Nowell Branda L, Berkowitz Shelby L, Deacon Zermarie, Foster-Fishman Pennie
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 2006 Mar;37(1-2):29-46. doi: 10.1007/s10464-005-9006-3.
Place-based approaches to community change have become increasingly popular strategies for addressing significant social problems. With their intentional focus on 'place,' most efforts have sought to gain greater understanding into how neighborhood contexts affect people. However, while both aggregate characteristics and social dynamics of neighborhoods have been subject to scrutiny in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how the environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities as places have meaning for residents. The present study used an innovative methodology called Photovoice to obtain a greater understanding of the meanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities. As part of a place-based initiative, 29 adult and youth residents in seven distressed urban neighborhoods photographed and dialogued about the meaningful physical attributes of their community. According to participants, place characteristics provided cues about their personal histories as members of the community; communicated messages about the value and character of the community and its residents; defined social norms and behavior within the community; and provided markers that could remind residents of who they are and inspire a sense of possibility for who they could become. Implications for practice are discussed.
基于地点的社区变革方法已成为解决重大社会问题越来越受欢迎的策略。由于有意关注“地点”，大多数努力都试图更深入地了解邻里环境如何影响人们。然而，虽然邻里的总体特征和社会动态在文献中受到了审视，但对于理解邻里和社区作为地点的环境特征如何对居民具有意义却较少关注。本研究使用了一种名为“照片之声”的创新方法，以更深入地了解居民赋予其邻里和社区显著特征的意义。作为一项基于地点的倡议的一部分，七个困境城市社区的29名成年和青年居民拍摄并讨论了他们社区有意义的物质属性。据参与者称，地点特征提供了有关他们作为社区成员的个人历史的线索；传达了有关社区及其居民的价值观和特征的信息；界定了社区内的社会规范和行为；并提供了可以提醒居民他们是谁以及激发他们对自己可能成为的人的可能性感的标志。讨论了对实践的启示。
