What is the Meaning of ‘Social Mix’? Shifting perspectives in planning and implementing public housing estate redevelopment

This paper unravels a variety of perspectives about the concept of social mix, drawing on a case study of the implementation of a redevelopment project in Melbourne. The first part provides a theoretical overview of two internationally predominant academic debates around policy interpretations of this concept, namely social mix as a means for promotion of social inclusion; and as a state-led form of gentrification. These two arguments are usually presented as one, with social inclusion and reductions of concentrations of disadvantage one side of the ‘social mix policy’ coin, and state-led gentrification the other. This paper contributes to the national and international literature on public housing estate regeneration and social mix policies through exploring the question of whether these two ideas about social mix were shared by different stakeholders as the ‘messy’ process of redevelopment unfurled. Interviews were conducted with public tenants, homeowners and homebuyers, private renters and local service providers at the Carlton Housing Estate to explore the diverse perspectives of various stakeholder groups as estate design and implementation shifted. The study identified that as a result of the global financial crisis and the developers exerting pressure on government there was a gradual move away from perceiving social mix as a policy tool for encouraging social inclusion at Carlton, between public housing tenants and private residents, towards a different form of social mix and inclusion. Contrary to intentions, the revised form of social mix at Carlton was perceived as a means to harness market capital and attract higher income residents to the inner city.     

The broken promises of social mix: the case of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago

Public policies of social mixing have been enacted as the reversal of what segregation and concentrated poverty are presumed to have produced: intensified social problems (i.e., “neighborhood effects”). In addition, the pervasive discourses of diversity have provided more support for the idea of social mixing. Studies on planned and unplanned diverse neighborhoods have shown how certain diverse patterns can emerge and endure over time. Yet these studies have failed to explain how such demographic diversity becomes integration. In this article, I draw on a multidimensional perspective of socio-spatial integration to present a qualitative case study of the Cabrini Green/Near North area in Chicago—a neighborhood with a long history of segregation and recent socially engineered diversity. The case shows how contentious this new coexistence has been, and how segregation has been shifting its mechanisms of enforcement from housing to other spheres of life. I conclude with reflections on four dimensions of socio-spatial integration, and on the troubling policy and theoretical implications of the “social mix” paradigm.     

"The Same But Not the Same": The Discursive Constitution of Large Housing Estates in Germany,France, and Poland

Since the 1960s, large housing estates have shaped the geography of suburbia in many Western and Eastern European cities. This paper examines the constitution of the social and spatial meanings of large housing estates within three different national contexts: in Germany, Poland, and France. Employing discourse theory and an empirical analysis of the coverage of major national newspapers, we identify cross-national and specific national patterns of discourses that (re)produce particular social spaces and distinct social orders. Quantitative discourse analysis reveals differences, similarities, and ruptures in various constructions of the meaning of large housing estates. We find that large housing estates in France and Germany are constituted in print media as threatening places and as places of foreignness located "outside" the "proper society." In contrast, Polish large housing estates are framed discursively as threatened places located in the social "inside."     

Community and Nostalgia in Urban Revitalisation: a critique of urban village and creative class strategies as remedies for social ‘problems’

We examine how normative constructions of ‘the creative city’ have entered into Australian planning discourses. Although welcoming a place-based approach, critical consideration is given to how the misappropriation of ‘place making’ in creative city revitalisation plans may enhance rather than address processes of social marginalisation. A Foucauldian framework is employed, exploring the notion of the social production of power through discourse. We draw on a case study of Wentworth Street, a key urban space in Port Kembla, the industrialised district of Wollongong, New South Wales. The study focuses on various ideas of a common place-making theme of the ‘urban village’ evoked by planners, the media and a targeted local resident group (here elderly Macedonians) for a street positioned in ‘crisis’ because of declining infrastructure, services and its association with crime, drugs and prostitution. The case study demonstrates that marginalisation and exclusions are products of creative city strategies and wider, more oppressive urban discourses. But we also demonstrate that despite becoming normative in the texts of planning policies, discourses of place and identity always remain multiple, negotiated, and contradictory.     

Differential Effects of Cognitive and Structural Social Capital on Empowerment in Two Community Ecotourism Projects in Ghana

Researchers have cautioned against both erasing conceptual complexities and homogenizing communities in community-based natural resources (CBNRM) studies and interventions. Social capital is seen as an enabler of CBNRM, yet we argue that differential access to social capital and associated outcomes deserves greater attention to avoid oversimplification of community interventions. Drawing upon literature on social networks and social capital, we analyze survey and network data from two community ecotourism cases in Ghana to advance understanding of the empowering capacities and limitations of CBNRM through social capital access. Subpopulations within communities are considered. Results show that residents with greater access to social capital report greater levels of empowerment. However, that relationship seems to be conditioned by one’s involvement, demographics, and by the empowerment dimension under analysis. Implications of the differing relationships between cognitive and structural social capital in relation to several empowerment outcomes are discussed from theoretical, methodological, and practical perspectives.     

On The Potential of Local Political Projects: A Response To Lake,Martin, and Wilson

Gentrification in the form of "neighborhood revitalization" is increasingly touted as one way of decreasing the social exclusion of residents of poor inner-city neighborhoods and of increasing levels of social mix and social interaction between different classes and ethnic groups. Yet the gentrification literature also suggests that the process may lead to increased social conflict, displacement of poorer residents to lower quality housing elsewhere, and, ultimately, social polarization. Much of this hinges on whether gentrifying neighborhoods can remain socially mixed, and whether neighborhood compositional changes result in more or less of a polarized class and ethnic structure. However, the impact of revitalization and gentrification on levels of social mix, income polarization, or ethnic diversity within neighborhoods remains unclear and under-explored. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between the timing of gentrification, changes in the income structure, and shifts in immigrant concentration and ethnic diversity, using census tract data for each decade from 1971 to 2001 in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. This research demonstrates that gentrification is followed by declining, rather than improving, levels of social mix, ethnic diversity, and immigrant concentration within affected neighborhoods. At the same time, gentrification is implicated in the growth of neighborhood income polarization and inequality.     

Social geographies of learning disability: narratives of exclusion and inclusion

The social geographies of people with learning disabilities, one of the most marginalized groups in society, have largely been ignored. The paper explores these hidden geographies through the interpretation of narratives of people with learning disabilities in Scotland, within a social policy framework of social exclusion and inclusion. The paper interprets the experiences of being excluded from and included within mainstream socio-spaces, and the safe spaces that many people with learning disabilities have formed for themselves in between the positions of social exclusion and inclusion.     

Identifying Stakeholder Groups in Natural Resource Management: Comparing Quantitative and Qualitative Social Network Approaches

Abstract

This study compares the efficiency of two analytic approaches—qualitative and quantitative—to social network analysis for identifying stakeholder groups. Social network data were collected from 23 water and agriculture stakeholders in Arizona, USA, and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Analysis of the sample in the original order of data collection found qualitative analysis was more efficient, in that it yielded a stable result—the identification of four stakeholder groups—within 16 interviews. In contrast, the quantitative analysis did not produce a stable result after 23 interviews. Repeated analyses with randomized order and reverse order samples found qualitative approaches yielded more stable results, took about the same number of interviews to yield results, and produced slightly fewer stakeholder groups compared to quantitative approaches. Our findings suggest that, in resource-constrained projects, qualitative social network analysis for identifying stakeholder groups can provide an efficient alternative to conventional quantitative social network analysis.     

社会感知与地理空间智能的研究动态与展望——“社会感知与地理空间智能”专栏导读

地理大数据及其提供的社会感知手段为信息地理学、人文地理学带来了全新的研究范式,在“人—地”关系研究中发挥了重要价值。地理空间智能(GeoAI)作为地理空间科学与人工智能相结合的交叉研究方向,有力提升了对于地理现象和地球科学过程的动态感知、智能推理和知识发现的能力。该文系统综述了社会感知与地理空间智能研究的发展动态,在此基础上,对大数据时代社会感知研究面临的挑战和发展趋势进行了展望。     

快速空间扩张下西安市边缘区社会脆弱性多尺度评估

社会脆弱性评估是解析社会脆弱性要素关系、量化社会脆弱性程度、识别脆弱空间单元或社会群体的重要途径,是实现社会脆弱性精准治理的重要依据。本文从外部扰动、内在结构、构成维度、尺度层级4个方面阐释了社会脆弱性概念内涵,并建立起社会脆弱性评估框架（SVAF）,明确了社会脆弱性评价流程、评价目标、评价要素和数据方法,提出从暴露度、敏感性和适应能力3个维度构建社会脆弱性评价指标体系。在此基础上,以西安城市边缘区为例,视快速空间扩张为城市边缘区社会系统的主要扰动因子,开展多尺度社会脆弱性评价,得出街道、社区和农户3个尺度上的社会脆弱性空间（类型）分异结果。街道尺度上,低社会脆弱性街道占主体（48%）,且多邻近市中心;社区尺度上,居住开发型社区社会脆弱性最高,教育功能型最低;农户尺度上,社会脆弱性以中等为主（52.7%）,高社会脆弱性农户（17.5%）少于低社会脆弱性农户（29.9%）。随着街道-社区-农户尺度的下降,社会脆弱性指数的低值化集中趋势愈发显著,在农户-社区尺度之间,社会脆弱性指数等级对应关系相对明显,而其他两个尺度间并不显著。本研究可在社会脆弱性评价流程、评价指标体系、数据方法组织以及多尺度评价等方面为社会脆弱性评估理论研究与实践应用提供有益的探索。     

Making “Unofficial” Sacred Space: Spirit Mediums and House Temples in Singapore

Although there has been significant work done on the creation of sacred space in residential housing, not enough attention has been paid to a particular segment of Chinese religion leadership in Singapore – spirit mediums – and the processes in which they practice within the political ideology of the modernist Singaporean state. In this paper, I will show how spirit mediums operate within “unofficially sacred” spaces, specifically house temples that subvert and resist functionalist policies of the Singapore state. Using two visually focussed, participant‐observation case studies, I will argue that this subversion is sustained in two inter‐related ways—one, through the visual comportment of the spirit medium's body through behavior and aesthetic markers and two, through the social prominence of the spirit medium when he or she is in a trance. These two factors come together to temporally displace the importance of the physical location, allowing a spirit medium to operate in any location, “official” or “unofficial.”     

1980年代以来英美城市社会极化问题及其研究

城市社会极化，是一种复杂的社会经济现象，是举世瞩目的现代社会问题。社会学家和地理学家从经济转变、种族、职业收入、财富分配、家庭结构和教育等多个角度对此进行了大量研究。本文着重介绍1980年代以来英美学者对社会极化问题的解释与论证，主要包括对城市社会极化的认识、新城市贫困(尤其是大城市中心区)的成因、种族隔离对少数民族(特别是黑人)的影响等方面。     

Housing differentiation and housing poverty in Chinese low-income urban neighborhoods under the confluence of State-market forces

ABSTRACT

Based on a large-scale household survey conducted in six large Chinese cities, this study is among the first attempts to juxtapose factors related to institution, market, and demography to examine the complex patterns and mechanisms of housing differentiation and housing poverty in low-income neighborhoods, which are conventionally conceived as homogenous substandard settlements. Results of Theil indices and multivariate regression models convey several interesting findings. First, the forces of the market and the State have projected different impacts on various aspects of housing status. Institutional factors had significant impacts on some costly and durable housing indicators such as housing tenure and housing area, while market forces have swiftly transformed the most malleable aspects of housing conditions, such as housing facilities, and will eventually replace some institutional legacies. Second, within-group housing differentiation is more palpable than between-group housing differentiation, suggesting that low-income neighborhoods in large Chinese cities are fluid and heterogeneous. Third, different institutional elements have different impacts on housing poverty. The well-functioning market remuneration system helps reduce the risk of housing poverty, yet working poor remains a severe problem. These findings can inform policies promoting social mix and housing affordability.     

Constructing the Klamath: Nature,Culture, and the Management of a Western River

Despite decades of scientific research, stakeholder negotiations, and policy proposals, management of the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California remains hotly contested. This research examines the sociocultural dimensions of proposed removal of four Klamath River dams. Using a social constructivist approach to analyze the discourse of public comments regarding dam removal, I find commenters rely on diverse ideas of nature and divergent problem framings, contest the role of science, and draw on embedded and meaningful sociocultural narratives to legitimize their management preferences. These discourses shape the terrain upon which management actions are perceived, valued, and contested, and make management actions meaningful beyond their immediate spatial and temporal context. Dam removal on the Klamath River is far more than an ecological problem amenable to a scientific or technical approach; instead, it is a complex project shot through with the sociocultural identities, visions, and narratives of all involved.     

Contesting Domestic Ideals: queering the Australian home

The Australian home is a crucial site for both normalising and contesting acceptable modes of sexual identity, desire and behaviour. Social norms and government policies have imbricated the detached suburban dwelling with the heterosexual nuclear family form, consequently heterosexualising the ideal Australian home. But this discourse is simultaneously challenged by the domestic practices of gay men and lesbians, who use their homes to consolidate gay/lesbian identities, relationships and communities. As such, they unsettle the normative heterosexuality underpinning dominant, ideal conceptions of home. In this paper I present four vignettes which illustrate how some gay men and lesbians queer the ideal Australian home, generating domestic spaces which affirm sexual difference. In doing so, I highlight two key ways in which this process of ‘queering home’ works. First, through certain uses of home—activities taking place within domestic space. Second, through changes to the materiality of domestic space itself wrought by some homemaking practices, effectively embedding gay/lesbian identities and relationships within the physical environment of the home.     

Is being in work good for wellbeing? Work Integration Social Enterprises in regional Australia

ABSTRACT

Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISE) offer supported work environments for people experiencing disadvantage, including people with disability. This paper reflects on a research project that is mapping the ways in which social enterprises in regional Australian cities produce wellbeing for their employees. Through supported employment programs, these organisations are transforming individual lives, helping to build a sense of self-worth and purpose, and increase individuals’ social skills and capacities. Many of the perceived benefits are associated with a belief in the innate good of paid work. Based upon interviews with employees in the social enterprises, it is apparent that the hopes attached to providing ‘meaningful work’ are considerable. At the same time social enterprises are taking on social responsibilities that were once provided by the state, while also selling their services as employers of disabled and disadvantaged members of society and maintaining commercial viability of the enterprise. Using feminist political economy alongside discussion of the distributive economy, this paper explores how contemporary policy conditions, productivist biases and normative discourses about the value of wage work inflect the forms of wellbeing that can be experienced by WISE workers.     

Metrics for characterizing network structure and node importance in Spatial Social Networks

Social Network Analysis offers powerful tools to analyze the structure of relationships between a set of people. However, the addition of spatial information poses new challenges, as nodes are embedded simultaneously in network space and Euclidean space. While nearby nodes may not form social ties, ties may exist at a distance, a configuration ill-suited for traditional spatial metrics that assume adjacent objects are related. As such, there are relatively few metrics to describe these nuanced situations. We advance the burgeoning field of spatial social network analysis by introducing a set of new metrics. Specifically, we introduce the spatial social network schema, tuning parameter and the flattening ratio, each of which leverages the notion of ‘distance’ to augment insights obtained by relying on topology alone. These methods are used to answer the questions: What is the social and spatial structure of the network? Who are the key individuals at different spatial scales? We use two synthetic networks with properties mimicking the ones reported in the literature as validation datasets and a case study of employer–employee network. The methods characterize the employer–employee as spatially loose with predominantly local connections and identify key individuals responsible for keeping the network connected at different spatial scales.     

Capital and conscience: poverty management and the financialization of good intentions in the San Francisco Bay Area

Social impact investing differentiates itself from traditional investing by claiming to create public social benefits alongside private profits. Globally, municipal governments are increasingly looking to this model to fund urban social services and poverty management. Through a case study of social impact investing in affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area, I deconstruct the financial and ideological underpinnings of this model to understand how private profits are drawn from local geographies of impoverishment. Analyzing social impact investing as a poverty politics reveals how it places preexisting, state-subsidized systems of poverty management into social impact investing portfolios, dividing impoverished spaces into new hierarchies of deservingness by incorporating private investors’ visions of what will help low-income tenants. But these processes also fail to subsume social life within housing financed in this manner, as tenant practices subverting those idealized by the state and investors persist alongside the generation of private profits.     

新型城镇化背景下城市外来人口的社会融合

促进农业转移人口的市民化、提高城镇化质量,已成为新型城镇化关注的焦点。在考察中国城镇化过程和行为主体的基础上,揭示城市外来人口社会融合面临的主要问题及形成原因,进而提出促进外来人口社会融合的策略。研究发现：政府、企业和个人不仅是推进城镇化的三个行为主体,三者之间的交互影响也导致外来人口社会融合问题的产生。中央政府主要通过政策引导城镇化的健康发展,地方政府在推进地方城镇化中扮演重要的作用,但更多关注自身行政区范围内的经济发展和社会福祉,通过户籍制度排斥外来人口的社会融入。中国企业主要承接劳动密集型的产业,因而大多采取低工资、低社会保障的政策。个人的人力资本等特征对于外来人口的社会融合也具有重要影响。但在三个行为主体中,外来人口处于最弱势的地位,制度性的障碍使他们难以嵌入城市社会。为了更好促进城市外来人口的社会融合,研究认为：需要进一步深化户籍制度改革,建设包容性城市,推进基本公共服务均等化,政府、企业和个人三个行为主体共同承担市民化的成本。