1,720,993 research outputs found
Revitalising Urban Spaces to the Needs of the Aging Population - Biophilic Healing Index Supporting Active Aging in Inclusive Cities
No full textDue to recent years’ involvement in research on behaviours of vulnerable aging people, the author had the opportunity to explore ideas about places and spaces for carers and members
of their families living with the condition of dementia by exploring and analysing case studies of interactive spaces in creative neighbourhoods. Investigation of the performance of
public open spaces, including streets, piazzas, green and blue infrastructure led to understanding how the built environment and urban space can impact changes in the mood
and behaviours of people suffering from mental illnesses and conditions. Hence, the author shared research with students by focusing on the human behaviours of people navigating in
urban spaces designed for active aging and human comfort. Students and the tutor have measured Biophilia in urban spaces and promoted the implementation of spatial
configurations of human movements via permeable pathlines that increase walkability and free flow. Cognitive patterns of active connectivity have been designed in spaces where
navigation of people with mental health conditions should be able to move freely, relax and enjoy the outdoors. Patterns have been carefully selected and discussed with other authors
and researchers, such as Nikos Salingaros who has been promoting Biophilic Healing Index (BHI) measurements for a better quality of life for all for several decades. BHI concepts promote free fractal flow that integrates indoors and outdoors in harmonious ways. BHI is being tested as a validated tool to help practitioners and planners to design age-friendly cities, and support communities to recover from recent restrictions
The Biophilic Healing Index (BHI) as a professional tool for indoors and outdoors active living design
Get PDFThe Biophilic Healing Index is a professional tool for architects, urban designers, and planners in the process of validation and is advocated by the author of this paper and several international colleagues who share the same ideas and network interactions. For several years, the author had several discussions with international caliber experts about the applications of specific theories in design, architecture, urban design, and planning practices. She shared research with her undergraduate and postgraduate students through various modules’ delivery. Recent scholarly activity included studies and ideas for transforming Derby into a livable city by connecting with local communities and supporting mediation between them and local policymakers. The students enrolled in the Research and Urban Design Module for the BA (Hons) Interior and Venue Design Programme had the opportunity to produce and exhibit proposed changes to the urban fabric in key areas of the city on several occasions. In 2021–2022, the author and her students developed ideas for the integration of the University campus to allow for the development of active living urban spaces for students, staff, and nearby residents. Being facilitated by their tutor, the students met with local communities in forums to carry out surveys. Their findings from the interactions with locals helped and inspired them to select specific sets of patterns of biophilia. Existing percentages of patterns were measured by using the Biophilic Healing Index (BHI); these measurements allow designers to understand where they should be able to increase specific values to secure the health and well-being of all citizens. By using the BHI as a tool, new proposals for improvement of the urban space can have a positive impact on people’s health and well-being. Information on patterns to be specified and improved indicated that human behaviors could change dramatically, too. Therefore, the proposed urban design solutions were tagged with specific UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to allow for vital reviews of the city’s master plan by setting priorities of intervention for the local policymakers. Biophilia has the power to change human behaviors, when designers, architects, communities, and policymakers work together to transform cities into livable and resilient. “Livability relates to urban design and planning, elements which can influence a city’s social mobility and financial prosperity. A livable neighborhood can be compact, sustainable, diverse, green, healthy, accessible” (Tracada and Al-Wali in Nature connectedness, human behaviours, and blue infrastructure: the water effect to people in historical and contemporary masterplanning. Bristol, UK, pp. 36–43, 2020), and above all active and resilient. Thus, it is important to get communities directly involved in active decisions and policymaking. The author argues that policymakers should provide means and support for specific actions, not just promises. The latest events from COVID-19 taught us that the built environment and the urban spaces in which we live should guarantee all citizens’ quality of life. In this chapter, we can show our unique approach to using the Biophilic Healing Index as a tool to evaluate the existing urban space and promote new developments by considering active healthy living for all. We explain how we have managed to connect with scholars internationally, and how we transferred our experiences to learning and teaching. The author selected design proposals related to one specific area of our University campus in which the public space is in desperate need of transformation to become healthier and more inclusive simultaneously
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Living with dementia condition in modern cities. Does urban renewal help vulnerable ageing population today?
Get PDFCurrent debate on ageing in urban environments focuses on how designers and planners develop age-friendly cities or communities. Since 2007, World Health Organisation has been supporting “active ageing by optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age”; a global network of age-friendly cities has been launched and city councils are now engaging with local communities to transform urban areas into healthier and fully inclusive places. In 2014, the National Health Service (NHS), UK published their Five Year Forward View for three health, care and financial gaps to be closed. The NHS is currently running a new pilot long-term partnership with five cities’ areas to develop healthier neighbourhoods by modernising services and integrating health and social care with welfare, education and affordable housing. The author of this paper and her colleagues formed a special cluster at their University to review recent national and international initiatives, such as the ones mentioned above. Their intention is to evaluate case studies and proposals related to ageing population with special needs and conditions, such as dementia, and apply innovative ideas of integration of arts not only in health places, but also in deprived neighbourhoods.Current debate on ageing in urban environments focuses on how designers and planners develop age-friendly cities or communities. Since 2007, World Health Organisation has been supporting “active ageing by optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age”; a global network of age-friendly cities has been launched and city councils are now engaging with local communities to transform urban areas into healthier and fully inclusive places. In 2014, the National Health Service (NHS), UK published their Five Year Forward View for three health, care and financial gaps to be closed. The NHS is currently running a new pilot long-term partnership with five cities’ areas to develop healthier neighbourhoods by modernising services and integrating health and social care with welfare, education and affordable housing. The author of this paper and her colleagues formed a special cluster at their University to review recent national and international initiatives, such as the ones mentioned above. Their intention is to evaluate case studies and proposals related to ageing population with special needs and conditions, such as dementia, and apply innovative ideas of integration of arts not only in health places, but also in deprived neighbourhoods
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Biophilic urban developments following dynamic flows of tree-shaped architectures
Get PDFLatest theories and practices in Biophilic designs of the urban space regard the urban fabric as being composed of several interrelated layers of energetic structure influencing each other in a non-linear manner primarily. The interaction between two or more interfaces of the urban space layers evolves into new and non-predictable properties. Evolution and creation of new boundaries/interfaces follows laws related to fractal growth; most of the times this particular evolution is defined by laws of physics, such as Thermodynamics and Constructal Law. Designs that do not follow these laws may produce anti-natural and hostile environments, which do not fit into human beings’ evolution, and thus, fail to enhance life by all means. \ud
The author of this paper should like to illustrate how new developments of urbanism worldwide currently work upon conceptual and town planning models based not only upon cutting-edge technology, but also upon natural laws and patterns of life and human behaviours strictly related to flaws and movement dictated by natural phenomena. When abrupt interruption of the urban structure has occurred, a consequent design solution does not even guarantee flowing and freedom to morph. It is impossible to create harmonic designs which naturally “unite the animate with the inanimate”, as Adrian Bejan and Sylvie Lorente affirm, whenever urban sprawl fails to encompass Biophilic solutions related to tree-shaped architectures. The author argues that Constructal invasion into the urban space “as fundamental problems of access to flow: volume to point, area to point, line to point, and the respective reverse flow directions” can only guarantee high standard quality of life in either contemporary or future cities developments
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