The relationship between people and designed space is often approached exclusively with text-based research techniques (e.g., interviews and questionnaires). After proposing a theoretical framework ...for design from a sociological perspective, this paper first illustrates the limitations of those techniques when investigating appropriation of designed space, i.e., situated behaviors and perceptions. Then, the observation of socio-environmental indicators is proposed as a research technique, illustrating how this unobtrusive approach overcomes some of those limitations, allowing the study of habitation through the observation of effects of behaviors rather than the behavior itself. A taxonomy of socio-environmental indicators is introduced, showing how five categories can be construed (i.e., traces, alterations, adaptations, signs, and routines) for the analysis of habitation of designed spaces at various level of scales, from the proxemic space around the body to the larger designed environment. Certain specific examples are discussed, showing how indicators can be analyzed, generating insights and the formulation of hypotheses that may be further investigated triangulating with other research techniques. After discussing the limitations of this technique, the paper reflects on how its application contributes to a dialogical appreciation of design.
Climate urbanism is an emerging field of action that aims to adapt to or mitigate the impacts of climate change on cities. These interventions are often framed by narratives of climate collapse, ...implying that there is not enough time to engage citizens in participatory planning processes. Some scholars have argued that this may also enable the realization of urban interventions that would otherwise be difficult to implement under ordinary circumstances. At the same time, research has demonstrated that mitigation and adaptation policies and projects may result in the displacement of vulnerable populations. To avoid this scenario, city governments must ensure vulnerability assessments, transparency, and accountability to all affected communities throughout the design process, and examination of projects proposed by residents and developed by the city authorities. Based on interviews, fieldwork observation, and secondary analysis of open-source documents, this article examines the complexity of appropriate urban climate planning through a comparative analysis. Taking the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) Project in New York as an exemplary case study, we analyze multiple perspectives, expertise, and rights involved in climate urbanism in global cities under the neoliberal present. We conclude that democratic city planning for climate change cannot be separated from questions of climate justice, which concerns democratic decision making and the impact of interventions on local communities and ecosystems.
This article explores the multidimensional concept of home through the relationship of the self and the city. The case study is Tokyo, and sense of home and homelike activities of its young dwellers ...are explored, analyzed, and discussed within the integrated unity of their spatial, sociocultural, and psychological/temporal properties. Semistructured interviews were conducted in order to grasp the rhythm and the dynamics of the daily lives of the respondents and to recognize significant places in the city where homelike activities happen. As a result, a dispersed model of home is revealed, which is juxtaposed to the existing, more traditional, concept. In this model, home becomes a territory, a collection, or network of (semi)public and (semi)private places connected by routes made by an individual who gives them specific values and meanings. Spatially, home is transposed from the singular space of a house/dwelling to a field of activities and actions, giving the city and its systems significant roles.
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This study discusses the essential need of re-naturalizing the built environment, focusing on schools. Leveraging research on the impact of nature on health, children’s development, and learning, we ...analyze case studies from America, Asia, and Europe with distinct trajectories of interplay between architecture and pedagogy. Using a theoretical framework on plant-architecture relationship, we identify effective re-naturalization solutions in some applications of biophilic design in rural and urban contexts, cautioning against superficial nature incorporations in schools. Our study asserts that technological sustainability is needed but insufficient, emphasizing the necessity of concurrent efforts in architecture and education to create meaningful student-nature connections.
Transgender/gender non-conforming (TGNC) people and especially people of color face homelessness and housing precarity in the United States at much higher rates than other LGBTQ+ people. In response, ...during the past decade, TGNC-centered organizations have spearheaded new forms of housing activism, such as cooperatives and Community Land Trusts, building spaces with distinct spatial and aesthetic characteristics. This paper situates those spaces within histories of LGBTQ+ placemaking. It advances the notion of trans territorialization through the analysis of a case study, My Sistah’s House, an organization led by TGNC people of color in Memphis, Tennessee. We analyze trans territorialization as an activist form of spatial appropriation distinct from the better-studied gayborhood model. We assess its generalizable characteristics at three distinct but interrelated scales: dwelling units, community, and cultural embodiment.
V visoko industrializiranih in institucionaliziranih družbah, ki stremijo k čim večji učinkovitosti, morajo biti posameznikove dejavnosti usklajene z dnevnim ritmom mesta. Kot prostorsko in ...institucionalno okolje se mesto ljudem vsiljuje in vpliva na stopnjo njihove navezanosti na kraj, s tem pa posledično spreminja njihov občutek doma. To je najopaznejše v današnjih mestih, kjer je vsakdanje življenje zelo dinamično in se počitek pogosto odvija zunaj prebivališča (tj. na poti). S proučevanjem prostorsko- časovnih vidikov mobilnosti mladih Tokijčanov avtorja v članku analizirata, kako mesto vpliva na njihov občutek doma in stopnjo navezanosti na fizično okolje. Njune ugotovitve razkrivajo dinamičen občutek doma, pri čemer so poti pomembnejše od korenin, navezanost pa ni omejena samo na en kraj, ampak je razumljena bolj kot navezanost na časovno-prostorske odnose, ki jih ustvarjajo ljudje in ustanove s svojimi dejavnostmi.
In highly industrialized and institutionalized societies aiming for maximum efficiency, individual activities must be synchronized with the daily rhythms of a city. As a spatial and institutional ...realm, the city imposes on people and influences their level of attachment, consequently altering their sense of home. This is most obvious in contemporary cities, where daily life involves movement, and where rest is often sought outside the living place, while on the move. By examining the spatial and temporal aspects of mobility of young Tokyo residents, this article explores how their sense of home and levels of attachment to the physical environment are affected by the city. It reveals a dynamic sense of home in which routes are more significant than roots and in which attachment is not restricted to a single location. Instead, it is understood as attachment to temporal and spatial relationships produced by the activities of people and institutions.
This study investigates human perception and use of Small Green Spaces (SGS) in a dense Western city (Florence, Italy). While there is some work on social dynamics in large urban parks, empirical ...studies of SGS are fewer. The research adopts an exploratory approach with a mixed methods strategy (observation sessions, 50 in-depth interviews, and 430 questionnaires). The analysis is framed within a tripartite model of interaction between people and space as spontaneous appropriation of space through the body, senses, and mind. The analysis of use patterns, practices, and conflicts in SGS illustrates how continuous use and proximity make SGS persistent scenarios of users’ daily life, differently from large city parks. Sociality and restorative opportunities afforded by natural features define users’ experiences and SGS appreciation across genders and age groups. The discussion illustrates how the theoretical constructs of functional indetermination and non-normativity explain users’ perception of SGS as open-ended settings, spared from the extensive compression of publicness and commodification of other public spaces in contemporary cities. Implications of the study outcomes are discussed in relation to social cohesion in open public spaces and with the declining sense of urbanity in large cities. Some indications on design, planning, and management of SGS are also suggested.
Building with natural materials has proven to be a sustainable approach in addressing the needs of affordable and healthy housing and improving living conditions in informal settlements in an era of ...ecological transition. In view of this, the use of bamboo as a building material is considered a promising practice. However, although many traditional building techniques incorporate the use of bamboo, its application in contemporary informal settlements is disputed. This interdisciplinary study critically explores the social and cultural factors limiting the use of bamboo in a contemporary context by investigating housing perceptions and practices in an informal settlement in Colombia. Results show how the combined effect of cultural globalization, modernization, and the standardization of construction practices have marginalized and are now devaluing traditional knowledge on natural local building materials. Structured observations and in-depth interviews reveal that inhabitants’ refusal of the local bamboo building tradition, their representation of bamboo as an unsafe and temporary material, and their choices of less sustainable contemporary building materials, are better understood by situating these preferences within the complex system of the community’s imaginary. These social representations validate housing behaviors for their symbolic implications rather than for their actual consequences on livability, comfort, and overall dwelling quality. The study also discusses the limits of policies promoting natural building materials in housing when exclusively focusing on technical performance, while neglecting the prevailing impact of the cultural domain on housing preferences and behaviors.
While the person-environment relationship is one of the structuring frameworks of daily life in general, for disabled people this relationship is a decisive one. ADA is an action research project ...which assessed the person-environment relationship of people with severe disabilities and subsequently proposed home adaptations to improve their autonomy, well-being and quality of life. The article introduces the framework of ADA and its strategy to personalise home adaptations while considering participants multifaceted profiles. The impact of ADA on the life of its recipients in a context of fragmented disability policies is then discussed. Space appropriation processes and effects on trust in institutions and agency of participants are assessed. A sociologically informed perspective on habitation is adopted to conduct a reliable and multidimensional ex-post evaluation of the effects of home adaptations.
Points of interest
The article discusses the strategy and impact of a home adaptation project carried out in a context with insufficient disability policies.
Home adaptations affect how disabled people live in their homes in many ways. Home adaptations change what behaviours disabled people can perform, but also how they feel and what their spaces mean to them.
Adaptations are more effective when customized on the specific needs of each disabled person. This is challenging and requires experts from different fields.
Getting disabled people and their families involved in the assessment of their homes promotes their self-confidence and trust in the process, especially if they had previous disappointing experiences with other disability services and policies.
People who had successful adaptations are eager to share their experience. Actively involving them in supporting other participants could have positive effects and should be further investigated.
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