Multicultural Cities: With or Without Your Ethnic Fellows?

By Alexander Danzer, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich

Little China in London, Little Surinam in Amsterdam, Little Turkey in Berlin? Ethnic clustering of migrants has been less exclusionary in Europe than in the USA and mostly devoid of urban decay. Nonetheless, immigrants to and within Europe predominantly settle in major European cities.

Fifty-four percent of foreigners in France are concentrated in the Ile de France, forty-five percent of the UK’s foreign-born population live in Greater London, and Brussels, Prague, Madrid, Vienna and other metropolises have also substantial foreign-born populations. The promise of economic prospects, liberty and a lively multiculturalism lead new arrivals to Europe’s economic powerhouses. In the cities, immigrants tend to settle among immigrants: the proximity to ethnic fellows cushions the alienation naturally felt among strangers and provides valuable information for a fresh start. Immediate integration is constrained by language, culture and ignorance regarding the “rules of the game”.

Virtual Neglect? Virtual Body Vs Real Body Experiment

By Patrícia Lainz, University of Barcelona Press

Research published on Royal Society Journal Interface proves the relationship between body ownership and thermal sensitivity. The paper is signed by the following researchers from the Faculty of Psychology of the UB: Joan Llobera, PhD Student at the Experimental Virtual Environments Lab for Neuroscience and Technology (Event LAB), Maria V. Sanchez-Vives,ICREA researcher and leader of IDIBAPS team Systems neuroscience, and Mel Slater, both directors of Event LAB.

The article shows that it is possible to substitute a person’s real body for a virtual one that can be only seen in virtual reality. Participants in the study entered into virtual reality through a head-mounted display. When they looked down towards where their real body should be, they saw a virtual body. If they looked on a virtual mirror, they saw their virtual body reflected. Moreover, when they moved their hands, they saw the virtual hand move the same.

Altamira’s 20,000-Year-Old Rock Art

Polychrome Ceiling of Altamira Cave. Image: Museum of Altamira / Pedro Saura

By Núria Quinana, University of Barcelona Press

The prestigious American publication Journal of Archaeological Science has published an online article that proves that the first phases of Palaeolithic art in Altamira Cave (Santillana del Mar, Cantabria) were done by the first Homo sapiens who settled Europe. They were produced during a period of at least 20,000 years (between 35,000 and 15,200 years ago), so they are older than previously thought. The research, which is planned to be included on a printed issue, also proves the great symbolic importance that Altamira held for Palaeolithic groups and the re-use and integration of previous motifs in each of the new phases in the development of the symbolic space.