The person dimension is the first dimensions of the three dimensions suggested by Scannell & Gifford, person may refer to individual or group of people. Factors impacting the attachment to such place varied from person to group. On the individual basis the attachment may be due to some memories that have occurred at certain place. While the group will be attached when the place has a certain cultural or religious impact.
3.10.2 Process
people with the place. The psychological impact is impacted by three main factors which are effect, cognition, and behavior. While the first factor doesn't indicate if the affect will be positive or negative as it could be any of them. Cognition is through the interactive events and memories which shape the personal knowledge of the place, the third factor is the behavior and it refers to the impression and action that people may take, such like reconstruction of lost places
3.10.3 Place
The most important dimensions are the place. Talking about place tend to explore what is that thing that impress the people? What are the physical features that bond the person to the place?, this could be occurred at one of the two levels, social and physical. The social attachment refers to the social reasons linking the person with the space such like being bond to his own room. Place attachment is the positive bond to one’s environment, which has a well-being aspect that is relevant to the cultural ecosystem. Place attachment might provide other beneficial effects, such as place- protective behavior, increase in pro-environmental behavior, and an increased sense of safety (Scannell & Gifford, 2010). The resulting effects of place attachment are dependent upon the dimensions that are actualized in the model.
3.11 Summary
Through this chapter we have reviewed the literature reviews that have explained the social and individuals reasons behind the interaction between people and open spaces from several perspectives. In order to examine the main reasons impacting this relationship. The findings from that we get from this chapter are correlated to the research methodology as the relationship between people and places has been examined from several perspectives.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction
The initial part of the chapter shows how these ambitions informed two primary approaches: the importance of understanding of open spaces as an integration of fabric, formation and cultural practice, and the potential of storytelling methods to represent and elicit complexity of social life in open spaces. Therefore this chapter presents the methodological approaches and methods of this study.
The methodological approaches are formed by the study aims to identify why and how people use public open spaces in Jeddah city, to examine the role of these spaces in forming interaction between users and improving the social environment of the city, then to make recommendations for improved urban design and planning to meet the needs of users of open spaces in the city more effectively.
The main body of this chapter demonstrates the mixed methods used in the study fieldwork. The content shows the making of decision process of how the city of Jeddah and case study open spaces were selected, and a full description of all methods used, also includes discussion of ethical implications for working in Saudi Arabia. This chapter is concluding by discussing the analysis and interpretation of the data (Figure 4-1).
Research from many disciplines is involved in investigating the social dynamics of open spaces, and the literature review indicates the variety of used methods. A wide range of both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used, includes the use of observation studies and interviews; As well as more landscape specific methods such as photographic diaries or walking interviews. It is fundamental to recognize that methods of research are within a cultural context, and need to respond to the expectations, constraints and opportunities of the location and potential participants. In this research, the suitability and context of potential methods of enquiry with open spaces users will be critiqued with respect to the Saudi context. Also the approaches used needed to be able to demonstrate the perspectives of different stakeholders; a broad diversity of open space users, as well as regulators and designers relating to the open spaces of the city.
4.2 Methodological approaches
The methodological approaches for this study draw on the findings of the literature review and the specificity of the study aims and objectives. The investigation of open spaces and social life required a methodology that integrated the fabric, form and culture of urban design. Open spaces and social life study is often described as divided between qualitative and quantitative methods. The methods used in this study needed to provide the researcher with insightful details about the users experience and bonds to open spaces. According to Gorman and Clayton (2005), qualitative research enables data to be collected from the context of occurrence, so that occurrences can be described, and complex textual descriptions of how people experience and interact with public urban spaces. Qualitative methods used to record the use of public spaces are flexible, informative and are better able to deal with the complexity of values and perceptions of open space. The research context is located in an Arab community, so particular care is required to accurately address and represent the relationship between practices and social norms informed by gender, transnational links, socioeconomic status, religion and culture.
Within this broadly qualitative approach, it was fundamental to identify key principles, referred to in the thesis as methodological approaches, which would ensure that the methods would be effective in treating the aims of the study: understanding the open spaces and their impact on social life.
To reach the first aim, it was fundamental to ensure reliable ways of registering use of public space, and what types of open space were most commonly used in a Saudi Arabian urban setting. To have better understanding of the types of open places in Jeddah for users this study determined typologies for the public open spaces in the city hat needed to be aware of the appropriate spaces commonly used for the context of Saudi Arabia and the city of Jeddah. The exercise of such case studies will assist in gaining a clear understanding of how the use of physical spaces is related to user’s sense and his interaction with others and with the open space. Therefore, this research used case studies of specific open spaces in Jeddah city based on the researcher’s knowledge as an urban designer. The data collection was by interviews and observations techniques at these open spaces.
The second aim required an understanding of how users’ value and potentially can help in the formation of comfort and belonging to the space and then interact and form social relationships with other users. The bond between people and places could be critiqued within an understanding of their cultural backgrounds, behavior, psychology, cognition and affection for social or physical features of spaces (Scannell and Gifford, 2010). This research investigated open space sites in the city of Jeddah where people have diverse social, cultural and religious backgrounds, because of that the researcher needed to ensure that the observations and respondents interviewed reflected this diversity in terms of emotional bonds and social interaction. This determines a need to adopt a story
telling approach to collect information from users that would detect more details of these factors that influence uses and social interaction.
In addition, the analysis of qualitative data requires a systematic procedure that is guided by specific objectives that can be gained by an inductive approach (Thomas, 2003). These findings justify the use of an inductive approach for this study that reaches the aims and objectives by systematic analysis of qualitative data to register these intangible factors.
The methodological approaches used for this research, investigate open spaces as an integration of fabric, form and cultural practice, and adopt storytelling methods to elicit complexity of social interaction.