Conceptualizing Public Space Using a Multiple Sorting Task–Exploring the Links between Loneliness and Public Space
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Loneliness in the Urban Context
1.2. Theory of Place
1.3. Investigating Links between Loneliness and Public Space using MST
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Material
- Sample One: Adults aged 24–35, three women and three men, all of which had lived in the Stockholm city area for more than four years, two born and raised in Stockholm, all had lived abroad for study or work purposes.
- Sample Two: Elderly aged 67–74, all female retirees, all of which had lived in Farsta, a suburb of Stockholm, for more than four years, all were Swedish citizens.
2.2. Procedures
I am carrying out a study of what people think and feel about public space so I am asking a number of people chosen at random to look at the following pictures and sort them into groups in such a way that all the pictures in any group are similar to each other in some important way and different from those in other groups. You can put the pictures into as many groups as you like and put as many pictures into each group as you like. It is your view that counts. When you have carried out a sorting, I would like you to tell me the reasons for your sorting and what it is that the pictures in each groups have in common.
3. Results
3.1. Analysis
3.1.1. Multidimentional Scalogram Analysis (MSA)
3.1.2. Commentary Content Analysis
- (1)
- Which of the 20 places would you be most likely to go to?
- (2)
- Which of the 20 places would you be most likely to go to if you felt lonely?
- (3)
- Do you think any public space (places you go between your home and work) is missing in this selection? If yes, please indicate what they are. You can describe their physical environment, the activities there may be there, with whom you may go or if you may go there by yourself.
- (4)
- If you felt lonely (including temporally), where would you like to go and what kind of activities would you wish to do?
3.2. Results
3.2.1. Visualization of the Conceptualizations
3.2.2. Verbal Elaborations
4. Discussion
4.1. Contribution to Methodology: Viability and Value of MST
4.2. Contribution to Understanding the Nature of Interaction with Places
4.3. Contribution to Understanding the Potential of Public Space in Mitigating Loneliness
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
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Physical Facet | Action Facet | Cognitive Facet |
---|---|---|
open | walking | popular |
enclosed | biking | like |
old built | shopping | dislike |
new built | viewing | unknown |
water | eating and drinking | |
green | sitting | |
hard surface | chatting | |
soft surface | reading | |
specific objects | waiting | |
leisure and relaxation no action |
ID | Profile | Sco | Freq | Serial Case Number | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
V1 | V2 | V3 | V4 | V5 | V6 | ||||
7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 1 | A |
2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 1 | B H |
8 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 1 | C |
15 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 1 | D |
5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 1 | E |
9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 19 | 3 | F J T |
17 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 1 | G |
3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 1 | I |
11 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 1 | K |
6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 1 | L |
16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 1 | M |
13 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 1 | N |
12 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 1 | O |
14 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 1 | P |
10 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 1 | Q |
1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 1 | R |
4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 22 | 1 | S |
Sample one: young adults (24–35 years old) | ||
Public Space | Characteristics | Activities |
café | cozy, authentic, local | coffee and refreshment, meeting friends, reading, people watching, working, surfing 1 |
streets | pedestrian friendly, noise or calm, with shopping opportunity | walking, promenading, viewing, people watching, shopping |
natural environments | access to fresh air, water, greenery | walking, viewing, relaxing, sports activities 2, meeting friends, talking to strangers 3 |
sitting environments 4 | benches, lounge, seats | sitting, relaxing, viewing, people watching |
local places 5 | book and stuff, community space, local | hangout, viewing, buying, reading, meeting people |
familiar places | used often, necessary/unavoidable | hangout, viewing, meeting people |
noisy places | high acoustic effects, busy, crowded, high energy, in motion | running, walking |
museums | integrated interior-exterior environment, relatively quite | viewing art, coffee, dinning, meeting friends |
theaters/concert halls | acoustic, high visual effects | watching shows, films, listening to music, drinks and food, meeting friends |
bars and clubs | noisy, relatively dark | drinking 6, dancing, meeting friends, talking to strangers |
virtual space | through screens and tele-devices | talking to friends, meeting and talking to friends or strangers |
Sample two: female elderly (67–74 years old) | ||
Public Space | Characteristics | Activities |
library | local, have a café nearby | reading, listening to stories, borrowing books |
café | familiar with, local, traditional | coffee and refreshment, meeting friends, reading, people watching |
designated place for elderly | integrated interior-exterior environment, local neighborhood (preferred) and city | meeting, learning, workshops, lunch, physical activities |
natural environments | access to fresh air, water and green spaces 7 | walking, viewing, relaxing, sports activities 8, meeting friends |
streets | pedestrian friendly, calm, with shopping opportunities | walking, promenading, viewing, people watching, shopping |
sitting environments | benches, lounge, seats, indoor and outdoor | sitting, relaxing, viewing, people watching |
second hand stores | nostalgia, mixture of things, indoor | hangout, viewing, shopping |
familiar places | used often, necessary/unavoidable | hangout, viewing, meeting people |
museums and galleries 9 | visual, relatively quiet, integrated interior-exterior environment | viewing art, coffee, dinning, meeting friends |
theaters/concert halls | acoustic, high visual effects | watching shows, films, listening to music, drinks and food, meeting friends |
gym | local, indoor | individual or group physical training |
virtual space | through screens and tele-devices | talking to friends, meeting and talking to grandchildren and family members |
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Share and Cite
Jing, J.; Canter, D.; Haas, T. Conceptualizing Public Space Using a Multiple Sorting Task–Exploring the Links between Loneliness and Public Space. Urban Sci. 2019, 3, 107. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040107
Jing J, Canter D, Haas T. Conceptualizing Public Space Using a Multiple Sorting Task–Exploring the Links between Loneliness and Public Space. Urban Science. 2019; 3(4):107. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040107
Chicago/Turabian StyleJing, Jing, David Canter, and Tigran Haas. 2019. "Conceptualizing Public Space Using a Multiple Sorting Task–Exploring the Links between Loneliness and Public Space" Urban Science 3, no. 4: 107. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3040107