Urban Design, Urban Planning, Public Space, Urban Cohesion, Urban Regeneration, Community Participation and Engagement

Melbourne street life: the itinerary of our days

by Andrew J. May

Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 1998.

'A charitable indulgence: street stalls and the transformation of public space in Melbourne 1859-1920'

by Andrew J. May

Urban History 23, 1 (1995): 48-71.
Winner, H.J. Dyos Prize for best article in Urban History.

The automobile is often misconstrued as being exclusively responsible for the decline of traditional street culture.... more The automobile is often misconstrued as being exclusively responsible for the decline of traditional street culture. This paper argues that the marginalisation of street vendors may also be related to developing definitions of the street as the locus of respectability, unobstructed circulation, nationalism and civic pride. Street entrepreneurs of the 1850s became urban nuisances by the 1900s, associated more with obstruction and underservedness as with convenience and enterprise. Licensing records of bootblacks and coffee-stall keepers as objects of municipal benevolence reveal their economic and social roles in the micro-geography of the city. While nostalgia can distort the realities of historical and contemporary public spaces, the street evacuated of social density and diversity is one of the great losses of modern urban life.

Successful Icons of Failed Time. Rethinking Post-communist Nostalgia

by Dominik Bartmanski

published in Acta Sociologica 2011

Under what cultural conditions can the relics of symbolically polluted time re-emerge as its purified signifiers and... more Under what cultural conditions can the relics of symbolically polluted time re-emerge as its purified signifiers and culturally successful icons within new circumstances? What does it mean when people articulate ‘nostalgic’ commitments to social reality they have themselves recently jettisoned? Drawing on the ideas of the iconic turn and American cultural sociology, the article offers a new framework for understanding post-communist nostalgia. Specifically, it provides a comparative reinterpretation of the phenomenon of so-called Ostalgie as manifest in the streetscapes of Berlin and its counterpart in Warsaw. One of the key arguments holds that ‘nostalgic’ icons are successful because they play the cultural role of mnemonic bridges to rather than tokens of longing for the failed communist past. In this capacity they forge a communal sense of continuity in the liquid times of systemic transformation. As such, the article contributes to broader debates about meanings of material objects and urban space in relation to collective memory destabilized by liminal temporality.

Building Links, Bridging Divides

by Arun Kumar

Facilitators Manual.

Community planning and design with Amerindian people: a culturally sensitive approach

by Elizabeth Brabec

The future of UK housebuilding

by Chris Goodier

Briefing: community resilience to extreme weather

by Chris Goodier

Transformations on the landscape in 20th century

by Xenia Mastoraki

Essays about landscape architecture ad urban design in 20th century

The rapid growth of human population, the ownership of the automobile, the rapid introduction of technologies and the... more The rapid growth of human population, the ownership of the automobile, the rapid introduction of technologies and the science and the global form of economic development have led to an outrageous rapid change of the earthy landscape and the way we behave against it. Thoughts about the reasons, the results and the challenges of the new era.

Non solo “NIMBY”. Dall’analisi della stampa internazionale, alcune riflessioni critiche sull’uso dell’espressione “NIMBY” e degli altri acronimi impiegati nei discorsi pubblici sulle proteste locali - Not only “NIMBY”. From a content analysis of the international press, some critical considerations on the use of the term "NIMBY" and the other labels used in public discourse on local protests

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

forthcoming in 'Rifiuti Solidi'

Empirically based on the content analysis of 17 newspapers from 13 different countries, the paper aims at suggesting a... more Empirically based on the content analysis of 17 newspapers from 13 different countries, the paper aims at suggesting a more careful and precise use of the term NIMBY (from Not In My BackYard), in public discourses on local controversies and conflicts. After portraying the general situation of local protests in Italy, it is shown that NIMBY acronym, whose subtle ideological premises are sieved through in the article, is by far the most popular in the international press, despite the quite abundant range of more focused and up-to-date alternatives. An Anglo American literature on nimbism, relatively new for the Italian Social Sciences tradition, is eventually taken into consideration to reveal and critically discuss the tangle of senses, stakes, interests and ideologies of each linguistic label picked out by the newspapers analysis. 

Il contributo si propone di offrire una raccolta di riflessioni critiche, empiricamente fondate, per un impiego più cauto e puntuale del termine NIMBY (da Not In my Back Yard, ovvero “non nel mio giardino”), con il quale un’ampia componente di stakeholder coinvolti a vario titolo nell’insediamento delle cosiddette “grandi opere” (istituzioni politiche, mass media, saperi esperti) fa riferimento alle proteste delle comunità locali. Dopo aver chiarito estensione e principali coordinate dei conflitti ambientali nel contesto italiano, il lavoro si concentra sull’analisi del contenuto di 17 quotidiani internazionali, dimostrando che l’acronimo NIMBY, sottoposto ad attento vaglio critico nel corso del testo, è di gran lunga l’etichetta verbale più comune, a fronte di un patrimonio di occorrenze linguistiche piuttosto vasto e meglio attrezzato a tenere traccia delle più recenti evoluzioni del fenomeno. Dialogando con una letteratura di matrice anglo-americana che, almeno in Italia, si sta affermando soltanto in tempi recenti, la parte finale dell’articolo è interamente dedicata all’analisi ad intra delle singole occorrenze rintracciate, allo scopo di distinguere gli uni dagli altri, problematizzandoli, gli elementi di una composita matassa di significati, interessi e ideologie – inevitabilmente diversi, quando non in conflitto, tra loro – che attori istituzionali, mass media e senso comune sembrano per il momento cogliere solo in modo sommario.

Apartment Blocks and Alienation: Tallinn’s Lasnamäe District in Autumn Ball

by Mari Laaniste

Co-authored with Leena Torim (Tallinn).

2010, Kinokultura: New Russian Cinema, Special issue #10: Estonia.

Tallinn's Lasnamäe district's urban environment, mostly consisting of late Soviet era apartment blocks, presented as a failed utopia in the film "Autumn Ball" ("Sügisball", 2007).

Desorden social, integración social y bienestar subjetivo en inmigrantes latinoamericanos en España [Social disorder, social integration, and subjective well-being among Latin-American immigrants in Spain]

by Enrique Gracia

Anales de Psicología, 28, 505-514, 2012

Creative spaces: movement, communication, play / Kūrybinės erdvės: jūdėjimas, komunikacija, žaidimas

by Jekaterina Lavrinec

Jekaterina Lavrinec
"Creative spaces: movement, communication, play", published in:
The History of the Museum. Part I". Vilnius: Modern Art Center, 2012, p.42-47 /
"Kūrybinės erdvės: judėjimas, komunikacija, žaidimai", paskelbta:
Vieno muziejaus istorija. I dalis.Vilnius: Modernaus meno centras, 2012, p. 42-47

Every object designed by an architect becomes covered by citizens' interpretations. By using city space, citizens... more Every object designed by an architect becomes covered by citizens' interpretations. By using city space, citizens broaden the functions foreseen by architects and designers for spaces and urban elements, and develop alternative scenarios for using them giving new meanings to localities and new, unofficial, names to various sites around the city. [..] In their turn, city objects and the organization of city spaces shape the choreography of city users: they influence movement trajectories, rhythm, the dynamics of glances and gestures [..] Seeking to appropriate new public spaces and to revitalize forgotten places, it is sufficient to develop urban ritual - i.e. a periodically recurring and collectively supported that is usually "embedded" in a certain place.

Waste management and local conflicts: a smart city needs a smarter communication strategy

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

accepted @ INPUT 2012, Cagliari, 10-12 May 2012

2012 published in Campagna, M., et. al. (ed.), Planning Support Tools: Policy Analysis, Implementation and Evaluation, Milano, Franco Angeli - ebook

Over the past few years, the notion of ‘smart city’ has increasingly circulated among policy makers and experts,... more Over the past few years, the notion of ‘smart city’ has increasingly circulated among policy makers and experts, becoming quite fashionable. Among the many dimensions the concept is usually related to, the work focuses the attention on the theme of ‘smart environment’, particularly discussing the social phenomenon of local controversies and conflicts in urban waste management. Moving from some of the results of an on-going research on the incinerator in the city of Turin, Italy, it is argued that plant and infrastructure settlements with a heavy ecological impact represent a highly sophisticated and diverse social phenomenon, to which old-school communication strategies, based on ‘dirigistic’ approaches, seem to have no effect or, worse, a boomerang effect. After a brief critical introduction to the main issues, a proposal for a proactive and more participatory communication strategy is presented.

Tall building policy making and implementation in central London: visual impacts on regionally protected views from 2000 to 2008

by Juergen Kufner

PhD Thesis

This thesis considers the processes of policy making and implementation of tall building development, as well as the... more This thesis considers the processes of policy making and implementation of tall building development, as well as the management of visual impacts on regionally protected views in particular, in central London between 2000 and 2008, from the initiation of the Greater London Authority to the end of Ken Livingstone's era as Mayor of London. During this eight year period, more than forty tall building projects were processed through the planning system. Regional and local planning authorities, private developers and heritage groups have diverse interests in tall building planning and hence conflicts result regarding policy and implementation processes. The case study of No.1 Blackfriars Road—part of an emerging cluster of tall buildings at Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark—provides a useful exemplar. It is not located in an area that was designated as appropriate for tall buildings and is situated close to central London's historic monuments and conservation areas.

I will argue that while a high degree of design quality in tall buildings has been achieved, a severe lack of conflict resolution has led to an upward spiralling of antagonistic interactions, uncertainty and the prolongation of the planning process. Moreover, emerging regional and local policy has strengthened the position of tall building supporters while gradually marginalising opposing heritage groups. Nor has planning policy and assessment methods provided a clear enough basis for decision making. The resulting ambiguity has been exploited by opposing camps which arrive at divergent conclusions regarding tall building projects. Furthermore, the involvement of private sector experts in governmental processes has led to perceptions by heritage groups of conflicts of interest. The thesis concludes by summarising the key aspects identified with regard to the translation of the urban renaissance agenda into tall building policies, the effectiveness of implementing these policies, and the impacts of planning processes on visual impact assessments.

Creating Healthy Communities: An examination of the relationship between land use mix, neighborhood public realm engagement and neighborhood social capital

by William B. Burns

This research provides a confirmatory based analysis starting with the land planning concept of land use mix and... more This research provides a confirmatory based analysis starting with the land planning concept of land use mix and exploring its explanatory affect upon resident perception of their built environment in terms of proximity of recreation and retail destinations and the resident's potential inclination to access these destinations by non motorized travel - walking or bicycling. This research also examines resident engagement and interaction within the neighborhood public realm and its potential relationship with neighborhood level social capital and the potential relationship of these phenomena with the aforementioned resident’s perceptual and attitudinal orientation towards their built environment. This research seeks to add empirical based research to the public policy discussion with regard to the decision of the type of future land development patterns in Central Florida.
There are two overarching types of community design patterns; the traditional design pattern, which generally reveals a higher level of “land use mix and proximity of destinations” and the conventional suburban design pattern, which generally is indicative of a lower level of land use mix (primarily single use) and proximity to destinations. Virtually all of the Florida landscape has been developed with the conventional suburban design pattern over the last sixty years.
In the past, several planning based initiatives have been undertaken by planning and academic entities which examine differing outcomes associated with the implementation of traditional and suburban design patterns with regard to the amount of undeveloped land impacted by growth in the seven county regions which comprise Central Florida. Two major studies, the Penn Design Study (2004) sponsored by the University of Central Florida Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies and the “How Shall We Grow” (2006) study sponsored by MyRegion.org in association with the Orlando Chamber of Commerce, provided scenarios associated with future growth outcomes over the next fifty years. These study initiatives concluded that a different pattern for future growth, different from the conventional suburban pattern, is advisable in order to reduce adverse impacts to Florida’s environment. These studies supported the implementation of a more traditional pattern of growth, with its more compact density, mixed use and high connectivity as the preferred form of future land development.
Although these studies provided a very informative evaluation from an environmental perspective, they did not extend the differing growth scenarios to a “healthy communities” perspective. This research endeavors to begin to fill that gap through empirical based research using a confirmatory model approach that addresses the relationship between the phenomena of outdoor public realm engagement, primarily in the form of outdoor physical activity, and neighborhood level social capital, in relation to level of land use mix and proximity to destinations. This research posits a mechanism, using structural equation modeling, to determine their relationship with one another. Perhaps this addition to the discussion would serve to provide a fuller evaluative resource to citizens and policy makers for consideration as to the type of design pattern to embrace for future development.

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) For Spatial Planning and Environmental Management in India: Critical Considerations

by Martin Bunch

Bunch, M.J., T. Vasanthakumaran, and R. Joseph (2012) Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for spatial planning and environmental management in India: Critical Considerations. International Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 2(2):40-54.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to collect, store, manipulate and display... more Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based tools used to collect, store, manipulate and display spatially-referenced information. They are used to support decision-making in a wide variety of contexts, including spatial planning and environmental management. Because the process of GIS production, from software development to visualization of GIS output, is characterized by political, economic and social motivations, it is important that GIS practitioners are aware of issues such as access to data and the political economy of information, and the nature of GIS epistemologies vis-à-vis multiple coexisting perceptions of reality. Lack of such appreciation can lead to social and spatial marginalization of communities. Use of GIS in a research program for environmental management of the Cooum River in Chennai, and in support of participatory processes for managing environment and health in slums are used to demonstrate appropriate applications of GIS in India. Internet-distributed GIS as a potential avenue to address issues of public access to data is also considered.

Is the Beltline Bad for Atlanta?

by Alex Sayf Cummings

Progressives across the United States have applauded the proposed development of a new ring of light rail, parks, and... more Progressives across the United States have applauded the proposed development of a new ring of light rail, parks, and bike and walking trails around Atlanta's in-town neighborhoods, a project called the Beltline.  Conservatives and suburbanites have, predictably, opposed the measure, continuing a long history of opposition to public transit in the South that is intimately tied up with issues of class and race.  Yet opposition to the project from the Left, particularly among black activists, has been very little noticed.  Georgia State historian Alex Sayf Cummings examines criticisms of the program in terms of equity and justice ahead of a July 31 funding referendum.

STOY, SUSTAINABLE TOY

by eduardo roig

Co-author with STOY reserchers

STOY [Sustainable Toy] is a research group at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. This publication is a resume of its... more STOY [Sustainable Toy] is a research group at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. This publication is a resume of its activity through pedagogical methodologies. It focuses industrial design and architectural environment. Social derives and public space is in the base of its proposals.

Objekti industrijskog nasleđa kao javni prostori

by Jasna Cizler

Industrial heritage buildings as public spaces
Published in: Otvoreno o javnim prostorima, 2012, Građanske Inicijative, Beograd.

Urban Planning in the Slum Areas of Mavoko and Nairobi

by Malte Warburg Sørensen

This report examines the urbanization processes occuring at the periphery of Nairobi, specifically the municipality of... more This report examines the urbanization processes occuring at the periphery of Nairobi, specifically the municipality of Mavoko. Based on case studies of different slum areas, three main barriers to sustainable development are identified: firstly, the distorted housing marked of Nairobi, secondly the political system in Kenya and finally the planning capacities of the Mavoko Municipal Council. The report points out the short-comings of current approaches to slum and suggests more sustainable solutions.