Tal Feder
PostDoc
talfeder@gmail.com
Cultural Justice and core-periphery disparities: A normative turn in the geography research of culture and Art
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Dr. Tal Feder investigates in the lab of Society, Space and Planning the relationship between culture, spatial justice, and public policy, with a particular focus on inequalities in access to arts and culture. His research develops a normative framework for understanding cultural justice, examining how opportunities to engage with the arts are distributed across core and peripheral regions and how these disparities shape individual well-being and social inclusion.
Building on theories of justice, cultural sociology, and human geography, Tal combines quantitative methods, computational data collection, and spatial analysis to study cultural participation, artistic production, and access to cultural infrastructure. His current research develops innovative tools for measuring cultural justice, integrating large-scale mapping of cultural activities with analyses of individual attitudes and behaviors to examine how social and spatial inequalities influence people's opportunities to experience, create, and engage with the arts.
Tal's work bridges urban planning, cultural policy, and sociology, advancing both theory and practice in the study of cultural inequalities. His research contributes to the development of evidence-based cultural policy while providing new conceptual and methodological tools for evaluating equity in arts and culture and promoting more inclusive and culturally just communities.
Marina Lubanov
Researcher, PhD Candidate
marinalubanov@gmail.com
Are healthy lifestyle practices simply a matter of individual choice? Dynamics of spatial and social space differences in adherence to healthy lifestyle habits
In her thesis, Marina investigated food security in the State of Israel.
Marina Lubanov investigates now in the lab of Society, Space and Planning how urban environments and social inequalities shape people's ability to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles. Her research challenges the common assumption that healthy behaviors are primarily a matter of individual choice, examining instead how social position, neighborhood characteristics, and the built environment influence adherence to health recommendations.
Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital and contemporary research in public health and urban planning, Marina develops a framework for measuring healthy lifestyle adherence across different social groups and urban settings. Her work explores how factors such as access to healthy food, opportunities for physical activity, social networks, and neighborhood design interact with social and cultural resources to encourage—or constrain—healthy behaviors.
By integrating perspectives from urban planning, sociology, and public health, Marina's research offers a new approach to understanding health inequalities in cities. Her findings are expected to contribute to the development of planning and public health policies that address the social and spatial conditions necessary for healthier and more equitable communities.