A Review of Research on Urban Playability from a Social Justice Perspective

Playability is an attribute that refers to the ability to stimulate individual responses or collective action in an immersive activity in an exploratory way. Playability is an important component of the enjoyment and well-being of urban dwellers, has the potential to stimulate urban vitality and is an important expression of the inclusiveness and equity of urban space. The pursuit of economic development and efficiency-oriented urban construction has led to the domination of urban space by overcrowded traffic, economy-oriented commerce and densely populated housing. Moreover, the existence of playable space has become a scarce resource and is seen as a site for the materialisation of social rights. As the haze of the COVID-19 pandemic fades and cities are again exposed to wider and more participatory use, determining how to adapt urban spaces to the playability needs of users of different ages, cultural backgrounds and social classes, and provide them with appropriate site use and experience, is becoming a hot issue of concern for building equitable and high-quality urban spaces. The study of the playability of urban spaces is highly complex, and the related research on social justice is cryptic. In order to better investigate the social equity aspects of urban playability, this paper integrates scientometric and manual methods to review the relevant research. This paper takes 2664 related papers from the Web of Science (WOS) core dataset from 1998 to 2022 as the research object and employs CiteSpace to organise the existing research results of playful urban spaces. Quantitative analysis is used to clarify the theoretical foundations, developments and research hotspots of urban spatial playability, while the manual collation and generalisation of the studies uncover the hidden issues of social justice research. Based on the proposed research method, we summarize the key three research stages related to urban spatial playability and social equity. We also discuss the development of urban spatial playability in the perspective of social justice from three aspects: micro, meso and macro. The results can help readers better understand the current status and development process of research on playful urban space. In particular, we clarify the issues related to social justice under the theme of the playability of urban spaces and provide directions for future research on building playful cities and promoting the development of urban socio-spatial equity.

Participatory technologies: How digital innovation and youth-driven data can revolutionize racial & spatial justice and connections with community

Much of our current knowledge about technology in research and learning settings relates to devices and software programs: What types should be purchased?;How many should we buy?;What training is required?;and What return on investment will they produce? The implicit message communicated by this research is that technology transforms learning by simply being introduced into a setting -- and that any technology tool will produce powerful opportunities for learning. Just give youth iPads and results will follow. Over the past several years, groups of learning scientists, critical scholars, and participatory researchers have pushed back against this perspective, arguing that: (a) most traditional technologies utilized by scholars today reproduce problematic "banking" methods of learning (Freire, 1970);(b) scholars, leaders, and educators who rush to integrate technology in formal and informal learning settings often overlook the ways that race, identity, power and privilege shape the technologies that they give youth;(c) context matters -- unlocking the benefits of these new participatory forms of technologies for learning requires a shift in pedagogical approaches, embracing more critical, de-colonizing, and participatory forms like youth participatory action research (YPAR);and (d) new, mobile, interactive, accessible forms of technology have the potential to transform learning by creating a new participatory culture that fosters collaboration, communication, critical consciousness, and creativity. Throughout this dissertation, I use the term participatory technologies to describe these emerging tools. I define participatory technologies as the broad set of technology tools that can allow youth to engage with, critique, and co-create the systems, structures, and environments that shape their everyday lives. Participatory technology tools allow individuals to be both consumers and producers of information;and as the term "participatory" suggests, I argue that it is important for youth to use technology to "read the world" using their own socio-cultural lenses;critique and dismantle systems of power, privilege and oppression;and become active participants in co-creating a more just and equitable world around them. Using participatory technologies, youth can examine, influence, and alter the way that power is conferred and exercised across many arenas ranging from public health (#StayHome), politics (InstagramLive town halls, Arab Spring), civil rights (#BlackLivesMatter), urban planning (Google's Sidewalk Labs), disaster response (Ushahidi), to social justice (#MeToo). In the era of COVID-19, the case for participatory technologies could not be more urgent. As Alain Labrique, director of the Johns Hopkins University Global -mHealth Initiative shares, "The connectivity and participation through technology we have today gives us ammunition to fight this pandemic in ways we never previously thought possible" (A. Park, 2020, para. 3). In the face of this unprecedented global pandemic, colleges and classrooms have rushed onto online settings, physicians are conducting tele-visits through FaceTime and WhatsApp;"non-essential" workforce members, as well as family and friends, are connecting over Zoom;"social distancing" adherence is being tracked by epidemiologists through geo-location data;and global dance parties are being held on Instagram Live. To date, however, the global technology response to COVID-19 has only scratched the surface of what new participatory tools offer. For example, much needed real-time data on where outbreaks are occurring, how many tests are available, and what resources exist in communities in terms of critical health services, tests, or groceries (Where can I buy eggs? Which places take WIC for baby formula? Where are the lines the shortest? Where/when can elders and vulnerable populations shop safely?) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Pandemic urbanization: How South Africa's history of labor and disease control creates its current disparities

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for scholars to rethink how cities and urban spaces create and reproduce disproportionate social outcomes. The social, economic, and public health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa have been shaped by the country's legacy of "pandemic urbanization.” Pandemic urbanization refers to the use of urban space as a mechanism to create social, economic, and racialized divides in the name of pandemic control. Illness and infectious disease are used as instruments for segregation, and as justification for segregation through spatial policies. Through a systematic review and synthesis of peer-reviewed literature, this paper argues that the early urbanization of pre-apartheid South Africa, which is intimately tied to the control of bubonic plague, tuberculosis, and Spanish influenza outbreaks in the early 20th century, is central to the country's current inequalities, including those brought into stark relief by COVID-19. It shows that methods of labor and infectious disease control worked in tandem to structure South African spatial division. In doing so, this paper synthesizes important literature to tie the production of South African urban space to the active creation of categories of "race.” South Africa's historical geography informs global discussions on racial capitalism, as the country's past illustrates a process well beyond its borders. Given the centrality of urbanization and space within this history, a theorization highlighting spatial justice should be at the heart of pandemic and post-pandemic responses.

Geographical Distribution and Social Justice of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Palma (Balearic Islands).

The spatial distribution of the COVID-19 infection rate in the city of Palma (Balearic Islands) is analyzed from the geolocation of positive cases by census tract and its relationship with socioeconomic variables is evaluated. Data on infections have been provided by the Health Service of the Ministry of Health and Consumption of the Government of the Balearic Islands. The study combines several methods of analysis: spatial autocorrelation, calculation of the Gini index and least squares regression, and weighted geographical regression. The results show that the pandemic comprised five waves in the March 2020-March 2022 period, corresponding to the months of April 2020, August 2020, December 2020, July 2021, and January 2022. Each wave shows a particular geographical distribution pattern, however, the second and third waves show higher levels of spatial concentration. In this sense, the second wave, affecting the peripheral neighborhoods of the eastern part of the city. The Gini index confirms geographical imbalances in the distribution of infections in the first waves of the pandemic. In addition, the regression models indicate that the most significant socioeconomic variables in the prediction of COVID-19 infection are average income, percentage of children under 18 years of age, average size of the household, and percentage of single-person households. The study shows that economic imbalances in the city have had a clear influence on the spatial pattern of pandemic distribution. It shows the need to implement spatial justice policies in income distribution to balance the effects of the pandemic.

Emergent rural-urban relations in Covid-19 disturbances: Multi-locality affecting sustainability of rural change

The recent Covid-19 pandemic highlighted rural-urban interactions, in particular the fact that cities are dependent on the accessibility of non-metropolitan and rural spaces and vice versa. This article seeks to understand how these interactions contributed to emergent relational spaces of rurality during the Covid-19 crisis. The article analyses politicised mobilities between localities and rural-urban linkages that are tied to the sustainability of rural change. The study focuses on two countries: Estonia and Finland, exploring thematic narratives on second-home practices and related politics during the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis. The explored regions were the South Savo region in Finland and the island of Saaremaa and northern coastal villages in Estonia. The analysis indicates ways in which the mobility restrictions and disturbances triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic attributed certain demands and hopes to rural areas and led the shift in rural-urban interactions. The article contributes to the understanding of co-existences between im/mobilities and multi-local living and sustainability in rural change.

Pandemic urbanization: How South Africa’s history of labor and disease control creates its current disparities

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for scholars to rethink how cities and urban spaces create and reproduce disproportionate social outcomes. The social, economic, and public health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa have been shaped by the country’s legacy of “pandemic urbanization.” Pandemic urbanization refers to the use of urban space as a mechanism to create social, economic, and racialized divides in the name of pandemic control. Illness and infectious disease are used as instruments for segregation, and as justification for segregation through spatial policies. Through a systematic review and synthesis of peer-reviewed literature, this paper argues that the early urbanization of pre-apartheid South Africa, which is intimately tied to the control of bubonic plague, tuberculosis, and Spanish influenza outbreaks in the early 20th century, is central to the country’s current inequalities, including those brought into stark relief by COVID-19. It shows that methods of labor and infectious disease control worked in tandem to structure South African spatial division. In doing so, this paper synthesizes important literature to tie the production of South African urban space to the active creation of categories of “race.” South Africa’s historical geography informs global discussions on racial capitalism, as the country’s past illustrates a process well beyond its borders. Given the centrality of urbanization and space within this history, a theorization highlighting spatial justice should be at the heart of pandemic and post-pandemic responses. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Urban Affairs is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd 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 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 . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Beyond Accessibility: A Multidimensional Evaluation of Urban Park Equity in Yangzhou, China

Evaluating park equity can help guide the advancement of sustainable and equitable space policies. Previous studies have mainly considered accessibility when evaluating park equity while ignoring the selectivity and convenience of entering parks and residents’ recognition of parks. Measuring equity based mainly on spatial thinking has resulted in the social aspects of parks receiving insufficient attention. In this study, we therefore integrated the spatial and social equity of parks and developed a multidimensional framework to evaluate park equity in four dimensions: accessibility (Ai), diversity (Di), convenience (Ci), and satisfaction (Si). Empirical analysis from Yangzhou, China showed that: (1) in Yangzhou’s built-up districts, 23.43% of the communities received high- or relatively high-level park access but 17.72% received little or no park access. (2) The Gini coefficient indicated that all three dimensions showed a mismatch with population distribution, except for satisfaction (Si), which showed a relatively reasonable match. (3) Park access was generally better in communities with better locations, environments, and facilities. High-income groups enjoyed significantly better park access than low- and middle-income groups. These findings could help urban planners and policymakers develop effective policies to reduce inequality in park access.

Situating spatial justice in counter-urban lifestyle mobilities: relational rural theory in a time of crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the rural idyll, as urban-dwellers seek greener, safer spaces. If the counter-urban trend appears for novel reasons, it does so along lifestyle mobilities’ well-worn paths. These paths often depend upon spatial inequalities. Yet, despite awareness that inequalities undergird mobilities, spatial inequalities have remained under-theorized in the lifestyle mobilities literature. This article remedies the gap through the concept of spatial justice. Initially asserting the ‘right to’ urban space, spatial justice has been recently re-thought at a regional scale, and is an emerging interpretation of rural marginalization and redress. As a normative concept, however, spatial justice risks simplistically measuring the distribution and presuming sedentarism. By applying spatial justice to lifestyle mobilities pre-pandemic and looking ahead to future shifts, we offer a nuanced, relational perspective on the theory and the field. Through qualitative case studies from rural and peripheral regions in Wales and Ireland, we show how inequalities and mobilities are complex and inter-related, with significant implications for regional sustainability, cohesion and identity. As the discourse of being ‘all in this together' has rapidly unravelled, we argue that theorizing spatial inequalities is an urgent task for futures beyond recovery – and that lifestyle mobilities are deeply implicated. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Geografiska Annaler Series B: Human Geography is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd 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 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 . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Spatial (in)justice in pandemic times: bottom-up mobilizations in dialogue

Marginal urban areas already subject to unequal distribution of welfare facilities and socioeconomic opportunities were badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking from a spatial justice perspective, this paper looks at Milan and Rio de Janeiro, two very different and yet similar cities concerning their disadvantaged communities, focusing on the impacts of the virus, the consequent bottom-up mobilizations and collective actions in poor neighborhoods. It finally draws on possible lessons to learn from their examples. © 2021 FrancoAngeli. All rights reserved.

Unlawful Occupiers, Eviction and the National State of Disaster: Considering South Africa's Emergency Legislation and Jurisprudence During COVID-19

This article analyses how emergency regulations protected persons living in urban poverty, particularly unlawful occupiers, from eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. It is set against the socio-economic and environmental effects of unlawful occupiers being forced onto the streets through evictions. It examines the judicial interpretation and application of the COVID-19 regulations on the prohibition of the eviction of unlawful occupiers, together with remedies for compensation for demolished dwellings. Ultimately, the article shows that the regulatory and judicial responses to the pandemic were pro-poor and sought to protect human dignity, the right to life, and the right to an environment that is not detrimental to human health and well-being. The responses safeguarded access to housing at a time when many vulnerable people could have been rendered homeless by eviction and the demolition of their dwellings.