Place and Environment Commons^™

How I Cook With No Kitchen: An Investigation Of How #Microapartment Kitchens Are Depicted On Tiktok, Joelie Mandzufas, Karen Lombardi, Dorian Winter, Sarah Foster, Siobhan Hickling, Gina S.A. Trapp

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Physical constraints of small apartment kitchens and the influence of the surrounding community food environment may impact food practices of apartment residents. Social media portrayal of these features may influence public perception of apartment living. Aim: This project aimed to describe the public depiction of small apartment kitchen and cooking facilities. Methods: Content analysis of TikTok videos posted with small apartment-related hashtags was determined the portrayal of kitchen facilities, residents’ food practices, and hypothesised barriers to healthy cooking and eating practices. Current residents of small apartments compared these video depictions to their own experience. Results: We found TikTok videos …

Resilience For Whom? A Study In Pathways And Production Of Unequal Risk In The Rockaways, Aaryan M. Nair

Publications and Research

This paper investigates how climate adaptation policies in the Rockaway Peninsula of New York City produce unequal outcomes despite their ostensibly neutral design, framing resilience as an environmental and climate justice problem. Situated within a landscape marked by stark socioeconomic disparities, aging housing stock, and high exposure to coastal flooding, the study demonstrates that existing adaptation strategies—centered on uniform technical standards, insurance frameworks, and large-scale coastal infrastructure—systematically advantage actors with greater financial and institutional capacity while leaving low-income residents, particularly renters, disproportionately vulnerable.

The analysis identifies three core dynamics underlying this “unequal-by-design” resilience regime: (1) the stratified feasibility of compliance …

Examining Challenges For Sociology Master’S Degree Students At California State University, David Ortuno

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to identify the lived experiences of CSU sociology graduate students pursuing a master’s degree. Seven sociology graduate students from six of the eight (75%) total sociology MA programs throughout the entire CSU system were interviewed. Their responses were designed to analyze the support systems and challenges they face while pursuing a master's degree, as well as to investigate whether their experiences correlate with or fail to correlate with the promises in the CSU mission statement, and to answer the study’s research questions and achieve the purpose of this qualitative study.

Four themes emerged from …

Hoarding And The Hoarded Home: A Phenomenological And Psychoanalytic Study, Brianna Stich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While research on hoarding tends to isolate hoarders from the homes they hoard and in which they live, the hoard and the hoarder share a life in the home. This study explores how hoarders live with and live through their hoard at home. It combines psychoanalysis and phenomenology within a unique methodological framework to provide a hermeneutic reading of the psychological significances of the hoarded home. In this study, the contemporary conceptualization of hoarding is historically situated and critiqued from a phenomenological perspective, and the view that hoarding is a single, behaviorally-defined syndrome that is explainable by a cognitive-behavioral model …

Exploring The Impact Of Inpatient Mental Health Care On Adolescents, Alexandria M. Mckahan

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

Adolescent psychiatric hospitalizations continue to rise, yet there is limited research on which daily practices inside inpatient units genuinely support engagement and recovery. This project examined how structure, staff tone, and therapeutic programming influence adolescents’ participation and emotional stability within a real inpatient setting. The study focused on three questions: how structured routines affect recovery, what challenges staff face when supporting adolescents with complex needs, and how adolescents’ engagement patterns reflect their perception of care. Using a mixed-methods case study at Mesa Springs Behavioral Health Hospital, I conducted approximately twenty field observations, semi-structured staff interviews, and descriptive engagement tracking across …

Indigenizing Aquaculture: In Pursuit Of An Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture System For Enhanced Self-Sufficiency In Akaroa Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand, Cali R. Trainor

Capstone Collection

This study assessed the feasibility of integrating two pre-existing aquaculture activities in Akaroa Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand into an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system. The cultivation of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) presents an opportunity to improve the sustainability of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) farming by introducing alternative food sources for salmon, which can be used to produce fish feed locally, enhancing the self-sufficiency of the community and boosting the holistic efficiency of the system. Macroinvertebrates residing in giant kelp wrack were collected, identified, and quantified to determine if any of the Macrocystis-associated specimens could serve as …

How Does County Educational Composition Affect Mortality?, Heeyoung Lee, Tse-Chuan Yang

Population Health Research Brief Series

The gap in life expectancy between Americans with and without a bachelor's degree keeps growing. This brief summarizes findings from a study using data from the National Center for Health Statistics Multiple Cause of Death files and the American Community Survey on 3,122 U.S. counties from 2010-2022. The authors find that a county's educational makeup creates divergent mortality effects for residents. For every 1% increase in bachelor's degree holders in a county, mortality declines by 4.5% for degree holders but increases by 1.2% for those without degrees. This pattern holds across heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The findings suggest that …

Book Review: Ecologies Of Inequity. How Disaster Response Reconstitutes Race And Class Inequality, Abel Traslaviña-Arias

Critical Disaster Studies

In Ecologies of Inequity: How Disaster Response Reconstitutes Race and Class Inequality, Sancha Doxilly Medwinter gathered diverse stories about how various migrant communities had to overcome not only disaster but also the overlapping networks established by those who were supposed to support them in 2012 in New York City. Medwinter portrays this contested post-disaster landscape through a thorough data recording of 120 individuals affiliated with various groups: racialized migrants or locals, tenants or property owners, local or external helpers, and those from wealthy or impoverished backgrounds. Ecologies of Inequity refer to the spatialized networks of organizational and interpersonal relations …

Does Investing In Schools Reduce Violent Crime?, Jamein Cunningham, Monique E. Davis, Kenneth Whaley

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Unravelling The Motivations For The Environmental Harm Posed By The Unsustainable Practices By The Apparel Industry In Ghana, William Boateng, Ronald Osei Mensah, Lillian Lamptey, Victor Fannam Nunfam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The apparel industry in Ghana has increasingly come under scrutiny for its environmental footprint, particularly in the wake of rising concerns about ecological degradation. This study critically examines the motivations behind unsustainable practices within the industry, exploring how economic, cultural, and structural factors contribute to environmental harm. Using Routine Activity Theory (RAT) as a guiding framework, the research identifies key drivers of ecological damage, including the dominance of profit-driven decisions, market demand for fast apparel, limited awareness of sustainable practices, and challenges in accessing eco-friendly materials. Additionally, the study investigates how the apparel industry's operations exploit natural resources and fragile …

Sense Of Belonging And Student Success Among College Students, Sriram Tandri Mr

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Abstract

A sense of belonging and self-efficacy are vital needs of college students, both shown to be significant predictors for student success. Thus, our study will focus on academic performance and the contributing factors that might have a significant influence on overall student success rates. The purpose of the present project is to build upon prior research by developing a new measure in the field of social psychology, investigating the relationship between college students’ sense of belonging, combined with individual factors such as self-efficacy, and how they contribute to student success and academic performance. This study consists of a quantitative, …

From Red To Green: Using Gis To Examine Colorado’S Inequitable Housing Patterns In Urban Greenspace Accessibility, Jessica Howard Karr

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Urban greenspaces provide numerous benefits to the mental and physical health of nearby people who access these locations for physical recreation, social interaction, and contemplation. Discriminatory urban planning policies from the past, such as redlining, have ensured that greenspace access is not always equitable for communities with diverse racial and socioeconomic compositions. This project utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine relationships between tree cover canopy, greenspace percentage within a census tract, and greenspace accessibility within a graded census tract system based on demographics and historic redlining locations in the Colorado cities of Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. The results …

Home And Religion, Emma Alexandra Grimley, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This chapter explores how religious practices and identities intersect with the home as both a construct and physical locale and surveys the social science literature on religion in/and the home. We argue that the shifting space-times of religious practice reflect and influence the changeable and porous boundaries between public and private space, the home and beyond the home. This influence is shown by reference to three areas of focus: the home as a private space of and for religion; the use of religion to cross social and spatial boundaries of home; and the reconfiguration of the home in religious practice …

Community-Engaged Research For Gulf Resilience, Devon Brenner, Brenna Jungers, Katerina Sergi

Publications

The Gulf Coast faces complex environmental, economic, and cultural challenges, often resulting in conflicting community interests. Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) offers a collaborative approach where researchers and community members co-design and implement studies to address these issues. By involving communities from the onset, CEnR fosters trust, respects local knowledge, and ensures research outcomes are beneficial and equitable. This method is particularly vital in the Gulf region, where diverse interest group needs must be balanced to maximize positive impact and minimize harm.

Rewilding The Built Environment: Navigating Economic, Political, And Social Barriers To Urban Ecological Restoration, Carly E. Smith

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Urban rewilding offers a nature-based approach to restoring ecological processes in cities while advancing climate resilience, biodiversity, and public well-being. Unlike conventional green infrastructure, rewilding allows ecosystems to develop with minimal intervention, emphasizing succession, complexity, and long-term adaptability. This paper examines the political, economic, and social factors that frame how rewilding is understood and implemented in urban planning. Governmental frameworks often prioritize order, predictability, and short-term results, making it difficult to accommodate the uncertainty and ecological complexity that rewilding requires. Economic models struggle to capture its long-term value, frequently overlooking ecosystem services or reconciling competing land uses. Social perceptions of …

Perceived Neighborhood Cohesion And Well-Being During The Covid-19 Pandemic In The U.S., Jennifer W. Robinette, Brooke Jenkins, Nicole-Marie Duran, David A. Frederick

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The U.S. entered a “second pandemic” characterized by depression and loneliness after the initial outbreak of COVID-19. These psychological consequences have driven researchers to identify protective factors during this crisis. The present study tested whether perceived neighborhood cohesion, or that neighbors trust and count on one another, related to fewer depressive symptoms and less loneliness as the pandemic unfolded. Two waves of data were collected online from the same adults in April and October, 2020 (N = 1,928). People who reported greater neighborhood cohesion had fewer depressive symptoms (b = −1.01, p <  0.001) and were less lonely (b = −0.20, p <  0.001), even when considering other pandemic-related risk factors. The association between cohesion and loneliness was even stronger 6 months into the pandemic (b = …

Anderson University Student Handbook, 2025-2026, Anderson University - South Carolina

Handbooks

The Anderson University student handbook for the 2025-2026 school year.

Creating Intergenerational Connections: A Multilevel Approach For Enriching Lives And Addressing Vital Community Issues, Matthew S. Kaplan, Nancy Z. Henkin

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This article presents an overview of intergenerational programs and practices as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry and practice that fosters open communication, support, and civic engagement across generations. Numerous examples of how intergenerational programs and practices harness age diversity to improve the human condition are presented. This includes initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles, reduce social isolation and loneliness, strengthen families, enrich education and lifelong learning, enhance community quality of life, and transmit cherished cultural traditions and values. This article highlights Extension’s longstanding contributions to intergenerational programming, showcasing notable examples across program areas and exploring opportunities for deeper engagement, co-leadership, and …

Proletarian Nights In Archie Hind’S The Dear Green Place, Corey Gibson

Studies in Scottish Literature

This article argues for a reappraisal of Archie Hind's landmark Glasgow novel The Dear Green Place (1966), which represents the conflation and combination of long histories of class formation with the grind of everyday labours, and a provocation about the possibilities, limitations, and contradictions of working-class artistry in twentieth-century Scotland.

Can Singapore Be A City That Bounces Back And Gives Back?, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong called for a widened definition of sustainability in city-making. She proposed that cities must be resilient, regenerative and restorative (3Rs) — able to withstand shocks, replenish ecosystems, and restore human well-being. Prof Kong cited Singapore’s Draft Master Plan 2025 as an illustration of balancing technical innovation with inclusive engagement, stressing that trust is the “invisible infrastructure” of resilience. She also emphasised the role of universities as conveners of dialogue and innovation, spotlighting SMU’s co-convening of the City Dialogues in Vienna and its hosting of the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, …