scholarly journals Inclusive Foodscapes: How can the role of landscape architecture facilitate community engagement in redesigning inclusive multicultural spaces?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jiwon Choi
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
City Council ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Urban communities face risks of disintegration and segregation as a consequence of globalised migration processes towards urban environments. Linking social and cultural components with environmental and economic dimensions becomes the goal of all the disciplines that aim to shape more sustainable urban environments. Solutions require interdisciplinary approaches and the use of a complex array of tools. One of these tools is the implementation of community gardening, which provides a wide range of advantages for creating more inclusive spaces and integrated communities. Since food is strongly related to the values and identities of any cultural group, it can be used as a medium to promote social inclusion in the context of urban multicultural societies. By bringing people together into specific urban sites, food production can be integrated in multifunctional spaces while addressing social, economic and ecological goals.  The goal of this research is to assess different approaches to urban agriculture by analysing three existing community gardens located in Newtown, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. As a context for developing research, Newtown offers different approaches to urban farming and is really valuable for observing current trends of socialization in diverse and multicultural societies. All three spaces are located on public land owned by Wellington City Council and confined to a small, complex and progressively denser urban area.  The developed analysis was focused on social, cultural and physical dimensions, combining community engagement with different techniques of spatial assessment. At the same time, a detailed investigation of each community garden was conducted with comparative analysis methodologies. This multidirectional setting of the analysis was established for extracting from the case studies both specific and typological knowledge. Each site was analysed and categorised under three broad themes: people, space and food. The analysis revealed that all three case studies had really different spatial settings, different approaches to food production and varying profiles of supportive communities. The main differences identified were demographics, values, objectives, internal organization, appropriation and perception of the space.  The community gardens were approached as case studies for developing design research. Following participatory design processes with the different communities, the knowledge gained from the analysis was used for proposing changes in the physical environment. The end goal of the design research was to improve the capacity of the spaces to facilitate social inclusiveness. In order to generate tangible changes, a range of small, strategic and feasible spatial interventions were explored. The smallness of the proposed interventions facilitate implementation by reducing time frames, technical resources, funding needs and legal processes, working within the community´s own realm. These small interventions are expected to be implemented over time as part of an ongoing collaboration between the different communities, the university and the local council. The applied research methodology showcases the capacity of universities to develop civic engagement by working with real communities that have concrete needs and face overall threats of disintegration and segregation.</p>

scholarly journals Inclusive Foodscapes: How can the role of landscape architecture facilitate community engagement in redesigning inclusive multicultural spaces?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jiwon Choi
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
City Council ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Urban communities face risks of disintegration and segregation as a consequence of globalised migration processes towards urban environments. Linking social and cultural components with environmental and economic dimensions becomes the goal of all the disciplines that aim to shape more sustainable urban environments. Solutions require interdisciplinary approaches and the use of a complex array of tools. One of these tools is the implementation of community gardening, which provides a wide range of advantages for creating more inclusive spaces and integrated communities. Since food is strongly related to the values and identities of any cultural group, it can be used as a medium to promote social inclusion in the context of urban multicultural societies. By bringing people together into specific urban sites, food production can be integrated in multifunctional spaces while addressing social, economic and ecological goals.  The goal of this research is to assess different approaches to urban agriculture by analysing three existing community gardens located in Newtown, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. As a context for developing research, Newtown offers different approaches to urban farming and is really valuable for observing current trends of socialization in diverse and multicultural societies. All three spaces are located on public land owned by Wellington City Council and confined to a small, complex and progressively denser urban area.  The developed analysis was focused on social, cultural and physical dimensions, combining community engagement with different techniques of spatial assessment. At the same time, a detailed investigation of each community garden was conducted with comparative analysis methodologies. This multidirectional setting of the analysis was established for extracting from the case studies both specific and typological knowledge. Each site was analysed and categorised under three broad themes: people, space and food. The analysis revealed that all three case studies had really different spatial settings, different approaches to food production and varying profiles of supportive communities. The main differences identified were demographics, values, objectives, internal organization, appropriation and perception of the space.  The community gardens were approached as case studies for developing design research. Following participatory design processes with the different communities, the knowledge gained from the analysis was used for proposing changes in the physical environment. The end goal of the design research was to improve the capacity of the spaces to facilitate social inclusiveness. In order to generate tangible changes, a range of small, strategic and feasible spatial interventions were explored. The smallness of the proposed interventions facilitate implementation by reducing time frames, technical resources, funding needs and legal processes, working within the community´s own realm. These small interventions are expected to be implemented over time as part of an ongoing collaboration between the different communities, the university and the local council. The applied research methodology showcases the capacity of universities to develop civic engagement by working with real communities that have concrete needs and face overall threats of disintegration and segregation.</p>

scholarly journals Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sunil Bakshi
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
City Council ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Public Identity ◽  
School Of Music ◽  
Demographic Shifts ◽  
Multiple Grids ◽  
Holistic Identity

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

scholarly journals Community-Engaged Research for the Promotion of Healthy Urban Environments: A Case Study of Community Garden Initiative in Shanghai, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huaiyun Kou ◽  
Sichu Zhang ◽  
Yuelai Liu
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Community Engaged Research ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
External Interventions

The importance of community gardens in a healthy urban environment has been extensively documented, while the garden building involving communities has not been much explored in fast-developing cities. This study examines community engagement in garden building activities in a rapid urbanization context, aiming to explore the application of community-engaged research methods for the promotion of neighbourhood environments. The Community Garden Initiative consisting of an array of progressive actions is formulated by the research team, featuring a process of increasing involvement of community members and decreasing intensity of external interventions. These activities have been launched based on community-university partnerships in Shanghai since 2014, synchronising with a transformation of urban regeneration paradigm in China where people-oriented approaches are more emphasized. Five actions covering 70 community gardens are analysed through surveys on participants’ attitudes and perceptions towards the activities. The results of the study presented people’s rapid acceptance of participation in public affairs, reflected possible measures to promote public participation, and confirmed the positive impacts of the garden building on the neighbourhood environmental health as well as on the community-building. Taking into account that residents generally lack the consciousness and capacities required to implement actions at the initial stage of community engagement, we proposed in the conclusion to start with external interventions and capacity buildings carried out by professionals as a supplement to the ‘community-driven’ principle of CBPR methods.

Communities, Archives and New Collaborative Practices

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Collaborative Practices ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
Wide Range

Community archives are often viewed as repositories of knowledge and experience that are nevertheless somehow remote from the taxpayers who often fund them. However, the idea of an archive has more recently been popularized by digital resources that allow access to established archives and also permit users to create archives of their own. This book examines the changing relationship between citizens and their notions of archives. The growing number of archives, and the evolving practices associated with collecting and curating, mean that we are now in the process of remaking the very idea of the archive. Communities have been at the heart of this exciting work and their experiences are both central to our understanding of this new terrain and in challenging the traditional histories behind the control of knowledge and power. Using a wide range of case studies, this edited collection shows how community engagement and co-creation is challenging and extending the notion of the archive.

scholarly journals Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sunil Bakshi
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
City Council ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Public Identity ◽  
School Of Music ◽  
Demographic Shifts ◽  
Multiple Grids ◽  
Holistic Identity

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

Teaching Interreligious Encounter

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Gustafson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Comparative Theology ◽  
Guest Speakers

This chapter offers instructors in higher education some basic tools and elements of course design for interreligious encounter in the undergraduate classroom. Aiming at practice over theory, it provides practical suggestions for fostering interreligious understanding from the first day of class through the end of the semester. These suggestions include the use of guest speakers, interdisciplinary case studies, in-class reflections, and interreligious community engagement (i.e., “service learning”), among others. Further, it provides a concise bibliography of basic introductory texts for both students and instructors in the areas of comparative theology, theologies of religions and religious pluralisms, and interreligious studies and dialogue.

Myths of the Underworld in Contemporary Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Joseph Conrad ◽  
Ezra Pound ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
First Century ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Cinematic Adaptation ◽  
Narrative Tradition ◽  
Wide Range

Stories of a visit to the realm of the dead and a return to the upper world are among the oldest narratives in European literature, beginning with Homer’s Odyssey and extending to contemporary culture. This volume examines a series of fictional works by twentieth- and twenty-first century authors, such Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante, which deal in various ways with the descent to Hades. Myths of the Underworld in Contemporary Culture surveys a wide range of genres, including novels, short stories, comics, a cinematic adaptation, poetry, and juvenile fiction. It examines not only those texts that feature a literal catabasis, such as Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, but also those where the descent to the underworld is evoked in more metaphorical ways as a kind of border crossing, for instance Salman Rushdie’s use of the Orpheus myth to signify the trauma of migration. The analyses examine how these retellings relate to earlier versions of the mythical theme, including their ancient precedents by Homer and Vergil, but also to post-classical receptions of underworld narratives by authors such as Dante, Ezra Pound, and Joseph Conrad. Arguing that the underworld has come to connote a cultural archive of narrative tradition, the book offers a series of case studies that examine the adaptation of underworld myths in contemporary culture in relation to the discourses of postmodernism, feminism, and postcolonialism.

Explanation Beyond Causation

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Philosophical Study ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Causal Information ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Turn On ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Wide Range

Explanations are very important to us in many contexts: in science, mathematics, philosophy, and also in everyday and juridical contexts. But what is an explanation? In the philosophical study of explanation, there is long-standing, influential tradition that links explanation intimately to causation: we often explain by providing accurate information about the causes of the phenomenon to be explained. Such causal accounts have been the received view of the nature of explanation, particularly in philosophy of science, since the 1980s. However, philosophers have recently begun to break with this causal tradition by shifting their focus to kinds of explanation that do not turn on causal information. The increasing recognition of the importance of such non-causal explanations in the sciences and elsewhere raises pressing questions for philosophers of explanation. What is the nature of non-causal explanations—and which theory best captures it? How do non-causal explanations relate to causal ones? How are non-causal explanations in the sciences related to those in mathematics and metaphysics? This volume of new essays explores answers to these and other questions at the heart of contemporary philosophy of explanation. The essays address these questions from a variety of perspectives, including general accounts of non-causal and causal explanations, as well as a wide range of detailed case studies of non-causal explanations from the sciences, mathematics and metaphysics.

scholarly journals Participation in community gardening: Sowing the seeds of well-being

2021 ◽  
pp. 000841742199438
Author(s):  
Melinda J. Suto ◽  
Shelagh Smith ◽  
Natasha Damiano ◽  
Shurli Channe
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Supported Housing ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Community Gardening ◽  
Mental Health Issues

Background. Sustaining well-being challenges people with serious mental health issues. Community gardening is an occupation used to promote clients’ well-being, yet there is limited evidence to support this intervention. Purpose. This paper examines how facilitated community gardening programs changed the subjective well-being and social connectedness of people living with mental health issues. Method. A community-based participatory research approach and qualitative methods were used with 23 adults living in supported housing and participating in supported community gardening programs. A constructivist approach guided inductive data analysis. Findings. Participation in community gardening programs enhanced well-being through welcoming places, a sense of belonging, and developing positive feelings through doing. The connection to living things and responsibility for plants grounded participants in the present and offered a unique venue for learning about gardening and themselves. Implications. Practitioners and service-users should collaborate to develop leadership, programs, places, and processes within community gardens to enhance well-being.

scholarly journals Making School Children’s Participation in Planning Processes a Routine Practice

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Jenny Stenberg ◽  
Lasse Fryk
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Routine Practice ◽  
Close Collaboration ◽  
Regular Process ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Children's Participation

Children’s participation in planning has been investigated to some extent. There are, however, unexplored topics, particularly concerning what is needed for children’s participation to become a regular process. Based on case studies in Sweden, this article draws some conclusions. It is quite possible to organize ordinary processes where children participate in community building, in collaboration with planners, as part of their schoolwork. The key question is how this can be done. Clearly, it needs to occur in close collaboration with teachers and pupils, however it also needs to be implemented in a system-challenging manner. Thus, rather than looking for tools with potential to work in the existing school and planners’ world, it is important to design research that aims to create learning processes that have the potential to change praxis. Hence, it is not the case that tools are not needed, rather that children need to help to develop them.

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