Samenvatting urban dan challenge 1
Urban challenge
College 2
European medieval cities
c.1000 CE onwards; Renaissance trading towns; centres of commerce, culture and
community; walled cities; churches spiritual needs, social ritual and community unity;
islands of freedom in seas of feudal obligation
Renaissance
The Renaissance (French for "rebirth"; Italian: Rinascimento, from ri- "again" and nascere
"be born") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century,
beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe.
The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of
the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the term. As a
cultural movement, it encompassed a resurgence of learning based on classical sources,
the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread
educational reform. Traditionally, this intellectual transformation has resulted in the
Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era.
Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social
and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the
contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the
term "Renaissance man".
There is a general, but not unchallenged, consensus that the Renaissance began in
Florence, Tuscany in the 14th century. Various theories have been proposed to account for
its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors including the social and
civic peculiarities of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its
dominant family, the Medici; and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy
following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
Industrial cities
European imperial expansion; capitalist industrialization; division advanced nations and
rest, also social order capital and labour; cities new industrial centres and dismal
concentrations of factories, poverty and slum destitution
Suburbanization and technoburbs
White (middle class) flight; socio-spatial segregation; social disharmony and class conflict;
“edge cities” and new hi-tech “technoburbs”
Suburbanization
Suburbanization (or suburbanisation) is a term used to describe the growth of areas on
the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl.
Many residents of metropolitan areas no longer live and work within the central urban
area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs and commute to
work via automobile or mass transit. Others have taken advantage of technological
advances to work from their homes, and chose to do so in an environment they consider
more pleasant than the city. These processes often occur in more economically developed
countries, especially in the United States, which is believed to be the first country in
which the majority of the population lives in the suburbs, rather than in the cities or in
rural areas. Proponents of containing urban sprawl argue that sprawl leads to urban
decay and a concentration of lower income residents in the inner city.
White flight
White flight is the sociologic and demographic term denoting the trend wherein white
people flee desegregated urban communities, and move to other places like commuter
towns; although an American coinage, “white flight” denotes like behavior in other
countries. In the U.S. the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision of the Supreme
Court — ordering the de jure racial desegregation of public schools in the United States —
was and remains a major factor propelling white flight from mixed-race cities.
The business practices of redlining, mortgage discrimination, and racially-restrictive
covenants accelerated white flight to the suburbs. The denying of banking and insurance
and other social services or the exorbitant prices of said services increased their cost to
residents in predominantly non-white suburbs and city neighborhoods. Furthermore, the
historical processes of suburbanization and urban decentralization are instances of white
privilege contributing to contemporary environmental racism.
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading outwards of a city and its
suburbs over rural land and to its outskirts. The problem with urban sprawl is that it is
costly to initiate the development of new infrastructure adequate enough to support its
residents. As a result, suburbanization generally results in low livability due to: (1) Long
transport distances to work (2) Low-density housing (3) Inadequate facilities eg: health,
recreational, entertainment. etc.
The term urban sprawl generally has negative connotations due to the health and
environmental issues that sprawl creates. Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to
emit more pollution per person and suffer more traffic fatalities. Sprawl is controversial,
with supporters claiming that consumers prefer lower density neighborhoods and that
sprawl does not necessarily increase traffic. Sprawl is also linked with increased obesity
since walking and bicycling are not viable commuting options. Sprawl negatively impacts
land and water quantity and quality, and may be linked to a decline in social capital.
College 3
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – May 1 1928) is known for his publication Garden
Cities of To-morrow (1898), the description of a utopian city in which man lives
harmoniously together with the rest of nature. The publication led to the founding of the
Garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the
beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Garden Cities Movement
The Garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by
Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned,
self-contained, communities surrounded by greenbelts, containing carefully balanced
areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
Inspired by the Utopian novel Looking Backward, Howard published his book To-morrow: a
Peaceful Path to Real Reform in 1898 (which was reissued in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-
morrow). His idealised garden city would house 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres
(24,000,000 m2), planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks and six
radial boulevards, 120 ft (37 m) wide, extending from the centre. The garden city would
be self-sufficient and when it reached full population, a further garden city would be
developed nearby. Howard envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as satellites of a
central city of 50,000 people, linked by road and rail.
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887
– August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also
painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern
architecture or the International Style via the principles of the International Congress of
Modern Architecture (CIAM). He was born in Switzerland, but became a French citizen in
his 30s.
He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better
living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. His career spanned five decades, with
his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North
and South America. He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer, and modern
furniture designer
Broadacre City plan
Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd
Wright late in his life. He presented the idea in his article The Disappearing City in 1932.
A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve by twelve foot (3.7 by 3.7 m) scale
model representing an hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community. The model was
crafted by the student interns who worked for him at Taliesin. Wright would go on refining
the concept in later books and in articles until his death in 1959. Many of the building
models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were
refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.
Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia,
shaped through Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning statement and a sociopolitical scheme by which each U.S. family would be given a one acre (4,000 m²) plot of
land from the federal lands reserves, and a Wright-conceived community would be built
anew from this. In a sense it was the exact opposite of transit-oriented development.
There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but
the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is
done by automobile and the pedestrian can exist safely only within the confines of the
one acre (4,000 m²) plots where most of the population dwells.
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism, Environmentalism and the broader concept of smart growth. A
more ecology and pedestrian-oriented variant is New Pedestrianism.
The organizing body for New Urbanism is the Congress for the New Urbanism, founded in
1993. Its foundational text is the Charter of the New Urbanism.,
New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture
and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their
strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and
rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic
preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land.
Market Street, downtown Celebration, Florida, US
Celebration, Florida is a census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned
community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort.
It was developed by The Walt Disney Company. Celebration is part of the Orlando–
Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
.
College 4
Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of
a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More
describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect sociopolitico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities
that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature.
"Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference to an unrealistic ideal that is
impossible to achieve. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia. The
word comes from the Greek: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was
utilizing the concept as allegory and did not consider such an ideal place to be
realistically possible. The homophone Eutopia, derived from the Greek εu, "good" or
"well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double meaning that was almost certainly intended.
Despite this, most modern usage of the term "Utopia" assumes the latter meaning, that
of a place of perfection rather than nonexistence.
3. New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism and Environmentalism.
Urban sociology and culture
The people are the city” (Shakespeare), not just form and design of built
environment
People’s individual aspirations, collection struggles, everyday lives and moments
of enlightenment/ heightened awareness
Subtle and changing relations society, community and culture in cities
Sociology “science of society”, also anthropology, cultural studies, social theory,
parallel to rise of industrial cities
Whose culture? Whos city?
Sharon Zukin: The Cultures of Cities (1995)
High culture and street cultures of cities: ethnicity, aesthetic and marketing tool
Urban political economy and symbolic economy of tourism, media and entertainment
NYC, privatization of public spaces
Clashes between middle-class whites and homeless, poor minority ethnic groups
Bryant Park, Manhattan: private non-profit managed park to “remove” homeless
panhandlers and drug dealers
Erosion of democratic public spaces of modernity
Conclusion:
Cities as hubs of high class and street/ popular cultures
People make cities; centrality of the human spirit in shaping what cities are
Diverse social identities in cities: class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc.
Contested cultures: poverty, underclass and social interaction in the urban context
College 5
Urban sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes
how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the
potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing
of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.
Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every facet
of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale and over various time periods. Long-lived
and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.
Invisible chemical cycles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the
world's living and non-living systems, and have sustained life for millions of years. As the
earth’s human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes
in the balance of natural cycles has had a negative impact on both humans and other
living systems.
There is now abundant scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably. Returning
human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will require a major collective
effort. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganising living
conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising
economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or work
practices (sustainable architecture), using science to develop new technologies (green
technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual lifestyles.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
The Brundtland Commission
Staat heel goede op de powerpoint over Klimaat congres van Kopenhagen voor meer info
kijk op de pp.
Concept of a sustainable city, or eco-city, is one designed with consideration of
environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimisation of required
inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution - CO2,
methane, and water pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes
instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or
living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances, or energy,
such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign
substances or energies, or naturally occurring; when naturally occurring, they are
considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution is often
classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. The Blacksmith Institute
issues annually a list of the world's worst polluted places. In the 2007 issues the
ten top nominees are located in Azerbaijan, China, India, Peru, Russia, Ukraine and
Zambia
A sustainable city can feed itself with minimal reliance on the surrounding
countryside, and power itself with renewable sources of energy
Alternative energy
Creating the smallest possible ecological footprint, and to produce the lowest
quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land; compost used materials,
recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, limiting city’s contribution to climate change
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's
ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to
regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area
needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb
and render harmless the corresponding waste. Using this assessment, it is possible
to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to
support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. For 2005, humanity's total
ecological footprint was estimated at 1.3 planet Earths - in other words, humanity
uses ecological services 1.3 times as fast as Earth can renew them. Every year,
this number is recalculated - with a three year lag due to the time it takes for the
UN to collect and publish all the underlying statistics.
While the term ecological footprint is widely used, methods of measurement vary.
However, calculation standards are now emerging to make results more
comparable and consistent.
Recycling
Recycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of
potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce
energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from
landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse
gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern
waste management and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste
hierarchy.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and
electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable
waste – such as food or garden waste – is not typically considered recycling.[2] Materials
to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside,
then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
In a strict sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same
material, for example used office paper to more office paper, or used foamed polystyrene
to more polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with
producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many
products or materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (e.g.,
cardboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the salvage of certain materials from
complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g., lead from car batteries, or gold
from computer components), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of
mercury from various items).
Critics dispute the net economic and environmental benefits of recycling over its costs,
and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from
confirmation bias. Specifically, critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection
and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the
production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor
trade for the jobs lost in logging, mining, and other industries associated with virgin
production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times
before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of recycling dispute
each of these claims, and the validity of arguments from both sides has led to enduring
controversy.
Around 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities and urban areas, which
are essentially unsustainable thus providing challenges for environmentally
conscious planning and development
Sustainable design
Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable
design, environmentally-conscious design, etc) is the philosophy of designing physical
objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic,
social, and ecological sustainability. The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate
negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design".
Manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impact on the
environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment. Applications of
this philosophy range from the microcosm — small objects for everyday use, through to
the macrocosm — buildings, cities, and the earth's physical surface. It is a philosophy that
can be applied in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban
planning, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and fashion
design.
Sustainable design is mostly a general reaction to global environmental crises, the rapid
growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources,
damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. The limits of sustainable design are
reducing. Whole earth impacts are beginning to be considered because growth in goods
and services is consistently outpacing gains in efficiency. As a result, the net effect of
sustainable design to date has been to simply improve the efficiency of rapidly increasing
impacts. The present approach, which focuses on the efficiency of delivering individual
goods and services does not solve this problem. The basic dilemmas include: the
increasing complexity of efficiency improvements, the difficulty of implementing new
technologies in societies built around old ones, that physical impacts of delivering goods
and services are not localized but distributed throughout the economies, and that the
scale of resource uses is growing and not stabilizing.
New Urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism and Environmentalism.
The organizing body for New Urbanism is the Congress for the New Urbanism, founded in
1993. Its foundational text is the Charter of the New Urbanism, which says: “We advocate
the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following
principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should
be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be
shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community
institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that
celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.”
New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture
and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their
strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and
rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic
preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in
the center of a city to avoid urban sprawl; and advocates compact, transit-oriented,
walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and
mixed-use development with a range of housing choices.
Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over a shortterm focus. Its goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the
range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs
and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and
promote public health.
Conclusion
Introduction to concept of urban sustainability and ecocities, with examples
Links to urban planning practice: sustainable design, new urbanism, smart growth
Political sensitivites on global stage, tensions between North and South
Deel 2 gaat over de stad Calgary voor alles kijk maar op powerpoint
Canada’s fourth largest and most rapidly growing city
Highest per capita income in Canada: $47,178 in 2006
Oil and gas industry accounted for 53% of the Alberta economy (direct and
multiplier effects) in 2004
Oil and gas drives the Calgary economy
Costs of growth
Longer commutes
More traffic congestion
$10.4 billion infrastructure deficit
Rising infrastructure and operating costs, leading to higher taxes (23% increase in
property taxes, over 3 years, proposed in 2008)
Rising cost of housing (new housing prices up 65% from 2005 to 2007; highest
rental housing costs in Canada)
Rising homelessness (over 4000 people homeless in 2009; 19% of all households
at risk in 2006)
Difficulty attracting sufficient labour
Ecological footprint estimated at 9.9 global hectares per person—highest in
Canada (1.9 ha/person available globally)
Calgary produces 17.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita, ranking it fifth-highest
in a 2010 comparison of 50 global cities
Declining quality of lifeà Is This Sustainable?
Voor meer check pp.
College 6a Beaumont
1. Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (The Brundtland
Commission); Refer also to the points made in Levente’s lecture
2. Characteristics of an ecocity
These ecological cities are achieved through various means, such as:
* Different agricultural systems such as agricultural plots within the city (suburbs or
centre). This reduces the distance food has to travel from field to fork. Practical work out
of this may be done by either small scale/private farming plots or through larger scale
agriculture (eg farmscrapers).
* Renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, or bio-gas created
from sewage. Cities provide economies of scale that make such energy sources viable.
* Various methods to reduce the need for air conditioning (a massive energy demand),
such as planting trees and lightening surface colors, natural ventilation systems, an
increase in water features, and green spaces equaling at least 20% of the city's surface.
These measures counter the "heat island effect" caused by an abundance of tarmac and
asphalt, which can make urban areas several degrees warmer than surrounding rural
areas—as much as six degrees Celsius during the evening.
* Improved public transport and an increase in pedestrianization to reduce car
emissions. This requires a radically different approach to city planning, with integrated
business, industrial, and residential zones. Roads may be designed to make driving
difficult.
* Optimal building density to make public transport viable but avoid the creation of
urban heat islands.
* Solutions to decrease urban sprawl, by seeking new ways of allowing people to live
closer to the workspace. Since the workplace tends to be in the city, downtown, or urban
center, they are seeking a way to increase density by changing the antiquated attitudes
many suburbanites have towards inner-city areas. One of the new ways to achieve this is
by solutions worked out by the Smart Growth Movement.
* Green roofs
* Zero-emission transport
* Zero-energy building
* Sustainable urban drainage systems or SUDS
* energy conservation systems/devices
* Xeriscaping - garden and landscape design for water conservation
3. Implications for urban planning
Sustainable design
New urbanism
Smart growth
Planning for sustainability in European cities
Timothy Beatley (2003)
The Sustainable Urban Development Reader
Prof. urban planning, University of Virginia, US
Green urbanism
Planning for sustainability
European cities
Argument
Hard evidence European cities
Compact, walkable, energy-efficient, green communities can be created
Cities that are sustainable, livable and also economically viable
Against largely US view that these qualities are “nice” but not possible
economically
Features
Policies to limit/ restrict sprawl
Accepting higher density developments (compared to US urban/ suburban areas)
New developments adjacent to exisiting urban areas
Fostering urban development and industrial reuse
Higher density makes possible more efficient public transit and energy systems,
and facilitates pedestrian spaces
Points to consider
Growing car use and large ecological footprints of European cities: threats to
future viability?
Crucial role of municipatities in green urbanism
Key role of partnerships between diverse stakeholders in green urbanism
Political economy of sustainability and differences in governance arrangements
Political culture, openness to green politics and stronger planning and land-use
control systems
Great attractiveness of urban living in Europe
College 6b Levente Ronczyk PhD,
•
Urbanization processes today are different from the urban transitions of the past:
–
Magnitude:
•
–
Speed:
•
–
~3.5 billion people live in urban areas (UN 2009)
2000, 2.86 billion
2030, 5 billion (UN 2009)
Quality:
•
One-third of all urban households in the world live in absolute
poverty (UN 2002).
The characteristic of urban development
•
The European city is a social-oriented city, where individual productivity defined a
person’s social status within the community.
•
Urbanization was triggered by industrialization, which resulted a new distribution
of population in the space and in the society.
•
Industrial urbanisation resulted compact cities.
•
The increasing personal mobility (automobile, public transport) led to spatial
expansion of settlements.
•
There was no longer necessary to live and work in the same place.
•
Due to the mobility the spatial representation of society emerged.
•
The evolved socio-spatial structures had massive influence on the housing market
and caused unrest and new social and environmental problems in the cities.
•
Socio-political concepts made an appearance on the urban planning, and tried to
protect housing market from the market forces:
- Social or council housing
–
Renovation and up valued by development new service subcenters,
creation of new function.
–
Social jobs were created for the former worker class, who lost their jobs due
to the deindustrialisation.
–
Globalization reduced the ability of the cities to integrate all its population.
–
Significant disparities appears nowadays in the urban areas.
–
Increasing spatial polarisation and social exclusion.
–
Cities are face to with shrinking tax revenues.
–
The economic considerations are the bases of the municipalities’ decision-making
processes.
Sustainable urban development
•
"Improving the quality of life in a city, including ecological, cultural, political,
institutional, social and economic components without leaving a burden on the
future generations. A burden which is the result of a reduced natural capital and
an excessive local debt. Our aim is that the flow principle, that is based on an
equilibrium of material and energy and also financial input/output, plays a crucial
role in all future decisions upon the development of urban areas."
Key dimensions for sustainable development
•
Sustainable urban economy
•
Sustainable urban environment
•
Sustainable urban society
Sustainable Urban Economy
•
Economic activity should serve the common good, be self-renewing, and build
local assets and self-reliance.
•
A stable economic situation is a basic precondition for sustainable urban
development.
•
Welfare is a relative phenomena, many citizens can feel themselves poor because
the social barriers.
•
Lack of sufficient income (personal and municipality level) could be the biggest
challenge.
Sustainable urban environment
•
Conflicts between private and environmental goods,
•
Unsustainable lifestyle (urban mobility),
•
Exploitation of non-renewable resources
•
Degradation of ecological resources,
•
Contamination of local environment
Sustainable urban society
•
Central element of the sustainability.
•
Redistribution of wealth.
•
Good Governance:
–
Openness
–
Participation
–
Responsibility
–
Efficiency
–
Coherence
College 6c
Gaat over stad Graz, voor meer info check pp, hier wat ik handig vond:
What is ECOPROFIT
•
Win-win model,
•
Main aim is to provide businesses with, economic advantage based on the
application of preventive, innovative, integrated environmental technologies,
Improving the ecological situation within the city or region (through the cooperation with
the local municipality)
History
•
ECOPROFIT – ECOlogical PROject For Integrated environmental Technology
•
Programme for sustainable economic development, which was developed by the
Environment Department of City of Graz in 1991.
The Programme
•
ECOPROFIT is a specific way of cooperation among local authorities, businesses,
research institutions and consultants, which work together in commonly designed
training programmes, and the establishment of a network connecting all
participating companies.
•
ECOPROFIT Academy was founded for the international dissemination of the
project.
The benefits of ECOPROFIT
•
•
Advantages for authorities
–
Efficient and economic benefits to the environment through better use of
resources
–
Establishment of sustainable structures through an efficient economic
support system
–
Funds to support innovative companies rather than expenses for
environmental recovery
–
Safeguarding of jobs through successful companies
–
Competitive and regional advantages
–
Higher quality of life for the inhabitants of a region
–
Improvements to environmental quality in a region, helping to stimulate
tourism
–
Helping to achieve Local Agenda 21 objectives to reach the Kyoto target
Advantages for companies
–
Increase in production efficiency and reduction of costs through lower
consumption of raw materials and energy
–
Reduction of costs through less waste and emissions
–
Legal certainty through official support
–
Training of employees in the areas of environmental protection, production
efficiency and cost awareness
–
Synergies through common training programs with other companies
–
Support of the project by local authorities
–
International market opportunities through networking
–
Certification as an official "ECOPROFITâ -company" and integration in joint
PR activities
–
Preparation or addition to EMAS or ISO 14001
College 6 d gaat over stad pecs, weinings boeiends
College 7 Urban spaces and spaces of the urban
Foundations urban geography (Chicago School, Quantitative Revolution, spatial science,
internal structure of cities, relations between cities, e.g. rank-size ruleand other
social physics);
Marxist and humanist critiques;
Feminism and postmodernism;
Emotional geographies of affect
(Re) examining urban geography
Functional integration of cities and regions across space in global economy;
homogenization and decline of local difference, against reassertion of the
particular; political and social-cultural dimensions, not just economic; cities in film
Economic transformations underpinning cities; Political economy perspective rooted in
radical (urban) geography tradition; suburbanization, gentrification and
postmodern cities
Verder staan er nog wat theorien moet je zelf maar even kijken
College 8a Beaumont : Urban politics and governance
What is modernism?
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice.
More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array
of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and farreaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the
"traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization
and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political
conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world. Modernism rejected the
lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and also that of the existence of a
compassionate, all-powerful Creator. This is not to say that all modernists or
modernist movements rejected either religion or all aspects of Enlightenment
thought, rather that modernism can be viewed as a questioning of the axioms of
the previous age. A salient characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness. This
often led to experiments with form, and work that draws attention to the
processes and materials used (and to the further tendency of abstraction). The
poet Ezra Pound's paradigmatic injunction was to "Make it new!" However, the
break from the past was not a clean break. Pound's phrase identified one
modernist objective, even as T.S. Eliot emphasized the relation of the artist to
tradition. These oppositions are inherent to modernism: it is in its broadest
cultural sense the assessment of the past as different to the modern age, the
recognition that the world was becoming more complex, and that the old "final
authorities" (God, government, science, and reason) were subject to intense
critical scrutiny. Current interpretations of modernism vary. Some divide 20th
century reaction into modernism and postmodernism, whereas others see them as
two aspects of the same movement
What do we mean by “pluralism”
Pluralism
Pluralism is the name of entirely unrelated positions in opposition to monism in
metaphysics and epistemology. In metaphysics, pluralism claims a plurality of
basic substances making up the world; in epistemology, pluralism claims that
there are several conflicting but still true descriptions of the world.
What is the difference between globalization and internationalization?
. Globalization and internationalization
Qualitatively different processes at stake here: (a) Internationalization involves the
simple extension of economic activities across national boundaries; essentially a
quantitative process which leads to a more extensive geographical pattern of
economic activity; (b) Globalization processes are qualitatively different from
internationalization, involving not merely the geographicaal extension of economic
activity across nastional boundaries but also – and more importantly – the
functional integration of such internationally dispersed activities
In addition....
Urban spaces and spaces of the urban (1) changing the way we think about cities
and specifically the urban (2) from a bounded entity and container conception,
towards assemblages of processes concentrated in certain places (3) urban
constituted by interaction of processes running within, through and beyond the so
called city itself
Aristotle’s Politics
In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the
city in his work titled Politics. Aristotle's conception of the city is organic, and he is
considered one of the first to conceive of the city in this manner. Aristotle
considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the city to
be prior to the family which in turn is prior to the individual, i.e., last in the order of
becoming, but first in the order of being . He is also famous for his statement that
"man is by nature a political animal." Aristotle conceived of politics as being like
an organism rather than like a machine, and as a collection of parts none of which
can exist without the others. It should be noted that the modern understanding of
a political community is that of the state. However, the state was foreign to
Aristotle. He referred to political communities as cities. Aristotle understood a city
as a political "partnership" . Subsequently, a city is created not to avoid injustice
or for economic stability , but rather to live a good life: "The political partnership
must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions, not for the
sake of living together" . This can be distinguished from the social contract theory
which individuals leave the state of nature because of "fear of violent death" or its
"inconveniences."
On Liberty
Mill's On Liberty addresses the nature and limits of the power that can be legitimately
exercised by society over the individual. One argument that Mill develops further
than any previous philosopher is the harm principle. The harm principle holds that
each individual has the right to act as he wants, so long as these actions do not
harm others. If the action is self-regarding, that is, if it only directly affects the
person undertaking the action, then society has no right to intervene, even if it
feels the actor is harming himself. He does argue, however, that individuals are
prevented from doing lasting, serious harm to themselves or their property by the
harm principle. Because no-one exists in isolation, harm done to oneself also
harms others, and destroying property deprives the community as well as oneself.
Mill excuses those who are "incapable of self-government" from this principle, such
as young children or those living in "backward states of society".
Mill argues that despotism is an acceptable form of government for those societies that
are "backward", as long as the despot has the best interests of the people at
heart, because of the barriers to spontaneous progress. Though this principle
seems clear, there are a number of complications. For example, Mill explicitly
states that "harms" may include acts of omission as well as acts of commission.
Thus, failing to rescue a drowning child counts as a harmful act, as does failing to
pay taxes, or failing to appear as a witness in court. All such harmful omissions
may be regulated, according to Mill. By contrast, it does not count as harming
someone if — without force or fraud — the affected individual consents to assume
the risk: thus one may permissibly offer unsafe employment to others, provided
there is no deception involved. (Mill does, however, recognize one limit to consent:
society should not permit people to sell themselves into slavery). In these and
other cases, it is important to keep in mind that the arguments in On Liberty are
grounded on the principle of Utility, and not on appeals to natural rights.
The question of what counts as a self-regarding action and what actions, whether of
omission or commission, constitute harmful actions subject to regulation,
continues to exercise interpreters of Mill. It is important to emphasize that Mill did
not consider giving offense to constitute "harm"; an action could not be restricted
because it violated the conventions or morals of a given society. The idea of
'offense' causing harm and thus being restricted was later developed by Joel
Feinberg in his 'offense principle' essentially an extension of J.S.Mill's 'harm
principle'.
On Liberty involves an impassioned defense of free speech. Mill argues that free
discourse is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress. We can
never be sure, he contends, that a silenced opinion does not contain some
element of the truth. He also argues that allowing people to air false opinions is
productive for two reasons. First, individuals are more likely to abandon erroneous
beliefs if they are engaged in an open exchange of ideas. Second, by forcing other
individuals to re-examine and re-affirm their beliefs in the process of debate, these
beliefs are kept from declining into mere dogma. It is not enough for Mill that one
simply has an unexamined belief that happens to be true; one must understand
why the belief in question is the true one.
19th century social philanthropy in cities
1850-1910 more interventionist urban politics to deal with basic infrastructure,
disease and social disorder
Formal urban government initiated in this periods
Since 1960/ 70s rise of neoliberalism, new modes of governance and PPP
In the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, overturning the
older ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would
automatically provide full employment as long as workers were flexible in their
wage demands. Following the outbreak of World War II Keynes's ideas concerning
economic policy were adopted by leading Western economies. During the 1950s
and 1960s, the success of Keynesian economics was so resounding that almost all
capitalist governments adopted its policy recommendations.
Keynes's influence waned in the 1970s, partly as a result of problems that began to afflict
the Anglo-American economies from the start of the decade, and partly due to
critiques from Milton Friedman and other economists who were pessimistic about
the ability of governments to regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy.
However, the advent of the global financial crisis in 2007 has caused a resurgence
in Keynesian thought. Keynesian economics has provided the theoretical
underpinning for the plans of President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and other global leaders to ease the recession. In 1999, Time Magazine
named Keynes one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century and
reported that, "His radical idea that governments should spend money they don't
have may have saved capitalism". Keynes is widely considered the father of
modern macroeconomics, and by commentators such as John Sloman, the most
influential economist of the 20th century. In addition to being an economist,
Keynes was also a civil servant, a patron of the arts, a director of the Bank of
England, an advisor to several charitable trusts, a writer, a private investor, an art
collector, and a farmer. Of towering stature, Keynes stood at six foot, six inches.
VINEX-locations
Vinex stands for "Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening Extra", a notation of the ministry for
housing, spatial scheduling, and environment management in the Netherlands
(Ministry of VROM). Large outer city areas were pointed out in this notation for
massive new housing development. To accommodate the further increasing of
population in the Netherlands the Ministry of VROM determined a number of main
points in the Vinex-document for the construction of new housing districts as from
that moment (1993). The most important point was that new districts had to be
placed near existing town centers. It hereby had to contribute to the following
aims: (1) Endorsement of existing malls (Increasing the potential number of
customers) (2) Limit the removals of unsatisfied inhabitants in the (medium)big
cities (3) Protection of open areas by concentrating the agglomerations round
existing (medium) big cities (4) Limiting of traffic between house, work and stores
(short distances offer more possibilities for public transport, bicycles and walking)
The Vinex-locations also had to diminish the unjust pricing of housing. This means that
certain households live in 'too cheap' houses when compared to their income, as a
result of which these houses no longer become available to households with a
lower income. So they tried to solve the shortage of cheap houses by luring richer
households to the more expensive Vinex-locations. Nevertheless the Vinexlocations had a determined share of cheaper rentable houses.
Biopolitics
The term "biopolitics" or "biopolitical" can refer to several different yet compatible
concepts. (1) In the work of Michel Foucault, the style of government that
regulates populations through biopower (the application and impact of political
power on all aspects of human life). (2) In the works of Michael Hardt and Antonio
Negri, anti-capitalist insurrection using life and the body as weapons; examples
include flight from power and, 'in its most tragic and revolting form', suicide
terrorism. Conceptualised as the opposite of biopower, which is seen as the
practice of sovereignty in biopolitical conditions. (3) The political application of
bioethics. (4) A political spectrum that reflects positions towards the sociopolitical
consequences of the biotech revolution. (5) Political advocacy in support of, or in
opposition to, some applications of biotechnology. (6) Public policies regarding
some applications of biotechnology. (7) Political advocacy concerned with the
College 2
European medieval cities
c.1000 CE onwards; Renaissance trading towns; centres of commerce, culture and
community; walled cities; churches spiritual needs, social ritual and community unity;
islands of freedom in seas of feudal obligation
Renaissance
The Renaissance (French for "rebirth"; Italian: Rinascimento, from ri- "again" and nascere
"be born") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century,
beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe.
The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of
the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the term. As a
cultural movement, it encompassed a resurgence of learning based on classical sources,
the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread
educational reform. Traditionally, this intellectual transformation has resulted in the
Renaissance being viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era.
Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social
and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the
contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the
term "Renaissance man".
There is a general, but not unchallenged, consensus that the Renaissance began in
Florence, Tuscany in the 14th century. Various theories have been proposed to account for
its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors including the social and
civic peculiarities of Florence at the time; its political structure; the patronage of its
dominant family, the Medici; and the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy
following the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
Industrial cities
European imperial expansion; capitalist industrialization; division advanced nations and
rest, also social order capital and labour; cities new industrial centres and dismal
concentrations of factories, poverty and slum destitution
Suburbanization and technoburbs
White (middle class) flight; socio-spatial segregation; social disharmony and class conflict;
“edge cities” and new hi-tech “technoburbs”
Suburbanization
Suburbanization (or suburbanisation) is a term used to describe the growth of areas on
the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl.
Many residents of metropolitan areas no longer live and work within the central urban
area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs and commute to
work via automobile or mass transit. Others have taken advantage of technological
advances to work from their homes, and chose to do so in an environment they consider
more pleasant than the city. These processes often occur in more economically developed
countries, especially in the United States, which is believed to be the first country in
which the majority of the population lives in the suburbs, rather than in the cities or in
rural areas. Proponents of containing urban sprawl argue that sprawl leads to urban
decay and a concentration of lower income residents in the inner city.
White flight
White flight is the sociologic and demographic term denoting the trend wherein white
people flee desegregated urban communities, and move to other places like commuter
towns; although an American coinage, “white flight” denotes like behavior in other
countries. In the U.S. the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision of the Supreme
Court — ordering the de jure racial desegregation of public schools in the United States —
was and remains a major factor propelling white flight from mixed-race cities.
The business practices of redlining, mortgage discrimination, and racially-restrictive
covenants accelerated white flight to the suburbs. The denying of banking and insurance
and other social services or the exorbitant prices of said services increased their cost to
residents in predominantly non-white suburbs and city neighborhoods. Furthermore, the
historical processes of suburbanization and urban decentralization are instances of white
privilege contributing to contemporary environmental racism.
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading outwards of a city and its
suburbs over rural land and to its outskirts. The problem with urban sprawl is that it is
costly to initiate the development of new infrastructure adequate enough to support its
residents. As a result, suburbanization generally results in low livability due to: (1) Long
transport distances to work (2) Low-density housing (3) Inadequate facilities eg: health,
recreational, entertainment. etc.
The term urban sprawl generally has negative connotations due to the health and
environmental issues that sprawl creates. Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to
emit more pollution per person and suffer more traffic fatalities. Sprawl is controversial,
with supporters claiming that consumers prefer lower density neighborhoods and that
sprawl does not necessarily increase traffic. Sprawl is also linked with increased obesity
since walking and bicycling are not viable commuting options. Sprawl negatively impacts
land and water quantity and quality, and may be linked to a decline in social capital.
College 3
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – May 1 1928) is known for his publication Garden
Cities of To-morrow (1898), the description of a utopian city in which man lives
harmoniously together with the rest of nature. The publication led to the founding of the
Garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the
beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Garden Cities Movement
The Garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by
Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned,
self-contained, communities surrounded by greenbelts, containing carefully balanced
areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
Inspired by the Utopian novel Looking Backward, Howard published his book To-morrow: a
Peaceful Path to Real Reform in 1898 (which was reissued in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-
morrow). His idealised garden city would house 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres
(24,000,000 m2), planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks and six
radial boulevards, 120 ft (37 m) wide, extending from the centre. The garden city would
be self-sufficient and when it reached full population, a further garden city would be
developed nearby. Howard envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as satellites of a
central city of 50,000 people, linked by road and rail.
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887
– August 27, 1965), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also
painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern
architecture or the International Style via the principles of the International Congress of
Modern Architecture (CIAM). He was born in Switzerland, but became a French citizen in
his 30s.
He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better
living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. His career spanned five decades, with
his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North
and South America. He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer, and modern
furniture designer
Broadacre City plan
Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Frank Lloyd
Wright late in his life. He presented the idea in his article The Disappearing City in 1932.
A few years later he unveiled a very detailed twelve by twelve foot (3.7 by 3.7 m) scale
model representing an hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community. The model was
crafted by the student interns who worked for him at Taliesin. Wright would go on refining
the concept in later books and in articles until his death in 1959. Many of the building
models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were
refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.
Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia,
shaped through Wright's particular vision. It was both a planning statement and a sociopolitical scheme by which each U.S. family would be given a one acre (4,000 m²) plot of
land from the federal lands reserves, and a Wright-conceived community would be built
anew from this. In a sense it was the exact opposite of transit-oriented development.
There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but
the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is
done by automobile and the pedestrian can exist safely only within the confines of the
one acre (4,000 m²) plots where most of the population dwells.
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism, Environmentalism and the broader concept of smart growth. A
more ecology and pedestrian-oriented variant is New Pedestrianism.
The organizing body for New Urbanism is the Congress for the New Urbanism, founded in
1993. Its foundational text is the Charter of the New Urbanism.,
New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture
and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their
strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and
rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic
preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land.
Market Street, downtown Celebration, Florida, US
Celebration, Florida is a census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned
community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort.
It was developed by The Walt Disney Company. Celebration is part of the Orlando–
Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
.
College 4
Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of
a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More
describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect sociopolitico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities
that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature.
"Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference to an unrealistic ideal that is
impossible to achieve. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia. The
word comes from the Greek: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was
utilizing the concept as allegory and did not consider such an ideal place to be
realistically possible. The homophone Eutopia, derived from the Greek εu, "good" or
"well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double meaning that was almost certainly intended.
Despite this, most modern usage of the term "Utopia" assumes the latter meaning, that
of a place of perfection rather than nonexistence.
3. New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism and Environmentalism.
Urban sociology and culture
The people are the city” (Shakespeare), not just form and design of built
environment
People’s individual aspirations, collection struggles, everyday lives and moments
of enlightenment/ heightened awareness
Subtle and changing relations society, community and culture in cities
Sociology “science of society”, also anthropology, cultural studies, social theory,
parallel to rise of industrial cities
Whose culture? Whos city?
Sharon Zukin: The Cultures of Cities (1995)
High culture and street cultures of cities: ethnicity, aesthetic and marketing tool
Urban political economy and symbolic economy of tourism, media and entertainment
NYC, privatization of public spaces
Clashes between middle-class whites and homeless, poor minority ethnic groups
Bryant Park, Manhattan: private non-profit managed park to “remove” homeless
panhandlers and drug dealers
Erosion of democratic public spaces of modernity
Conclusion:
Cities as hubs of high class and street/ popular cultures
People make cities; centrality of the human spirit in shaping what cities are
Diverse social identities in cities: class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc.
Contested cultures: poverty, underclass and social interaction in the urban context
College 5
Urban sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes
how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the
potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing
of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.
Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every facet
of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale and over various time periods. Long-lived
and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.
Invisible chemical cycles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the
world's living and non-living systems, and have sustained life for millions of years. As the
earth’s human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes
in the balance of natural cycles has had a negative impact on both humans and other
living systems.
There is now abundant scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably. Returning
human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits will require a major collective
effort. Ways of living more sustainably can take many forms from reorganising living
conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising
economic sectors (permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or work
practices (sustainable architecture), using science to develop new technologies (green
technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual lifestyles.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
The Brundtland Commission
Staat heel goede op de powerpoint over Klimaat congres van Kopenhagen voor meer info
kijk op de pp.
Concept of a sustainable city, or eco-city, is one designed with consideration of
environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimisation of required
inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution - CO2,
methane, and water pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes
instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or
living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances, or energy,
such as noise, heat, or light. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign
substances or energies, or naturally occurring; when naturally occurring, they are
considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution is often
classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. The Blacksmith Institute
issues annually a list of the world's worst polluted places. In the 2007 issues the
ten top nominees are located in Azerbaijan, China, India, Peru, Russia, Ukraine and
Zambia
A sustainable city can feed itself with minimal reliance on the surrounding
countryside, and power itself with renewable sources of energy
Alternative energy
Creating the smallest possible ecological footprint, and to produce the lowest
quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land; compost used materials,
recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, limiting city’s contribution to climate change
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's
ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to
regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area
needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb
and render harmless the corresponding waste. Using this assessment, it is possible
to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to
support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. For 2005, humanity's total
ecological footprint was estimated at 1.3 planet Earths - in other words, humanity
uses ecological services 1.3 times as fast as Earth can renew them. Every year,
this number is recalculated - with a three year lag due to the time it takes for the
UN to collect and publish all the underlying statistics.
While the term ecological footprint is widely used, methods of measurement vary.
However, calculation standards are now emerging to make results more
comparable and consistent.
Recycling
Recycling involves processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of
potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce
energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from
landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse
gas emissions as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern
waste management and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste
hierarchy.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and
electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable
waste – such as food or garden waste – is not typically considered recycling.[2] Materials
to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside,
then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
In a strict sense, recycling of a material would produce a fresh supply of the same
material, for example used office paper to more office paper, or used foamed polystyrene
to more polystyrene. However, this is often difficult or too expensive (compared with
producing the same product from raw materials or other sources), so "recycling" of many
products or materials involves their reuse in producing different materials (e.g.,
cardboard) instead. Another form of recycling is the salvage of certain materials from
complex products, either due to their intrinsic value (e.g., lead from car batteries, or gold
from computer components), or due to their hazardous nature (e.g., removal and reuse of
mercury from various items).
Critics dispute the net economic and environmental benefits of recycling over its costs,
and suggest that proponents of recycling often make matters worse and suffer from
confirmation bias. Specifically, critics argue that the costs and energy used in collection
and transportation detract from (and outweigh) the costs and energy saved in the
production process; also that the jobs produced by the recycling industry can be a poor
trade for the jobs lost in logging, mining, and other industries associated with virgin
production; and that materials such as paper pulp can only be recycled a few times
before material degradation prevents further recycling. Proponents of recycling dispute
each of these claims, and the validity of arguments from both sides has led to enduring
controversy.
Around 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities and urban areas, which
are essentially unsustainable thus providing challenges for environmentally
conscious planning and development
Sustainable design
Sustainable design (also called environmental design, environmentally sustainable
design, environmentally-conscious design, etc) is the philosophy of designing physical
objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economic,
social, and ecological sustainability. The intention of sustainable design is to "eliminate
negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design".
Manifestations of sustainable designs require no non-renewable resources, impact on the
environment minimally, and relate people with the natural environment. Applications of
this philosophy range from the microcosm — small objects for everyday use, through to
the macrocosm — buildings, cities, and the earth's physical surface. It is a philosophy that
can be applied in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban
planning, engineering, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, and fashion
design.
Sustainable design is mostly a general reaction to global environmental crises, the rapid
growth of economic activity and human population, depletion of natural resources,
damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. The limits of sustainable design are
reducing. Whole earth impacts are beginning to be considered because growth in goods
and services is consistently outpacing gains in efficiency. As a result, the net effect of
sustainable design to date has been to simply improve the efficiency of rapidly increasing
impacts. The present approach, which focuses on the efficiency of delivering individual
goods and services does not solve this problem. The basic dilemmas include: the
increasing complexity of efficiency improvements, the difficulty of implementing new
technologies in societies built around old ones, that physical impacts of delivering goods
and services are not localized but distributed throughout the economies, and that the
scale of resource uses is growing and not stabilizing.
New Urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods
that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early
1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban
planning. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards prominent
before the rise of the automobile and encompasses principles such as traditional
neighborhood design (TND) and transit-oriented development (TOD). It is also closely
related to Regionalism and Environmentalism.
The organizing body for New Urbanism is the Congress for the New Urbanism, founded in
1993. Its foundational text is the Charter of the New Urbanism, which says: “We advocate
the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the following
principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities should
be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities and towns should be
shaped by physically defined and universally accessible public spaces and community
institutions; urban places should be framed by architecture and landscape design that
celebrate local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.”
New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture
and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their
strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and
rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic
preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in
the center of a city to avoid urban sprawl; and advocates compact, transit-oriented,
walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and
mixed-use development with a range of housing choices.
Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over a shortterm focus. Its goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the
range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs
and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and
promote public health.
Conclusion
Introduction to concept of urban sustainability and ecocities, with examples
Links to urban planning practice: sustainable design, new urbanism, smart growth
Political sensitivites on global stage, tensions between North and South
Deel 2 gaat over de stad Calgary voor alles kijk maar op powerpoint
Canada’s fourth largest and most rapidly growing city
Highest per capita income in Canada: $47,178 in 2006
Oil and gas industry accounted for 53% of the Alberta economy (direct and
multiplier effects) in 2004
Oil and gas drives the Calgary economy
Costs of growth
Longer commutes
More traffic congestion
$10.4 billion infrastructure deficit
Rising infrastructure and operating costs, leading to higher taxes (23% increase in
property taxes, over 3 years, proposed in 2008)
Rising cost of housing (new housing prices up 65% from 2005 to 2007; highest
rental housing costs in Canada)
Rising homelessness (over 4000 people homeless in 2009; 19% of all households
at risk in 2006)
Difficulty attracting sufficient labour
Ecological footprint estimated at 9.9 global hectares per person—highest in
Canada (1.9 ha/person available globally)
Calgary produces 17.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita, ranking it fifth-highest
in a 2010 comparison of 50 global cities
Declining quality of lifeà Is This Sustainable?
Voor meer check pp.
College 6a Beaumont
1. Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (The Brundtland
Commission); Refer also to the points made in Levente’s lecture
2. Characteristics of an ecocity
These ecological cities are achieved through various means, such as:
* Different agricultural systems such as agricultural plots within the city (suburbs or
centre). This reduces the distance food has to travel from field to fork. Practical work out
of this may be done by either small scale/private farming plots or through larger scale
agriculture (eg farmscrapers).
* Renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, or bio-gas created
from sewage. Cities provide economies of scale that make such energy sources viable.
* Various methods to reduce the need for air conditioning (a massive energy demand),
such as planting trees and lightening surface colors, natural ventilation systems, an
increase in water features, and green spaces equaling at least 20% of the city's surface.
These measures counter the "heat island effect" caused by an abundance of tarmac and
asphalt, which can make urban areas several degrees warmer than surrounding rural
areas—as much as six degrees Celsius during the evening.
* Improved public transport and an increase in pedestrianization to reduce car
emissions. This requires a radically different approach to city planning, with integrated
business, industrial, and residential zones. Roads may be designed to make driving
difficult.
* Optimal building density to make public transport viable but avoid the creation of
urban heat islands.
* Solutions to decrease urban sprawl, by seeking new ways of allowing people to live
closer to the workspace. Since the workplace tends to be in the city, downtown, or urban
center, they are seeking a way to increase density by changing the antiquated attitudes
many suburbanites have towards inner-city areas. One of the new ways to achieve this is
by solutions worked out by the Smart Growth Movement.
* Green roofs
* Zero-emission transport
* Zero-energy building
* Sustainable urban drainage systems or SUDS
* energy conservation systems/devices
* Xeriscaping - garden and landscape design for water conservation
3. Implications for urban planning
Sustainable design
New urbanism
Smart growth
Planning for sustainability in European cities
Timothy Beatley (2003)
The Sustainable Urban Development Reader
Prof. urban planning, University of Virginia, US
Green urbanism
Planning for sustainability
European cities
Argument
Hard evidence European cities
Compact, walkable, energy-efficient, green communities can be created
Cities that are sustainable, livable and also economically viable
Against largely US view that these qualities are “nice” but not possible
economically
Features
Policies to limit/ restrict sprawl
Accepting higher density developments (compared to US urban/ suburban areas)
New developments adjacent to exisiting urban areas
Fostering urban development and industrial reuse
Higher density makes possible more efficient public transit and energy systems,
and facilitates pedestrian spaces
Points to consider
Growing car use and large ecological footprints of European cities: threats to
future viability?
Crucial role of municipatities in green urbanism
Key role of partnerships between diverse stakeholders in green urbanism
Political economy of sustainability and differences in governance arrangements
Political culture, openness to green politics and stronger planning and land-use
control systems
Great attractiveness of urban living in Europe
College 6b Levente Ronczyk PhD,
•
Urbanization processes today are different from the urban transitions of the past:
–
Magnitude:
•
–
Speed:
•
–
~3.5 billion people live in urban areas (UN 2009)
2000, 2.86 billion
2030, 5 billion (UN 2009)
Quality:
•
One-third of all urban households in the world live in absolute
poverty (UN 2002).
The characteristic of urban development
•
The European city is a social-oriented city, where individual productivity defined a
person’s social status within the community.
•
Urbanization was triggered by industrialization, which resulted a new distribution
of population in the space and in the society.
•
Industrial urbanisation resulted compact cities.
•
The increasing personal mobility (automobile, public transport) led to spatial
expansion of settlements.
•
There was no longer necessary to live and work in the same place.
•
Due to the mobility the spatial representation of society emerged.
•
The evolved socio-spatial structures had massive influence on the housing market
and caused unrest and new social and environmental problems in the cities.
•
Socio-political concepts made an appearance on the urban planning, and tried to
protect housing market from the market forces:
- Social or council housing
–
Renovation and up valued by development new service subcenters,
creation of new function.
–
Social jobs were created for the former worker class, who lost their jobs due
to the deindustrialisation.
–
Globalization reduced the ability of the cities to integrate all its population.
–
Significant disparities appears nowadays in the urban areas.
–
Increasing spatial polarisation and social exclusion.
–
Cities are face to with shrinking tax revenues.
–
The economic considerations are the bases of the municipalities’ decision-making
processes.
Sustainable urban development
•
"Improving the quality of life in a city, including ecological, cultural, political,
institutional, social and economic components without leaving a burden on the
future generations. A burden which is the result of a reduced natural capital and
an excessive local debt. Our aim is that the flow principle, that is based on an
equilibrium of material and energy and also financial input/output, plays a crucial
role in all future decisions upon the development of urban areas."
Key dimensions for sustainable development
•
Sustainable urban economy
•
Sustainable urban environment
•
Sustainable urban society
Sustainable Urban Economy
•
Economic activity should serve the common good, be self-renewing, and build
local assets and self-reliance.
•
A stable economic situation is a basic precondition for sustainable urban
development.
•
Welfare is a relative phenomena, many citizens can feel themselves poor because
the social barriers.
•
Lack of sufficient income (personal and municipality level) could be the biggest
challenge.
Sustainable urban environment
•
Conflicts between private and environmental goods,
•
Unsustainable lifestyle (urban mobility),
•
Exploitation of non-renewable resources
•
Degradation of ecological resources,
•
Contamination of local environment
Sustainable urban society
•
Central element of the sustainability.
•
Redistribution of wealth.
•
Good Governance:
–
Openness
–
Participation
–
Responsibility
–
Efficiency
–
Coherence
College 6c
Gaat over stad Graz, voor meer info check pp, hier wat ik handig vond:
What is ECOPROFIT
•
Win-win model,
•
Main aim is to provide businesses with, economic advantage based on the
application of preventive, innovative, integrated environmental technologies,
Improving the ecological situation within the city or region (through the cooperation with
the local municipality)
History
•
ECOPROFIT – ECOlogical PROject For Integrated environmental Technology
•
Programme for sustainable economic development, which was developed by the
Environment Department of City of Graz in 1991.
The Programme
•
ECOPROFIT is a specific way of cooperation among local authorities, businesses,
research institutions and consultants, which work together in commonly designed
training programmes, and the establishment of a network connecting all
participating companies.
•
ECOPROFIT Academy was founded for the international dissemination of the
project.
The benefits of ECOPROFIT
•
•
Advantages for authorities
–
Efficient and economic benefits to the environment through better use of
resources
–
Establishment of sustainable structures through an efficient economic
support system
–
Funds to support innovative companies rather than expenses for
environmental recovery
–
Safeguarding of jobs through successful companies
–
Competitive and regional advantages
–
Higher quality of life for the inhabitants of a region
–
Improvements to environmental quality in a region, helping to stimulate
tourism
–
Helping to achieve Local Agenda 21 objectives to reach the Kyoto target
Advantages for companies
–
Increase in production efficiency and reduction of costs through lower
consumption of raw materials and energy
–
Reduction of costs through less waste and emissions
–
Legal certainty through official support
–
Training of employees in the areas of environmental protection, production
efficiency and cost awareness
–
Synergies through common training programs with other companies
–
Support of the project by local authorities
–
International market opportunities through networking
–
Certification as an official "ECOPROFITâ -company" and integration in joint
PR activities
–
Preparation or addition to EMAS or ISO 14001
College 6 d gaat over stad pecs, weinings boeiends
College 7 Urban spaces and spaces of the urban
Foundations urban geography (Chicago School, Quantitative Revolution, spatial science,
internal structure of cities, relations between cities, e.g. rank-size ruleand other
social physics);
Marxist and humanist critiques;
Feminism and postmodernism;
Emotional geographies of affect
(Re) examining urban geography
Functional integration of cities and regions across space in global economy;
homogenization and decline of local difference, against reassertion of the
particular; political and social-cultural dimensions, not just economic; cities in film
Economic transformations underpinning cities; Political economy perspective rooted in
radical (urban) geography tradition; suburbanization, gentrification and
postmodern cities
Verder staan er nog wat theorien moet je zelf maar even kijken
College 8a Beaumont : Urban politics and governance
What is modernism?
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice.
More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array
of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and farreaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the
"traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization
and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political
conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world. Modernism rejected the
lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and also that of the existence of a
compassionate, all-powerful Creator. This is not to say that all modernists or
modernist movements rejected either religion or all aspects of Enlightenment
thought, rather that modernism can be viewed as a questioning of the axioms of
the previous age. A salient characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness. This
often led to experiments with form, and work that draws attention to the
processes and materials used (and to the further tendency of abstraction). The
poet Ezra Pound's paradigmatic injunction was to "Make it new!" However, the
break from the past was not a clean break. Pound's phrase identified one
modernist objective, even as T.S. Eliot emphasized the relation of the artist to
tradition. These oppositions are inherent to modernism: it is in its broadest
cultural sense the assessment of the past as different to the modern age, the
recognition that the world was becoming more complex, and that the old "final
authorities" (God, government, science, and reason) were subject to intense
critical scrutiny. Current interpretations of modernism vary. Some divide 20th
century reaction into modernism and postmodernism, whereas others see them as
two aspects of the same movement
What do we mean by “pluralism”
Pluralism
Pluralism is the name of entirely unrelated positions in opposition to monism in
metaphysics and epistemology. In metaphysics, pluralism claims a plurality of
basic substances making up the world; in epistemology, pluralism claims that
there are several conflicting but still true descriptions of the world.
What is the difference between globalization and internationalization?
. Globalization and internationalization
Qualitatively different processes at stake here: (a) Internationalization involves the
simple extension of economic activities across national boundaries; essentially a
quantitative process which leads to a more extensive geographical pattern of
economic activity; (b) Globalization processes are qualitatively different from
internationalization, involving not merely the geographicaal extension of economic
activity across nastional boundaries but also – and more importantly – the
functional integration of such internationally dispersed activities
In addition....
Urban spaces and spaces of the urban (1) changing the way we think about cities
and specifically the urban (2) from a bounded entity and container conception,
towards assemblages of processes concentrated in certain places (3) urban
constituted by interaction of processes running within, through and beyond the so
called city itself
Aristotle’s Politics
In addition to his works on ethics, which address the individual, Aristotle addressed the
city in his work titled Politics. Aristotle's conception of the city is organic, and he is
considered one of the first to conceive of the city in this manner. Aristotle
considered the city to be a natural community. Moreover, he considered the city to
be prior to the family which in turn is prior to the individual, i.e., last in the order of
becoming, but first in the order of being . He is also famous for his statement that
"man is by nature a political animal." Aristotle conceived of politics as being like
an organism rather than like a machine, and as a collection of parts none of which
can exist without the others. It should be noted that the modern understanding of
a political community is that of the state. However, the state was foreign to
Aristotle. He referred to political communities as cities. Aristotle understood a city
as a political "partnership" . Subsequently, a city is created not to avoid injustice
or for economic stability , but rather to live a good life: "The political partnership
must be regarded, therefore, as being for the sake of noble actions, not for the
sake of living together" . This can be distinguished from the social contract theory
which individuals leave the state of nature because of "fear of violent death" or its
"inconveniences."
On Liberty
Mill's On Liberty addresses the nature and limits of the power that can be legitimately
exercised by society over the individual. One argument that Mill develops further
than any previous philosopher is the harm principle. The harm principle holds that
each individual has the right to act as he wants, so long as these actions do not
harm others. If the action is self-regarding, that is, if it only directly affects the
person undertaking the action, then society has no right to intervene, even if it
feels the actor is harming himself. He does argue, however, that individuals are
prevented from doing lasting, serious harm to themselves or their property by the
harm principle. Because no-one exists in isolation, harm done to oneself also
harms others, and destroying property deprives the community as well as oneself.
Mill excuses those who are "incapable of self-government" from this principle, such
as young children or those living in "backward states of society".
Mill argues that despotism is an acceptable form of government for those societies that
are "backward", as long as the despot has the best interests of the people at
heart, because of the barriers to spontaneous progress. Though this principle
seems clear, there are a number of complications. For example, Mill explicitly
states that "harms" may include acts of omission as well as acts of commission.
Thus, failing to rescue a drowning child counts as a harmful act, as does failing to
pay taxes, or failing to appear as a witness in court. All such harmful omissions
may be regulated, according to Mill. By contrast, it does not count as harming
someone if — without force or fraud — the affected individual consents to assume
the risk: thus one may permissibly offer unsafe employment to others, provided
there is no deception involved. (Mill does, however, recognize one limit to consent:
society should not permit people to sell themselves into slavery). In these and
other cases, it is important to keep in mind that the arguments in On Liberty are
grounded on the principle of Utility, and not on appeals to natural rights.
The question of what counts as a self-regarding action and what actions, whether of
omission or commission, constitute harmful actions subject to regulation,
continues to exercise interpreters of Mill. It is important to emphasize that Mill did
not consider giving offense to constitute "harm"; an action could not be restricted
because it violated the conventions or morals of a given society. The idea of
'offense' causing harm and thus being restricted was later developed by Joel
Feinberg in his 'offense principle' essentially an extension of J.S.Mill's 'harm
principle'.
On Liberty involves an impassioned defense of free speech. Mill argues that free
discourse is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress. We can
never be sure, he contends, that a silenced opinion does not contain some
element of the truth. He also argues that allowing people to air false opinions is
productive for two reasons. First, individuals are more likely to abandon erroneous
beliefs if they are engaged in an open exchange of ideas. Second, by forcing other
individuals to re-examine and re-affirm their beliefs in the process of debate, these
beliefs are kept from declining into mere dogma. It is not enough for Mill that one
simply has an unexamined belief that happens to be true; one must understand
why the belief in question is the true one.
19th century social philanthropy in cities
1850-1910 more interventionist urban politics to deal with basic infrastructure,
disease and social disorder
Formal urban government initiated in this periods
Since 1960/ 70s rise of neoliberalism, new modes of governance and PPP
In the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, overturning the
older ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would
automatically provide full employment as long as workers were flexible in their
wage demands. Following the outbreak of World War II Keynes's ideas concerning
economic policy were adopted by leading Western economies. During the 1950s
and 1960s, the success of Keynesian economics was so resounding that almost all
capitalist governments adopted its policy recommendations.
Keynes's influence waned in the 1970s, partly as a result of problems that began to afflict
the Anglo-American economies from the start of the decade, and partly due to
critiques from Milton Friedman and other economists who were pessimistic about
the ability of governments to regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy.
However, the advent of the global financial crisis in 2007 has caused a resurgence
in Keynesian thought. Keynesian economics has provided the theoretical
underpinning for the plans of President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Gordon
Brown and other global leaders to ease the recession. In 1999, Time Magazine
named Keynes one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century and
reported that, "His radical idea that governments should spend money they don't
have may have saved capitalism". Keynes is widely considered the father of
modern macroeconomics, and by commentators such as John Sloman, the most
influential economist of the 20th century. In addition to being an economist,
Keynes was also a civil servant, a patron of the arts, a director of the Bank of
England, an advisor to several charitable trusts, a writer, a private investor, an art
collector, and a farmer. Of towering stature, Keynes stood at six foot, six inches.
VINEX-locations
Vinex stands for "Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening Extra", a notation of the ministry for
housing, spatial scheduling, and environment management in the Netherlands
(Ministry of VROM). Large outer city areas were pointed out in this notation for
massive new housing development. To accommodate the further increasing of
population in the Netherlands the Ministry of VROM determined a number of main
points in the Vinex-document for the construction of new housing districts as from
that moment (1993). The most important point was that new districts had to be
placed near existing town centers. It hereby had to contribute to the following
aims: (1) Endorsement of existing malls (Increasing the potential number of
customers) (2) Limit the removals of unsatisfied inhabitants in the (medium)big
cities (3) Protection of open areas by concentrating the agglomerations round
existing (medium) big cities (4) Limiting of traffic between house, work and stores
(short distances offer more possibilities for public transport, bicycles and walking)
The Vinex-locations also had to diminish the unjust pricing of housing. This means that
certain households live in 'too cheap' houses when compared to their income, as a
result of which these houses no longer become available to households with a
lower income. So they tried to solve the shortage of cheap houses by luring richer
households to the more expensive Vinex-locations. Nevertheless the Vinexlocations had a determined share of cheaper rentable houses.
Biopolitics
The term "biopolitics" or "biopolitical" can refer to several different yet compatible
concepts. (1) In the work of Michel Foucault, the style of government that
regulates populations through biopower (the application and impact of political
power on all aspects of human life). (2) In the works of Michael Hardt and Antonio
Negri, anti-capitalist insurrection using life and the body as weapons; examples
include flight from power and, 'in its most tragic and revolting form', suicide
terrorism. Conceptualised as the opposite of biopower, which is seen as the
practice of sovereignty in biopolitical conditions. (3) The political application of
bioethics. (4) A political spectrum that reflects positions towards the sociopolitical
consequences of the biotech revolution. (5) Political advocacy in support of, or in
opposition to, some applications of biotechnology. (6) Public policies regarding
some applications of biotechnology. (7) Political advocacy concerned with the