Social Interactions

Today, the quality and quantity of urban spaces has become one of the most important developmental indicators in the cities. The management of citizenship relations and increase of social interactions level and presence of people in urban spaces have been considered as the backbone and capital of a dynamic and vibrant community. The purpose of this study was to determine and evaluate the effective indicators on promoting social interactions in urban spaces with a happy city approach. Sampling method was determined by multi-stage comparative stratified sampling and the number of samples was determined by using Cochran formula about 384 people in Qaemshahr. Data collection tool was a research hypothesis questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data. Inferential statistics were used to analyze the hypotheses by SPSS and LISREL software. Four effective factors for promoting social interactions were extracted. These factors are as follows: the first priority is the sense of belonging to the place (5.10), the second priority is security (3.95), the third priority is the urban pedestrian (3.67) and the fourth priority was urban furniture (3.60). The results show that all the components affect the promotion of social interactions in the city's public spaces.

The present study, based on the promotion of social trust and social interactions, aims at providing a number of guidelines for the design of children’s open learning spaces. An exploratory research is conducted based on both qualitative-quantitative methods. At the primer part of the research which is the focus of this article a qualitative method is applied, using three rounds of Delphi. Consequently, professionals were interviewed in an unstructured way in the field of landscape architecture and social psychology. Then, with the techniques of open and axial coding the content table is created to manage questionnaires. Network sampling method (snowball) on the sample size of 10 professionals is used. The data were analyzed using Q factor analysis and four factors were recognized. The most affecting elements on the social trust in process of learning in open primary school spaces are consist of; social, design, physical spaces and environmental psychology dimensions.

Pedestrian areas are a type of urban public space, nowadays because of the serious consequences of car-dependency and ignoring pedestrian needs, a consensus on the importance of walking and the necessity for planning for pedestrians movement has been formed among urban designers, planners and people. The concerns about human health and movement in city create a new trend in contemporary urbanism, entitled “pedestrianization movement”. So far, walking in the streets has been defined under the influence of cars and they have always been given a priority over pedestrians. As a result, cars gradually conquer urban spaces, retreat pedestrians from their essential rights to use public spaces. If it is accepted that the quality of urban public areas has a considerable influence on citizens’ everyday social activities, this influence can be seen much greater in car free zones than anywhere else in the city. The main attention of the present study is enhancing social interactions in urban spaces, so the main purpose of the study is finding solutions and providing a model and design criteria to promote social interaction of citizens. The research methodology is qualitative which is based on reviewing literature of pedestrian areas and social interactions. The case of study is Khajoo Neighborhood, one of the oldest and historical neighbors of Isfahan1. The result shows that design of pedestrian zones invite people and residents to spend their time in urban space and have social interactions.

The success of urban spaces is proportional to the extent in which that space is being used and to human presence. In fact, architecture and urban planning should attempt to enhance social interactions and human soلیداrity rather than differentiation and separation. However, today what is witnessed in most of urban spaces is reduction of relationships and social participation of those residing in these spaces. On the other side, in recent decades, with the increasing progress of technology most of traditional patterns have been changed, and these changes have altered culture and life appearance in Iranian community. What is observed in today’s societies is the reduction in level of people’s social interactions. Regarding the role and function of cultural complexes as a space for improving social interactions, the physical structure of cultural environments should play a significant role in boosting people’s social interactions. The purpose of this research is to identify social interactions and effective physical components affecting promotion of social interactions among people in cultural complexes which provide an opportunity for individuals to take a relief from daily tensions, to gather together and interact. The methodology used in this research is descriptive and analytical, exploiting library studies in order to achieve the desired results. Finally, after studying various theories and effective physical components in promotion of social interaction in public urban spaces such as cultural complexes, appropriate architectural strategies have been provided. The results of this research indicate that six components of stagnation, aggregation, integrity, vitality, spatial determination and flexibility are among most important physical factors affecting the promotion of social interaction in cultural complexes.

The present research explores the trajectory of changing emotions throughout the lifelong experience of English language learning and language use among English-as-an-Additional-Language (EAL) students at a Vietnamese university. It employs a qualitatively-driven mixed methods research design with two phases of data collection using initial and exploratory self-designed questionnaires, followed by semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The quantitative data, collected from English majored students aimed to capture the range of emotions the participants experienced in speaking English. The qualitative data, collected from the students recruited from the questionnaire phase, revealed the complexity and dynamism of their emotions in the process of language learning and use. The findings show that the participants experienced shifting emotions across the different contexts of language learning, including school, out-of-school, and tertiary contexts. The emotions were seen to be dynamic, socially and contextually constructed, emerging from their social circumstances and interaction with others. They were interwoven with self-concept, language learning success, perceived standing in different communities, and relationships with others. The results also provide theoretical and practical implications for emotion research and pedagogies of EAL teaching and learning.