Browsing by Author "Wahlstrom, Mia"

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Citation - WoS: 6
Citation - Scopus: 6
Villages in the City - Urban Planning for Neighbourhood Love
(Wiley, 2024) Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; Turk, Umut; Wahlstrom, Mia
The city comprises of a wide variety of heterogeneous territorial units (e.g. districts or neighbourhoods). In many - especially larger - cities, social capital assets (like community bonds) are mirrored at the level of neighbourhoods which form the home for many sociocultural communities or distinct socio-economic classes. We postulate in this study that the big city is essentially an 'archipelago' made up of 'urban villages'. We analyse the residents' perceived attractiveness regarding their daily local neighbourhood by introducing the concept of 'village love' (or 'neighbourhood love'), inspired by the recent literature on 'city love' (comprising 'body', 'soul' and 'community' constituents of urban life). Based on an extensive and detailed multi-annual database for all neighbourhoods in Rotterdam, the present paper seeks to identify the background factors shaping 'village love' in the city, with particular attention to the citizens' subjective appreciation for and access to a great variety of (physical and immaterial) urban amenities shaping the place-based satisfaction of residents. The theoretical framing of our research resembles the basics of traditional central place theory here transmitted to the urban space in which local proximity to amenities plays a key role. A wide array of relevant amenities impacting on the place-specific well-being feelings ('village love') of residents in various neighbourhoods in the city of Rotterdam is distinguished using inter alia-rich multi-annual survey data. This approach is empirically tested and verified by means of LISA statistics and advanced spatial econometric dependence models ('urbanometrics'). The findings confirm the usefulness of a central place interpretation of 'urban village love' in the city. 'Villages in the City - Urban Planning for Neighbourhood Love': This study advocates that cities are composed of interconnected 'urban villages', each with its own social capital and community bonds. Using extensive data from Rotterdam, we investigate the factors influencing residents' perceived attractiveness and satisfaction with their local neighbourhoods. Our analysis highlights the importance of access to diverse amenities in shaping residents' sense of 'village love'. Through spatial econometric models, the study confirms the central place interpretation of 'urban village love' in the city, shaping future urban planning strategies for fostering vibrant and cohesive communities.image
Citation - WoS: 8
Citation - Scopus: 13
City Love and Neighbourhood Resilience in the Urban Fabric: A Microcosmic Urbanometric Analysis of Rotterdam
(Elsevier, 2022) Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; Turk, Umut; Wahlstrom, Mia
Ups and downs in city life are dependent on the citizens' appreciation for their urban 'home', in particular the neighbourhood liveability. Taking modern research on urban wellbeing and happiness as a point of departure, this study presents and tests a new methodology for assessing the residents' affection for their local neighbourhood. This approach is inspired by the 'city love' concept and seeks to examine and decompose city love through an analytical distinction into the 'body and soul' of the city. Using a rich multi-period and geographically detailed database on neighbourhoods in the city of Rotterdam, including distinct social capital indicators for analysing social resilience in urban areas, a microcosmic decomposition of objective and subjective socio-economic information is carried out. On the basis of geo-science visualisation methods and advanced spatial-econometric techniques for handling neighbourhood autocorrelation effects ('urbanometrics'), a series of explanatory regression analyses is executed in order to identify and explain the determinants of city love at neighbourhood level in Rotterdam. We find that bonding and bridging social capital are prominent in shaping neighbourhood love and social resilience.
Citation - WoS: 17
Citation - Scopus: 23
City Love and Place Quality Assessment of Liveable and Loveable Neighbourhoods in Rotterdam
(Elsevier Sci Ltd, 2022) Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; Tuerk, Umut; Wahlstrom, Mia
After the worldwide interest in global sustainability and climate change challenges, an increasing concern is voiced on local quality of life and neighbourhood liveability. In recent urban studies, human well-being, satisfaction and happiness studies are gaining much popularity in a local context (the 'microcosmic city'). The present study seeks to identify the determinants of the residents' appreciation for their daily environment, called here 'city love'. The latter concept captures both tangible or material aspects of city life ('body') and immaterial and emotional dimensions of local quality of life ('soul'). The present paper seeks to develop and test a new quantitative 'city love' concept, inspired by the soul and body conceptualisation of urban attractiveness for residents and visitors - based on a novel 'feelgood' index (FGI) and a 'human habitat' index (HHI) -, with a view to map out the citizens' contentment or appreciation (called neighbourhood love index - NLI) at a district or neighbourhood scale in the city of Rotterdam. Our study utilises data from a quantitative survey among thousands of residents located in 63 neighbourhoods in this city. In addition, the Rotterdam dataset contains not only survey data, but also register data on these neighbourhoods, e.g., real-estate values, crime statistics, and socio-demographics, while geographical information from OpenStreetMap (OSM) is added as a complement. In addition to a multivariate analysis of the rich data set, the paper employs also a quantile regression analysis extended with fixed effects. The results show that the coefficients of the feelgood index (FGI) and the human habitat index (HHI) decrease slightly as we move up the distribution of the neighbourhood love index (NLI). This means that physical and functional aspects of neighbourhoods, e.g., access to such amenities as public transportation, sport facilities, and also streets with diverse attractions or bikeable and walkable road networks, become more important for the lower end of the distribution of the neighbourhood love index (NLI). Our neighbourhood-specific analyses show that the Rotterdam districts and neighbourhoods differ substantially in many physical and social-emotional respects, which calls for place-based policies and sub-local well-being initiatives.