Abstract

The tie between community participation of dwellers and the environment where they live in is a research topic not sufficiently explored in urban studies. If on the one hand literature shows more attention to the sociodemographic variables in exploring community participation, on the other hand we may not report the same intensity on the environmental variables. The goal of this article is to offer a possible way to address this analysis, presenting the results of an exploratory research conducted in two neighborhoods of the city of Milan. We explored the profiles of participation and their distribution in the neighborhoods based on the average perceived urban quality. The output shows a clear separation between the non-participants, who are located in the low-quality neighborhood, and the high-level participants located in the high-quality one. This result highlights how important is to consider the interaction between dwellers and their urban habitat, suggesting possible connections between spatial variables and community participation and, finally, opening up new research scenarios. The tie between community participation of dwellers and the environment where they live in is a research topic not sufficiently explored in urban studies. If on the one hand literature shows more attention to the sociodemographic variables in exploring community participation, on the other hand we may not report the same intensity on the environmental variables. The goal of this article is to offer a possible way to address this analysis, presenting the results of an exploratory research conducted in two neighborhoods of the city of Milan. We explored the profiles of participation and their distribution in the neighborhoods based on the average perceived urban quality. The output shows a clear separation between the non-participants, who are located in the low-quality neighborhood, and the high-level participants located in the high-quality one. This result highlights how important is to consider the interaction between dwellers and their urban habitat, suggesting possible connections between spatial variables and community participation and, finally, opening up new research scenarios.