The Mediating Role of Sociological Security:Why Physical Design Alone Fails to Generate Bridging Social Capital in Contemporary Gulf Cities
(Adapting Western Urban Theories to the Arab Habitus through a Mixed-Methods Study in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33193/AJHASS.51الكلمات المفتاحية:
Sociological Security; Contained Openness; Arab Habitus; Bridging Social Capital; Mediation Analysisالملخص
This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study interrogates the paradox of why substantial investments in physically accessible, aesthetically modern public spaces across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cities consistently fail to foster bridging social capital, despite high utilization metrics. Drawing upon Lefebvre’s spatial triad and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and social capital, we introduce ‘Sociological Security’—the culturally mediated sense of visual and social discretion—as the crucial, latent mechanism linking high-quality physical design to collective social cohesion.
Data were sourced from two archetypal urban environments: the organically evolved Souk Al-Mubarakiya (Kuwait) and the master-planned Riyadh Boulevard (Saudi Arabia). A stratified survey (N=300) was rigorously analysed via hierarchical multiple regression and the Hayes’ PROCESS mediation model. Concurrently, 30 semi-structured interviews underwent reflexive thematic analysis to contextualize the quantitative findings.
The results establish full mediation: physical design quality predicts bridging social capital exclusively through the perceived Sociological Security (indirect effect = .238, 95% BC CI [.168,.315]; mediating 77% of the total effect). The previously significant direct path becomes non-significant (β=.07,p=.058), confirming the mediator's critical role. Bayesian analysis further corroborates this finding with P("indirect">0)>.9999. The qualitative insights elucidate that design features promoting ‘Contained Openness’ (e.g., deep alcoves, low visual barriers, micro-climatic shielding) are culturally experienced as enablers of discretion, rather than restrictive or segregative elements.
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التنزيلات
منشور
كيفية الاقتباس
إصدار
القسم
الرخصة
الحقوق الفكرية (c) 2025 Marwa Arbi
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