scholarly journals Designing for Complexity: A Systemic Approach to Spatial Relationships in High Density Housing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiloh Lazar

The functionalism and reductivism behind post war modernist high-rise housing typologies like the slab block, failed to understand the impact of this highly condensed circulation on the social interactions of residents. Contemporary high-rise architecture typologies like the point tower still don’t account for the complex social needs of inhabitants - providing isolated group activity spaces in lieu of addressing and elaborating the shape and form of the transitional spaces between the street and the unit door. This thesis asserts that understanding the complexity of social needs and normative social behavioral patterns will inform an approach to design that will allow for a more humane and socially interactive environment. This thesis design explores Systems Theory, Pattern Language, recent precedents and tactics like clustering, layered gradients of privacy, visual buffering, transparency, texture and materiality in a high-density residential design for Toronto’s rapidly intensifying core.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiloh Lazar

The functionalism and reductivism behind post war modernist high-rise housing typologies like the slab block, failed to understand the impact of this highly condensed circulation on the social interactions of residents. Contemporary high-rise architecture typologies like the point tower still don’t account for the complex social needs of inhabitants - providing isolated group activity spaces in lieu of addressing and elaborating the shape and form of the transitional spaces between the street and the unit door. This thesis asserts that understanding the complexity of social needs and normative social behavioral patterns will inform an approach to design that will allow for a more humane and socially interactive environment. This thesis design explores Systems Theory, Pattern Language, recent precedents and tactics like clustering, layered gradients of privacy, visual buffering, transparency, texture and materiality in a high-density residential design for Toronto’s rapidly intensifying core.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-196
Author(s):  
Maja Dorota Wojciechowska

PurposeSocial capital, understood as intangible community values available through a network of connections, is a factor in the development of societies and improving quality of life. It helps to remove economic inequalities and prevent poverty and social exclusion, stimulate social and regional development, civic attitudes and social engagement and build a civic society as well as local and regional identity. Many of these tasks may be implemented by libraries, which, apart from providing access to information, may also offer a number of services associated with social needs. The purpose of this paper is to present the roles and functions that libraries may serve in local communities in terms of assistance, integration and development based on classical social capital theories.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews the classical concepts of social capital in the context of libraries. It analyses the findings of Pierre-Félix Bourdieu, James Coleman, Francis Fukuyama, Robert Putnam, Nan Lin, Ronald Stuart Burt, Wayne Baker and Alejandro Portes. Based on their respective concepts, the paper analyses the role of the contemporary library in the social life of local communities. In particular, it focuses on the possible new functions that public libraries may serve.FindingsA critical review of the concept of social capital revealed certain dependencies between libraries and their neighbourhoods. With new services that respond to the actual social needs, libraries may serve as a keystone, namely they may integrate, animate and engage local communities. This, however, requires a certain approach to be adopted by the personnel and governing authorities as well as infrastructure and tangible resources.Originality/valueThe social engagement of libraries is usually described from the practical perspective (reports on the services provided) or in the context of research on the impact of respective projects on specific groups of users (research reports). A broader approach, based on original social theories, is rarely encountered. The paper draws on classical concepts of social capital and is a contribution to the discussion on possible uses of those concepts based on an analysis of the role of libraries in social life and in strengthening the social capital of local communities.


Author(s):  
Z. M. Khasheva ◽  
J. A. Berger

This article focuses on direct and indirect factors affecting the development and functioning of the social sphere in rural settlements. The high role and importance of the actions of local governments in meeting the social needs of the population is noted. The author considers the criteria related to the organization of social facilities in municipalities. Analysis of the performance of the population in the municipal areas. The comparison of population size and density in different regions of the Russian Federation is carried out. Changes in the socio-economic situation of the population due to the impact of various factors are evaluated. The statistics of change of number of rural settlements of the Volgograd region are resulted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Gouveia ◽  
Vasco Ramos ◽  
Karin Wall

Throughout the world, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted family routines, relationships, projects and sociability, threatening the health, income, social cohesion, and well-being of individuals and their families. Lockdown restrictions imposed during the first wave of the pandemic challenged the theories, concepts, and methods used by family sociologists and the intersecting fields of gender and social inequality. By restricting physical interactions to co-resident family members, the household regained a privileged role as a crucial social laboratory for studying the impact of COVID-19 on family life. The difficulties encountered by individuals in maintaining and dealing with close relationships across households and geographical borders, in a context in which relational proximity was discouraged by the public authorities, exposed the linked nature of family and personal relationships beyond the limits of co-residence. The main aim of this article is to investigate the social impacts of the pandemic on different types of households during the first lockdown at an early stage of the pandemic in Portugal. Drawing on an online survey applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 11,508 households between 25 and 29 March 2020, the authors combined quantitative and qualitative methods, including bi-variate inferential statistics, cluster analysis and in-depth case studies. The article distinguishes between different household types: solo, couple with and without children, extended, friendship, lone-parent families, and intermittent arrangements, such as shared custody. A cross-tabulation of the quantitative data with open-ended responses was carried out to provide a refined analysis of the household reconfigurations brought about during lockdown. The analysis showed how pre-existing unequal structural living conditions shaped the pathways leading to household reconfiguration as families sought to cope with restrictions on mobility, social distancing norms, and other lockdown measures. The findings stress that, in dealing with a crisis, multilevel welfare interventions need to be considered if governments are to cater to the differentiated social needs and vulnerabilities faced by individuals and families.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7035
Author(s):  
Abedalqader Rababah ◽  
Natalya I. Nikitina ◽  
Veronica M. Grebennikova ◽  
Zhanna R. Gardanova ◽  
Angelina O. Zekiy ◽  
...  

University social responsibility (USR) is an important assessment criterion of the QS Stars. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the social orientation of universities as intellectual leaders in the development of society gains particular importance. The research purpose is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the university activity directions in the framework of strategies (USR). An empirical assessment of the level and complementary factors of USR in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) was conducted, using the method of integral and expert assessment. Grounded on scoring according to the principal component analysis, the structure of the factors of the USR development in the BRICS countries was determined. Multifactor regression modeling allowed substantiating the priority of factors stimulating the development of USR in the BRICS countries in modern conditions and arguing the main barriers to introducing the concept of social responsibility into university activities and expanding the stakeholders’ circle in it. The research results showed that the university management creativity, effective communication with the public and stakeholders, the quality of the educational process and the development of scientific activities stimulate USR development in the BRICS countries and should be used as the basis for the strategic planning of activities in the context of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Conceptual trends in the USR development can be useful for universities in the studied countries when adapting strategic development plans regarding the social needs of modern society.


2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 465-469
Author(s):  
Bai Tao Mao

A city high-rise building of the environmental balance, and its prominent position in the image and the place has a special symbol. However, high-rise buildings developed to reduce the symbolic value that it has attributed to the relevant system of architectural forms. As more and more dense urban high-rise buildings stand, we should be carefully evaluated: its ecological evvironment, will be the effect? Because of its height and volume, a high-rise building than in the top or bottom is likely in terms of physical environment on the social environment and the impact is much greater. Disturb the existing high-rise buildings in varying degrees between the various functions of the city, increasing the city high-rise buildings in the moment, how to properly control the rapid of high-rise buildings in order to maintain a sustainable ecosystem, is a question worth considering.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Madill ◽  
Norm O'Reilly ◽  
John Nadeau

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on research designed to assess the impact of sponsorship financing of social marketing initiatives on the evaluation of those social marketing programs. Design/methodology/approach – The research utilizes an in-depth, multi-method case study of the Canadian Mental Health Association Calgary Region (CMHA-CR) who carried out a social marketing campaign concerning mental health behaviors that was largely financed by sponsors. Findings – The sponsorship of the CMHA-CR social marketing program was complex with a total of 15 stakeholders involved as sponsors, partners and grantors. The research reveals that while there is considerable sharing of objectives among the stakeholders in this sponsorship, not all objectives are shared between sponsors and sponsees, and not all objectives are shared between the public and private sector sponsors of the program. Practical implications – The research showed that because sponsors and sponsees share in many of the objectives of the social marketing campaign, the evaluation of the social marketing campaign, particularly its ability to achieve the social marketing-specific objectives, is of interest to all the stakeholder parties, and effective social marketing evaluation must also incorporate evaluation of the non-shared objectives of all sponsorship stakeholders. Originality/value – Increasing social needs, accompanied by reduced government funding and increased competition amongst not-for-profit (NFP) organizations for that funding, are driving NFPs to seek innovative approaches to financing their social programs. The research reports initial findings critical in this environment, as well as raises issues and questions related to future research.


POPULATION ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
Elena G. Zlenko

The need for accelerated social and economic development of the Arctic as a priority geostrategic territory of the Russian Federation requires a special approach to the issues of incomes of the population of the Arctic regions, and, above all, to the social criterion. Foreign experience in formation of minimum consumer budgets, domestic developments in this area and methodological principles of its formation used for a living wage have determined the priorities in choosing a social criterion. The key role in addressing this issue is played by the system of low-income consumer budgets (the subsistence minimum (SM) and the socially acceptable (recovery) consumer budget, which exceeds the subsistence minimum by about 3 times) within the framework of the general classification of the system of normative consumer budgets developed by the scientific school of the All-Russian Center for Living Standards. The methodological basis for formation of a socially acceptable consumer budget is determined by the provisions based on the recovery level of population consumption in conjunction with low incomes and taking into account the satisfaction of material, spiritual and social needs, a variety of consumer properties and benefits, as well as the impact on the consumption characteristics of the natural, climatic, economic, social and other special factors of the Arctic. Important for the social criterion qualities — validity and transparency — are ensured through application of the normative method of forming a socially acceptable consumer basket, which includes sets of food products, non-food goods and services. The normative socially acceptable consumer budget is differentiated by the specific of consumption of different categories of the population that is reflected in the structure and volume of consumption. The size of the socially acceptable consumer budget is determined by the cost of the consumer basket, as well as expenses on savings and mandatory payments and fees. Regional differences in the factors influencing the formation of a socially acceptable consumer budget cause territorial diversity in the level of the indicator in the Arctic zone.


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