In
social science
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
, the activity space designates the "set of places individuals encounter as a result of their routine activities in everyday life."
The activity space can include all relevant locations that an individual routinely go to, such as the
place of residence, the
workplace
A workplace is a location where someone Work (human activity), works, for their employer or themselves, a place of employment. Such a place can range from a Small office/home office, home office to a large office building or factory. For Indust ...
(or the
place of study), but also
gym
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...
s,
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s, or
cinemas
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
.
Definition
Activity space research started in the field of geography and urban planning, where scholars investigated the effect of urban spatial structure on individual behavior.
Horton and Reynolds define the activity space "as the subset of all urban locations with which the individual has direct contact as the result of day-to-day activities."
They consider the activity space as a subset of one's "action space," which they define as "the collection of all urban locations about which the individual has information and the subjective utility or preference he associates with these locations".
The "action space" is often use synonymously with the terms "awareness space," "mental map," and "cognitive map."
The emergence of the
cognitive science has broadened the scope of activity space beyond the realm of physicality. Scientists like
David Kirsh
David Kirsh (born 1950) is a Canadian cognitive scientist, and Professor / Past Dept. Chair of Cognitive Science at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he heads the Interactive Cognition Lab.
Biography
He received his BA from t ...
define activity space as the blend of several components.
These components include:
* The goal a task is meant to accomplish or problem it is meant to resolve
* The physical space the task is performed within
* The actions an "agent" is capable of taking
* The concepts, plans, and other abstract resources agents find in the environment or bring to the task in their minds
See also
*
Absolute space and time
Absolute space and time is a concept in physics and philosophy about the properties of the universe. In physics, absolute space and time may be a preferred frame.
Before Newton
A version of the concept of absolute space (in the sense of a preferr ...
*
Method of loci
The method of loci is a strategy for memory enhancement, which uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments in order to enhance the recall of information. The method of loci is also known as the memory journey, memory palace, journey m ...
*
Social space
A social space is physical or virtual space such as a social center, online social media, or other gathering place where people gather and interact. Some social spaces such as town squares or parks are public places; others such as pubs, websites ...
*
Sociology of space
The sociology of space is a sub-discipline of sociology that mostly borrows from theories developed within the discipline of geography, including the sub fields of human geography, economic geography, and feminist geography. The "sociology" of ...
*
Spatial analysis
Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early deve ...
*
Spatial memory
In cognitive psychology and neuroscience, spatial memory is a form of memory responsible for the recording and recovery of information needed to plan a course to a location and to recall the location of an object or the occurrence of an event. Sp ...
*
Time geography Time geography or time-space geography is an evolving transdisciplinary perspective on spatial and temporal processes and events such as social interaction, ecological interaction, social and environmental change, and biographies of individuals. T ...
References
{{Authority control
Social concepts
Geography terminology
Urban geography
Spatial analysis