Social space analysis

The social space analysis is an instrument that makes use of the methods of empirical social research in order, for example, to achieve comparability of certain parts of the city . Municipalities use the social space analysis to assess the local government 's need for help in a district.

History of social space analysis

The history of social space analysis has its origins in the USA in the 1960s. Scientists such as Eshref Shevky and Wendell Bell developed social area analysis as a tool for analyzing urban culture. Based on the assumption that societies develop towards greater differentiation and complexity , indicators were defined which, applied to the city, could be seen as indicators of urban development. The focus of the social space analysis is the theoretical justification and the generalizability of these indicators. The following table shows examples of the dimensions and indicators that were defined at that time and are still in effect.

Dimensions	Indicators
Social space	Share of workers in employment Proportion of people with primary school education in the resident population over 25 years Rent amount
urbanization	Fertility rate Share of employed women among women over 14 years of age Share of single-family houses
Ethnic segregation	Proportion of foreigners

So we start from several fixed dimensions, which are calculated with certain variables for each sub-district. In Shevky and Bell's model, the three dimensions mentioned form the basis of urban structuring.

Social space analysis today

The field of socio-spatial analyzes is very heterogeneous in practice . There is no generally applicable definition and no specific method package. Today, as in the past, there is consensus that statistical measurement data can be used to achieve a certain degree of comparability between the selected districts of urban sub-areas. As can be seen from the following points, the problems of urban development have become more complex.

The goals of the social space analysis therefore include:

• the city or district-specific representation of small-scale structures, problems and development projects,
• the clarification of suitable social space layouts (i.e. the question from which order of magnitude is the reference to the living environment lost and to what extent do official regional divisions meet actual living environments?),
• the representation of social inequality and undersupply,
• the identification of special need groups and priority areas to which support should or should primarily be given in times of tight funding,
• the determination of resources and potentials for neighborly aid, social networks and civic engagement in the neighborhoods.

Due to the described objectives of the social space analysis, it is also of interest for urban social planning, as it can also show whether and in what urgency and with what focus social services are to be provided.

In the next step of the social space analysis, percentages are collected and standardized using a standardization formula. Behind this statement is an enormous spectrum of possible survey and evaluation methods of empirical social research, which can be used according to the respective situation. This also corresponds to the heterogeneity mentioned at the beginning .

More recent approaches (Riege / Schubert 2005, Spatscheck / Wolf-Ostermann 2016) also pursue qualitative approaches to data collection and interpretation in addition to the quantitative approaches mentioned. In this way, subjective and lifeworld-specific meanings of social spaces are recorded and processes of the appropriation and design of space can be seen and reconstructed in their qualities. These procedures are often used to develop concepts and concepts in the context of the socio-spatial opening and further development of social, health and education-related services.

See also

• New control model
• Social planning
• Social spatial structure

literature

• German Association for Public and Private Welfare (Ed.): Specialized lexicon of social work . 5th edition, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-17-006848-2 , pp. 909-910.
• Marlo Riege, Herbert Schubert (Ed.): Social space analysis, basics - methods - practice . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-531-33604-5 .
• Christian Spatscheck , Karin Wolf-Ostermann: Social space analyzes. A workbook for social, health, and educational services . UTB / Verlag Barbara Budrich, Opladen 2016, ISBN 978-3-8252-4580-1
• Michael Urban, Ulrich Weiser: Small-scale social space analysis - theoretical basics and practical implementation . Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-937951-35-0 .

Web links

• Social space analysis and social space planning - Association for social planning
• Political science literature on the subject of order of spaces in the annotated bibliography of political science

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.socialareasofcincinnati.org/files/FifthEdition/Chapter01_color.pdf
2. ↑ sotomo.geo.unizh.ch ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) 
3. ↑ vsop.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Specialized lexicon for social work . 2002, pp. 909-110