Children, Cities and Psychological Theories: Developing Relationships (International Studies on Childhood and Adolescence , No 5)

The aim of the ISCA series is to publish theoretical and methodological studies on the social, cultural, economic, and health situation of children and adolescents. Almost all countries worldwide report increased risks and problems in the development of children and adolescents. Many pedagogic, psychosocial, and medical institutes as well as education and training centers are trying to help children and adolescents deal with problematic situations. They step in to help with existing difficulties (intervention) or to avoid problems in advance (prevention). However, not enough is known about the causes and backgrounds of the difficulties that arise in the life course of children and adolescents. There is still insufficient research on the effectiveness and consequences of prevention measures and intervention in families, pre-school institutions, schools, youth service, youth welfare, and the criminal justice system. The ISCA series addresses these issues. An interdisciplinary team of editors and authors focusses on the publications on theoretical, methodological, and practical issues in the above mentioned fields. The whole spectrum of perspectives is considered: analyses rooted in the sociological as well as the psychological or medical and public health tradition, from an economic or a political science angle, mainstream as well as critical contributions. Keynote Foreword How it all began – Background to this book Part I. Prelude and dedication Themes in the relation between children and the city Children’s life worlds in urban environments Toward a functional ecology of behavior and development: The legacy of Joachim F. Wohlwill Part II. Exposition of theoretical perspectives Introduction A. Levels of relationship – As they appear in different cultures Introduction A dialectical/transactional framework of social relations: Children in secondary territories Comment: Proving philosophy!? Authors’ response: Translating a world view A contextualist perspective on child-environment relations Comment: Clarifying fusion Child development and environment: A constructivist perspective Comment: Constructivist potentialities and limitations Author’s response: Following Aristotle Integration: What environment? Which relationship? B. Transactional, holistic, and relational-developmental perspectives on children in the cities Introduction Transactionalism Comment: Transactionalism – What could it be? Author’s response: Is Lang going beyond? A holistic, developmental, systems-oriented perspective: Child-environment relations Comment: Werner augmented Relational-developmental theory: A psychological perspective Comment: From the general to the individual or from the individual to the general? Author’s response: General and individual – A relation Integration: Dimensions of a conceptual space – But for what? C. Modern versions of Barker’s ecological psychology and the phenomenological perspective Introduction Children’s environments: The phenomenological approach Comment: Don’t forget the subjects – An approach against environmentalism Authors’ response: Reading a text – A case study in perspectivity Commentators’ reply: Seductive sciences Behavior settings in macroenvironments: Implications for the design and analysis of places Comment: Behavior setting revitalized Behavior settings as vehicles of children’s cultivation Comment: Behavior settings forever! Integration: Ecological psychology and phenomenology – Their commonality, differences, and interrelations D. Sociobiology, attachment theory, and ecological psychology – Marching towards the city Introduction Exploratory behavior, place attachment, genius loci, and childhood concepts: Elements of understanding children’s interactions with their environments Comment: Gender are two Author’s response: ... but different ones Children in cities: An ethological/sociobiological approach Comment: And ethology? Author’s response: Adaptive variations and the individual Street traffic, children, and the extended concept of affordance as a means of shaping the environment Comment: Children as perceivers and actors – The view from ecological realism Authors’ response: Environmental design means the design of affordances Commentator’s reply: The extended concept reconsidered Integration: The path to integration is not straight Reflections: What has happened in treading the path toward a psychological theory of children and their cities Part III. The Finale Integrating youth- and context-focused research and outreach: A developmental contextual model The young and the old in the city: Developing intergenerational relationships in urban environments Where we are – A discussion Appendix Biographical notes Subject index Author index

Physical models of gas discharge processes in gas flows and numerical simulation methods, which are used for numerical simulation of these phenomena are considered in the book. Significant attention is given to a solution of two-dimensional problems of physical mechanics of electric arc, radio-frequency, micro-wave, and optical discharges, as well as to investigation of electrodynamic structure of direct current glow discharges. Problems of modern computational magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are considered also. Prospects of the different kinds of discharges use in aerospace applications are discussed.

This book is intended for scientists and engineers concerned with physical gas dynamics, physics of the low-temperature plasma and gas discharges, and also for students and post-graduate students of physical and technical specialties of universities.

This text presents 12 popular theories in psychology, and their applicability to issues of child development in urban environments is tested.