Neighbourhood perceptions among inner-city adolescents: Relationships with their individual characteristics and with independently assessed neighbourhood conditions

We investigated relationships between adolescents’ perceptions of their neighbourhood, their mental health and independently assessed indicators of conditions in their residential neighbourhood. The Research with East London Adolescents Community Health Survey (RELACHS) provided information for 2370 adolescents on area perceptions (specifically alienation from/attachment to the area and satisfaction/dissatisfaction with local amenities and services), and on individual and family attributes including mental distress (measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). These were combined for this study with independently assessed small area geographical indicators proposed by government to measure local deprivation in England. A Bayesian regression analysis using Gibbs sampling investigated associations between the predictor variables and neighbourhood perception. Alienation from neighbourhood and dissatisfaction with local amenities was greater for girls than for boys and for the older adolescents sampled. Those of ‘Asian’ or ‘Black’ ethnicity, from relatively harmonious families, or with higher levels of social support were less likely to express negative area perceptions. While previously published research found no significant direct association between mental health and small area indicators, this analysis suggests that those with relatively high levels of distress did have worse area perceptions. Also, certain independently assessed area indicators were associated with adolescents’ views of their neighbourhood.     

Social dimensions of mining: Research,policy and practice challenges for the minerals industry in Australia

The social dimensions of the mining industry are increasingly acknowledged as critical to business success, yet remain the least understood aspect of the business concept of sustainable development—the ‘triple bottom line’ of economy, environment and society.     

Neighbourhood - Open Space Relationships in Metropolitan Planning: a look across four scales of concern

New Urbanism and other metropolitan planning strategies may discount the importance of neighbourhood - open space relationships when dealing with some types of open spaces, particularly in city centre and urban fringe areas. In this paper I review a series of studies I have carried out over the past decade looking at people's perceptions and uses of urban open space. This research examined neighbourhood - open space relationships in the metropolitan area of Chicago, Illinois, USA at four scales of concern: quasi-public space within an immediate neighbourhood; a public park that spans different neighbourhoods; regional greenways; and a metropolitan bioreserve. In all of this work, my findings show how adjacent neighbourhoods are critical to the success of these open spaces, regardless of their scale. Lessons are drawn from each scale for how neighbourhood - open space relationships might be improved.     

Neighbourhood - Open Space Relationships in Metropolitan Planning: A look across four scales of concern

New Urbanism and other metropolitan planning strategies may discount the importance of neighbourhood - open space relationships when dealing with some types of open spaces, particularly in city centre and urban fringe areas. In this paper I review a series of studies I have carried out over the past decade looking at people's perceptions and uses of urban open space. This research examined neighbourhood - open space relationships in the metropolitan area of Chicago, Illinois, USA at four scales of concern: quasi-public space within an immediate neighbourhood; a public park that spans different neighbourhoods; regional greenways; and a metropolitan bioreserve. In all of this work, my findings show how adjacent neighbourhoods are critical to the success of these open spaces, regardless of their scale. Lessons are drawn from each scale for how neighbourhood - open space relationships might be improved.     

Relationships between street characteristics and perceived attractiveness for walking reported by elderly people

Walking is important for the health of elderly people. Previous studies have found a relationship between neighbourhood characteristics, physical activity and related health aspects. The multivariate linear regression model presented here describes the relationships between the perceived attractiveness of streets for walking along and (physical) street characteristics. Two hundred and eighty-eight independently living elderly people (between 55 and 80 years old) participated in the study. Street characteristics were assessed along homogeneous street subsections defined as ‘links’. Positively related to perceived attractiveness of links were the following street characteristics: slopes and/or stairs, zebra crossings, trees along the route, front gardens, bus and tram stops, shops, business buildings, catering establishments, passing through parks or the city centre, and traffic volume. Litter on the street, high-rise buildings, and neighbourhood density of dwellings were negatively related to perceived link attractiveness. Overall, the results suggest that three main aspects affect perceived attractiveness of streets for walking, namely tidiness of the street, its scenic value and the presence of activity or other people along the street. The results are discussed within the context of these three aspects.     

Forest value orientations and importance of forest recreation services

This study employs the notion of environmental value orientations as an approach to examine the relationships between forest value orientations and demand on services available in the National Forest Recreation Areas in Taiwan. Data for this investigation were collected from on-site, off-site, and online surveys (n = 1919). Statistical results suggest that the authorities should highlight the role of Taiwanese forest as public property with aesthetic, historic, and cultural values, and the use of more comprehensive dimensions of environmental value orientations is warranted when using value-related variables to address natural resource management issues. The correlation evidence of service demands of tourists with different forest value orientations indicates that the authorities should focus on maintaining and improving basic services available in the National Forest Recreation Areas.     

Place attachment,identification and environment perception: An empirical study

The relationship between people and places is characterized by affective and cognitive dimensions, defined, respectively, as place attachment and identification. This paper aims at clarifying differences between place attachment and identification by (1) identifying their predictors in a structural equation model and (2) exploring their association with the environmental perception. To this purpose, we conducted a research on a sample of 328 residents of a city in the north of Italy. Results show that the affective and the cognitive dimensions (1) are directly predicted by different demographical and psychosocial variables and (2) are strictly associated to the perception of the place and its inhabitants. Place attachment and identification are two distinct but correlated components. Semantic contents related to the environmental perception are described in respect to different levels of attachment and identification.     

Neighbourhood satisfaction,self-rated health,and psychological attributes: A multilevel analysis in Japan

Although earlier studies have demonstrated an association between neighbourhood perceptions and self-rated health, further study is needed regarding how this association is related to an individual's psychological attributes. Hence, we examined how self-rated health is associated with neighbourhood satisfaction after controlling for personality traits as well as other individual- and area-level covariates. We employed multilevel analysis using microdata collected from a nationwide Internet survey in Japan in 2011 (N = 8139). When controlling for personality traits, we observed that the odds for reporting poor health in response to neighbourhood dissatisfaction declined but remained highly significant. We obtained similar results when additionally controlling for sense of coherence (SOC) or replacing personality traits with it. We also found virtually no significant effect of personality traits or SOC on the sensitivity of self-rated health with neighbourhood dissatisfaction. Overall, this study indicated that the observed association between neighbourhood satisfaction and self-rated health tends to be overestimated, but cannot be fully explained by personality traits or SOC.     

基于政策工具的中国夜间经济政策研究

夜间经济的可持续发展依赖于相关政策工具的合理选择、科学设计与有效实施。采用内容分析法对我国105份夜间经济政策文本进行了单元划分、条文编码和频数统计,进而从政策工具和发展系统两个维度对我国夜间经济政策进行了深入剖析。结果发现:①我国夜间经济供给型政策工具应用不足。②我国夜间经济环境型政策工具使用过溢。③我国夜间经济需求型政策工具内部结构不均。最后,从平衡政策工具应用、科学配套系统要素、精准匹配发展机制3个方面提出建议,以期为未来我国夜间经济政策的制定与完善提供理论参考。     

A comparative analysis of predictors of sense of place dimensions: attachment to, dependence on, and identification with lakeshore properties

Sense of place can be conceived as a multidimensional construct representing beliefs, emotions and behavioural commitments concerning a particular geographic setting. This view, grounded in attitude theory, can better reveal complex relationships between the experience of a place and attributes of that place than approaches that do not differentiate cognitive, affective and conative domains. Shoreline property owners (N=290) in northern Wisconsin were surveyed about their sense of place for their lakeshore properties. A predictive model comprising owners' age, length of ownership, participation in recreational activities, days spent on the property, extent of property development, and perceptions of environmental features, was employed to explain the variation in dimensions of sense of place. In general, the results supported a multidimensional approach to sense of place in a context where there were moderate to high correlations among the three place dimensions. Perceptions of environmental features were the biggest predictors of place dimensions, with owners' perceptions of lake importance varying in explanatory power across place dimensions.     

MULTIDIMENSIONAL PERCEPTION OF RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT QUALITY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD ATTACHMENT IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

This study tests a path model in which residential satisfaction, operationalized in terms of multidimensional perceived residential environment quality (PREQ), predicts neighbourhood attachment considered as the final criterion. Socio-demographic (age, sex, socio-economic level) and residential (length of residence both in the neighbourhood and in Rome, number of persons living together) variables are also included in the theoretical model as predictors of both PREQ and neighbourhood attachment. Using a multidimensional questionnaire for the measurement of PREQ and a unidimensional scale for the measurement of neighbourhood attachment, the study focuses on a sample of 497 inhabitants from 20 different neighbourhoods in the city of Rome. The multidimensional PREQ questionnaire comprises 20 different scales covering four main areas: architectural and town-planning features (six scales); social relations features (three scales); punctual and in-network services (six scales); context features (five scales). First, the path model is tested separately in each area using structural equation analysis. Then, the best predictors emerging from each area, together with all socio-demographic and residential variables, are included in a final model. This model shows both the relevance of predictors from all four areas in predicting attachment, and also a hierarchy between the areas in the power of the prediction (context area giving the most powerful predictors, services giving the weakest ones, architectural and town-planning, and social relations having intermediate importance). Length of residence in the neighbourhood and socio-economic level are the most relevant of the residential and socio-demographic variables. Results are discussed with reference to the multicomponential nature of the process of neighbourhood attachment.     

Public engagement in neighbourhood level wildfire mitigation and preparedness: case studies from Canada, the US and Australia

This study examined neighbourhood level wildfire mitigation programs being implemented in neighbourhoods in Canada (FireSmart-ForestWise), Australia (Community Fireguard) and the US (Firewise Communities). Semi-structured interviews were completed with 19 residents participating in the programs. A wide range of activities were completed as part of the three programs. Despite differences between the three programs, participants appeared to participate in the programs for three main reasons: Fire experience, agency involvement, and personal and family protection. A fire therefore provides a window of opportunity to engage residents in neighbourhood level wildfire mitigation programs. The neighbourhood level wildfire mitigation programs helped to reduce the wildfire risk, but also enhanced both community resilience and relationships between residents and government agencies.     

Choosing restorative environments across the lifespan: A matter of place experience

Past research on restorativeness has emphasized mainly the potential of natural environments. In our hypothesis, built environments are also likely to be recognized as restorative places. In this study, focusing on restorative experiences more than on environments alone, attention is drawn on the relative importance of the four restorative components proposed by “attention restoration theory”—being-away, extent, fascination, compatibility—in leisure experiences of people at different stages of the lifespan, and on the characterization of these experiences in terms of relaxation and excitement. We also take account of the time available for restoration and the context in which the need for restoration may emerge, according to three models of the relationships between work and leisure: spill-over, compensation and segmentation. Results show that natural and built environments can have different restorative potentials in relation to the stage of the lifespan and to the time available for restoration; moreover, in people's perception, the four restorative components differ from each other in their relative importance. The social and affective dimensions came out as important features of restorative experiences. Finally, relaxation and excitement in leisure patterns were shown to be differentially related to work characteristics. Briefly, restorativeness emerged as the result of a global “place experience”.     

Place attachment and place identity in natives and non-natives

Place attachment is an affective bond that people establish with specific areas where they prefer to remain and where they feel comfortable and safe. Place identity, however, has been defined as a component of personal identity, a process by which, through interaction with places, people describe themselves in terms of belonging to a specific place. Most research has observed positive correlations between these variables in populations that have maintained ongoing interactions over long periods of time. This work presents two studies in which we compare place attachment to place identity in samples differentiated according to birthplace and length of residence, and the magnitude of these bonds to different places. The results of the first study revealed differences between intensity of attachment and identity depending on place of origin and place assessed. The second study found that identity and attachment tend to coincide in natives, while individuals from other places give higher scores for attachment than for identity. Results from the two studies have enabled us to consider that place attachment develops before place identity, at least in the case of the non-natives. Both studies reveal that bonds are stronger with the city than with the neighbourhood, but that attachment and identity with the island are stronger than either of them.     

“Perceived neighbourhood” and tolerance relations: the case of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa,Israel

This paper examines the complex social reality of mixed ethnic residential areas, as reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods of Jews and Arabs living in homogenous and mixed neighbourhoods in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Through in-depth interviews conducted among 89 Jaffa's residents, it illustrates how different perceptions about the residential area and its residents (including attitudes, emotions, feeling of fear/safety, collective identity and tolerant relations) are reflected in the form, size and consensus area of residents' perceived neighbourhoods. The study finds a clear association between tolerant attitudes and the size and consensus area of the perceived neighbourhoods. Arabs perceive their neighbourhood as significantly larger than Jews do and are characterised by a larger consensus area. These findings are explained by the Arab's strong social cohesion, common national identity, rootedness in Jaffa, as well as by tolerant attitudes towards Jaffa's Jewish population. The study demonstrates the interrelation between the spatial, social and perceptual dimensions associated with the mixed residential area, and illustrates how these dimensions are reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods.     

“Horizontal” and “vertical” diffusion: The cumulative influence of Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) on mining policy-production in New Caledonia

The scale, duration and intensity of conflicts over mineral resources vary greatly. However, they always involve, in varying proportions, the triad stakeholder model—corporation, state, community—each element of which is internally heterogeneous. Increasingly, new players are entering the scene: international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), environmental grassroots groups, indigenous transnational networks, international aid and development agencies. Nevertheless, conflicts and arrangements around access to and control over mineral resources can take the apparent form of dyadic relationships between companies and local communities, resulting in negotiated company-community agreements, often called “Impact and Benefit Agreements” (IBAs). In our analysis, local agreements on mineral resource governance are seen as building blocks in the production of mining policy “from below”, even though they seem at first sight to exclude the state. This paper argues that these agreements, and the negotiations surrounding them, inform debates around mining through both “horizontal diffusion” (influence on other localities facing similar situations) and “vertical diffusion” (influence on policy design and implementation at upper political and administrative levels). This diffusion may occur in a “positive” sense, effecting further change in line with the intent of the original agreement, or in a “negative” one, actually making substantive change less likely, whether at a community or policy level. We build this argument through two case studies from New Caledonia, in the south-west Pacific, where mining has long been a key issue, especially in the current context of “negotiated decolonization” launched by the 1998 Nouméa Accord.     

The Environmental sustainability of mining in Australia: key mega-trends and looming constraints

At first ‘sustainable mining’ could be perceived as a paradox—minerals are widely held to be finite resources with rising consumption causing pressure on known resources. The true sustainability of mineral resources, however, is a much more complex picture and involves exploration, technology, economics, social and environmental issues, and advancing scientific knowledge—predicting future sustainability is therefore not a simple task. This paper presents the results from a landmark study on historical trends in Australian mining, including ore milled, ore grades, open cut versus underground mining, overburden/waste rock and economic resources. When complete data sets are compiled for specific metals, particular issues stand out with respect to sustainability—technological breakthroughs (e.g. flotation, carbon-in-pulp), new discoveries (e.g. uranium or U), price changes (e.g. Au, boom/bust cycles), social issues (e.g. strikes), etc. All of these issues are of prime importance in moving towards a semi-quantitative sustainability model of mineral resources and the mining industry. For the future, critical issues will continue to be declining ore grades (also ore quality and impurities), increased waste rock and associated liabilities, known economic resources, potential breakthrough technologies, and broader environmental constraints (e.g. carbon costs, water). For this latter area, many companies now report annually on sustainability performance—facilitating analysis of environmental sustainability with respect to production performance. By linking these two commonly disparate aspects—mining production and environmental/sustainability data—it becomes possible to better understand environmental sustainability and predict future constraints such as water requirements, greenhouse emissions, energy and reagent inputs, and the like. This paper will therefore present a range of fundamental data and issues which help towards quantifying the resource and environmental sustainability of mining—with critical implications for the mining industry and society as a whole.     

Urban early adolescents,crowding and the neighbourhood experience: A preliminary investigation

This interview study focused on urban early adolescents' conscious experiences of high density conditions. Thirty children residing in apartments in two boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn and Manhattan), participated in this study. Control variables included income level, age, family constellation, and length of residence. Sex, apartment density, building size and neighbourhood density served as classification variables. The interview lasted approximately forty minutes and addressed the following issues.Personal conceptualizations and definitions of crowding.Evaluation of the children's perceived neighbourhood.Peer relationships.Perceived social and physical opportunities and constraints.Interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and content analyzed.The children's conceptualizations of crowding emphasized large numbers of people, spatial restriction and an aversive experience of the situation as relevant components of the crowding construct. The restriction of behavioural choice as it relates to goal postponement and the child's efforts to come to terms with larger organizational social structures, underlined the interpretation of crowding as a socio-physical stressor. While information overload was depicted as another relevant characteristic of crowding situations, its aversive experience was mediated by the presence of known others. Even though this diversity on social and physical levels was often experienced as stressful, it was also positively viewed in situations where interpersonal contact or a sense of familiarity were not overriden by other situation demands.Boys tended to spend more time in their neighbourhood engaged in a broader range of activities than girls. In this sample, boys also took less part in structured group activities and rated their neighbourhoods somewhat more positively than girls. Girls experienced less freedom and more social restrictions in exploring and actively interacting with their extended surroundings than boys.The issues of movement and situationally imposed behavioural restriction were central themes in children's conscious experiences of high density situations. Emphasis was placed on physiological arousal linked to the perception of aversive social qualities of high density situations. It appears that an increase in the need to act out is more a function of the child's awareness of having to conform to external norms, or experiencing a loss of perceived social control in situations where vigilance is required, than a clear cognisance of spatial restrictions.The investigation of the impact of high density conditions on the child's sociocognitive development and identity formation is viewed as potentially fruitful directions for future research.     

Urban community gardening,social capital,and "integration" – a mixed method exploration of urban "integration-gardening" in Copenhagen,Denmark

ABSTRACT

This study examines a community garden in Copenhagen, Denmark, "The Urban Integration Gardens" that endeavours to strengthen social integration in the local multicultural neighbourhood. The "community" in the gardens is explored, with a focus on how they foster social capital, particularly opportunities for "bridging" social capital. A mixed-methods approach is used, by employing a qualitative analysis of gardeners’ perceptions of "community", diversity and inclusivity, through the lens of "cognitive" social capital, and the meanings the gardeners assign to their experiences, and how they understand their involvement in the gardens. We also examine "structural" dimensions of social capital, involving quantitative data from a questionnaire and data from Statistics Denmark, comparing data concerning socio-demographic backgrounds from gardeners and residents in the local neighbourhood and Copenhagen. Major findings include that the garden generates both bonding and bridging "cognitive" social capital, and the gardeners consistently agreed that the garden has a strong community, and is permeated by diversity and inclusivity. Nonetheless, data from Denmark’s Statistics Office reveal that the garden does not "represent" the diversity in the neighbourhood regarding the distribution of members with a Western/non-Western background, as well as social class. This suggests that endeavours to involve co-citizens with non-Western backgrounds and gardeners with lower social status are restrained by potential structural barriers, which limits the "width" of bridging social capital in the garden.