Arts-Aided Recognition of Citizens’ Perceptions for Urban Open Space Management

Sari Suomalainen, Helena Kahiluoto, Anne Pässilä, Allan Owens and Clive Holtham
Additional contact information
Sari Suomalainen: Sustainability Science, School of Energy Systems, LUT University, 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland
Helena Kahiluoto: Sustainability Science, School of Energy Systems, LUT University, 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland
Anne Pässilä: School of Engineering Science, Industrial Management, Lahti Campus, LUT University, 15210 Lahti, Finland
Allan Owens: Centre for Research into Education, Creativity and the Arts through Practice, University of Chester, Chester CH1 4BJ, UK
Clive Holtham: Faculty of Management, Bayes Business School, University of London, London EC1Y 8TZ, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Urban open spaces of local natural environments can promote the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans, and the management of the urban spaces can benefit from knowledge of individuals’/citizens’ perceptions of such environments. However, such knowledge is scarce and contemporary inquiries are often limited to cognitive observations and focused on built environmental elements rather than encouraged to recognize and communicate comprehensive perceptions. This paper investigates whether arts-based methods can facilitate recognition and understanding perceptions of urban open spaces. Two arts-based methods were used to capture perceptions: drifting, which is a walking method, and theatrical images, which is a still image method and three reflective methods to recognize and communicate the perceptions. The results show related sensations and perceptions enabled by arts-based methods comparing them to a sticker map method. The main findings were perceptions, which included information about human–environment interaction, about relations to other people and about ‘sense of place’ in urban open spaces. The hitherto unidentified perceptions about urban open space were associations, metaphors and memories. The methods used offer initial practical implications for future use.

Keywords: urban open space; arts-based methods; perceptions; human–environment interaction; sustainable transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/135/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/135/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2021:i:1:p:135-:d:709657

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().