The Reality of Digital Travel

It is the experience that counts, there and then. When a person talks about the experience, he or she can also reflect on and interpret the experience. In this chapter we use findings from empirical studies and surveys to write about the subjective reality of digital travel. We discussed the theoretical foundation for why we can have the feeling of being there (and what we referred to as the Spinozan model of perception) in Chapters 2 and 3. The first studies we report are on factors affecting the sense of place experience, and telepresence, using video games to create a sightseeing environment for participants. The second study is a survey of citizens on the topic of vacation planning, digital travel applications before, during and after visiting a tourist destination.

Research on the Complex Mechanism of Placeness, Sense of Place, and Satisfaction of Historical and Cultural Blocks in Beijing’s Old City Based on Structural Equation Model

Using a structural equation model, this study explores the complex influence mechanism between the place experience and satisfaction of the historical and cultural blocks in the old city of Beijing and the mechanism differences between different types. Based on the data obtained in the questionnaire survey, this study uses the structural equation model method to propose a theoretical model of the relationship between place experience and satisfaction, and through path analysis, the theoretical model of the path relationship between the dimensions of placeness, sense of place, and satisfaction is estimated and tested. Through the mathematical verification of the structural model, on the basis of establishing the final theoretical model, the hypothesis to be proved is further verified. This study also uses the bootstrap method to test the significance of the mediating effect of place experience and uses multiple-group analysis to try to explore the moderating role of residents’ and tourists’ identity types in the model. The study found that there are multiple correlations among placeness, sense of place, and place satisfaction in the historical and cultural blocks in the old city of Beijing. The placeness is the foundation and the sense of place is the intermediary variable, which both affect satisfaction; furthermore, tourists and residents have differences in the mechanism of placeness and sense of place on satisfaction. On the one hand, the perception of placeness directly affects satisfaction, and on the other hand, the sense of place has an indirect effect on satisfaction. The positive effects of tourists' placeness on sense of place and sense of place on satisfaction are greater than that of residents. However, the positive effect of residents' placeness on satisfaction is greater than that of tourists.

Autistic voices from the workplace

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to give autistic employees a voice, evaluate their work-based experiences and to disseminate the relevant recommendations of the Westminster AchieveAbility Commission report. Design/methodology/approach These experiences were identified through a questionnaire answered by 600 neurodivergent employees, including 95 autistic respondents. This allowed us to compare experiences across neurodivergent categories. Findings The overwhelmingly negative work-place experience is consistent at every stage unless managers had a good understanding of neurodivergence. This deteriorated further the more categories of neurodivergence identified with, and minority ethnicity. Few reasonable adjustments were made. Psychometric tests are experienced as disabling. No statistically significant differences were found between genders. Research limitations/implications The target group are not representative of the wider autistic population and the sample is relatively small. Further research could look at how managers come to understand neurodivergence, the utilisation of reasonable adjustments and how to promote neurodivergence awareness. Practical implications There need to be wholesale changes in recruitment and reasonable adjustments in the workplace, which will require substantial changes in attitudes. Social implications The experience of neurodivergent people in the work-place, including autistic employees, was more consistently negative than expected. It was difficult to find any autistic employees without disabling experiences. This paper hopes this will alert wider society to the issues and may serve to support more solidarity amongst neurodivergent people in relation to employment. The findings have already influenced The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Originality/value There is very little detailed research focussed on the work-place experience and voices of autistic employees and less research that considers the implications of neurodivergent overlaps in the workplace.

‘Urban-Gamification' as a Collaborative Placemaking Toolkit in Nighttime

Despite increasing interest in the 24-hour city, the effective human bonds with a place at this time have received little attention. Place experience is an amorphous and psychological theory with relevance to individual citizens interaction with their environment. During the nighttime, this interaction declines dramatically. As a solution, urban planners suggest collaborative placemaking and believe, since in collaborative process citizens directly participate in decisions, positive experiences toward the city increase amongst them. However, motivating citizens to participate in voluntary actions is not a straightforward task. To respond to this gap, this chapter first reviews the relevant literature to explore the role of collaborative placemaking in boosting place experience in the nighttime. Then, it introduces the state-of-art gamification as an approach/toolkit that can prepare a platform to motivate citizens to participate as volunteers in the collaborative process. In conclusion, the chapter defines a framework that urban games can use as a civic toolkit at nighttime.

Tinjauan Ulang Potensi Sense of place dalam Pelestarian Kawasan Pusaka Perkotaan

Urban heritage conservation planning seeks to produce place experience with historical characteristics to bring sense of place that is a relation between human and place. However heritage urban planning that focuses on the sense of place actually gets criticized for being stuck in place-making purposes only and ignores the human dimension. The study of the sense of place potential in the urban heritage conservation is indeed still limited even though this potential needs to be studied futher because urban heritage place have cultural significant values which should be conserved by involving human dimensions. This paper is a literature review that intends to explore others sense of place potential related to human dimensions that can be used to successfully urban heritage conservation. In urban heritage conservation, besides being beneficial for place-making, it was found that the sense of place also has the potential as guidance information in the urban heritage spatial planning, factors that influence the participation of local residents to be involved in urban heritage planning and factors related to heritage conserving behavior.

(Im)Mobile imagination. On trailing, feeling stuck and imagining work on-the-move

Emerging research focuses on the role of time in the context of mobility and explores the conditions of ‘wait’ and ‘stuckness’ as conceptual tools for understanding the tempos and socio-cultural implications of mobile experiences. This paper contributes to this research by exploring these conditions in the context of work and geographical mobility, with a special focus on people who migrate and follow their working partners in international professional migration and temporarily live in Switzerland. The increasingly mobile and changing conditions of some professional sectors have made transnational career trajectories imaginable also for many partners. Yet, at times, their working life is not easily reconstituted on the occasion of the move, and the timing for job-search and unemployment can extend indefinitely. I will discuss how mobile professionals’ partners, by transiting from a working situation to another one that is not yet in place, experience a condition of stuckness between identities, phases of life and destinations of migration. I will ask how the subjective experience of stuckness can trigger and at times block a person’s capacity to imagine work under conditions of geographical mobility.