Mobile Partizipation in der gesundheitsfördernden Stadtgestaltung - zwei Fallbeispiele zu Datenerfassung und Interaktion im Stadtraum

Dieser Beitrag stellt den Einsatz digitaler Werkzeuge in der gesundheitsfördernden Stadtgestaltung vor. Der Fokus liegt auf der Frage nach der Bedeutung von mobilen Applikationen in verschiedenen Planungsphasen und deren Potenzial, Beteiligung in der gesundheitsfördernden Stadtgestaltung zu fördern und neue Nutzergruppen zu adressieren. Es werden zwei Fallbeispiele vorgestellt, in denen Nutzerinnen und Nutzer mobil Aufenthaltsqualitäten in Freiräumen bewerten und zum anderen durch ein Location-Based Game gesundheitsfördernde Elemente der Stadtgestaltung kennenlernen. Der Artikel verdeutlicht die Potenziale in der kollektiven Erfassung georeferenzierter Daten zur Bestandsaufnahme von öffentlichen Räumen und reflektiert darüber, wie die spielerische Interaktion im Stadtraum mögliche positive Effekte der gebauten Umwelt auf die Gesundheit vermittelt. Der Artikel schließt mit dem Hinweis auf die Herausforderungen, nutzer- und ortspezifische Lösungen zu entwickeln und interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit zwischen Planern, Umweltpsychologen und Informatikern zu etablieren.This article discusses the potential of mobile applications to augment planning processes in urban design and health. Specifically, it addresses how digital tools can enrich co-design and may help to raise awareness in new target groups. To this end, the paper presents two case studies in more detail: a) a mobile application, which allows users to rate amenities and spatial qualities in open spaces and b) a location-based game to learn about healthy places. First, the article emphasises the potentials of mobile applications in collective data capture, as they produce georeferenced, detailed and subjective contributions. Second, it speculates how interaction with the built environment in situ, using mobile technology, may be used to make positive effects of healthy places more tangible for participants. The article concludes by outlining the challenges in the development of context-specific solutions, which requires interdisciplinary collaboration between architects, environmental psychologists and experts from computer science

Perceived environmental barriers and facilitators of refugee children’s physical activity in/around refugee accommodation: a qualitative case study in Berlin

Background: Previous research have identified built environmental attributes associated with refugee children’s physical activity (PA); however, there is a lack of research focusing on refugee children’s environmental perceptions at the individual level. We examined the perceived environmental barriers and facilitators of refugee children’s PA. Methods: Perceptions of PA environments by refugee children (n = 15, 6 to 13 years old) and their parents (n = 10) were captured by questionnaires and drawing workshops from one refugee accommodation in Berlin. Besides, photovoice was conducted with three children to obtain an in-depth understanding of their experiences of existing environments for PA. Research was applied between June and July 2019. All research material was transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Refugee children and their parents identified micro-environments as the centre of children’s daily PA, they usually played indoors but most parents perceived there was no spaces. In meso environments, children and parents thought there were insufficient spaces and were worried about neighbourhood safety. Furthermore, parents concerned more about ‘space accessibility’ for their children’s playing purposes instead of ‘space quality (e.g., equipment)’ . Children also indicated the importance of informal spaces for their PA. Conclusions: Refugee children perceive a lack of space and safety when attempting to play in the existing micro and meso environments. Related practitioners should focus on providing more play spaces in micro environments and safe access to existing neighbourhood playfields. These efforts can augment much-needed research on strategies to better integrate refuge facilities to their urban context and essential in minimising current health and spatial inequality issues these vulnerable groups face across Germany and worldwide

Refugee Children’s Access to Play in Meso-Environments: A Novel Approach Using Space Syntax and GIS

Being able to explore and play in quality open spaces in the neighbourhood is crucial for refugee children since refugee facilities often have inadequate playspaces indoors and outdoors. Access to meso-environment playspaces (around refugee accommodations) would provide refugee children with the opportunity for optimal physical, cognitive, emotional and social development and support their social inclusion. This study explores refugee children’s access to play areas in meso environments with six study sites in Berlin. Active space for refugee children’s play is assessed using: (1) open-source data collection, (2) method notions of perceived distance and spaces, (3) staff survey with site investigation and (4) space syntax theories of potential accessibility. Results indicated the fact of unequal playspace distributions for refugee children in Berlin with children-oriented assessment. The utilisation of space syntax in the context of refugee children is relatively unexplored. This study is thereby contributing to the space syntax literature by exploring the broader application potential of its methods. Further studies should broaden study sites with more precise environmental measures

Understanding Spatial Characteristics of Refugee Accommodations Associated with Refugee Children’s Physical Activity in Microenvironments: Six Case Studies in Berlin

Refugee children often spend a considerable amount of time in refugee accommodations with limited space and limited access to communal facilities. Such environmental settings make it difficult for refugee children to engage in physical activity (PA), which is essential for their health and social inclusion. While there is a strong evidence base for environmental attributes associated with non-refugee children’s PA, only a few studies have focused on refugee children. This article presents an exploratory study on the spatial characteristics of six refugee accommodations in Berlin and their relation to school-aged refugee children’s opportunities to engage in PA. Micro-environmental attributes included building typology and availability, size, and access to communal PA spaces using Space Syntax. PA opportunities were assessed using staff surveys, interviews, and field trips. Results indicated that none of the case studies provided a comprehensive range of PA opportunities. They also revealed unequal access within the facilities. Whereas the role of size was inconsistent, vital predictors included fewer floors and corridors with easy access to internal and external PA spaces. Our recommendations include prioritizing compact buildings with moderate heights when retrofitting existing facilities and raising awareness for the importance of active play for this vulnerable group

Stadtgestaltung für eine inklusive Stadtmitte Darmstadt

Der Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Zugänglichkeit und Nutzbarkeit des Luisenplatzes für Menschen mit Mobilitäts- und Seheinschränkungen. In einer Sequenz mit drei Etappen – dem Hinkommen mit dem öffentlichen Verkehr; dem Reinkommen durch Orientierung und Bewegung auf dem Luisenplatz; und dem Ankommen in die umliegenden Gebäude – werden Problemstellen aufgezeigt und Lösungsansätze im Sinne des Access for All vorgestellt. Dem Text liegen Analysen und Entwürfe zu Grunde, die von Studierenden des Fachbereich Architektur der Technischen Universität Darmstadt im Wintersemester 2016/17 im Rahmen des städtebaulichen Entwurfs Lui rennt! Stadtgestaltung für eine inklusive Stadtmitte Darmstadts entwickelt wurden

PREHealth: Designing health into urban green and blue infrastructures – The need for action in planning, policies, and research. National Report Germany.

Only 46% of adults and 27% of children and adolescents in Germany reach minimum standards of physical activity (PA) suggested by the World Health Organisation throughout the week. While there is growing evidence that the built environment relates to physical activity on a population level, it remains unclear, how these mechanics work on a more specific level: what potentials are there to encourage citizens with very different motivations and needs to use local green and blue open spaces in a healthier way? This report gives an overview of three different health-related behaviours (active recreation, active travel and social interaction) in relation to urban green and blue spaces in Germany. Based on literature review and expert interviews, the results show that the German population is not sufficiently physically active. Those who are appear to be active mostly in open spaces and for recreational purposes; this trend is confirmed in the city of Darmstadt. Furthermore, this report offers an overview of policies regarding health and open spaces in Germany and in the city of Darmstadt. For that, special attention is paid to the different socio-economic groups and urban spaces (green and blue infrastructures, street networks, and squares), providing information on the current status, and the usage of these spaces

Growing up in urban school environments

In 1977 Kevin Lynch presented the results of his famous “Growing Up in Cities” study on children’s use and perception of spatial environments in cities around the globe. The main aim was to inform planning policies with a better understanding of how the built environment impacts children’s behaviour, which could lead to urban quality improvements from children’s point of view. The authors emphasised that the value of children’s participation should not be neglected and pointed towards the untapped potential in the way they observe the city from a different perspective. After four decades, the project’s research questions and findings of Lynch’s work remain very relevant – both for architects and urban designers, as for the young users. This is specially the case for urban schools as important “settings” (fields of action), in which the children are spending an increasing amount of time. Already in the 1970s, Lynch stressed that children had less time for free activities and that their daily lives were fully programmed by school, and TV at home. Nowadays, as the majority of school systems turn to the full-time model, the majority of children’s time is spent with daily learning and extra-curricular activities, as well as using digital devices during leisure time. A growing body of international research underlines how school design influences students’ learning progress, social interaction, physical and cognitive development. However, less attention has been paid to the questions of a) how we can design more livability, physical activity, and mental well-being into school environments, and b) how can children play a more vital role in the process. To address these issues, the research team of TU Darmstadt developed a toolbox, which makes children the direct observers of their surrounding environment and is encouraged to express their opinions. It is inspired by Lynch’s work and includes three main techniques from his research: individual/group interviews with the children, taking photographs and analysing them, and the collaborative creation of spatial mental maps. The toolbox, however, integrates a new generation of digitally- supported surveys, mapping, and co-design tools to further explore how students can be encouraged in co-creating their learning spaces and bringing forward their expectations and needs

Playin’ the city : artistic and scientific approaches to playful urban arts

An Theorien und Diskussionen über die Stadt mangelt es nicht, denn Städte dienen uns u.a. als Projektionsfläche zur Auseinandersetzung mit unserer Vergangenheit, der Gegenwart und unserer Zukunft. Diese Ausgabe 1 (2016) der Navigationen untersucht spielerische Formen dieser Auseinandersetzung in und mit der Stadt durch die sogenannten playful urban arts.The city has been discussed and theorized widely, and it continues to serve as a space in which our sense of the present, past, and future is constantly negotiated. This issue 1 (2016) of Navigationen examines new ways of engaging with cities through what are called the playful urban arts. Playful engagements with the urban environment frequently strive to create new ways of imagining and experiencing the city. In and through play, city spaces can become playgrounds that have the potential to transform people’s sense of themselves as human actors in an urban network of spatially bound and socio-economically grounded actions. Emerging from the playin’siegen urban games festival 2015, the essays and panel discussions assembled in this issue provide an interdisciplinary account of the contemporary playful urban arts. Wiht contributions by Miguel Sicart, Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein, Judith Ackermann and Martin Reiche, Michael Straeubig and Sebastian Quack, Marianne Halblaub Miranda and Martin Knöll, and Anne Lena Hartman

Memory Effects in Spontaneous Emission Processes

We consider a quantum-mechanical analysis of spontaneous emission in terms of an effective two-level system with a vacuum decay rate $\Gamma_0$ and transition angular frequency $\omega_A$. Our analysis is in principle exact, even though presented as a numerical solution of the time-evolution including memory effects. The results so obtained are confronted with previous discussions in the literature. In terms of the {\it dimensionless} lifetime $\tau = t\Gamma_0$ of spontaneous emission, we obtain deviations from exponential decay of the form ${\cal O} (1/\tau)$ for the decay amplitude as well as the previously obtained asymptotic behaviors of the form ${\cal O} (1/\tau^2)$ or ${\cal O} (1/\tau \ln^2\tau)$ for $\tau \gg 1$. The actual asymptotic behavior depends on the adopted regularization procedure as well as on the physical parameters at hand. We show that for any reasonable range of $\tau$ and for a sufficiently large value of the required angular frequency cut-off $\omega_c$ of the electro-magnetic fluctuations, i.e. $\omega_c \gg \omega_A$, one obtains either a ${\cal O} (1/\tau)$ or a ${\cal O} (1/\tau^2)$ dependence. In the presence of physical boundaries, which can change the decay rate with many orders of magnitude, the conclusions remains the same after a suitable rescaling of parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures and 46 reference