Network Connections and Neighborhood Perceptions JAUP
Architecture and Urban Planning doi: 10.1515/aup-2017-0010 2017 / 13 Network Connections and Neighbourhood Perception: Using Social Media Postings to Capture Attitudes among Twitter Users in Estonia Daniel Baldwin Hess, University at Buffalo, State University of New York Evan Iacobucci, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Annika Väiko, University of Tartu Abstract ‒ The residential landscape of a city is key to its economic, so- control [5] and, with increasing wealth, those who can afford to cial, and cultural functioning. Following the collapse of communist rule in do so often seek alternatives to apartment blocks developed under the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in the late 1980s and state socialism [6], [7]. For the first time in more than a half cen- early 1990s, urban residential dynamics and household mobility have been critical to urban change under new economies and political systems. This tury, consumer choice is a key dimension of the housing market article explores neighbourhood perception, which is a link in the chain to (in the Soviet Union, housing was allocated and administratively better explanation of socio-spatial processes (and their interruption by assigned) and people may now freely express their preferences the socialist system). We use a novel data set ‒ opinions expressed on one in housing type and housing location. Consequently, views and of social media (Twitter), and a novel empirical method ‒ neural network analysis, to explore people’s current attitudes and perceptions about the perceptions about apartment buildings, neighbourhoods, and neighbourhoods and districts in Tartu, Estonia. The findings suggest that districts play a role in shaping the attractiveness of places across Twitter comments about urban neighbourhoods display attitudinal and metropolitan space [8].
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