TY - JOUR
T1 - Using photovoice and emotional maps to understand transitional urban neighborhoods
AU - Meenar, Mahbubur R.
AU - Mandarano, Lynn A.
N1 - Funding Information: We humbly acknowledge the study participants from Philadelphia's North Kensington neighborhood. We received support and assistance from four nonprofit organizations: Community Center for Visitation, New Kensington Community Development Corporation, Rock Ministries of Philadelphia, and Somerset Neighbors for Better Living. We would like to thank Temple University graduate students, Michelle Atherton, Leonard Bonarek, and Ted Mullen, for their excellent work in coordinating, facilitating, and documenting the photovoice and focus groups for the Brownfield Area Wide Plan in 2016 Planning Studio, the capstone course for the MS City and Regional Planning. We also thank Tracy Purdy, a graduate student in the same program, for volunteering to assist with recording and transcribing the focus group discussions. We acknowledge Hunter Swanson, Kira Rose, and Joseph Foti—all undergraduate students from Rowan University—for assisting us with GIS data creation, processing, and emotional mapping. We also thank urban planners Jason Hachadorian and Kyle Hearing for providing technical assistance. This research was partially supported by a grant from the U.S. EPA (grant number 96351701 ) awarded to Dr. Meenar. The views expressed here are solely those of authors and do not necessarily reflect the agency. Funding Information: We humbly acknowledge the study participants from Philadelphia's North Kensington neighborhood. We received support and assistance from four nonprofit organizations: Community Center for Visitation, New Kensington Community Development Corporation, Rock Ministries of Philadelphia, and Somerset Neighbors for Better Living. We would like to thank Temple University graduate students, Michelle Atherton, Leonard Bonarek, and Ted Mullen, for their excellent work in coordinating, facilitating, and documenting the photovoice and focus groups for the Brownfield Area Wide Plan in 2016 Planning Studio, the capstone course for the MS City and Regional Planning. We also thank Tracy Purdy, a graduate student in the same program, for volunteering to assist with recording and transcribing the focus group discussions. We acknowledge Hunter Swanson, Kira Rose, and Joseph Foti?all undergraduate students from Rowan University?for assisting us with GIS data creation, processing, and emotional mapping. We also thank urban planners Jason Hachadorian and Kyle Hearing for providing technical assistance. This research was partially supported by a grant from the U.S. EPA (grant number 96351701) awarded to Dr. Meenar. The views expressed here are solely those of authors and do not necessarily reflect the agency. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The built environment influences our use and experience of place, as well as emotions and well-being. It is important to understand how people associate emotions with urban places, or create “subjective” urban experiences in order to regenerate neighborhoods that are sensitive to our mental and emotional health and well-being. In this study, we analyzed photovoice-generated photos (n = 265), focus group and interview transcripts, and emotional maps as part of a brownfield revitalization planning effort in a post-industrial transitional neighborhood of Philadelphia, USA. We coded 13 themes to represent places, spaces, or topics and documented eight primary emotions associated with the photos. Joy was the most mentioned emotion, although the total number of negative emotions (e.g., sadness, anger, and disgust) far exceeded positive ones. Emotional maps revealed positive and negative hotspots and displayed how a single location or topic could trigger multiple contrasting or complementary emotions. A major contribution of this study is its methodological novelty of creating emotional maps with data collected from photovoice, interviews, and focus groups. Another contribution is an innovative community engagement approach involving underrepresented stakeholders in the process of planning for the revitalization of a transitional neighborhood facing pressure from development and gentrification.
AB - The built environment influences our use and experience of place, as well as emotions and well-being. It is important to understand how people associate emotions with urban places, or create “subjective” urban experiences in order to regenerate neighborhoods that are sensitive to our mental and emotional health and well-being. In this study, we analyzed photovoice-generated photos (n = 265), focus group and interview transcripts, and emotional maps as part of a brownfield revitalization planning effort in a post-industrial transitional neighborhood of Philadelphia, USA. We coded 13 themes to represent places, spaces, or topics and documented eight primary emotions associated with the photos. Joy was the most mentioned emotion, although the total number of negative emotions (e.g., sadness, anger, and disgust) far exceeded positive ones. Emotional maps revealed positive and negative hotspots and displayed how a single location or topic could trigger multiple contrasting or complementary emotions. A major contribution of this study is its methodological novelty of creating emotional maps with data collected from photovoice, interviews, and focus groups. Another contribution is an innovative community engagement approach involving underrepresented stakeholders in the process of planning for the revitalization of a transitional neighborhood facing pressure from development and gentrification.
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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103353
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2021.103353
M3 - Article
VL - 118
JO - Cities
JF - Cities
SN - 0264-2751
M1 - 103353
ER -