The behavioural desk research in urban space analysis as a policy tool: the case of Instagram

Abstract

The dissemination of social media and the growing resources of big data create both new opportunities for urban space analysis and new challenges for contemporary policy making. Among the sources useful from this standpoint there are, inter alia, photos posted on Instagram. They can easily become the basis for behavioural analysis of the quality of urban life based on complete sampling and conducted in the method of deskresearch. The article uses photographs published on Instagram for the purpose of exploratory analysis of land use on the examples of five parks located in New York. This makes it possible to determine the nature and ways of perception of selected spaces.

Green Infrastructure in the Time of Social Distancing: Urban Policy and the Tactical Pandemic Urbanism

“…"Covid photos" were published systematically until the beginning of June when the number of daily cases decreased slightly and school activities began to resume. On the other hand, those photos were published much less often (23.5%) than the photos that showcased the positive attitude of users towards the park (59.3%), expressed in photographing general views of space, urban details, various people in specific context or drawings and other types of graphic representation of the park [59]. The pandemic, however, was clearly visible-its traces were photographed with almost the same frequency as people in an unspecified spatial context, including the so-called selfies (21%), or animals (25.9%).…”

“…The interview scenario is included in Appendix A. The interviews were supplemented with non-participant observation and behavioural desk research analysis [59] based on the content posted on Instagram. From a practical standpoint, such digital ethnography can be a research tool particularly useful in the conditions of a pandemic and social distancing.…”

“…This allows one to study the natural reactions of users (posts they publish on the web independently) without direct contact between researchers and respondents. Digital ethnography approach is used by different urban studies scholars and is often carried out with the same social media platform we selected (Instagram) [59][60][61].…”