Background: Most people with dementia are cared for by their families at home. This study investigated family carers' identification of barriers and facilitators when caring for a person with dementia at home. Design and methods: Thirteen co-resident family carers were engaged in semistructured in-depth walking interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Home environments can pose a number of challenges and opportunities. Aspects of the architectural and interior environment (e.g. size, condition, layout and accessibility, familiarity) are perceived as important (Theme 1) as well as a plethora of environmental strategies that encourage independence and comfort at home (Theme 2). Carers' scepticism, timing, costs, property characteristics and mistrust of services are some barriers to implementing environmental strategies (Theme 3). Conclusions: Carers often improvise solutions through trial and error. Environmental strategies can create an enabling and comfortable home environment.

Greece is a country that considers itself to be part of the Western civilization, though still a lot oriental elements exist in its culture and way of thinking. LGBT people are considered to be either invisible or pointed out as metaphorical or literal punch bag. So it was a surprise that a year after the first Athens Gay Pride (2005), two greek movies appeared with homosexuality as their central theme. The first one 'The Blue Dress', a drama about the journey of a young boy till he turns into a woman, won six national cinema awards. The second one 'Straight Story', a comedy about a world were homosexuality is the normative and heterosexuality is the 'not normal', was the biggest box office success of the year. This paper uses the stereotypes portrayed in these two films in order to explore the spatial dimension of being gay in Greece. Both films place queer subjects in their narrative in a stereotyped even offensive way, but at the same point offer a very accurate image of how 'homosexuality' is perceived in Greece. Issues that become more and more obvious during the rise of the extreme right organizations and their entrance in the Greek parliament and the violence against gay men. The way these two films explore the subject of being gay in Greece, shows the difficulties of placing the 'queer' in public and raise a series of questions of the space available for different sexualities. By analyzing these two films the paper shows how space is constructed regarding LGTB people and the limits created by a strong religious and patriarchic tradition reflected in the heteronormative and homonormative systems of this country.

Bereits seit Jahrzehnten beschweren sich queere Aachener_innen darüber, dass ihnen die lebendigere Subkultur der 1980er und 1990er Jahre fehle. Die wenigen queeren Räume in der Innenstadt sind heute institutionalisiert und konzentrieren sich meist auf soziale Arbeit oder ehrenamtliches Engagement – distanziert von Elementen der Lust und sexueller Begegnung. In den vergangenen 50 Jahren lassen sich jedoch zahlreiche Beispiele für Raumproduktionen finden, die auf eine belebte Klappenkultur und eine Sexualisierung von Räumen hinweisen. In Parkanlagen, öffentlichen Toiletten auf Bahnhöfen oder in Hochschulgebäuden sowie über Dating-Apps haben Männer, die Sex mit anderen Männern suchten, trotz – oder gerade wegen des erzkatholischen Glaubens in der Stadt Aachen – immer wieder neue Cruising-Orte für sich kreieren können. Die Schaffung dieser Räume, die Verbreitung des Wissens über sie, ihre Nutzung – der gesamte Prozess um das cruising herum war in Aachen, ebenso wie in vielen anderen (Groß-)Städten, aufgrund gesetzlicher Regelungen und sozialer Normen jahrzehntelang versteckt, tabuisiert, schambehaftet und geächtet. Dieser Beitrag deckt diese (zumindest für die Mehrheitsgesellschaft) verborgene und unbekannte Welt der Aachener Klappen-Kultur auf. Der Artikel stützt sich auf Archivrecherchen und Interviews mit queeren Zeitzeugen verschiedener Generationen. Diese kombinierte Methodik bietet Einblicke in die Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und erwartete Zukunft von Aachens intimen Raumproduktionen. Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist es, queere sexuelle Lust in einer Stadt außerhalb des deutschen LSBTIQ+-Mainstreams zu kartieren, sichtbar zu machen und über seine Entwicklung innerhalb des vergangenen halben Jahrhunderts zu reflektieren.

The article analyses Alexis Alexiou’s thriller Istoria 52 (Tale 52) (2008) in relation to media and academic discourses on fear and safety in the city. The film’s mise-en-scène does not include any shots of the city; however, the off-screen presence of the city is implied as the main driver for the main character’s actions. The film was produced at a time when Athens was undergoing a huge urban regeneration, which remained incomplete, leading to the unwilling coexistence of people from different walks of life. The article offers an analysis of the film’s narrative and, in particular, its spatial dimension, placing it in the context of the contemporaneous urban condition of the Greek capital, which is implied, but not shown, in the film. I argue that the main character’s disturbed mental state, which drives much of the action in the film, is not just a result of an unbalanced psychology. Rather, his desire for isolation and the hyper-protection of private space are reflections of a conservative view on fear and safety in the city, where urban regeneration strategies are simultaneously the solution and the cause of fear and insecurity, trapping people in an endless closed loop.

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