these first years of uncertainty, the dark and harsh weather very much adds to the feeling of stress and insecurity. What seem to add “orientation” are social relations with other refugees and local volunteers organizing activities.

Urban Borderlines: Negotiating Spatial, Social, and Symbolic Boundaries in Urban Contexts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaleh Jalili
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Symbolic Boundaries ◽  
The North ◽  
Spatial Approach ◽  
Social Landscape ◽  
Urban Contexts

Abstract Sociological research has productively engaged with boundary processes in urban contexts, but few studies explore the relation between space and social and symbolic boundaries. Based on fieldwork in Tehran, Iran, and building on literature on boundary processes, I incorporate a spatial approach into the discussion of social and symbolic boundaries. The focus is on city-level public spaces that function beyond neighborhoods and draw people from outside the immediate community. This article expands the discussion of boundaries beyond particular neighborhoods by situating social relations in the broader context of the metropolitan area. In Tehran, urban developments have increased mobility in use of public spaces, particularly enabling the less privileged in the south to move more easily and use spaces in the north, resulting in a fairly mixed social landscape. Using observations, survey data, and interviews with users of public spaces, I study the related social consequences and explore how boundaries are perceived and negotiated in changing urban environments. The findings shed light on some of the processes through which social and symbolic boundaries are questioned or maintained, as spatial boundaries become more fluid, blurred, and negotiable in a more accessible city.

scholarly journals Performative interventions to re-claim, re-define and produce public space in different cultural and political contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 718-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amro Yaghi ◽  
Doina Petrescu ◽  
Krzysztof Nawratek
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Political Access ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
Critical Production

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ask how forms of “performative” interventions can prompt processes of re-thinking, which can, in turn, instigate the critical production of public space. Most importantly, it also asks how this methodology can manifest within various cultural and political contexts. Today, public spaces tend to be controlled either by the state or by private corporations. Neoliberal policies promote commercial interests, which subsequently drives inequality and determines what can and cannot be accessed by the public. The public spaces that are currently present in the neoliberal cities are, in fact, “pseudo” public spaces. Design/methodology/approach In an attempt to form new understandings of this problem, the authors’ approach is rooted in feminist theories of performativity, which focus on how identities are persistently re-produced through performance. These theories consider how the “self” is always entangled within everyday life interactions and how it is shaped by both societal and bodily practices. Framing spaces as shapable, informed by the embodied dialectic relations between spaces and social relations, the study uses forms of performative methodology to create productive disruptions and “constructed situations” (Debord, 2012). This methodology consists of intervention within these spaces in order to produce alternative public space and forms of publicness. Based on research conducted at the Sheffield School of Architecture, as well as a four-day invited workshop at the Floating University Berlin, this study investigates applications of performative practice methodology in the cities of Amman and Berlin. Findings The paper will begin by exploring how the two cities are regulated through various political and planning policies that affect public spaces. This line of enquiry will also involve questioning physical, social and political access to public space in these contexts and analysing the various actants, performative actions and processes that were involved in producing performative interventions. Originality/value The paper will conclude by discussing the potential and limitations of applying and translating such approaches in public spaces within different cultural and political contexts. As such, the study proposes a new methodological framework for re-thinking and provoking the critical production of public space through forms of performative spatial practice.

scholarly journals Playdates with Big Brother: Playfully Repurposing Surveillance Cameras to Build Communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Robbins ◽  
Katherine Isbister
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Public Utility ◽  
Surveillance Video ◽  
Big Brother ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
Surveillance Cameras ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
Game Context

This paper examines the process of repurposing “Big Brother” surveillance cameras as a public utility. The authors set out to create a large scale game with two principal objectives: first, to challenge the conventional and unequal relationship in the design and deployment of surveillance technology; and second, to test surveillance cameras’ ability to reconfigure social relations in public spaces so as to encourage collaboration among strangers. The system uses motion sensed in surveillance video feeds towards completing a shared goal in a game context. This paper describes two major design iterations and installations of the authors’ game system and assesses the strengths and failings of both in pursuit of the stated social aims.

scholarly journals Public Space in the New Urban Agenda. A Global Perspective on Our Common Urban Future

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
Michael Mehaffy
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
The Future ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
High Level ◽  
New Urban Agenda

This article is a report on the work of our group, the Centre for the Future of Places at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and its role as an outgrowth of the Future of Places initiative – a partnership of UN-Habitat, the Ax:son Johnson Foundation, and the Project for Public Spaces. The original Future of Places initiative was a series of high-level conferences that brought together over 1,500 researchers, professionals, government leaders and activists from 275 organizations in 100 countries. The Future of Places also served as the first Urban Thinkers Campus, contributing to Habitat III and the language of its outcome document, the New Urban Agenda (United Nations, 2017). A primary focus of our series was the central role of public space as the connective framework for healthy urbanization – a point we made clear in the introduction to our “Key Messages” document: The Future of Places affirms the role of public spaces as the essential connective network on which healthy cities and human settlements grow and prosper. Public spaces enable synergistic interaction and exchange, creativity and delight, and the transfer of knowledge and skills. Public spaces can help residents to improve their prosperity, health, happiness and wellbeing, and to enrich their social relations and cultural life... (Future of Places, 2019).

scholarly journals Surveillance, race, and social sorting in the United Arab Emirates

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110097
Author(s):  
Rafeef Ziadah
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
State Control ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Social Sorting ◽  
Mass Surveillance

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has made headlines for its use of mass surveillance technologies against UAE residents, as well as opponents externally. Under the guise of protecting national security, there has been a proliferation of state-led initiatives to monitor public spaces and online activity across the UAE, making the country an important laboratory for advanced surveillance tools. This article takes as a starting point that despite claims to being race-neutral and scientific, surveillance technologies have an embedded racial bias and operate according to context to (re)produce forms of state control and racial social relations. Reviewing the introduction of multiple surveillance technologies, this article traces the rationales used to racially order space and define deviance in the UAE context, emphasising questions of race, migration status and labour, to understand how the state defines, codifies, and regulates an ethno-racial hierarchy.

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