Multiplace Analysis of the Urban Environment

Abstract

Inhabitants' relationships with their urban environment in a large (Rome) versus a small (Lecce) Italian city are compared by a multiplace analysis. The inhabitanV city relationship is studied first at the intraplace and then at the interplace level of analysis with reference to three urban places: the neighborhood, the center, and the periphery. According to the place-theory, which assumes activity to be one of the main constitutive components of place, activities performed by two samples of 434 inhabitants (Rome) and 120 inhabitants (Lecce) were taken into consideration. Each resident was asked to complete a structured questionnaire and to state how often he or she performed each of the listed activities in the three main places considered. Both the intraplace and the interplace analysis have pointed out some general and some other specific features that equalize or differentiate the inhabitant/city relationship according to city size. They refer to the way the city tends to be built up as a multiplace system in the residents' experience through their systems of activity, and as a function of their sociodemographic charactenstics such as age and sex. On the whole, small city inhabitants tend to have: (a) more integrated urban experences between different places and between home and neighborhood; (b) higher relevance of interpersonal socialization activities, especially in the neighborhood; and (c) urban activities and conditions characterized by less urban isolation.