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  • Open access
  • 88 Reads
Relations Between Eco-Aesthetics and Biopolitics
This paper examines diverse links between concepts, objectives and mechanisms of biopolitics and eco-aesthetics researching their historical developments, the context in which they appear, and the status they have in modern society. The study is guided by several questions and hypotheses: whether the ecology and eco-aesthetics are in stark contrast to the biopolitics and its goals, or both, and eco-aesthetics and biopolitics, each in its own way control life; is perhaps today's popularization of ecology and eco-aesthetics a new instrument of politics of fear, demonstration of necessity of biopolitical power, or a market tool; where in this relationship is art; is art only the naive accomplice in this demonstration of power; or, is art an agent in the biopolitics, because it wants to become biopower and achieve a sort of Gesamtkunstwerk - creates life as a work of art? In doing so, the avant-garde artist-revolutionary as to forgets that revolutions eat their children. Relations between eco-aesthetics and biopolitics present itself as a sort of maze where biopolitics of global capitalism is abusing environmental problems and uses eco-aesthetics for its goals. Politicization of the avant-garde eco art, design and architecture (including waste aesthetics) seems to turn into aestheticization and elitism, thus showing capitalism as a prerequisite of eco-aesthetics. On the other hand, market creates a quasi eco-aesthetics as political correctness that retains the comfortable shape of consumer society and undermines the goal of eco-aesthetics. Eco-aesthetical society would have no place for art as we know it, since opposes its material nature.
  • Open access
  • 79 Reads
Cycling Attitudes and Beliefs: The North-South Diffusion of A "Cycling Mindset"
Many Southern European cities are now working to encourage bicycle use for commuting. In search of effective strategies, they often study best practices from elsewhere. Dutch cities are a prime example of bike use in Europe. However, in order to assess the likely success of transferring measures, an accurate comparison of the bicycling context is needed. This study explores the similarities and differences in attitudes and beliefs about the decisions to commute by bicycle to work in three small, cycling-oriented cities: Gouda (The Netherlands), Shkodra (Albania), and Peja (Kosovo). As almost everywhere in the Netherlands, cycling conditions are good in Gouda. Shkodra has one of the highest levels of cycling in the Balkan region and Peja is striving to improve its urban amenities for sustainable transport modes. The analysis is based on 45 in-depth interviews with volunteers in the selected cities (15 in each city).
  • Open access
  • 113 Reads
Road Safety as a Shared Responsibility for Improving Pedestrian Safety in Europe: Lessons from France and Sweden
For more than a decade, efforts to improve mobility and road infrastructure have been central to the transportation policy in the United States. However, less attention has been devoted to improve and/or preserve the spaces for pedestrians. Also, the policies have created spatial disparities between road users: pedestrians are more exposed to unsafe road environments than drivers. Increase in walking has a positive effect not only on physical and mental health, but also on environmental health: help reducing fuel consumption and air pollution. Therefore, there is a need for improving pedestrian safety.In a global context, there has been an effort to develop understandings of how to moderate pre-crash behaviors by road safety policy, rather than superimposing engineering and design solutions to address collisions where they have already occurred. Pedestrian safety is also a primary concern in the United States. From 2001 to 2010, the pedestrian death rate was reduced by 12.6 percent, while total road deaths were reduced by 22 percent (NHTA 2012). Compared to the death reduction rate of the EU nations during the same period (39 percent), the U.S. figures still lag behind. This shows a potential to reduce pedestrian collisions by applying the lessons of effective cases. This study reviews the cases of France and Sweden, and examines the backgrounds, and policy implementation processes. The study found that public officials shared or held main responsibility for road safety and undertake rigorous interventions to improve safety awareness in both cases: in France, The primary responsibility for road crashes was on "everyone", including road users, policy-makers, road designers, and other groups (Gerondeau 2006). This principle of responsibility helped alter individuals' attitudes toward road safety. On the other hand, in Sweden, road experts have all causal responsibility for injuries on the roads (Belin et al. 2012). The research findings suggest that the responsibility allocation strategies in France and Sweden can potentially be modified and implemented in the United States.
  • Open access
  • 95 Reads
Developing smart and green rural settlements for the rapid urbanizing China: Experience learnt from England

As a part of the modernization process, China's cities and towns have been growing unprecedentedly both in quantity and size. While the efforts of planning and design are largely focused on the urban domain, the country's vast rural settlements are given insufficient guidance on land use, construction management and socio-economic transformation. Consequently the development in many rural communities suffers from a range of problems, such as the lack of basic infrastructure, poor sanitation, environmental contamination, chaotic building form and substandard building quality. In some richer areas, especially those close to large cities, there is also a growing trend to modernize the countryside by the simple application of urban planning methods resulting in the loss of idyllic landscape and rustication. Both of these development patterns lead to a low quality of life and unsustainable rural form. As China accelerates its urbanization process, it is imperative to explore appropriate planning and renovation techniques for rural settlements so that they could embrace modern lifestyle while at the same time possess smart and green form. In this comparative study, references are drawn from the practice in modern England where countryside has always been a symbol of life quality and low carbon footprint. However even in England, many villages have actually been fashioned to suit people's image of a traditional rural scene rather than the demands of farming or industry for which they were first established. The adaptive strategies and features that have reshaped English villages could inspire the development of the Chinese counterpart for today. This includes the form of dwellings and public spaces, material usage and detailing, incorporation of modern and green technology, and enhancement of natural environment. Physical transformation must be in line with a broader pageant of socio-economic change if it is to bring a sustainable future to rural settlements.

  • Open access
  • 78 Reads
A Direction of Realization for Smart Green City

Historically, City have been developed by application of cutting-edge technologies. And lifestyle of citizen is also changed with these development. Technologies have been developed rapidly and become more important. City is a place where various technologies are applied, and development of the city is to make these places. City is a source of demand for technologies and industries. It’s significant as a market. It’s especially important to make the smart city. From this point of view, the urban development industry has characteristics of knowledge industry.

However urban development industry of Korea is currently recognized as the construction industry which is simply expanded into the city scale. Because of that, the potential of urban development industry is being reduced. Also urban development projects focusing on physical environments have a limit of its business value and good place making due to a lack of comprehensive consideration about whole development process.

This study aims to set the direction for realization of urban knowledge industry. For this, it analyzed the program of public institutions and private institution which are experienced in urban development focusing a scope of business, process of development, component of city, and applied technology and industry.

The concept of urban knowledge industry is defined as a comprehensive knowledge industry which embraces not only a place of city, industry and formation of culture, but also administrative and economic factors. Important factors for the realization of urban knowledge industry are the competitiveness reinforcement of the urban planning and design on the basis of comprehensive recognition of urban industry. The urban planning and design are key industries of urban development.

  • Open access
  • 67 Reads
System for Preventive Maintenance of U-City Infrastructure
Though Korea has established and operates a variety of urban infrastructure under the name of U-City, it has failed to unify infrastructure operations, which can be considered the biggest difference between existing city and U-Cities. In light of the growing need for active maintenance, there is a need to improve both the simple historical management and passive post-management. The aim of the study is to suggest algorithm not only for unified operation but also for preventive maintenance of U-City facility. The methods of study are as follows. First, the improvement of infra maintenance was deduced by analyzing the maintenance condition and the existing material of Dongtan U-City. Second, the systematic DB establishment was deduced by considering infra life cycle for preventive maintenance. Third, the importance level of the infra was deduced based on both the public interest and residents' opinion in Dongtan. Lastly, the final maintenance algorithm was deduced, considering the above deductions. The infra maintenance algorithm this study suggests is available at the field immediately in Dongtan and accepted in other U-City areas as well. It means that the algorithm can serve as a basis of preventive maintenance in U-City infrastructure.
  • Open access
  • 54 Reads
Conceptual Planning for Da Nang High-Tech Park
The number of high technology-based urban projects has sharply increased throughout the world. As a new emerging market in Asia, Vietnam is facing a turning point where it begins to adapt high value-added industry as its industrial frame by virtue of Danang High Technology Park (DHTP). To finish successfully as a late comer to the field of high tech industry projects, DHTP, at first, must build a value chain and achieve proper positioning in the industrial structure through an analysis of industrial circumstances and mega trends of Vietnam and Danang. Furthermore, the strengths and weaknesses of Danang must be analyzed, and through such analysis pros and cons of specific niche business opportunities for the high tech industry should be identified.DHTP provides a number of key strong assets which foster and commercialize research and education, and it includes all processes of their distribution and consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics and demands of the people who will live in the city; such as producers, managers and consumers as well as researchers. Based upon this analysis, DHTP will be able to build an optimized environment and facility where habitants influence each other, ensure the sustainability of 'a creative ecosystem' by providing a self-evolving and technology-friendly environment.The development of this type of high tech urban environment will bring a high quality of living and working life. Through good urban environment design that encompasses nature, culture and industry to be merged, DHTP will lead a new paradigm of urban culture. For this reason, it is necessary to consider multi-purpose land use and site planning in diverse scales, and flexible housing with land use scheme to respond to future changes and demand. Also, it is necessary to support the sustainable development of a future green city in which green technology thrives.
  • Open access
  • 100 Reads
Environmental Urban Design and Planning Rules and their Impact on Street Spaces in Hong Kong and Macau
A main motivation for the implementation and change of urban rules was the attempt to address urgent environmental challenges. The rules to secure sufficient light and air were geared towards the improvement of environmental conditions, and had– sometimes unanticipated – impacts on the transformation of cities' street spaces. Hong Kong and Macau are two of the densest cities in the world. The implementation, change and repeal of urban rules played a key role in the formation and transformation of their urban forms and spaces. This paper explores how both cities dealt in the past and today with environmental challenges, and particularly those that are related to high density and the change of street spaces. How do they succeed or fail to balance economic interests and concerns for a better environment, health and wellbeing? How do the governments provide development intensity concessions to encourage green features? Currently, Macau for instance is considering the repeal of its "shadow rule", which had been repealed in Hong Kong in the 1980s imposing a fundamental impact on its urban form and street spaces. The paper compares which urban rules were implemented to make both cities greener and its inhabitants healthier while searching for the impact of these rules in the cities' streets. The paper also highlights what complications certain rules caused as a result of "greening incentives" in such high-density cities.
  • Open access
  • 93 Reads
Value Trends at the Transition in Urban Renewal - The Case Study of Shenzhen
The 21th century witnesses more and more complicated value trends of urban planning. At the turning corner of market-economy transition, China shows severe "Value Crisis" in many aspects of its planning process, which even turns to be a threat to urban planning legality. In order to find out the reasonable value trends for institutional design in urban renewal, the paper takes Shenzhen, the forefront city of China's reform and opening up, as an empirical case. Then borrowed from Coase, the theory of property rights provides the paper a new analytical approach to review the evolution and transition of urban renewal policies taken palce in shenzhen. The result shows that the renewal guideline of Shenzhen has taken the public value in consideration seriously and gone hand in hand with market force. Finally, the author gives a conclusion on the understanding of reasonable space and regeneration mechanism of China's urban renewal from a comprehensive aspect.
  • Open access
  • 164 Reads
Exploring the User-Driven Implications in Building Urban Sustainability and Resilience: Lessons From OURS CITIES Global Network Study Cases
Smart, green and resilient city paradigms have been mainly promoted through top-down practices. Hard infrastructures and planning measures have been the engine for protecting and reducing urban vulnerability in the last decades. However, social networks and community actions have been strengthening the effectiveness of resilience in many cases.The emergent global framework for city resilience, promoted by the Rockefeller Foundation, recognized the key relevance of such social-driven resilience building, which requires a more accurate conceptualization and further empirical evidences.This paper presents a conceptualization of the city User-driven resilience by i) situating urban resilience within urban smartness and sustainability transitions, ii) framing community resilience within other perspectives and approaches to urban resilience and iii) highlighting the key roles and communities tools in building user-driven resilience. In order to offer empirical and solid evidences supporting such conceptualization, the paper is framed in 3 main parts covering very different urban contexts, and addressing the user-driven resilience related to i) the neighborhoods built environment as a whole, ii) the infrastructure systems, iii) urban metabolic flows. The first part explores user-driven resilience in developing countries cities, where self-help practices constitute a policy framework enabling communities to build and manage their own neighborhood. The second part refers to the decentralized infrastructures community management, in which evidences from Colombian cases illustrate the role of communities in building and maintaining key green-infrastructures. The last part is dedicated to the change-agent roles and effectiveness, within urban social networks, in re-shaping more resilient and sustainable uses of urban resources (water and energy). Case studies evidences from Singapore, South Africa and Saudi Arabia support the emerging relevance of such user-driven perspective related to urban metabolism.The paper conceptualization and results suggest that urban resilience thinking should be oriented though sustainability, and that user-driven contributions to cities resilience building should be properly accounted and framed within urban resilience strategies.
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