Somewhere down the line, I'd love to teach, but it isn't that real of a possibility for me right now. But the experience enabled me with the freedom to look into subjects in urban studies that are pretty much just bad ass. Which brings us to my study of parkour.

There's lot a lot of academic literature out there on parkour. So I basically crafted an argument for the subconscious development of David Belle's invention. I think it's an interesting read for anyone studying the subject or architectural theory.

I'll probably end up touching on different parts of the work in separate posts later. I just wanted to get it up here so anyone that might want to talk about it/use it as a resource for their own research and plagiarize (flatter) me.

Parkour: The Evolution of the Disparate Tradition

Warning: This is 38 pages of parkour.

The first time I heard the words “Atlantic Yards Project” I was a junior in high school, freshly  moved from NYC to Southern California. I figured the project was some maritime “beautification” project taking place in Baltimore or somewhere around there (Camden Yards jumped to mind I suppose). A few minutes on wikipedia changed my perception of the venture obviously.

To put it simply, Atlantic Yards is a glorified housing project that’s landing right in the middle of some of the most prized real estate in the United States; Brooklyn, NY. Now for the people who still live in 1986 and think of Brooklyn as a ghetto, things have changed, for better or worse. Rich white kids from NYU started moving there around the turn of the century, listening to music that you’ve never heard of and usually sucks, and wearing jeans that even Chelsea deemed “too gay”. From then on, Bed-Stuy went from a place that worshipped the Mighty Mos and Grandmaster Flash to a place that plays way too much Ratatat and Animal Collective for anyones’ good. Williamsburg went from dive city to Hipsters Inc., though I guess hipsters do love dives anyways. All in all, Brooklyn went from a place that you had to live to a place that you wanted to live. If you want to see this phenomenon before your eyes check out 125th street or to see the finished project hop down to the Village and look at apartments that used to serve the poor and have become pent house for Britney Spears and the Olsen twins.

Technically, the word is gentrification, referring to the “gentry” entering places that are usually downtrodden, meaning cheap real estate and low economic risk. More often than not the “gentrifiers” will move in as a group, seeing a certain crop of what used to be tenements as “classic” and “charming”. In New York most of the money that gentrified the areas of Brooklyn, Harlem, and the Village came from people who had lived there before. Harlem went from a white area, to a Jewish area, and is currently known as a black and Hispanic area, with white areas on the outer edges. Brooklyn was mostly white and Italian until the suburban movement post-WWII (NB: Brooklyn, before it was incorporated into New York City, was the U.S. third largest city next to Manhattan and Chicago at 3 million people.)

The next time I ran into Atlantic Yards I was in a core curriculum writing course entitled “The City in American Culture” taught by a supremely self-conscious archaeological Ph.D who was more grammarian than author. I signed up for the class after having spent a year abroad and was ready to jump back into the urban studies thing. Suffice to say I was supremely disappointed, we read Jacobs and Mike Davis, some excerpts from larger texts, a couple New Yorker articles, but our assignments ranged from the banal to the frustrating. One of our last texts was the view of the Atlantic Yards Project from either side of the argument, and after 10 minutes of discussion we returned to basic college grammar prerequisites (who the fuck cares if my works cited wasn’t in alphabetical order?!). Needless to say this frustrated me, I came to the class expecting engaged urban studies students but found a trifle too many glossy eyed freshmen and upper classmen waiting for a class they can get an A in. I begged my professor to let me do my term paper on the social impacts of new housing projects with its cynosure being the Atlantic Yards, Frank Gehry, and Bruce Ratner. DENIED! With authority I was told that my paper would focus too much on content rather than technical skill. Um, what? Apparently the college writing program had decided to emphasize capitals and periods rather than what comes between them. Anyways, I decided to give my teacher a big “fuck you” and do the research and more or less write the paper, while doing my more “technically” sound one at the same time. So here’s what I found:

•    Frank Gehry, everyone’s all-American architect, designer of those crawling titanium buildings, MIT’s “leaking” research center, among other masterpieces (or monstrosities), is kind of a jerk. To paraphrase, Gehry says he knows what’s best for Brooklynites and that they don’t appreciate art enough to see that the Atlantic Yards project is beautiful (if you want what he really said it’s in an article aptly called “Mr. Ratner’s Neighborhood”). Now I had always thought of Gehry as kind of an overrated architect in the first place, Bilbao is breathtaking but if you read the “making of” story Gehry becomes a prima donna before he’s know as a master, the new Disney Opera House in Los Angeles blinds people in surrounding apartment buildings because of the ultra-reflective titanium that has become his signature, and MIT sued the architect because their building, actually, well, leaked. He does a bang up job designing jewelry for Tiffany’s though.
•    The new Brooklyn Nets stadium will be the centerpiece of the project and I mean, yeah, Brooklyn needs a basketball team. But does anyone else see a similarity between new stadiums and the areas that surround them? Places like Fenway, Wrigley, Ebbets (R.I.P), and even Pac Bell Park in S.F., they all did excellent jobs by integrating themselves into the neighborhoods they inhabit. Given for all of those examples except Pac Bell, that happened over a hundred years ago. Stadiums nowadays are built on land that is more or less unwanted, the Meadowlands in N.J., my beloved Dodger Stadium (though it was actually built on top of what used to be a Mexican suburb and displaced thousands, but that’s a story for another day), and the Oakland sports arenas are all located within or around low-income areas. Now the question is, do they, the sports arenas, create them or does the low cost of the real estate attract them? It’s a question I’m posing to you, but it’s something that I’ll definitely be writing about in the future.
•    Bruce Ratner, the manager, stands to make, well, billions. The Atlantic Yards would house thousands of Brooklyn residents displaced by the project, and would of course be a gathering point for “artists” and “writers” that desire the Manhattan lifestyle with Brooklyn moodiness. Usually when a project manager stands to make anything with 10 digits (or 8 or 9 for that matter) the true nature of the project goes to shit.
•    The people who are most adamant about Brooklyn staying the same are the people who’ve most recently moved there. The brooding authors, the terribly untalented but trendy musicians, and the “the stars are just like us!” section of US Weekly usuals are all dedicated to the cause of keeping Brooklyn in its current form: brownstones, coffee shops, and “dive chic” bars. The residents who have lived there for generations however, tend to fall into two camps. The first being those who look towards Co-op City and Marcy as glimpses into the future of Brooklyn and are supremely pissed off about it. The second group being those who have been paid off not to see it like that. And honestly the second group isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds, a lot of Brooklyn is still poor and the influx of rich college kids has artificially raised prices in their area, the creation of an “income controlled” neighborhood isn’t a completely ridiculous idea in their minds. Two great projects that have a lot of interesting things to say about Brooklyn are ACORN and DevelopDon’tDestroyBrooklyn. Another blog named NoLandGrab is a great source too.

So that’s my simple take on this very, very complicated situation. If you’re even remotely interested in housing policies, urban studies, Brooklyn, the projects, or shit just people in general than read up. It’s one of the most interesting housing endeavors taken up by a US city in a while. This barely scratches the surface of the project. As always, please comment, I want to hear what you all have to say.

Homework: let’s see. Hmmmmm. Go punch a hipster in the face. It’ll make your day, my day, and everyone around you will appreciate it.

In the mean time I’ll give you my candidates, sticking mostly to the U.S. and places I’ve spent a good amount of time in and you can just sit there and think about all the amazing, nuanced comments I have. So here goes:

New York City. My home sweet second home. I was discussing this with a friend of mine I met in college and realized that she thinks I’m from California while most of my friends from high school think I’m from New York. I love that. Truth be told I spent less than 2 years in New York after living in that ubiquitous place, right-outside-the-city, CT (for those who don’t get the joke, most people you meet who say they’re from New York aren’t actually from  New York per say. It’s usually a mix of Westchesterians, Greenwichites, and Scarsdalians who want to be from Manhattan so badly that they prey on the unassuming by claiming to be from New York. I was among them, sigh) The years I spent on the upper east side while finally living there and not living a lie taught me a lot about good city planning and is where I can trace my flowering interest in the city from.

Simply put, New York’s planning scheme has been nearly perfect from the beginning of urbanization. Two distinct business zones (midtown and Wall Street), balanced commercial and residential zoning, adequate green space (Central Park was one of the most challenging urban endeavors in the country’s history), and relatively mixed income levels combining in neighborhoods (save for the upper east side and more recently Greenwich Village). This is all well and good for flyovers and 3D modeling, but the truth is that New York’s planning department has been heading down hill since the 70’s and 80’s saw development of government housing projects in all 5 boroughs. Schools have attempted to improve by segmenting themselves into smaller, more focused institutions but are facing the same problems their behemoth predecessors endured. And the biggest building project New York has seen in decades, Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Project, is an ostensible humanist project at best. New York is a lot like a ballplayer who is getting a little too old to play his position; he’s trying to do things the way he’s done it but doesn’t realize the game is being played by different rules now. What it needs is a new way to play, or some steroids, both work.

And now for something completely different. Los Angeles. Now, given I’ve never actually lived in L.A., but then again neither has anyone else. But I’ve spent a good amount of my rambling life around it. LA is in a lot of ways the Bizzaro New York; while people from New York hate people who say they’re from New York and are actually from the surrounding areas, people in LA know that you don’t actually live there but somewhere around there. Los Angeles actually refers to a 100+ mile stretch of land north of San Diego and reaching up to Santa Barbara, and anyone who lives in that expanse is for better or worse from LA.

Los Angeles is terribly planned. Plain and simple. The downtown is a ghost town between the hours of 6 PM and 8 AM save for some swanky bars frequented by powerful yuppies. The residential areas, wait Los Angeles has residential areas? Let’s say you want to go from Pasadena to Santa Monica for dinner one night, both of which are within the L.A. county line. Unless you catch the I-10 on those wondrous nights when only a few hundred cars are on it, expect to leave at 6 for 8 PM dinner reservations. Did I mention the two places are less than 15 miles apart? That’s what LA is, a labyrinth of highways and completely separated commercial and residential zones. I mentioned it being the bizzaro New York though, right? Well for all it’s faults, LA still has some of the most breathtaking real estate in the world, some of the most generous homeless programs in the US, and some of the nicest (and best looking) people you’ll ever meet. Los Angeles has in unexpected pleasures and intangibles what New York has in technical masterpiece (though New York has plenty of those other ingredients too), which makes it a terrible city but a really great place.

And here’s what most of you have been waiting for, my 3rd favorite city in the U.S., San Francisco. Given a place is what you make of it, and I’ve made a lot of the city by the bay in my extensive time over the last 5 years. A great place to live, a great place to party, a terrible place to love sports teams (with the exception of the Go-Go Warriors). LA and SF are such diametrically opposed places that I’m surprised by the fact that more has not been made about their mirror images. SF has the technical planning down pat, LA has the real estate that people from all over the world are looking for. If you dropped one on top on another there’s no doubt that San Angeles would rival New York as America’s tourist destination.

Sorry I’m going on about San Francisco’s comparative qualities and not talking about the city itself. Well first of all, the Giants suck, let’s just get that out of the way. Second of all, SF proper has done an amazing job with the space it’s been given. Originally of course, cities were built on hills for defense purposes, you can see it in many of the classic metropolis’ of the world. I see such distinct similarities between Istanbul and San Francisco that I’m wondering if the SF’s planner wasn’t a Turk. The difficulties of building a modern city on a hill are obvious, water drainage, building integrity, transportation difficulties, the list goes on and on. San Francisco has handled each with a stunning amount of grace and precision. A well manicured grid system has kept road traffic light, a bus system that is both sustainable and well-directed, and a populous that is knowledgeable and vigilant have made San Francisco the Paris of America. If you’re into that.
Last and certainly least is Boston. Now I’ve only lived in the city for slightly under a year but already the planning has driven me insane enough to actually apply to Department of Transportation and the MBTA in the hopes of making things a little better. From afar, Boston is an obvious mix of old and new. Certain areas are rounded and roundabout much like farm roads while others are strict grids based on the Mormon model (yes most gridded cities are based on a model from those yokels in Utah, dear Lord the irony). This makes for roads that split off and turn without warning leaving most out of towners lost and angry, adding to the dismal driving that Boston harbors (NB: people think New York drivers are some of the worst, this is a common misconception. They are just extremely aggressive but equally knowledgeable. Boston drivers are the previous without the latter).

It might sound like Boston draws most of my ire in terms of city planning, and well you’re right. There are some great areas, don’t get me wrong, but Boston suffers from an overabundance of bars and a lack of truly cosmopolitan ambience which any city worth its salt knows is important. And it’s road system and public transportation is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Cambridge is cool though.

So there’s my list. Feel free to yell at me, tell me I’m wrong, call me names, the usual. I’m sorry I didn’t get to the international cities but I would have been getting above 2000 words doing that so I figured most of you would be bored enough with the 1500 I already have. I want to hear from you all! That’s why I write!

Bonus: Irvine, CA might be the best planned city in the world. There is no blade of grass that was not placed there with the overall plan in mind. I tell you man, those White and Chinese planning teams can really do conformity well. Take a look at its stats and you’ll realize that if there was ever technical perfection in “urban” planning, Irvine would be it.

Also, digital database and geographical information system (GIS) mapping, being undertaken by Survey of India (SOI), will help various cities preparing their master plans and executing detailed town planning, according to the officials in the urban development ministry.

The towns include Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Adilabad and Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh, Dibrugarh and Nagaon in Assam, Arrah and Bhagalpur in Bihar, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar in Gujarat, Shimla and Sonal in Himachal Pradesh, Samba and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad in Jharkhand, just to name a few.

Though bigger cities have not been funded by the Centre under this scheme, it’s expected that the local governments of those cities will initiate such mapping on their own. Delhi, for example, has launched a pilot programme on GIS mapping in some parts of the city.

Sources further said that the satellite images for 120 towns in 33 states were already been procured, and aerial survey is being planned for 142 towns. Many of these towns, however, are common in both cases. Also, Survey of India has completed construction of 333 permanent ground control point monuments in 71 towns in 32 states, and 454 monuments are under observation in 66 towns in 32 states. The government’s initiative is a part of the ongoing national urban information system (NUIS).

Urban development secretary M Ramachandran told that the GIS mapping would help authorities to monitor even individual flats. “Once this mapping is done, one can easily detect how big a house is, how many rooms it has, and so on. The tax evasion will be quite difficult then,” he said.

Rajeev Talwar, group executive director of DLF, said that once such satellite mapping is done, land titles will become clearer and it will pave the for lowering stamp duties. “Cleaner land titles mean more transparent property transactions which further implies that the tax revenues of the government will go up. Stamp duty on land can then be lowered and this can be of great benefit to everyone.”

Vivek Dahiya, director, DTZ, said it would help track ownership of land better. “The system will help track supply and figure out what stands where. It can be of enormous help for town planning as one would know how much land to acquire, how much social infrastructure is needed, whether it should be for residential or commercial use,” he said.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

A 2004 paper in the journal Environment Science and Engineering by imd scientists says pH values in rainwater has been dropping in India. The study finds a link between acid rains and the rising levels of sulphur and nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere.

Industrialisation is the prime driver of the acid rain phenomenon. Besides acid rain, experts also link changes in precipitation patterns to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation across the globe. The changes include increased rains and snowfall in northern regions, and drier conditions in tropical areas.

A recent paper in Nature (Vol 448, No 7157) clearly establishes this link. Human-induced climate change in the past century has contributed to the drying observed in Mexico, Central America and northern Africa, says Canadian climate scientist Xuebin Zhang who is one of the authors. The paper says that these shifts may have had significant effects on ecosystems especially in regions that are sensitive to changes in precipitation, such as the Sahel region in northern Africa.

Industrialisation is the prime driver of the acid rain phenomenon. Besides acid rain, experts also link changes in precipitation patterns to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation across the globe. The changes include increased rains and snowfall in northern regions, and drier conditions in tropical areas.

A recent paper in Nature (Vol 448, No 7157) clearly establishes this link. Human-induced climate change in the past century has contributed to the drying observed in Mexico, Central America and northern Africa, says Canadian climate scientist Xuebin Zhang who is one of the authors. The paper says that these shifts may have had significant effects on ecosystems especially in regions that are sensitive to changes in precipitation, such as the Sahel region in northern Africa.
Industrialisation is the prime driver of the acid rain phenomenon. Besides acid rain, experts also link changes in precipitation patterns to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation across the globe. The changes include increased rains and snowfall in northern regions, and drier conditions in tropical areas.

Acid rain has many baneful effects. It upsets chemical balance in water bodies, releasing toxic metals. This causes serious health problems to people. Acid rain also triggers leaching of important nutrients from the soil, affecting plants. When snow with acid deposit melts, higher concentration of acid gets released, affecting fish. Acid rains also cause corrosion in buildings—the Taj Mahal being a case in point.

Studies show the importance to regularly monitor more places for acid rains. But the mechanism to study acid rains is at present inadequate in India. imd stations are not located in the most polluted areas in the country. The department has not yet looked into all the industrial areas.

read more

It's surprisingly accurate - my west end Toronto neighbourhood scores very well, as does the house nearby where I grew up. My old apartment in Edinburgh's Old Town (pictured below, with New Town in the background) is more walkable still, and Mississauga City Centre, a local suburban business district, barely breaks fifty despite a great concentration of goods and services at Square One, a huge shopping centre. (It's a long, windswept walk between building complexes.)

Before switching to economics, I was an urban studies major, so this sort of thing interests me. But watch while I connect it to feminist economics using one of Susan Feiner's recent posts! She references Krugman in writing about the perils of pedestrian-unfriendly neighbourhood, and the isolating effect they can have on women who work at home.

45 years ago American feminist Betty Friedan saw how suburban isolation undermined women’s health and restricted women’s choices. [...] Friedan’s analysis was pooh-poohed as a “women’s” issue. Coming soon to a station near you: $5.00/gallon gas. VOILLA!

Sprawling suburbs are a national (and therefore not gendered) problem. Feminist ways of thinking reveal new sides of way more issues than equal pay, child care, and reproductive choice. 10 minutes ago would you have realized how critically women’s lives are affected by the supply of mass transit? Until we expand, upgrade and diversify the nation’s transportation network women will be stuck in isolated homes, far from shops, schools, and workplaces.

Read the rest of the post here.

For the rest of the world's most expensive cities, follow this link, and scroll through the photos to learn more!  

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0523_expensive_housing/source/1.htm

The resources that the author uses to base his analysis are interviews with real people. This ethnographic approach is highly useful when trying to isolate and discover particular reasons and experiences that individuals have when using their personal stereos. He seems to mix it up with young commuters, teenagers, older people, bus riders, housewives, businessmen, etc. I found the interviews with each of the people to be extremely revealing about how they cope with the stresses and challenges of their day to day lives.

One of the reasons people use personal stereos is to construct an imaginary space to connect with someone else. The feeling of being alone, despite being in the center of thousands of other urban residents, seems to drive many of people to connect with others (voices) so that they can forget about their loneliness. I think that is why many people listen to radio talk shows or respond to the solipsistic YouTube video posts or use online dating tools. The need to connect with and be with others is so very necessary to our humanity that even the illusion of having eliminated that chasm is sufficient sometimes to be free of loneliness. In the case of the woman with the dj, she accepts the illusion that she is with a familiar friend even though, obviously, the dj is not physically present.

People use personal stereos to ensure a feeling of security by maintaining control of the external sounds of their environment. As Michael Bull pointed out, the perceived reduction of distance from the safety and security of the home is achieved through the use of listening to a controlled track on the personal stereo.

The aura created by surrounding oneself with a familiar soundtrack induces a sense of being cacooned and engulfed in a safe place. This provides a comforting, reassuring and stress-reducing atmosphere. Anyone who has ever non-chalantly left a radio on softly in the corner for a pet as they leave for the grocery store has inadvertently used this technique to try and produce a feeling of security.

I enjoyed Michael Bull's discussion of the dialectic nature of personal stereo use: there is the reality of the user and the reality of the person seeing the user. This is discussed in the chapter entitled Empowering the Gaze. Some of the interviewed subjects in his study made use of the personal stereo to construct a space that would reject unwanted advances. This made me think about how people use the ipod today: it has become so ubiquitous that perhaps many of the premises of Michael Bull's thesis might have to be re-examined in the context of the ubiquity of cell phones, ipods, blackberries and other personal technologies. These days, using any of these devices does not guarantee a personal zone anymore!

What is actually STILL true to this day is the discussion of the use of personal stereos as a way to reconfigure public space into personal space from your own brain. As Michael Bull claims, "the site of experience is transformed from the inside out"; for example, what you're listening to changes the perception of the space you're walking into. From a young age, we learn that bringing our own audio soundtrack into a place will instantly transform it to whatever we like: listening to Dick Dale at a bonfire on the beach will provide the viewer with feelings of a trip to a distant 50's vintage past; blasting Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" while picking up some kitchen knives at some small-town farmer's grocery in Minnesota will likely make the listener giggle at her own personal comedy show.

What I found really interesting is the investigation of the use of technology to reduce stress. On page 33, Michael Bull points out that, if the music is stopped or if someone finds themselves in a situation without their stereo that the person feels totally freaked out. He mentions that "left to themselves with no distractions, users often experience feelings of anxiety." The personal stereo is a device used to alleviate perceptions of alienation, of small-ness and of insignificance, especially in the realm of the urban environment. Hence, the necessity of having that sense of we-ness, or being a part of something else even if not in physical reality.

The discussion of the reciprocal gaze is quite fascinating and reminds me of debates I've had with others about Laura Mulvey and her theories of visual pleasure. Although Michael Bull explains in his preface that he is not considering gendered aspects of his study, aspects of feminist critical theory pop up whenever I read about claiming visual space. Strategies of urban survival are dependent upon proper use of 'the look' and how to manage separateness and maintain subjective distance.

So, to sum up and answer the question posed: "How then should the site of experience be articulated so as to cast explanatory light upon personal-stereo use?" As with any space, whether private or personal, there is no real true collective experience when it comes to evaluating a site based upon this variable. To fully convey a particular experience when connected to physical space, the soundtrack or accompanying audio used by the agent has to be taken into consideration as a major influence upon that moment.

I use my ipod for a multitude of reasons: they are all covered in the Michael Bull reading: to combat loneliness, to pass the time, to have control over the noise in my environment, to make a bring situation more palatable, to connect with others' ideas. But I also use it for a ton of other reasons: to critically review my friends' audio compositions, to inform myself of news around the world, to self-educate through lecture podcasts, to avoid annoying people, to try and fall asleep on the plane, to set a pace for my exercising, to learn a new song that I have to play, and more. What do you use yours to do?

Source:
Bull, Michael. Sounding Out the City : Personal Stereos & the Management of Everyday Life. Oxford, , GBR: Berg Publishers, 2000. p 17-28, 31-37, 71-83.

Check out this yet-to-be-completed exchange I am having with the staff of the Journal of Architectural and Planning Research. JAPR for short. "Reviewer 1" is being a typical foolish academic. If I were to "revise" this paper again, it would be time 4. As far as I know this is unheard of. This reviewer, identity unknown due to the double blind review process (which I am now risking the integrity of!! ha! ha!!), keeps harping on the same things repeatedly; things that I have addressed three times already, but in each response reviewer 1 just rewords his/her "concerns" and "suggestions" likely to fulfill his/her expected role of being "critical." What a sham.

Below is the email I received from the journal staff, my response first... and then pasted below that is the review I have alluded to.
-----
With all due respect this is absurd. I agree with reviewer 2. I will not
be making any further revisions other than the standard suggestions of the
publisher's editor. If you would like to publish the article fantasic.

Truly,
********

> Good Morning Mr. *******,
>
>
>
> We have now received the reviews for your manuscript (R-2121-2). As you
> will note by the attached reviews, this manuscript is very near
> acceptance. Please carefully consider the comments from reviewer 1 and
> let us know if you plan to revise and resubmit the manuscript. You will
> also receive a letter and a copy of the reviews in the mail.
>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
> Denise Venuti
>
>
>
>
Reviewer 1

Review of "Sense of community in the neighborhood: What's place got to do with it?" (second revision of the article formerly entitled "Sense of community and the urban milieu: A look at measurement and empirical data from San Francisco" (JAPR ms JAPR ms 2121-2

This version of the paper is greatly improved over the last version, and I greatly appreciate the author's efforts to address my comments on the last version. I still think the study makes a helpful contribution to the literature and warrants publication; however, as I see it, some additional work remains. I realize that the author may be losing patience, and I do not myself want to have to review the paper again, but I still see some loose ends that I think the author should want to tie up. Some are significant, but none should require a substantial amount of work.

1. Some statements regarding the aims of the research need clarification. The author states on pp. 1-2 that the present research aims to address the following question: what role should physical environmental factors play in the measurement of sense of community? [italics added here and below for emphasis]? I still do not think that the author has expressed it correctly. Given what the author has stated previously on p. 1 and from what follows in the remainder of the paper, it seems to me that the aims of the paper are two-fold: to address the issue of how place attachment should be represented in the measurement of sense of community (SOC), and to examine the associations between physical environmental factors and sense of community, inclusive of place attachment. I reiterate what I said previously: none of the items in the SOC measure presented in the paper makes explicit reference to a characteristic of the built environment. It is one thing to represent the built environment in the measure itself, and quite another thing to include in one's SOC measure an aspect of SOC that one could expect to be sensitive to variations in the physical environment. I think it is actually the latter of these that the author wants to address. With some minor tinkering her and there, the author can clarify this point. For example, on pp. 1-2, the question can be rephrased as follows: what role might [not should, which is inappropriately prescriptive] physical environmental factors play in the development [not measurement] of sense of community. Also, the first of the two stated purposes at the top of p. 3 could be modified to read, "As the assessment of the relationship [and not simply "As the relationship …] …." The author can work through the manuscript to make sure that other indications of the aims of the paper are clarified in this respect.

2. The introduction still needs some reworking. The overview of the study does not work. As I see it, it should be the section in which the author very briefly summarizes the main issues introduced in the foregoing and the research questions and hypotheses that follow from them, and then states the approach taken to address those questions/hypotheses (e.g., I addressed these questions in a survey of residents of neighborhoods in a large American city…). The material now on p. 8 would work better if integrated with the material that introduces the given issue earlier on.

Some minor edits:

In the abstract, the sentence starting "Results indicate …" is awkward. The author could divide it into two sentences, one for a description of the scale properties and the other for results concerning prediction of SOC by environmental variables.

Last full paragraph on p. 2: Delete "… (in preliminary fashion) …", "logically" and the sentence starting "Of course, …". Regarding the last point, the fact that many people self-select into neighborhoods provides at least one kind of evidence that the possibility is reasonable; the author need not devalue it by describing it as "pure speculation".

Just following the statement of objectives and just before the section on "Sense of community in community psychology", the author could add 1-2 sentences that explain that the following sections will provide further background on each of the stated objectives.

On p. 4, where the author writes "…New Urbanism … is often the vehicle": I wonder whether it wouldn't be more accurate to say something like "… has in recent years been used with increasing frequency as the vehicle …".

On p. 5, the heading "Studies in urban planning measuring sense of community" is both inaccurate and unnecessary. The contents of the section concern New Urbanist design measures as predictors of SOC. As indicated before, this is not a measurement issue, but a question of whether the physical environment affects (is associated with, predicts…) SOC. The author can simply delete the heading so that the section is merged with the foregoing section, which has a heading appropriate to the material.

On p. 9, under the Sense of community subsection, the author should delete the second sentence, and wait until the description of the factor analyses and results to refer to the three subscales.

On p. 10, regarding the assumption that "deeper relationships" are needed for SOC to emerge, the author might want to consult Lofland's (1998) book, The Public Realm: Exploring the City's Quintessential Territory (New York: Aldine de Gruyter). She convincingly assigns importance to the superficial and fleeting day-to-day contacts that people have with strangers and near-strangers in the public realm. Arguably, the civility and warmth of the strangers one meets also work to promote SOC in an urban milieu.

On p. 12, the author should consider moving the paragraph on sample characteristics out of the Results section and into a Participants subsection at the end of the Methods section. The Results section would then include only that information concerned with the study objectives. That point aside, the first sentence of the paragraph in question should be deleted. One should not state a study objective for the first time at the beginning of the Results section, and in any case the cross-sectional data do not enable one to shed light on the dynamics of sense of community, as dynamics imply change over time. The last sentence in that paragraph is also not needed, as Table 1 has already been introduced.

On p. 14, the author states that the paper "presents a model of sense of community." I would not say that the paper presents a model so much as it presents a measure of SOC that, by including place attachment, implies a particular model of SOC.

On p. 15, rather than stating that the findings are not generalizable, the author could state more accurately that the findings have unknown generalizability. In the same sentence (and in the abstract), rather than "limited support", the author could state that the results lend "some support" to the given claims. "Limited" to me has a negative connotation that does not fit in the present context.

On p. 15, the author notes that extreme high and low-density urban/suburban communities were not represented. The author could make the estimation problem explicit here by adding a sentence to the effect that restriction of range in a variable can attenuate estimates of association.

On p. 17, I note that the Discussion section has concluded without the author summarizing the case for representing place attachment in the measurement of SOC.

The author still inappropriately uses causal language when referring to results based on correlational data (e.g., p. 2, line 3, reference to effect). The author should go through the manuscript again to eliminate any remaining language that suggests or implies causal relations between the measured variables.

A couple more references that the author could want to cite:

-- Hjärne (1986), Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research: He criticizes the idea that one can plan the residential environment to promote the development of social networks.

-- Fuhrer, Kaiser and Hartig (1993), Journal of Environmental Psychology: They report a relationship between urban neighborhood traffic intensity and place attachment.

The format of Table 1 is confusing. I suggest that the scale name and details be placed above, not below, the constituent items, and that the Xs be in the columns. I would also exclude the information on the auto use and diversity measures from the table and the note to the table and move the necessary details into the relevant subsections in the Method.

In Table 3, the author could as well delete the bivariate associations for the specific auto use items.

Recommendation

Accept after minor revision.

Reviewer 2

I am now satisfied that the paper is now acceptable for publication.

What I've realized from wandering around today is that Jaime Nebot, the mayor of this port city on the River Guayas, is a self-promoter. And part of me says he has reason to be. During his tenure, state and private funds transformed the depressed boardwalk into the gorgeous Malecón 2000, a park with museums, theaters, and restaurants that snakes along the estuary. Visiting today with my Columbia buddy, Eric Hirsch and a friend who participated in SIT's Peru program with him, I just gawked at just how green, clean, and well-maintained it all looked.

We continued into Santa Ana, a barrio built into a large hill overlooking the water. This spot was once one of the most dangerous in the city, a place where cops wouldn't even dare to patrol as its winding streets and dark alleys providing safe haven for ladrones. Today, it is a polished tourist destination, thanks to mayoral intitiatives. Stone steps wind through cafes, bars, stores, and cement homes painted a rainbow of bright colors, informational signs and security guards are positioned every few hundred yards, every so often on the route up the hill, there is a garden, plaza, or playground. (Photos to come, I'm writing this from our hostel). I didn't get a chance to really talk to the people of the town and the streets did seem a little dead on this random Monday afternoon, but I can imagine they appreciate the renovation. Nebot isn't shy about letting people know who did the deed. His name is practically on every castiron lamppost.

But Guayaquil is a city of extremes. While the city's elites (the king of banana exports, and the richest man in Ecuador, Alvaro Noboa) live like the wealthiest people in Miami Beach, the Guasmos slums at the southern end of the city are home to some of the country's poorest. Every few weeks, there are reports (more in El Comercio, Quito's daily, than in Guayaquil's paper, which is a big Nebot fan) about the city's failure to collect the trash in many neighborhoods on time. Plastic bags of refuse just pile up on the sides of the roads. It's an uneven place that, in this respect, can really stand in for most Latin American cities. Wikipedia has also written some about how Nebot's gentrification plan was modeled after Giuliani's in New York, and about the sometimes excessive force used by police to keep street vendors out of the Malecòn.

Even still, most Guayaquileños love Nebot. He's continued the city's age old quest to cecede from the country, the argument being, they make all of the country's money, yet officials in Quito get to spend it. He has been in a well-publicized war with President Correa to get the city more respect (the serrana in me wants to say: as if the city doesn't get enough respect already). But I think his positive public image here is due more to how flashy and impressive his projects are. And the fact that his name is always on a gold-plated plaque somewhere.

The foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Fog is frequent there as the Grand Banks is the meeting place of the cold Labrador Current from the north and the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south. The foggiest land areas in the world are Point Reyes, California, and Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, both with over 200 foggy days a year.

Fog forms when the difference (Δ) between temperature and dewpoint is (5 °F) 3 °C, or less.

Fog begins to form when water vapor (a colorless gas) condenses into tiny liquid water droplets in the air. Conversely, water vapor is formed by the evaporation of liquid water or by the sublimation of ice. Since water vapor is colorless, it is actually the small liquid water droplets that are condensed from it that make water suspended in the atmosphere visible in the form of fog or any other type of cloud. Fog normally occurs at a relative humidity around 100%. This can be achieved by either adding moisture to the air or dropping the ambient air temperature. Fog can form at lower humidities, and fog can sometimes not form with relative humidity at 100%. A reading of 100% relative humidity means that the air can hold no additional moisture and the air will then become supersaturated if additional moisture is added. Fog formation does require all of the elements that normal cloud formation requires with the most important being condensation nuclei. When the air is saturated, additional moisture tends to condense rather than staying in the air as vapor. Condensation nuclei must be present in the form of dust, aeresols, pollutants, etc. for the water to condense upon. When there are exceptional amounts of condensation nuclei present, especially hydroscopic (water seeking such as salt, see below) then the water vapor may condense below 100% relative humidity.

Fog can form suddenly, and can dissipate just as rapidly, depending what side of the dewpoint the temperature is on. This phenomenon is known as flash fog.

Another type of formation also common is sea fog (also knows as salt fog or salty Fog). This is due to the peculiar effect of salt. Clouds of all types require minute hygroscopic particles upon which water vapor can condense. Over the ocean surface, the most common particles are salt from salt spray produced by breaking waves. Except in areas of storminess, the most common areas of breaking waves are located near coastlines, hence the greatest densities of airborne salt particles are there. Condensation on salt particles has been observed to occur at humidities as low as 70%, thus fog can occur even in relatively dry air in suitable locations such as the California coast. Typically, such lower humidity fog is preceded by a transparent mistiness along the coastline as condensation competes with evaporation, a phenomenon that is typically noticeable by beachgoers in the afternoon.
Fog occasionally produces precipitation in the form of drizzle. Drizzle occurs when the humidity of fog attains 100% and the minute cloud droplets begin to coalesce into larger droplets. This can occur when the fog layer is lifted and cooled sufficiently, or when it is forcibly compressed from above. Drizzle becomes freezing drizzle when the temperature at the surface drops below the freezing point.

The thickness of fog is largely determined by the altitude of the inversion boundary, which in coastal or oceanic locales is also the top of the marine layer, above which the airmass is warmer and drier. The inversion boundary varies its altitude primarily in response to the weight of the air above it which is measured in terms of atmospheric pressure. The marine layer and any fogbank it may contain will be "squashed" when the pressure is high, and conversely, may expand upwards when the pressure above it is lowering.

Fog as a visibility hazard

Light fog reducing visibility in suburban street. Cyclist is very hazy at about 200m (219 yards). Zero visibility occurs before the end of this street, which is at about 400m (437 yards).

Fog reduces visibility. Although most sea vessels can penetrate fog using radar, road vehicles have to travel slowly and use low-beam headlights. Localised fog is especially dangerous, as drivers can be caught by surprise.

At airports, some attempts have been made to develop methods (such as using heating or spraying salt particles) to aid fog dispersal. These methods enjoy some success at temperatures below freezing.

Accidents

Fog contributes to accidents, particularly with modes of transportation. Ships, trains, cars and planes cannot see each other and collide. Notable examples of accidents due to fog include the July 28, 1945 crash of a B-25 Mitchell into the Empire State Building, and the July 25, 1956 collision of the ocean liners the SS Andrea Doria and MS Stockholm.

The worst accident in aviation history occurred in the fog when 2 Boeing 747s collided in 1977 in Tenerife. One 747 had clearance to taxi down a foggy runway and the other could not see any distance down the runway when the captain decided to take off without proper clearance.

read more

On warm summer days, the air in urban areas can be 6-8°F hotter than its surrounding areas. Scientists call these cities "urban heat islands." Link to: High Temperatures

What Are Problems with the "Heat Island Effect?"

The higher temperatures in urban heat islands increases air conditioning and raises pollution levels. Link to: Air Quality and Energy Use

What Causes an Urban Heat Island?

Causes of the "heat island effect" include dark surfaces--that absorb more heat from the sun--and less vegetation that would provide shade and cool the air. Link to: Cool Roofs, Cool Pavements, and Vegetation

What Does the Heat Island Group Do?

The Heat Island Group's research is very diverse and encompasses many areas. For an overview of our projects (updated in 1999), link to: Learn > Overview. For a review of our research (up to 1998), link to: Learn > 1998 Review. The Heat Island Group also researches new cooling roofing materials. Link to: "Measurements and Database for Cool Roofing Materials"

How Can We Reduce the Heat Island Effect?

The Heat Island Group supports the development of cooler roofing and pavement materials as well as urban planting programs (see links above). The Heat Island Group also develops guideline standards to mitigate the heat island effect through regional and local building design codes. Link to: Learn > "Wholesale Technology Transfer: Standards"

What Would Be the Benefits of These Mitigation Measures?

As well as reduce the temperature, these measures would conserve energy and improve air quality. Link to: "Estimating Energy Saving Potentials of Heat Island Mitigation Measures" and Learn > "Meteorological and Air-Quality Modeling" In addition, cooler pavements would also be more durable and may also be useful at nighttime. link to: "Benefits of Cooler Pavements"

What's an Example of a Heat Island?

source:http://heatisland.lbl.gov

Greenbelts were established to prevent the continued growth of many of the largest cities of England and Scotland.

They are rings of heavily protected open land circling an urban area. They aim to protect the surrounding countryside from development, and in some cases stop two large cities from merging. Planning permission is not usually granted for schemes on green belt land, although there is often great pressure to allow some proposals through.

The M25 is built through much of London’s greenbelt. One of the main problems of the greenbelts is that they have led to people commuting further into work.

The Rural-Urban Fringe

The Rural-Urban fringe is the name given to the land at the edge of an urban area, where there is often a huge mixture of land uses.

Often science parks, business parks and industrial estates locate in the rural-urban fringe as the land is cheaper, there is room for expansion and they are closer to transport links to allow export and import of goods.

Motorways and by-passes, such as the M25 and the Newbury by-pass have been built on the rural-urban fringe, much to the disgust of environmental groups who feel that the area should be kept as green as possible.

Recreational land-uses such as golf courses and leisure parks have been established in the rural-urban fringe.

Housing has also encroached into the rural-urban fringe, and small villages have grown as more people move out of the cities and commute to work.

Out-of-town shopping centres also find that the space available, good transport connections and cheap land encourage them to establish in the rural-urban fringe.

Farming still occurs in the rural-urban fringe, although the farmers often come under great pressure to sell their land for development. A farmer will make far more money from a sale if there is already planning permission for building to occur on the land.

Source:http://www.s-cool.co.uk

Dulu pedestrian di sepanjang Boulevard tidak benar-benar lurus, ia terputus di bagian jembatan. Maka pada medio 2007 yang lalu pedestrian di bagian tersebut 'diluruskan' dan bahkan dibuatkan lajur khusus berupa jembatan baru di sisi kanan dan kiri jalan. Langkah yang ditempuh pengelola kampus kita itu cukup patut untuk diapresiasi, karena dengan adanya lajur tersebut membuat pejalan kaki lebih nyaman melintasinya. Namun, sayangnya lajur pedestrian itu hanya dibangun sampai sekitar 20 m dari jembatan itu. Kemudian pedestrian benar-benar terputus alias tidak ada lagi sambungannya.

Akibat terputusnya lajur pedestrian tersebut, para pejalan kaki terpaksa harus turun ke badan jalan untuk melanjutkan perjalanannya. Apalagi dengan kembali diterapkannya sistem arus jalan dua arah di UNS semakin memperparah ketidaknyamanan para pejalan kaki. Jalan yang menjadi semakin ramai dan kapasitasnya berkurang membuat pejalan kaki harus lebih berhati-hati agar tidak terserempet kendaraan. Untuk mengantisipasinya, pejalan kaki akan berjalan semakin ke pinggir, terkalahkan oleh motor atau mobil yang melaju di sisinya. Dengan kondisi yang demikian, maka pejalan kaki pun menjadi kaum yang termarjinalkan di antara para pemanfaat jalan kampus kita.

Sudah semestinya para penentu kebijakan kampus lebih peka dan peduli terhadap hak pejalan kaki. Direalisasikannya lajur pedestrian yang terpadu yang menghubungkan tiap-tiap blok bangunan di kampus UNS, tentunya tak akan menjadi ekspektasi yang berlebihan dalam rangka menciptakan kampus UNS yang humanis, yang lebih memanusiakan pejalan kaki.Namun barangkali lagu lama yang akan didendangkan untuk lari dari persoalan ini adalah mengenai pendanaan. Membangun lajur pedestrian yang terintegrasi di seluruh kampus memang akan menguras biaya yang tak sedikit. Tapi apakah uang akan selalu menjadi kambing hitam untuk menutupi komitmen yang lemah terhadap golongan-golongan terpinggirkan?

Jika kita mau merenung sejenak dan melepaskan segala atribut egosentris, kita akan mampu menyadari bahwa bila ditarik dalam konteks ruang yang lebih luas, maka pejalan kaki adalah ahli kota yang sesejatinya (Kusumawijaya, 2007). Dengan kelambanan kakinya, mereka menyusuri ranah perjuangan, merasakan nyata polusi udara, terik matahari, naik-turun dan ketidakrataan jalan, ketimpangan tata ruang serta tanda-tanda kepunahan peradaban yang manusiawi. Karena pejalan kakilah yang mengalami kota dengan seluruh tubuhnya secara langsung tanpa perantara, mewakili pandangan objektif manusia tentang kondisi ruang, tanpa terbiaskan oleh status sosial, kuasa kecepatan dan tenaga mesin. Karena merekalah kritikus paling jitu atas ketidakadilan akan ruang-ruang khalayak. Namun sayangnya, sebagaimana realitas yang ada di kampus kita, pejalan kaki tak pernah memenangkan apa yang selayaknya mereka peroleh, yakni lajur pedestrian untuk mereka melenggang tanpa interupsi kendaraan bermotor.

1. Foundations for Arts in Transformation
2. Arts, Creativity, and Human Development
3. Arts and Spiritual Development
4. Arts in Education
5. Organization for Community Arts

I'm sure there will be lots of fuel there for future pontifications.

I'm really nor sure where I'm going to be working so if you know any place that is hiring English Majors, besides Wendy's, then feel free to pass along some information.  I was listening to The Prairie Home Companion the other day and they told me that, "An English Major's prize, is a job selling fries, or making lattes nice and hot..."  I'm afraid that might end up being my lot, at least for the next couple of years.  I do have an interview next week with Americorps for a possible literacy position in Pittsburgh.

On April 1, 2008 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr's latest work, Armageddon in Retrospect, was published.  I received it in the mail on the 9th, and was done with it by the 12th.  I really do love old KVJ (not to be confused with KJV).  He really did respect Jesus, I'm a little disappointed he never really became a full, outright, follower of him.  Anyway, Armageddon is a series of short stories and essays about war and peace.  KVJ served during WW2, and even though he was not in combat for very long he saw some gruesome pictures of humanity.  His accounts of his German captivity in Dresden is haunting.  His depictions of Americans as just like their German enemies, as well as the Russians, helps remind us that we are no better than our enemies most of the time.  The allies firebombed Dresden into rubble.  Dresden that was a civilian city filled with hospitals, schools, the arts, and churches.  Over 100,000 lost their lives overnight, many of them women and children.  Vonnegut and his fellow prisoners spent weeks digging out bodies from the rubble.  One corpse he found was of a young boy with his dog still leashed to him.

Anyone who likes KVJ will like this book.  It is much more reserved than some of his other books.  It has an older feel to it.  Anyone interested in some creative arguments against war should pick it up too.  Fiction is capable of making the truth digestible, even if not desirable.

Jalan Thamrin, Jakarta

Perhaps someone has thought of this before. If that is so then I can say the idea holds true.

My very direct experience of Jakarta and my mental processing of that experience in the last two weeks have led me to conclude that there are six broad categories through which the modern urban setting can be considered. They may be considered in their literal sense as well in their metaphorical sense. These categories transcend economic status and gender. They are:

Buying
Selling
Consuming
Sleeping
Sex
Death

Urban activities fall into one, several, or all of these categories at any given time. These categories apply in all global urban settings.

Jakarta, being the city it is, displays these categories in some very robust ways.

The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources is promoting setting up of Waste-to-Energy projects in the country through two schemes namely i) National Programme on Energy Recovery from Urban and Industrial Wastes and ii) UNDP/ GEF assisted Project on Development of High Rate Biomethanation Processes as a means of Reducing Green House Gases Emission.

National Programme

The National Programme on Energy Recovery from Urban & Industrial wastes, launched during the year 1995-96, has the following objectives:

a) To promote setting up of projects for recovery of energy from wastes of renewable nature from Urban and Industrial sectors; and

b) To create conducive conditions and environment, with fiscal and financial regime, to develop, demonstrate and disseminate utilisation of wastes for recovery of energy.

c) To develop and demonstrate new technologies on waste-to-energy through R&D projects and pilot plants.

The scheme is applicable to private and public sector entrepreneurs and organisations as well as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for setting up of waste-to-energy projects on the basis of Build, Own & Operate (BOO), Build, Own, Operate & Transfer (BOOT), Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) and Build Operate Lease & Transfer (BOLT). It is being implemented through State Nodal Agencies, who forward the Detailed Project Reports, received from the promoters, to MNES along with their recommendations in respect of financial, managerial and technical capabilities of the promoters and on assured availability of waste materials on a long term basis (over 10 years) for operating the project smoothly.

During 2004-05, projects based on industrial wastes were entitled to interest subsidy for reducing the rate of interest to 4% for special category States and 6% for other States on the loans availed by promoters through financial institutions. Besides, incentives to State Nodal Agencies for their involvement and facilitating in execution of the projects were included under the scheme. The financial support for municipal solid wastes based projects which was available during 2002-03 (capital subsidy of 50% of the cost of projects limited to Rs.3.00 crore per MW for demonstration projects and interest subsidy for commercial projects) and was under review for rationalisation.

A total of three projects based on palm oil industry waste, cattle dung & poultry waste were completed and commissioned during the year. The installed capacity of these projects was 5.00 MW, thus making the cumulative installed capacity of waste to energy projects in the country to around 46.50 MW till 31.12.2004. Out of these three projects commissioned during 2004-05, two were under the National Programme and their salient details are given below. The third project was completed under the UNDP/GEF project.

3.0 MW power project based on Palm Oil Industry Waste by M/s Sai Renewable Power Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad, at Eluru, District West Godavari, A.P: The plant has been set up based on combustion of empty bunches from palm trees and residues of palm fruits. These remains are rich in volatile substances and will be used as a fuel for the boiler in the plant. About 100 tonnes per day of palm oil industry waste is being used to produce 3 MW of power. The total cost of the project is Rs.1376 lakh out of which 70% has been taken as soft loan from IREDA and the rest as promoter’s equity. The Ministry has provided interest subsidy to IREDA on the loan provided to the promoters. The officials of MNES have visited the project and it has been working satisfactory to the capacity.

1.5 MW power project based on poultry droppings at Namakkal, Tamil Nadu : The plant has been installed by M/s G. K. Bio-Energy Pvt. Ltd., Namakkal, based on biomethanation technology to generate power using poultry droppings from one million birds of nearby poultry farms. It is based on BIMA (Biogas Induced Mixing Arrangement) technology developed and commercialised by M/s Entec, Austria. The engines used for generating power are 100% biogas engines imported from Austria. The total cost of the project is Rs.1804 lakh, out of which about 50% is IREDA’s loan at commercial rate, 30% is promoters’ equity and about 20% is capital subsidy from MNES, which is being provided as interest free loan in the beginning to be converted into capital subsidy after successful completion of the project. The project has been commissioned very recently.

The project which was under various stages of installation during the year is as below:

2.5 MW Power Generation Project based on Poultry Droppings at Namakkal, Tamil Nadu: A project for generation of 2.5 MW power and 50 tonnes per day bio-fertilizer utilising about 600 tonnes of poultry droppings per day has been sanctioned to M/s Subhashri Bio-energies Pvt. Ltd. (SBPL), Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. The project is based on the indigenous anaerobic process developed by the promoter and its total cost is Rs.24.69 crore. The Ministry is providing a capital subsidy of Rs.600 lakh @ Rs.3.00 crore per MW by considering the project as a demonstration project and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) have sanctioned the term loan of Rs.1308.34 lakh. The balance amount is being mobilised by the promoter as its equity. The Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), Chennai have been retained as consultant for vetting of structural design of the digesters and for supervision during the construction. The project execution is currently under progress and is likely to be commissioned by June 2005

In addition to the above progress on a few completed projects was continuously monitored whose details in brief are as below:

5 MW municipal solid waste (MSW) based project at Lucknow: The project has been executed by M/S Asia Bio-energy Pvt. Ltd (ABIL), Chennai on Build, Own, Operate and Maintenance basis in association with Lucknow Nagar Nigam (LNN) who are responsible for supply of required quality and quantity of MSW at the plant site. The plant based on Biomethanation technology started its commercial operation in August 2003 but could reach to a maximum generation capacity of 1.5 MW only by March 2004. The plant is presently facing problem in its operation mainly due to non-availability of the required quality of MSW free from debris, sand & silt. To solve the problem of waste supply, a meeting of the High Level Monitoring Committee, constituted for the project was held on 19th January, 2005 under the Chairmanship of Secretary, MNES wherein time bound action points were chalked out for implementation by the LNN and ABIL. It is expected that the problem of waste supply will be solved and the plant will start operating to its capacity soon.

6 MW MSW based power plant at Vijayawada: The project based on combustion technology has been executed by M/s Sriram Energy Systems (P) Ltd., Hyderabad by availing a soft loan from Technology Development Board (Department of Science and Technology) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). It was commissioned in December 2003 and is reported to be operating to its full capacity with a mix of 30% of rice husk with MSW. The total electricity generated till November 2004 was 25 million units out of which 21 million units has been exported to the grid. Total MSW treated was around 50,000 Metric tonnes.

6 MW Municipal Solid Waste Project at Andhra Pradesh: Another project based on MSW on similar technology commissioned in November, 2003 by M/S SELCO International, Hyderabad has been reported to be operating successfully. It is reported that around 28 million of units of electricity has been generated till December 2004 by treating around 1 million metric tonnes of MSW since inception. The project was completed in 2 phases; one for preparation of pallets from MSW and the other for power generation from
MSW pallets.

A few proposals for setting up of Waste-to-Energy Projects, which were accorded ‘in-principle’ approval by the Programme Advisory Committee for Waste-to-Energy Programme during previous years were monitored for their progress in obtaining financial closure and other clearances from various organisations by the promoters before they are processed for necessary support from the Ministry. The projects envisage setting up of power projects based on poultry droppings, starch industry waste, sugar cane press mud, furfural industry waste and municipal solid wastes with an aggregate capacity of about 25 MW.

Two new proposals for setting up of projects based on municipal solid waste in Surat and Rajkot were developed which are also in the process of obtaining necessary clearances and other tie-ups made with different organisations. A few proposals for setting up of power generation plants from the biogas available at existing Sewage Treatment Plants in Surat were also developed by the Surat Municipal Corporation, which are to be supported under the programme.

UNDP/GEF Project
The UNDP/GEF project was started during September 1994 with the objectives to set up demonstration sub-projects, preparation of National Master Plan, capacity building and publication of a quarterly newsletter ‘Bio Energy News’. The project is being implemented with the association of a few eminent National laboratories and institutions for providing assistance in the biomethanation technology related to issues like design, analysis of critical aspects of construction, supervision, commissioning, trouble shooting, monitoring and evaluation of projects at the demonstration stage. In addition, a couple of State Nodal Agencies have also been associated to act as implementing agencies for a few sub-projects. The waste sector considered for developing sub-projects under the programme are: i) Pulp & Paper Industry Effluent ii) Leather and Slaughterhouse Industry Wastes, iii) Vegetable Market yard Wastes, iv) Sewage/Municipal Waste Water, v) Animal Manure, vi) Starch and Tapioca Processing Industry Wastes and vii) Biogas Utilisation for power generation.

A total of 15 sub projects have been taken under UNDP/GEF project out of which 12 were already completed till 2003-04. During the year 2004-05 one more project was commissioned and its brief report is as below:

1.0 MW power project based on cattle manure at Haebowal Dairy Complex Ludhiana, Punjab: Haebowal Dairy Complex in Ludhiana, spread over an area of 50 acres, has 1490 dairies with an animal population of 1,50,000 and generate about 2500 tonnes of animal droppings. The project, based on BIMA technology, has been designed to use 235 tonnes of animal waste for generating about 0.965 MW electrical energy, most of which will be for captive use. The plant started power generation in August 2004 and has been operating at 60% of its capacity. The surplus energy after meeting the in-house power requirement is being fed to the state electricity grid. Besides, electrical energy, the project will also be producing about 75 tonnes of stabilised organic manure per day. The project is being implemented by PEDA, the State Nodal Agency with 50% financial contribution from the State Government. Constant monitoring of the project was ensured by organising meetings of the Project Steering Committee and through site visits.

Two other projects, which were under various stages of implementation, are as under:

0.5 MW power project based on slaughterhouse solid waste at M/s Hind Agro Ltd., Aligarh, U.P: M/s Hind Agro has a 100% export oriented modern integrated abattoir cum meat processing plant at Aligarh. The biogas plant being installed at their place is designed to treat solid waste generated from slaughtering of 1600 buffaloes everyday. The project for biomethanation of slaughterhouse solid wastes to produce about 4000 cum. biogas per day for generation of 0.5 MW power from about 50 tonnes per day solid wastes is under installation at M/s Hind Agro Ltd., Aligarh. The plant is being installed by M/s RSB Japan on turnkey basis under the technical supervision of Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai. All major indigenous as well as imported equipment have been installed at the site and civil work is nearing completion. The project is likely to be completed by June 2005. Regular monitoring of the project was carried out through meetings of the Steering Committee and site visits.

0.3 MW power project utilising vegetable market wastes at Koyembedu Market Complex, Chennai: The Biomethanation plant being installed at Koyembedu Market Complex (KMC), Chennai is expected to treat about 30 tonnes of Vegetable Market Wastes per day for generation of around 0.3 MW of power. The

estimated generation of biogas from the plant is about 2500 cum., besides generation of around 9-10 tonnes of organic manure having moisture content of 25-30% per day. The biogas produced will be utilised in a 230 kW imported gas engine having in-built co-generating unit for generation of electricity and thermal energy. The project is likely to be completed by March 2005. It is being implemented by Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority under the technical supervision of CLRI, Chennai. The installation of the plant is being done by M/s Enkem Engineers Pvt. Ltd, Chennai on turn-key basis. Project activities were monitored by making visits and organising meetings of the Project Steering Committees at the project site.

To explore the possibility of treating MSW at decentralised level in urban areas, details of smaller size biogas plants working on mixed urban waste in the range of 1-10 tonnes per day were collected from various suppliers/ technical institutions. One such technology has been developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and has been uccessfully implemented in the field. The technology is a modified KVIC biogas plant with two modifications made as detailed below so as to treat mixed biodegradable waste.

i) A 5 HP mixer has been introduced to process the waste before putting it into pre-digester tank. The waste is converted in slurry by mixing it with water (1:1). Usually this is the failure point as solid waste is too difficult to digest and can easily clog a system.

ii) Use of thermophilic microbes for faster degradation of the waste through aerobic process. The growth of thermophiles in the pre-digester tank is assured by mixing the waste with hot water and maintaining the temperature in the range of 55 to 60°C. The hot water supply is from solar heater/ biogas boiler.

To further improve upon this technology and standardise the design parameters for its large-scale promotion in the country, financial support was provided to BARC under UNDP project during the year. The outcome of the project is expected to be delivered by the end of financial year 2004-05.

National Master Plan: A National Master Plan (NMP) for Development of ‘Waste-to-Energy Programme’ in India, is being prepared through a consultancy organisation namely M/s Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH), Mumbai, as part of the UNDP/GEF assisted Project on “Development of High Rate Biomethanation Processes” The overall structure of NMP is to prepare a Road Map for Recovery of Energy from Wastes during the next 15 years. The draft document on the National Master Plan prepared during 2003-04 was discussed with all the stakeholders in a conference organised in Delhi on 29th April 2004 and is now under finalisation. The conference was attended by 60 officials from Central & State Governments, NGOs, financial & technical institutions, promoters, UNDP project beneficiaries, consultants, etc. The NMP is available on website: www.indiawteplan.com

Bio Energy Newsletter: A quarterly newsletter “Bio Energy News” (BEN) is being published on a regular basis since September 1996. The Newsletter focuses on developments taking place in the field of waste processing and treatment technologies, waste management practices, bio-energy, etc. Two issues of this newsletter were published during the year. BEN is also available on the website of MNES (www.mnes.nic.in) as well as that of UNDP (www.undp.org).

New R&D Projects
Two new R&D projects viz. (i) Demonstration of sulfdry process – a low cost hydrogen sulphide removal system for power generation: by M/s Engineers India Ltd., Gurgaon and (ii) Applied R&D applications of USAB system and energy recovery from tannery wastewater at CETP Dindigul, Tamilnadu: by CLRI, Chennai have been initiated during this year with financial participation from other stakeholders.

Other Activities
A National seminar on ‘Biomass based decentralised power generation’ organised by SPRERI, Vallabh Vidyanagar was attended by U&I Group official on 21st January 2005 wherein a status of the Ministry’s programme on Waste to Energy in the country was presented among the participants.

A presentation on ‘UNDP/GEF assisted Project on Development of High Rate Biomethanation Processes’ was made by the U&I Group officials in the UNDP/GEF session on ‘Integrating Global Environmental Issues into National Development Agenda’ at International Congress on Renewable Energy (ICORE-2005) organised by SESI at Pune during 20-22nd January 2005.

A Meeting was convened by the Ministry of Urban Development at New Delhi on 17th December 2004 with technology experts and developers to discuss various technological options available for the treatment and disposal of municipal solid wastes in a scientific and hygienic manner. The meeting was attended by the U&I Group officials.

A visit to 6 MW capacity MSW based power plant and RDF preparation plant based on MSW installed by M/s SELCO International at Hyderabad was made by the members of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy during 17-18th October, 2004. Officials of MNES and State Government accompanied the Parliamentary Committee. The Committee appreciated the initiative taken by M/s SELCO International in treating the MSW of Hyderabad City by way of installation of these plants.

To promote renewable energy devices including Waste to energy projects in urban areas, a national conference was organised in Delhi on 6th September 2004, which was attended by the Mayors, Municipal Commissioners of the country. A separate session on waste to energy was conducted in the conference wherein presentations on two projects, one on 6MW capacity power plant based on MSW combustion technology at Hyderabad, the other on 5MW capacity power plant based on MSW Biomethanation technology were made by the concerned promoters.

source:http://mnes.nic.in

A recent press release points to a study in the Urban Studies journal that highlighted the impact of neighborhood type on exercise. Basically, the following neighborhood characteristics were associated with less exercise:

• higher levels of poverty
• lower levels of education
• more families headed by women

The author's interpretation of these results was that individuals are less likely to spend recreational time outside when they perceive a higher level of danger in their neighborhood. It certainly makes sense: anyone would be far more comfortable being active outside in a neighborhood that feels safe than one that appears "shady". Also, one could assume that a poorer neighborhood would have less access to indoor exercise equipment, whether it be individually owned or at a gym. It would be interesting to see the difference in the density of fitness centers/gyms between the neighborhoods examined.

Another interesting finding from the study was that the impact of neighborhood characteristics on exercise was more pronounced in women than men. I wonder if this difference was due to a) concern for safety and/or b) child-rearing duties. There are obviously many complicated socioeconomic factors in play here - I don't dare speculate too much.

But, income alone was not a reliable predictor of exercise. Lower income did not necessarily associate with lower amounts of exercise. As I discussed in a previous post, fitness is not exactly a luxury. I'm reminded of this every time I see mention of the wealthiest individuals in the world or the "Billionaire List" - ever take a look at how many of them are grossly overweight? Money doesn't buy fitness. [And don't think Bill Gates is thin because he's a fitness guru - he looks like an under-eating waif who's been a stick figure his entire life. I bet he can't do a single pull-up.]

I'm a forward thinking person, and I think that drives some people crazy. It sometimes drives me crazy. I've been looking forward to life after graduation for a while. I've wanted to move to Aliquippa since I first worked there back in 2006. I considered transferring to two different colleges in the area. But now, graduation is finally on the horizon, and I've got some exciting things coming.

A little over a week ago I received a letter of acceptance to Eastern University for a graduate program in Urban Studies: Arts in Transformation. I sent in my non-refundable deposit this week, which pretty much seals that I will be going there next Fall. It is a two year Master of Arts program designed for people who work full time on the side. It is low residency, so I only need to be in Philly for about two weeks a semester. I'll be moving into Aliquippa initially for at least the next year. When I get more information on courses and all that I'll probably update.

A little over a week ago I received a letter of acceptance to Eastern University for a graduate program in Urban Studies: Arts in Transformation. I sent in my non-refundable deposit this week, which pretty much seals that I will be going there next Fall. It is a two year Master of Arts program designed for people who work full time on the side. It is low residency, so I only need to be in Philly for about two weeks a semester. I'll be moving into Aliquippa initially for at least the next year. When I get more information on courses and all that I'll probably update.

It has been 12 years since the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas unleashed his concept of “the generic city,” a sprawling metropolis of repetitive buildings centered on an airport and inhabited by a tribe of global nomads with few local loyalties. His argument was that in its profound sameness, the generic city was a more accurate reflection of contemporary urban reality than nostalgic visions of New York or Paris.

Now he may get a chance to create his own version.

Designed for one of the biggest developers in the United Arab Emirates, Nakheel, Mr. Koolhaas’s master plan for the proposed 1.5-billion-square-foot Waterfront City in Dubai would simulate the density of Manhattan on an artificial island just off the Persian Gulf. A mix of nondescript towers and occasional bold architectural statements, it would establish Dubai as a center of urban experimentation as well as one of the world’s fastest growing metropolises.

The mixed-use project, startling in scale, is a carefully considered critique not just of the generic city but of a potentially greater evil: the growing use of high-end architecture as a tool for self-promotion. To Mr. Koolhaas this strategy, which many architects refer to as the Bilbao syndrome, reduces cities to theme parks of architectural tchotchkes that mask an underlying homogeneity.

His strategy is not to reject either trend outright but to locate each one’s hidden, untapped potential, or as he puts it, “to find optimism in the inevitable.”

In Dubai Mr. Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture seem at first glance to have simply combined the two concepts, creating a hybrid of the generic and the fantastic. The core of the development would be the island, which would be divided into 25 identical blocks. Neat rows of towers — some tall and slender, others short and squat, depending on the zoning — line the blocks, as if a fragment of Manhattan had been removed with a scalpel and reinserted in the Middle East.

The monotony is broken by mixed-use structures whose immense scale and formal energy draw on mythic examples from architectural history. A spiraling 82-story tower might have been inspired by the minaret of the ninth-century Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq; a gargantuan 44-story sphere brings to mind the symbolic forms of the 18th-century architect Étienne-Louis Boullée. The tilting intertwined towers of a complex dubbed “the loop” are a more elaborate version of Mr. Koolhaas’s headquarters for China Central Television, being built in Beijing.

These varied elements are organized with Mr. Koolhaas’s customary flair for composition. (Although his desire to tackle big urban issues can sometimes make him seem dismissive of the design work that makes up the average architect’s life, he remains one of the art’s greatest practitioners.)

The island project would be a perfect square, emphasizing its isolation. The tallest towers are concentrated along the project’s southern edge to shield the interior blocks from the blazing sun. The gigantic sphere is placed precariously at the water’s edge, setting the entire ensemble artfully off balance. The spiraling tower stands just across from it, on a narrow spit of land that forms a barrier between the island and the gulf.

The way Mr. Koolhaas addresses the island’s isolation raises the most difficult questions. If his island of densely packed towers evokes a fragment of the great 20th-century metropolis, it can also conjure its dystopian twin: a miniaturized version of a city of glittering towers built for the global elite, barricaded against the urban poor and its makeshift shantytowns. (Think of George A. Romero’s 2005 flick, “Land of the Dead,” with its menacing corporate masters peering down on a world of faceless zombies.)

Mr. Koolhaas softens this effect by creating a series of somewhat tenuous connections to other developments on the mainland. Along with four slender bridges — one on each side of the square — Mr. Koolhaas plans to link the project to the fledging Dubai transit system, which is already under construction. More towers would rise opposite the island on a curved embankment, as if the island city were spilling beyond its boundaries.

But the thrust of his strategy is to turn the logic of the gated community on its head: isolation becomes a way to trap urban energy rather than keep it out. His goal is to imbue his waterfront enclave with enough complexity to provide a distilled version of the great metropolis within this moated sanctuary.

A waterfront boardwalk would surround the island. A narrow public park slices through its center; shaded sidewalk arcades are meant to draw people out of the air-conditioned buildings. In its northeastern reaches the plan’s geometric grid gives way to an intimate warren of alleyways, like a traditional souk.

Mr. Koolhaas takes a similarly textured approach to the buildings themselves. The sphere, for instance, is conceived as a self-contained three-dimensional urban neighborhood. Various public institutions are encased within smaller spheres suspended inside the space that are connected by escalators enclosed in long tubes. These smaller spheres are embedded in layers of residential housing, like embryos floating in a womb.

In the spiral tower terraces wrap around a soaring public atrium crisscrossed with escalators and walkways, an effort to pull the surrounding street life right up through the interiors.

Will it work? Some of the public zones, still in the earliest stages of design, are surprisingly conventional, including the formal arrangement of the park, which could be likened to the Champs-Élysées. So far the boardwalks framing the project lack the intricate layering of public and private spaces found, say, on the Corniche in Beirut.

Whatever his social goals, Mr. Koolhaas will have little control over the makeup of this community, which, if current development in waterfront Dubai is any indication, is still likely to serve a small wealthy elite.

Then there is the question of scale. Covering six and a half square miles, the island is roughly the size of a small urban neighborhood. Is this large enough to sustain the dense social fabric that Mr. Koolhaas is after? Or is it more likely to become a new species of gated enclave, architecturally stupendous yet profoundly exclusionary? Does its compact size make it easier to seal off from supposed undesirables?

Whatever the answers, Mr. Koolhaas’s design proves once again that he is one of the few architects willing to face the crisis of the contemporary city — from its growing superficiality to its deadening sterility — without flinching.

If he fails he at least will have raised questions that most architects would prefer to leave safely unexplored. If he succeeds he could bring us closer to a model of a city that is not only formally complex, but genuinely open to the impure.