An Examination of Social Space in Rural Nova Scotian Municipalities

This research project will apply a theoretical analysis of social space in rural areas in Nova Scotia in order to examine how municipalities design space, and how citizens interact with and within it. Much of the existing literature in the field focuses on social space in urban areas, like populated downtown areas of cities. This project attempts to close a gap in the literature by examining rural space using its character, design, and history, in order to assess its impact on engagement in the community. This project fits perfectly with Colibri Software, as its technology has the potential to be of huge use to small municipalities hoping to get people interacting and engaged in public space. Using “mobile application technology” (apps), they can collect useful data for the research aspect of the project, while also helping municipalities interact with their citizens, and thereby creating avenues for them to improve their public space design, planning procedures, and development policies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Andrew Biro

Student:

Emily Joelle Lutz

Partner:

Colibri Software

Discipline:

Political science

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

Acadia University