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We consider the following well-studied problem of metric distortion in social choice. Suppose that we have an election with n voters and m candidates located in a shared metric space. We would like to design a voting rule that chooses a candidate whose average distance to the voters is small. However, instead of having direct access to the distances in the metric space, the voting rule obtains, from each voter, a ranked list of the candidates in order of distance. Can we design a rule that, regardless of the election instance and underlying metric space, chooses a candidate whose cost differs from the true optimum by only a small factor (known as the distortion)? A long line of work culminated in finding optimal deterministic voting rules with metric distortion 3. However, for randomized voting rules, there is still a significant gap in our understanding: even though the best lower bound is substantially lower at 2.112, the best upper bound is still 3, which is attained even by simple rules such as Random Dictatorship. Finding a randomized rule that guarantees distortion 3 - ɛ for some constant ɛ has been a major challenge in computational social choice, as prevalent approaches to designing voting rules are known to be insufficient. In particular, such a voting rule must use information beyond aggregate comparisons between pairs of candidates, and cannot only assign positive probability to candidates that are voters' top choices. In this work, we give a rule that guarantees distortion less than 2.753. To do so, we study a handful of voting rules that are new to the problem. One is Maximal Lotteries, a rule based on the Nash equilibrium of a natural zero-sum game that dates back to the 1960s. The others are novel rules that can be thought of as hybrids of Random Dictatorship and the Copeland rule. None of these rules can beat distortion 3 alone; however, a careful randomization between Maximal Lotteries and any of the novel rules can. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, I analyse forms of belonging and un-belonging created in a situation of permanent liminal legality in one's place of residence. The concept of liminal legality zooms in on spaces of social existence in everyday lives in a context of legal ambiguity. The focus of the paper is Eritrean and Ethiopian migrant communities who resided in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in 2021. The majority had lived in Khartoum for decades, or were even born there, but remain without any hope for full legal status or citizenship in Khartoum. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants, I analyse the complex and ambiguous forms of belonging and un-belonging this liminal legality produces, and how aspirations are created and shaped by it. I argue that in certain aspects of everyday life, liminal legality does not hinder a social existence as quasi-citizens of Khartoum. At the same time, important aspirations are being curtailed by liminal legality. This creates forms of un-belonging that undermine social existence. I conclude that migrants are subject to the enduring power of the nation-state in defining who belongs and who is excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social practice of musicians who play in the streets and public spaces of Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. We investigated the appropriation of these social spaces, the commodification of art on the streets, and the work/leisure relationship in the daily lives of these artists. Ethnographic methods were used for 24 months and included observations and interviews with 23 street musicians in these two cities. The interviewed musicians develop strategies aimed at meeting the need to survive from their art. The work/leisure relation is configured strangely in the social practice of these subjects and differently in the two cities. Nevertheless, the time/social space in which work and leisure are materialized in the daily life of the researched street musicians is directly related to the possible overlapping of one realm over the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities worldwide have increasingly engaged in internationalisation, with international students playing a pivotal role. Despite China’s strategic initiatives, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, which have positioned the country as a leading study destination, limited research has explored the multifaceted challenges international students face in China. Moreover, there is a critical gap in understanding their sense of belonging in non-Anglophone and non-European universities. Adopting a feminist, poststructuralist perspective (Gravett and Ajjawi 2022), this study investigates the perceptions and practices of university and city belonging of international students enrolled in Chinese-medium-instruction programmes at an internationalised university in East China. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and retrospective photo-essays-in-a-week. The findings reveal that belonging is a dynamic, relational process shaped by diverse motivations, competencies, opportunities, and perceptions, all of which are influenced by the local sociohistorical context and temporally and spatially situated, digitally mediated practices. The study highlights the unique role of language and sociomaterial factors in shaping students’ experiences and offers new insights into international student experiences in non-Anglophone contexts. Pedagogical and theoretical implications of belonging are discussed, suggesting the need for more inclusive and supportive institutional practices to foster a more holistic sense of belonging for international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A misalignment can often be found between the spatial evolution of traditional villages and the needs of villagers under the rapid urbanization. Therefore, it is pressing on the structural characteristics of public spaces, from the perspective of material space with social demands and optimization. Current research has focused mainly on the single types or levels of public space. It is still lacking on the overall space or its users, particularly for the update and optimization of traditional village public spaces. This study aims to explore the relationship between the structural characteristics of public spaces in the traditional villages in the western Beijing region and residents' spatial use preferences. Nanjiao Village in Beijing was used as a case. Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Space Syntax were coupled to construct both an objective material space network and axial model, as well as a subjective villagers' behavioral network model. A multi-level analysis was then conducted on "village-streets-nodes" from a "point-line-plane" spatial perspective. The diagrammatic languages of SNA and Space Syntax were also integrated to visualize the structural characteristics of village public spaces, in order to explore the interaction between public space nodes and alley spaces. The results indicated: 1) The spatial form of Nanjiao Village was constrained by the mountains on both sides of the river valley, thus resulting in a band-like spatial structure with a main axis along North Street and a secondary axis along the ancient street. The central aggregation was also characterized for the peripheral dispersion and evenly distributed internal streets. Public space nodes were concentrated around North Street, the ancient street, and the historical cultural area that represented by the Niangniang Temple. A spatial network was formed to center on the village history and culture with major traffic routes as the axes. Similar settlement forms were widely distributed in the traditional valley villages with the same Niangniang Temple belief culture in western Beijing. 2) The intelligibility of Nanjiao Village was 0.44661. The density of villager behavioral network was 0.076, which was a decrease, compared with the material space network of 0.1076. The public space nodes were failed to fully utilize, indicating the lower spatial connectivity of streets and lanes and the continuity of interfaces in Nanjiao Village. Some spatial nodes were also failed to connect with the surrounding environment, which was then neglected in the villagers' daily activities. 3) The distribution of public space nodes in Nanjiao Village was centered around the main street and historical cultural facilities, indicating a factional pattern of public spaces. Simulation analysis and field research reveal that the nodes within each faction were closely connected with the strong resilience and high usage rates among villagers. The spatial network was weak outside the factions, with the ineffective connections between nodes. There were the insufficient intermediary nodes and functional facilities that weaken villagers' behavioral perception. 4) A clear tendency was found in the selection of activity venues by villagers. Specifically, public spaces were integrated organically with living spaces, indicating the high social, cultural attributes, and historical significance. More daily social activities were attracted than those along the main thoroughfare, indicating the profound influence of historical and cultural customs in western Beijing on villagers' behavioral preferences. Finally, the targeted optimization of "connection, node enhancement, and empowerment" was proposed for the precise and sustainable development of public spaces in traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to a recent wave of literature formulating a renewed labor regimes framework as a means to understand the processes, relations, actors, and institutions through which conditions of work are produced under contemporary capitalism. This scholarship (partially) incorporates a feminist lens highlighting the centrality of social reproduction to the construction and persistence of particular labor regimes, and further calls for “labor-centric” analyses to counter a “capital-centric” tendency. We take up this call through analyzing the life stories of three garment workers in India, centering their own perspectives about their labor and motivations for entering and exiting particular labor regimes. We contribute to the labor regimes framework through: considering aspects of workers’ lives prior to and beyond the labor regime; demonstrating how workers’ actions can be viewed as an inherent critique of the labor regime; and using workers’ life stories as a methodological tool for constructing a more “labor-centric” analytical framework. Because working lives are as much shaped by the “needs and rhythms of social reproduction” as they are by relations of production, analyses of labor regimes can be enriched by going beyond their borders to attend to key moments and spaces in workers’ social reproductive trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, students' technology acceptance, KSB, community of inquiry (CoI), and social interaction space situations were examined in collaborative learning where Zoom was used as a CSCL tool in computer programming courses, and the structural relationships between these variables were revealed. The research was carried out on 162 university students studying in the field of computer science education and taking computer programming courses through flipped learning. Within the scope of the research, the students were divided into CSCL groups of three and carried out collaborative learning. The study was carried out according to the correlational research method, and path analysis was performed. Research findings for the CSCL activities carried out in the Zoom environment has been determined that technology acceptance, KSB, CoI, and social interaction space are at a high level. According to the results of the research, it has been seen that the technology acceptance status of the students in the CSCL environment has a direct and high impact on the KSB, CoI, and social interaction space. In addition, it was found that the increase in students' social interaction space perceptions in the CSCL process has a direct effect on CoI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the community attachments of children living in stigmatised non-profit housing estates in Denmark. Drawing on childhood studies' emphasis on children's agency, the analysis explores how children shape their place attachments within urban landscapes. Methods include ethnographic fieldwork in two neighbourhoods, walk-along interviews and photo-elicitation. The findings reveal how architectural, material, and symbolic aspects of a neighbourhood may afford children's pluri-ethnic social relations and attachment practices to a local community, based on acts of care in everyday interactions. While these practices are common, the analysis also explores how the territorial stigma racialises children's social spaces and catalyses differentiations, both internally and beyond their neighbourhood. Thus, the study deepens our understanding of children's ambiguous perceptions of and reactions to growing up in stigmatised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the emergence of ideas about corporeal hechos [facts] in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Caribbean. The establishment of facts around the human flesh in the early modern Caribbean and their circulation occurred in multiple social and cultural spaces but was prominent in the world of slave trading. This development depended on the creation of categories for the fixation of the flesh in the public discourse that appeared in governmental, judicial, and private records in locales in Europe and the Americas. At the same time, the development of this Caribbean tradition of facts required the circulation of these ideas and categories as inscribed in procedures of tacit knowledge related to bodies, practices that were evident in the work of slave-trading communities in the region. The creation of bodily facts emerged, in the end, from techniques that inscribed human bodies in accounts and transactions of all sorts moving across the Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this hypothesis, I discuss how laughter from physical play could have evolved to being induced via visual or even verbal stimuli, and serves as a signal to highlight incongruity that could potentially pose a threat to survival. I suggest how laughter's induction could have negated the need for physical contact in play, evolving from its use in tickling, to tickle-misses, and to taunting, and I discuss how the application of deep learning neural networks trained on images of spectra of a variety of laughter types from a variety of individuals or even species, could be used to determine such evolutionary pathways via the use of latent space exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers an often-invisible narrative of Dharavi's long-term development history, coupled with Bombay / Mumbai's urbanization. It scrutinizes how diversely originated forms of 'public space' and plural 'publics' serve as local reproductions of the exogenous notion of 'public'. Such scrutiny covers three phases of interactions between planning and everyday practices, characterized by periodic crises and radical transformations. Based on the framework of 'stabilization, change and becoming', the analysis underlines various dominant and concurrent processes of socio-spatial becoming and charts the dialectic relationship of stabilization and change. Various processes reveal the gradual (trans)formations, encounters, negotiations, mutual connections, and (re)appropriations of plural public spaces and social collectives. They underscore the reconciliation and interchange between structures and practices, survival and politics, as well as becoming and being. It therefore contributes to decolonizing efforts aimed at studying public space within the context of Southern urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to uncover the changing meaning of home by focusing on gender-based experiences of staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. The findings show that the meaning of home is not straightforward and, depending on one's gender-based experiences and diverse experiences of staying at home arise. In this work, Doreen Massey's (1994) joint conceptualisations of spatiality and identity for understanding space and place in general and home in particular not as an absolute but as a relational place, together with Iris Marion Young's (2005) conceptualisation of homemaking provide the theoretical context for linking the stay-at-home experiences of the participants with the meaning of home during the COVID-19 pandemic from a gender perspective. Furthermore, gender-based experiences of staying at home during the COVID-19 in Turkey are meaningful in the context of the discourses and social policy interventions of the existing government producing the social organization of space from an anti-gender and a conservative neo-liberal perspective. This work is based on online qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with 32 self-identified female participants. Interview data were interpreted using the three thematic categories of 'home as a dwelling,' 'home as a burden,' 'home as a place for preservation. The findings support the existing research on the gender-specific organisation of care work and time usage and further contribute to the field by demonstrating that home was a gendered space sustained through mutual relations between gender practices and spatial practices before and during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many landscapes are on the edge literally, particularly here on the Atlantic Coast of Canada. But landscapes everywhere are on the edge metaphorically: on the edge of change. Tackling the collective challenges we face, and redefining a "good life" in these new circumstances, will likely transform the places and landscapes that we care about. Yet change is hard and it is felt unevenly across space and social strata. We often instinctively feel that the landscapes of the present should dominate the future—an idea I've been calling "climax thinking"—but in many cases, those current landscape settings solve old problems and cause new ones. Drawing on recent empirical Atlantic research about renewable energy and coastal adaptation, this lecture explores some of the cultural shifts required to reimagine our landscapes and to meet the challenges ahead, identifying key roles for geographers along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's "knowledge society," education is understood as highly instrumentally valuable, and institutional theorists have highlighted its immense cultural importance. What escapes commentary is the nearly universal moral reverence with which education is held. Since families are increasingly expected to participate in children's schooling, a family's moral virtue is partially established through offspring's school success. I explore this using in-depth interviews with two American populations on the margin of college-going: beginning community college students and adult undergraduates. I discuss how respondents present support for education as evidence of caretakers' status as loving and responsible parents. I then elaborate on how families create moral worthiness in relation to familial educational trajectories. I locate three narratives—maintaining the tradition, the rising family, and educational redemption. What narrative families deploy seems related to their location in social space, and each tacitly reflects the deep moral valuation of education that pervades modern culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that neighborhood-based middle-class civic groups in Mumbai reconfigure and constitute the local state through their everyday operations and social, legal and political interactions with the government. Amid rapid urban transformation, as neighborhoods become more internally differentiated, long-term residents forge ideational territories, rooted in place-based politics to govern their neighborhoods. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I depict three modes of place-based state-making—détournement, quotidian and activist. I argue that middle-class residents choose and privilege their neighborhood over the nation, in local politics, recalibrating laws and regulations to serve their territorial interests. To that end, I develop a theoretical framework to think about the autonomy of sociospatial communities and their statal implications. By focusing on the 'statization' of everyday life, this article departs from the distinction between state and non-state actors, and instead (i) distinguishes between state and government, (ii) considers the state to be embedded in the local social space where civic actors can enter the state space and steer local governance, and (iii) highlights how different cultural-historical territories produce distinct configurations of the local state, thereby fragmenting the geography of urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While job quality is often described in a binary way, this article proposes a configurational approach to account for the interactions between the subjective and objective dimensions and to combine the relations between the micro-, meso- and macro-level variables in a single frame. Based on data from the EWCS (2015) in 29 European countries, this article uses a cluster analysis to identify five configurations of job quality in Europe. This approach renews the study of job quality and reveals differentiated registers of relationships to work, which are dependent on micro-level variables as well as meso-level variables (the context of the respondent's company) and macro-level variables. The perception of job quality differs markedly between high-skilled occupations and low-skilled occupations, but there is also a segmentation of jobs at both the middle and the bottom of the European social space. Belonging to the public sector is a determining factor in the existence of critical relationships to jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the topic of transnational social spaces through a study of the activities of migrants' descendants. In this qualitative research, we conducted interviews with the descendants of the immigrant community from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Slovenia to examine how they maintain transnational ties with extended kinship and leverage the benefits of these networks. Through interview excerpts, we present the mechanism of reciprocity, descendants' involvement in institutional, organisational, and business cooperation within broader transnational networks, and their modes of communication with the transnational kinship group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how the work sphere shapes climate-cultural orientations by looking at the differences in climate-related discourses typically practiced at the workplace. These discourses are based on different normative convictions and result in various practical implications that together form employees' collective climate-cultural orientations. The occupational context plays a decisive role, as most adults invest large shares of time into their work. Yet, thus far, relevant questions have remained substantially under-researched, as the bulk of social-scientific analyses still focuses on the consumption side of sustainability issues, although the potential impact within the work sphere is much higher than the level of efficacy that individual consumers can exert in the private sphere. Based on seven focus-group discussions with different occupational groups, I present diverging climate-related convictions, underlining that society is currently far from reaching an agreement on the consensus formulated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Fusing Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social space with Kari Marie Norgaard's observations on the social organization of climate-change denial, the study initially considers the role of different group-specific forms of (not) knowing. Subsequently, it focuses on circulating efficacy expectations and (related) attributions of responsibility to different societal actors. I then show that climate denial is prevalent in all the work spheres I consider, albeit to different degrees, and that it can manifest explicitly or implicitly. Even occupational groups whose work is directly related to climate matters and whose socioeconomic situation would allow for more consistent climate action, report that inconsistent information and norms of individual freedom and flexibility prevent action, fostering implicit denial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to propose an epidemic-resilient school design through multifunctional space technique, as a promising solution that allows to guarantee social distancing, manages the circulation of students within classrooms, optimizes spaces and prevents significant disadvantages in terms of effectiveness, inclusion and flexibility. Furthermore; it allows to create more flexible, safe and efficient school environments, even in normal situations. The crucial role of a multifunctional space and its relevance in epidemic situations and normal conditions is highlighted and compared with alternative options such as movable or collapsible partitions. Multifunctional space has been shown to be advantageous in emergency management, allowing active reorganization of space without requiring outside intervention. The design of multipurpose spaces emerges as an effective and sustainable strategy to ensure safety and continuity in education. Investment in proactive design solutions proves crucial to foster continuous learning that is safe and adaptable to the changing needs of the educational environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violent conflict is an issue because, apart from its increasing intensity, its underlying factors are also diverse and complex. The development of increasingly massive conflicts also leads to disunity, significantly hindering integrity. Previous studies on this issue tend to see conflict from a normative perspective. Substantive perspectives, such as conflict due to the transformation of social spaces, are only found in some existing studies. To fill in this gap, the current study focuses on the question, "What effect does the narrowing of physical, social, and ideological spaces have on latent and manifested conflicts in a plural society?" In order to address this question, qualitative research was carried out by analyzing data spread on the internet and online news regarding strengthening physical and social boundaries. The research results show that the narrowing of physical space, exclusivism, and the proliferation of thin ideology are determining factors that influence the occurrence of conflict. In other words, violent conflict does not necessarily occur as a result of problems of power relations, differences and distinctions in society, and individual deviations, as seen in previous studies. The present study contributes to providing a new perspective regarding conflict issues from the fundamental point of social boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we look at those young Europeans who have undertaken more than one Erasmus stay abroad during their higher education to reflect on spaces for youth development. On the basis of 18 qualitative interviews with such Erasmus students, we propose the concept of an 'oasis of youth' to highlight the potential for the exploration of the self that occurs through participation in mobilities. We revisit and reassess J.J. Arnett's concept of emerging adulthood to reflect on spaces for exploration for young people in Europe. As the analysis suggests, this 'oasis of youth' may symbolise a niche in which young people live out a youthful lifestyle (being), while getting prepared for the transitions to adulthood (becoming). Beyond this particular case, the concept of an oasis of youth may serve to describe the diverse social spaces that express the social value of youth allowing them to live youth momentum while in education, despite growing uncertainty and harshened structural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the influence of physical proximity on between-start-up knowledge spillovers at one of the largest technology coworking hubs in the United States. Relying on the exogenous assignment of office space to the hub's 251 start-ups, we find that proximity positively influences knowledge spillovers as proxied by the likelihood of adopting an upstream web technology already used by a peer start-up. This effect is largest for start-ups within close proximity of each other and quickly decays; start-ups more than 20 meters apart on the same floor are indistinguishable from start-ups on different floors. The main driver of the effect appears to be social interactions. Although start-ups in close proximity are most likely to participate in social coworking space events together, knowledge spillovers are greatest between start-ups that socialize but are dissimilar. Ultimately, start-ups that are embedded in environments that have neither too much nor too little diversity perform better but only if they socialize. This paper was accepted by Toby Stuart, entrepreneurship and innovation. Funding: The authors acknowledge funding from the Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship and from the Harvard Business School Division of Research and Faculty Development. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.03555. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third places are vital social spaces, outside the typical workplace and living environment, that facilitate meaningful interactions and contribute to an individual's sense of community and well-being. Nevertheless, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, safety requirements led to the closure of many third places, disrupting socialization, and limiting the positive impact these spaces typically have on people's lives. This recent global experience highlighted the need for interior design approaches to create more adaptable third places. Through this review, we aimed to explore the evolving influence of different disease outbreaks on the design of interior spaces, focusing on third places and similar communal environments. Emphasis was on exploring interior design approaches employed to reduce transmission risks, ultimately enhancing the resilience and sustainability of these spaces. A scoping review of the literature was conducted, adhering to the framework established by Arksey and O'Malley. Using content identifiers and a detailed flowchart, we found five themes: (a) flexibility through scalability and reconfiguration; (b) fluid circulation and optimized wayfinding; (c) natural ventilation and indoor–outdoor connection; (d) infection control by material selection and design; and (e) integration of technology. By highlighting these approaches, strategies for creating sustainable, resilient, and unobstructed third places are reviewed post-pandemic to ensure social and overall well-being continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital mediation strategies are key soft skills to develop amongst students as they prepare to interact in increasingly collaborative settings, socially and professionally. Defined as a set of communication strategies deployed to reach mutual agreement over a dispute, mediation enables students' cooperation in task-based language teaching settings. However, there is an absence of research investigating learning practices in digital social spaces that allow students to develop mediation strategies while using foreign languages to achieve group task goals. In this article, we will outline and compare the results of two case studies exploring the interaction potential of digital educational activities: Digital Storytelling and Digital Social Reading. The analysis of students' multimodal conversations during the activities shows that while there are intrinsic interactional affordances related to the technologies (StoryMaps, izi.Travel, ThingLink, Immerse and Glose for Education) used in educational contexts, fostering students' mediation strategies has only been feasible through a sound instructional methodology. Starting from the data analysis, pedagogical implications are drawn to help language teachers implement virtual technologies to boost students' digital mediation strategies to act successfully in their professional and social lives. Considerations include pre-activity tech and strategy training and the integration of asynchronous and synchronous moments of reflection. Further discussion pertains to creating a community of practice collaborating to understand tool usability for attaining activity goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toy guns have been mass produced, vigorously marketed, and widely consumed in the United States since the latter nineteenth century. They have come in a variety of configurations ranging from close replicas of real firearms to colorful fantasy objects. Some have imitated the sounds and smoke of shooting with powder, while others have fired a variety of non-metallic projectiles. Toy guns have entertained generations of boys and a few girls, but their potential for misuse and being mistaken for dangerous weapons has generated criticism and government regulation. This study presents an historical account of toy gun marketing in America and how long-standing social unease over children's play has periodically transformed these products and their consumption patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arts for Linguistic & Literary Studies is the property of Thamar University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article explores the development of cosplay culture in Japan, focusing on the unique environment provided by cosplay studios. It discusses the varied spaces where cosplay is conducted, from large events to small group activities, and the innovative use of public and private spaces by cosplayers. The article also delves into theories on space by scholars like Georg Simmel, Iain Borden, and Henri Lefebvre, highlighting the transformative nature of social spaces. Through interviews with cosplayers and surveys of studios, the article sheds light on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and the diverse experiences of cosplayers in Japan and abroad. [Extracted from the article]

In a crisis‐shaken globalised world, migration‐related sites of detention emerge as a harmful figure of attempts to contain human mobility. The new Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) on Samos is a blueprint for the EU's future border practices. While openly dehumanising conditions contributed to the previous “old camp” amounting to a torturing environment, the new remote and securitised CCAC promised safety and humanitarian care. Psycho‐geographical counter‐mappings by people living in the camps and of human rights defenders allow the reading of the hotspot camps as a built environment and social space. They expose how the violent neglect of the old camp transforms into the surveilled and weaponised space of yet another torturing environment. This time, it operates a necropolitical space of uncare that distributes harm differentially. The findings emphasise the abolitionist argument that camps cannot be turned into “better” places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter considers the intense negotiations around the meaning of friendship, or rather the Latin concept of amicitia, Essential discussions of amicitia in Roman society are Brunt 1988, Konstan 1997, Williams 2012. In connection with Amic., see also Götter 1996, Habinek 1990 on candor. Verboven 2011 provides an excellent overview, including a concise history of scholarship on the subject. I use the two terms somewhat interchangeably in this paper, opting for amicitia when emphasizing the Roman institutional sense and friendship when discussing individual relationships and when affection is more prominent. in the aftermath of the assassination of Julius Caesar in March 44 BCE. Among the many consequences of this event, the fact that among the assassins were several close and long-standing associates of the dictator occasioned discussions of amicitia and, in particular, when it was appropriate to discontinue an existing relationship and when to reconcile after a rupture. We have partial, and no doubt skewed, access to these discussions through a number of treatments in the contemporary texts in different genres composed by Marcus Tullius Cicero, who himself participated in such relationships with a number of the main players. The challenges to the rather superficial amicitia between Cicero and Marc Antony are apparent in the First Philippic, a speech in which Cicero addresses Antony's accusation that his behavior constituted a breach of amicitia between the two men, as the well as in the letters they exchanged. The correspondence between Cicero and the Caesarian Gaius Matius, who was apparently widely criticized for his continuing adherence to Caesar's memory, tackles the limits of the obligations of amicitia where they come into conflict with the interests of the state. Finally, the short ethical treatise Laelius, On Friendship explores many of the same issues on a number of different levels, from the pragmatic to the philosophical. The treatise might appear at first glance to be of universal, rather than topical interest, and that is certainly the way in which many later readers generally received it. The undeniable appeal of Cicero's treatment is well attested by the work's influence and lasting popularity. The dedication of the work to Cicero's closest friend Atticus seems to mark it as a work arising out of personal rather than political concerns. The work's formal similarity to Cato, De Senectute, also dedicated to Atticus, is in this sense misleading, as the death of Caesar is a crucial dividing line between the two texts and their relationship to current concerns; cf. Zetzel 1972, 177–178. On the date of Sen. see also Powell 1988, 267–268. My goal in this chapter is to read the exchange between Cicero and Matius as a window onto contemporary issues and contemporary debates and then use what we learn from the letters to understand how Cicero treats the same questions in the more generalized context of the treatise, No clear relative chronology can be established for the letters and the treatise. The Matius correspondence used to be dated to August, following Cicero's absence from Rome, but Kytzler's suggestion of mid-October (1960, 102 n.1), after a time back in the city, has been accepted by many, including Shackleton Bailey in his commentary on the letters (1977, 486). The composition of Amic. itself can only be located by placing it between Caesar's death on the Ides of March and the mention of it in the second book of Off., finished by November (Hellmann 1976, 72–74 offers a summary of a scholarly back-and-forth proposing a series of rewrites and additions to account for the internal inconsistences, on which see below; see also Zetzel's 1972, 178–179 argument for a summer date). It is tempting to see the treatise as a response to Matius' complaint (cf. Lintott 2008, 359, Schofield 2021, 213; Hellmann 1976 reads the exchange to argue that Cicero revised the treatise in response), but arguments can be made for either sequence and, ultimately, it is more important to see the two texts as part of the same intellectual and social space, also broadly shared with the securely dated Phil. 1, delivered in September. Cf. Powell 1990, 5–6, Griffin 1997, 89. and how the topical concerns affects his literary, rhetorical, and philosophical choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings together animals, death, and digital geographies to examine the sharing of dead animal imagery on social media by conservationists in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). It is particularly concerned with two key questions: (1) Why (and how) do dead animals attract support for conservation? (2) How are personal feelings about animal death navigated in the public space of social media? In answering these questions, this paper extends geographical research on animals' affective allures (including online) beyond the realm of the living, and contributes to ongoing conversations around how to live with ‘unwanted others’. I draw on interviews with the leaders of conservation groups about whether, when, and why they post images of dead animals and kill counts, which I collectively refer to as ‘death media’. I show that because some viewers (at times disparaged as ‘precious’) were expected to respond with physical and/or moral disgust, conservationists typically only share death on ‘mainstream’ platforms if it is sufficiently sanitised or incorporated into positive narratives—though more commonly, death is absent from these platforms. Other audiences, particularly volunteer trappers, were described as ‘pragmatic’ or ‘bloodthirsty’; death was shared with these audiences to cultivate affects of hope and solidarity, in a context where killing can affectively feel like success. Yet even those comfortable with both killing and viewing death media at times expressed regret and sadness at the deaths of pests; they simply avoid sharing these feelings online. Death media thus perpetuate the public un‐grievability of ‘pests’, despite indications that even those who do the work of killing may experience sadness privately. I conclude by asking: what would be needed for pests killed for conservation to become grievable online, and how could doing so change relationships between humans and ‘pest’ animals? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Italy as a case study, this paper extends the debate on refugees’ differential inclusion in the European labour market by considering their spaces for living and social reproduction. Departing from the notion of ‘labour regime’ and the definition of a Dormitory Labour Regime, the paper argues that we are assisting in the emergence of a Camp Labour Regime – a situation in which the form of accommodation (i.e. refugee reception facilities) plays a pivotal role in the organisation of production, representing a nodal point to foster labour concentration, wage reduction and labour intensification, thereby ‘fashioning’ refugee labour as both cheap and flexible, although at the same time constituting spaces of opportunity for refugee workers. Therefore, the paper illustrates the role played by the three main actors – the state, the companies and the refugees themselves – in coproducing and partaking in this emerging Camp Labour Regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand how bilingual college students constructed literacy spaces across their lives rather than an in‐school/out‐of‐school dichotomy. Drawing on Lefebvre's (1991) spatial triad as a lens to examine the participants' spatial literacy practices, the findings show that some participants repurposed planned spaces into literacy ones while others relied on the planned aspect of space. Furthermore, adapting spatial literacy practices to meet life and semester demands significantly impacted the participants' ability to compose college essays. This study has implications for college writing instructors because it shows that students' literacy spaces are contingent on the social production of space beyond the physical classroom and calls for a greater emphasis on the role of space in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although urban theory has long championed the urban commons, it has said little about how the commons are to be sustained. This article argues for the centrality of an ethic of care in sustaining the commons. Drawing on ethnographic research with activists seeking to create an age-friendly neighborhood in Kilburn, London, I develop four interlinked claims about care and the commons: First, prevailing approaches to valuing the commons fall short of what is needed to ensure their survival. Second, there is an element of commoning that underwrites the value of all public resources in the city. Third, an ethic of care—involving an ethical orientation toward situated particularity alongside a commitment toward entangling diverse forms of care—is essential for sustaining such commoning. Lastly, just as the urban commons require care to create and sustain their value, care requires the urban commons to become sufficiently expansive and inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution of online social spaces caused by rampaging d/misinformation is a growing societal concern. However, recent decisions to reduce access to social media APIs are causing a shortage of publicly available, recent, social media data, thus hindering the advancement of computational social science as a whole. We present a large, high-coverage dataset of social interactions and user-generated content from Bluesky Social to address this pressing issue. The dataset contains the complete post history of over 4M users (81% of all registered accounts), totalling 235M posts. We also make available social data covering follow, comment, repost, and quote interactions. Since Bluesky allows users to create and like feed generators (i.e., content recommendation algorithms), we also release the full output of several popular algorithms available on the platform, along with their timestamped "like" interactions. This dataset allows novel analysis of online behavior and human-machine engagement patterns. Notably, it provides ground-truth data for studying the effects of content exposure and self-selection and performing content virality and diffusion analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the impact of military facilities in Megapolitan Lima, considering the city's physical, symbolic, and social space configuration. This research focuses on the Las Palmas Air Force Base and the Chorrillos Military Base, examining how these sites demarcate the urban space and affect the social dynamics, symbolic perceptions, and power relations. Using a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews, observation, and document analysis, the role of military bases is explored in constructing urban identity, collective memory, and community cohesion in Lima. The findings reveal diverse perceptions. While some perceive these spaces as symbols of protection, stability, and order, others see them as agents of segregation and control. This plurality of opinions indicates that the military facilities fulfill a complex, multifaceted role in the city, influenced by the social and cultural context of the different groups involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the perspectives of long‐term residents in response to the influx of newcomers in two neighbourhoods in Warsaw, Poland. It addresses the crucial, yet understudied, impact of spatial changes on the local population and the diverse ways in which residents negotiate this changing urban context. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical framework and its subsequent reinterpretations in the field of urban studies, the article explores the extent to which the narratives constructed by the long‐standing residents refer to categories of social class and correspond to their class position. The central question is whether spatial changes lead them to 'internalize their inferiority' (Savage, 2008: 161), or if they possess resources that can be mobilized to navigate conflicts arising from urban transitions. Through individual and group interviews with residents from two districts in Warsaw, this research sheds light on how the symbolic divisions between 'us' (long‐term residents) and 'them' (newcomers) are framed. It demonstrates how nativity is transformed into capital, providing the possibility for symbolic dominance. Consequently, it not only enriches understanding of the social distinctions that are made within evolving cities but also underscores the ongoing relevance of Bourdieu's theoretical framework for the study of urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interviews with 31 2SLGBTQ+ people labeled with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities, this exploratory study focuses on participants' experiences navigating mainstream queer social spaces. The current study is an explorative qualitative view at the intersection of the 2SLGBTQ+ and disability community. There is a call for more inclusive spaces for people with disabilities within queer social areas. Although queer spaces attempt to be free and inclusive, many have inaccessible activities and locations. The findings depict that individuals with lived experiences are not often represented in the 2SLGBTQ+ community due to a lack of inclusion. Participants highlighted feelings of rejection as people with disabilities were not represented in many 2SLGBTQ+ focused groups or organizations. The current paper calls attention to creating more inclusive intersectional spaces to promote inclusivity and ensure people with disabilities have the opportunity to contribute through an active role in the 2SLGBTQ+ community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research discusses the role of human resources in the process of knowledge and value transfer, particularly in the context of the University of Wotu Nusa as a social entity that is closely connected with the production process. It has a special strategy for building excellence as a production space (social space), with the aim of competing for and developing human resources in the district of Horam East and its surroundings. This research uses descriptive methods with a qualitative approach to understanding the dynamics of social space at STIKIP Ita Wotu Nusa. By collecting data through observations and interviews, the research aims to gain a deeper understanding of social interactions and space structures in the environment. Observations and interviews suggest that obedience embodies one's faith, particularly in adhering to rules and applying scientific knowledge in daily social interactions. The framing strategy at STIKIP Ita Wotu Nusa aims to produce students who not only have quality as teachers, but also competitive character, obedience, and a high learning spirit. The aim is to equip graduates with the necessary skills to thrive in the globalization era. To effectively develop human resources at STIKIP Ita Wotu Nusa, the strategy involves several key steps. These include designing a plan to understand student development needs, formulating appropriate development programs, implementing such programs, and continuously evaluating student development with the support of educators and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms (SMP) are technologically mediated social action spaces that profit from collecting and selling user data. Users, not platforms, create content that attracts audiences and advertisers. While they are free to interact, they must do so in ways programmed to add value to the platform. Thus, if users are driven toward achieving organizational goals, all phenomena on these platforms have an organizational substrate. Even though business and management studies have consistently produced literature on gig work intermediation platforms, SMP are not included among digital labor platforms. By combining business literature, social sciences, platform studies, and critical algorithm studies, this theoretical essay proposes a conceptual framework that presents SMP as an organizational form of production, management, and work. This framework is then confronted with research findings on content creators, revealing that the three self-governance strategies of SMP effectively manage creators by instilling hope of visibility and fear of invisibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrant ideology is a resonant, reverberating, electrifying set of ideas that are produced by (and producing of) the affective intensity of a strike. From the fraught atmospheres of conflict at the picket line to joyful imbricating solidarities in social spaces of organisation, the strike is affectively intense. Vibrant ideology names a form of ideology that emerges from these shared experiences, and which organises and amplifies these shared experiences. To understand this sense of ideology, the article deploys a Bergsonian line of thinking in Georges Sorel, which is heavy on the affective vibrance, and light on the ideology; and the generative workerist analysis of labour refusal in Nanni Balestrini's fiction, which rebalances matters somewhat. In each, we see a turning towards the self-generative power of the workers in strike which reorients them ideologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Place attachment, the emotional bond between person and place, facilitates well-being and belonging for Mexicans in the United States. However, place attachment research concentrating on Mexican populations has not explored a key site for placemaking—the ethnic enclave. Thus, we draw on 20 interviews with Mexicans in the United States to examine how individuals form close connections to La Cuatro, an ethnic enclave in California. Despite the overall positive nature of their emotional connections within the enclave, our model uncovers paradoxical and recursive outcomes. While place attachment promotes a sense of belonging within La Cuatro, these emotional bonds are deeply tied to broader experiences of social alienation in areas outside the enclave. This alienation stems from three primary factors: (1) legal status or lack thereof, (2) racialization, and (3) pervasive anti-immigrant socio-political ethos. We propose a recursive model of place attachment that considers social context to explain the placemaking processes of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in public social spaces. This model problematizes the experiences of marginalized communities, such as Mexican immigrants and their descendants, and provides a theoretical framework to examine the interplay between place and broader society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban mortuary space is an essential part of the traditional social space of Beijing, revealing the complex modernization process during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949). The main mortuary space of Beijing comprised Yidi (a traditional Chinese graveyard), mortuary temples, and modern cemeteries. The Beijing government failed to adapt or renovate the traditional mortuary space during this period. The Yidi and mortuary temples were mainly distributed in the outer city of Beijing; both of them were formed hundreds of years ago and provided for the immigrants, the poor, and beggars. The modern cemeteries injected new elements into the mortuary space, which also strengthened social class divisions and spatial segregation due to the price-driven graveyards and services. The traditional mortuary space quickly disappeared in the 1950s with great improvement in public hygiene. The complex process of Beijing's mortuary space transformation reflects the modernization of Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how young refugees settled in rural Norway and Denmark experience their new places of residence. We find inspiration in the idea of 'contradictions of space' (Kinkaid [2020]. "Re-encountering Lefebvre: Toward a Critical Phenomenology of Social Space." Society and Space 38 (1): 167–186.) in exploring how young refugees navigate issues in rural life from housing, education, work and social life to their material surroundings, including the weather. Which experiences result in feelings of meaning and orientation, and which spur feelings of disorientation and contradiction? The empirical material is based on fieldwork and qualitative interviews with young refugees and local volunteers in rural Norway and Denmark. Despite several differences between rural areas in the two countries, young refugees' experiences from within show many similarities and common experiences between them. The harsh weather, empty streets, lack of familiarity with the more formal community life in rural areas, long distances from sites of education, etc. create feelings of disorientation and contradiction, while socializing with other refugees provides feelings of community and belonging. Taken together, the two aspects drive their decisions to stay in or leave the rural area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we identify spaces and built environments that have the effect of placing libertarian thinking in urban contexts, using the term 'libertecture' to refer to the way that these architectures convey principles of personal liberty and unfettered market activity. These ideas are thus embedded in cities via the design, architecture, management and function of an emerging array of buildings, districts and infrastructures. Locating our analysis in cultural political economy, we believe that these libertectures are important because of the way that they refract and amplify divisive ideas into the social spaces and thinking of residents and citizens. Whereas neoliberal urbanism was seen as undermining socially just cities, libertarian ideas amplified by new built environments may presage more atomised, unequal and unsustainable urban conditions, potentially foreclosing the identification of more just alternatives and democratic forms. We offer a 'catalogue' of seven forms of libertecture: private cities, residential exits, portal spaces, fiscal lockers, pioneer exclaves, infinity spaces, and necrotectures. We conclude that the manifestation of libertarian thinking in spaces and city forms is an important object of study for urban studies as it considers challenges to inclusive and sustainable forms of urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of transitional spaces in a Korean academic setting, to assess the impact of the pandemic on users' utilization of transitional spaces and evaluate any changes in their usage patterns. The research explores whether transitional spaces can function as social interactive spaces, aligning with Ray Oldenburg's "third-place" theory. The focus is on South Korean academic settings, aiming to create neutral and safe zones for users. Design/methodology/approach: The adopted methodology involves reviewing the literature and employing design charrette as a major data collection tool. The design charrette provided a platform for users to share insights on current transitional spaces during the pandemic and envision these spaces as future social and interactive spaces. Findings: The design charrette participants advocated for modifying the current transitional space design to transform these spaces into shared spaces for both visitors and regular users in the future. Restricting access for external users to the main building area until necessary. The significance of site amenities in determining transitional spaces as "third-places" was emphasized. While the nature of the building, its location and transitional space amenities are crucial aspects to consider, designers may prioritize user opinions and preferences, as the success or failure of the design ultimately centers on user behaviors. Research limitations/implications: The research focused on a specific university, hindered by limited access to other institutions during the pandemic. Restrictions on external users discouraged entry without proper permission, which was challenging to obtain. The conventional design charrette outlined in the research method was impossible due to pandemic-related limitations on gathering participants in one location. Therefore, the researcher modified the design charrette method to align with strict social distancing measures. Social implications: The results of the research are not limited to academic settings, but they can be implied in other environments where social interaction spaces are required and where there is a constant flow of visitors and regular users. The design charrette can be used as a methodology for interior spaces along with large-scale projects of urban planning. Originality/value: The research analyzed transitional spaces during the pandemic, suggesting redesign to serve and act as buffer zones between private and public areas and become a common social gathering place for visitors and regular users within the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of the public dimension of dwelling varies considerably according to the different positions of individuals in the social space in which it takes place. This essay is interested in investigating how literature, as a form of social critique and analysis, can explore this side of the public dimension of dwelling, focusing on the representation of parks as places of homosexual dwelling in the works of Pai Hsien-yung and Mu Cao. After examining the implications of social space for the dynamics of dwelling in the city, with a focus on unequal relations of class and sexuality, the essay maintains the focus on space by discussing the role of literature as a representational space, before moving on to a close reading of the texts under consideration in order to analyze how parks are approached in terms of dwelling for stigmatized homosexual men and how their public dimension is questioned and reassessed. The essay concludes that the experience of the public dimension of dwelling is inseparable from the modalities of its interaction with the larger social space of which it is a part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to explore how an anthropocenic consciousness capable of restoring a sense of planetary community emerges through an unusual experience of the (non-)place of the road. Reading some selected extracts from the novels of Pecoraro, Trevisan and Vinci, it is possible to understand how the analysis of a situation of individual depression can lead to a reflection on the general condition of the human being in post-capitalist society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze Sylvia Plath's semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, by highlighting the multiple interactions between the character Esther's madness and her relationship to public spaces. The city of New York, the interstitial spaces like streets and trains, as well as her neighborhood and the heterotopia of the asylum, are all places where she repeatedly stages her very own performance. For each of them, Esther's engagement with mental issues is a way of responding to or escaping multiple conflicting desires and social pressures. Finally, the paper attempts to show the problems with categorizing The Bell Jar as a Bildungsroman: Esther's reintegration into public life is actually not an active process of self-improvement or development, but a coercion to stage a socially approved norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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