Many small towns badly need to attract new blood to prosper. Yet some residents are so bound up in their community – it’s part of their identity – that they struggle with the changes newcomers bring.
Argentina fans celebrating their team’s World Cup victory walk past a mural of Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires. While shared nationality is a factor, most fans typically think about players in terms of their club team.
(AP Photo/Mario De Fina)
Studying how shared identities like nationality and club affiliation impact fan support for soccer players can tell us how our group memberships affect our behaviour.
Science denial is not new, but researchers have learned a lot about it. Here’s why it exists, how everyone is susceptible to it in one way or another and steps to take to overcome it.
Don’t just let idyllic representations of life in the country seduce you. Making a successful move depends on ensuring the place you have chosen is a good match for your values and needs.
Think moving won’t change you? You might want to rethink that. To feel ‘at home’ you need to accept the new place where you live as part of your changing identity.
Wher’re you from, mate?
Photo by Weyne Yew/Unsplash
Those four words have multiple layers of meaning. How young Aussies answered depended on multiple factors, such as the colour of their skin, family ties and where they live geographically.
Conversations about Australia Day feel so polarised.
David Moir/AAP
Debates around changing the date of Australia Day tend to run afoul of our sense of social identity, but there are ways to cut through and have a good conversation.
The village bell was once a powerful symbol of sonic identity. Living in the noise of today’s global cities, what sounds exist that express our communal identity?
Eric Fidler/flickr
Sound, as a still relatively unexplored medium of urban design, provides an obvious starting point in the search for new relationships and identities in the contemporary city.
Noise transformation and community-led design projects are reclaiming unwanted spaces that lay adjacent to motorways.
rogiro/flickr
Communities have an increasing desire to be informed and included in local art, design and infrastructure projects. This has inspired new ways of dealing with noise-afflicted areas.
Cigarette brands present images of slender, stylish women and strong, independent men. Plain packaging breaks this positive brand identity for some smokers.