Purpose -The purpose of this article is to explore preference for privacy among people with different demographic and cultural backgrounds. In particular the study aims to investigate the effect of age, gender, previous experience of space and cultural background on people's chosen spatial location for privacy in multi-bed wards. Design/methodology/approach -A group of 79 subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire on privacy and to select preferred and disliked locations on plans of hospital wards. Spatial data were provided by space syntax analysis (VGA). Possible subgroups in the data were investigated by tests of difference and latent class analysis applied to those spatial attributes which appeared to be relevant to people's preferences on locations for privacy. Findings -The results show that privacy regulation encompasses universal and specific aspects across cultures, age, gender and previous experience of space. Specifically, the results suggest a universal preference for spatial location of privacy across culture, age and gender and a specific significant difference for spatial location of privacy as a result of previous spatial experience. In addition, the VGA integration measure was found to be a highly significant discriminator between preferred and disliked locations for privacy. Research limitations/implications -There are two particular limitations requiring further study. First, the study investigated only one facet of privacy, i.e. spatial location. More investigation is required to explore the inter-relationships between spatial location and other facets of privacy, primarily that of intervisibility. Second, only two broader cultures (European and Arabic) were considered.Practical limitations -Ideally it would have been of benefit if a greater number of the people sampled had had direct experience of hospital wards. Originality/value -At a general level the study supports the notion that there are universal and specific aspects to privacy. At a specific level the research links physical aspects of spatial location (i.e. visibility graph analysis measures) into this discussion.
Informality is growing in a context of increasing inequity, and in many places becoming the norm. However, despite decades of studies and interventions, 'recognising informality' is still a key issue. This paper provides a review of the literature on informality showing the shifts in its conceptualisations. The paper firstly discusses conceptual approaches related to the term 'informality' in the context of urban development; it then examines practices within, and related to, informality; and it concludes with an appraisal of policy approaches and their impact as reported in the literature. The paper finds a wide range of conceptualisations, including the questioning of the usefulness and appropriateness of the term. It finds reported evidence of 'informality' (as understood to date) spreading to the middle classes, and increasingly emerging in the Global North. Policies seem to be lagging behind in how they engage with so-called informality, with little acknowledgement of theory and limited understanding of their impacts on 'informal' practices. Finally, the paper identifies the need for better understanding of governance frameworks that include the range of actors that would normally be associated with so-called 'informality'.
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