6 research outputs found

    Victory over Chaos? Constantinos A. Doxiadis and Ekistics 1945-1975

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    Constantinos A. Doxiadis (1913-1975) was an important figure in the realm of postwar urbanism, and yet his contribution has been largely neglected. This study reviews his trajectory and analyzes key projects related to different phases of his career: the housing programs of the Ministry of Reconstruction developed during the Greek Civil War and with Marshall Plan funds; the National Housing Program of Iraq in the context of the Third World modernization; and the Urban Detroit Area project developed against the suburbanization of the American city and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Each one of these episodes is examined against the background of the opposing but interacting “processes” that characterized the forging of the postwar world: the efforts to internationalism and the schism of the Cold War. The first two projects reveal Doxiadis’ persistence on the importance of housing as a motor of economic development and his seminal contribution to aided self-help programs. In parallel, I examine his ideas on urban-regional development in relation to the modernization theory, namely the doctrine that advanced the development of Third World countries according to the paradigm of the West. Finally, his connections with the Ford Foundation and his participation in events organized by the Congress for Cultural Freedom offer an opportunity to examine his oeuvre in relation to the Cold War cultural policies. The second half of the thesis broadly coincides with the period 1960-1975 and focuses on ekistics, an action-oriented interdisciplinary approach to global urbanization problems that Doxiadis coined the science of human settlements. It examines the emergence of the ekistic movement, the establishment of the Athens Center of Ekistics as a hub in the European periphery “operating” between East and West, the intellectual forum of the Delos Symposia, and the journal Ekistics. In a parallel line, the analysis of the ekistic research programs aims to assess Doxiadis’ efforts to unite two different cultures of planning, that is, the sociological perspective with the calculative spirit of mathematics and statistics. The study of Doxiadis’ plan for Detroit reveals the flaws of his comprehensive approach and discusses the ekistic methodologies in reference to the systems approach to planning. Altogether, Doxiadis and ekistics epitomize the transition from the heroic modernism to the visionary approaches that explored the consequences of a world turning into a global village. Doxiadis, however, sought to plan the city of the future as part of a global urban system. In his eyes, facing the urban crisis was an attainable ideal. Eventually, the contradictions between his work and theory were the outcome of his commitment to plan an inevitable development and his anxiety to put order in the urban chaos.Constantinos A. Doxiadis (1913-1975) fue una figura importante en el ámbito de la planificación urbana de la posguerra, y sin embargo, su contribución ha sido descuidada en gran medida. El presente estudio repasa su trayectoria analizando los principales proyectos que corresponden a diferentes etapas de su carrera: la Reconstrucción de Europa, la modernización del Tercer Mundo, la suburbanización de la ciudad estadounidense y la Gran Sociedad de Lyndon Johnson. Cada uno de estos episodios está estrechamente vinculado a las transformaciones geopolíticas que se entienden como la Guerra Fría. Doxiadis comenzó su carrera en el sector público dirigiendo los programas de reconstrucción de Grecia. Su profesionalidad y la alineación ideológica con el intervencionismo estadounidense fueron fundamentales para su colaboración con las misiones de ayuda internacional y su posterior carrera. Despedido de su cargo, Doxiadis fundó Doxiadis Associates (DA) a principios de los años cincuenta. En pocos años, DA ha obtenido numerosos proyectos de vivienda en el mundo en desarrollo, convirtiéndose en una de las empresas más grandes de ingeniería y consultoría en el ámbito internacional. El punto de partida fue el Programa de Vivienda Nacional de Irak, contratado en 1955.El Plan Maestro de Bagdad vino después .El análisis de estos proyectos se centra en el modelo de planificación llamado Dynápolis - es decir, la respuesta de Doxiadis tanto al crecimiento urbano como a la conservación de la ciudad histórica - y la aplicación de la "comunidad humana”, una versión de la Unidad Vecinal. A mediados de 1960, Doxiadis fue encargado del proyecto Urban Detroit Area (UDA), un plan integral y exhaustivo que prácticamente examinó el desarrollo de la región de Michigan. Aunque no llegó a implementarse, el UDA fue uno de los mayores retos en la carrera de Doxiadis. En primer lugar, porque se desarrolló de acuerdo con su teoría y metodologías sistémicas. En segundo lugar, porque el avance del plan coincidió con el cambio de paradigma en la arquitectura moderna y el final de la década el desarrollo. En una línea paralela esta tesis examina ekistics, un enfoque holístico que contemplaba los problemas de urbanización global, y que Doxiadis nombró la ciencia de los asentamientos humanos .Ekistics fue concebido como un campo interdisciplinario que combinaba los conocimientos de otras áreas como la economía, la sociología, la estadística, la arquitectura y la geografía. Su objetivo era proporcionar un marco integral para planificar la ciudad del futuro, la llamada Ecumenópolis. Para desarrollar y difundir sus ideas, Doxiadis fundó el Athens Center of Ekistics (ACE) y puso en marcha diversas actividades institucionales. Las más importantes fueron la organización de los Simposios de Delos, y la publicación de la prestigiosa revista Ekistics. Esta tesis revisará el ACE como un centro de planificación en la periferia europea y los Simposios de Delos como un foro independiente entre el Este y el Oeste. Por otro lado, y para ofrecer una perspectiva crítica sobre los esfuerzos intelectuales de Doxiadis, la tesis analiza la "Ciudad del Futuro" y el proyecto de investigación de "la Comunidad Humana". Ambos apuntaban a la consolidación de ekistics ya la legitimación científica de los modelos de planificación y estrategias de diseño de Doxiadis. En total, la tesis utiliza el trabajo y la teoría de Doxiadis para revisar la redefinición de la planificación urbana y la arquitectura frente a los fenómenos y las transformaciones que marcaron las tres primeras décadas de la posguerra. Según Doxiadis los problemas de la ciudad contemporánea eran globales, mientras el futuro era urbano, universal e inevitable. Al final, su pensamiento estaba imbuido tanto con la ansiedad de enfrentar la crisis universal que con el optimismo de la década de desarrollo. Sin duda, Doxiadis fue uno de los últimos modernos.Postprint (published version

    Pacific Trade and Development II : Papers and proceedings of a conference held by the East-West Center, Honolulu in January 1969

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    The Second Conference on Pacific Trade and Development was held at the East-West Center from 8th through 11th January 1969 both to follow-up the results of the first conference held in Tokyo, January 1968, on the Pacific Free Trade Area scheme and also to discuss the trade and aid relationships of the Asian developing countries with the advanced Pacific countries. Contained in this book are the papers and proceedings of the conference. International trade and monetary policies in the Post-Kennedy Round world and the Nixon Government era are in a fluid state groping towards a new direction. Also the results of the Second United Nations Conference on Trade and Development last spring point to the conclusion that a new design for expanding trade and for accelerating economic development both within and between advanced Pacific countries and Asian developing countries must be put into practice. Really, the expansion of trade and the promotion of economic development with closer cooperation in this Pacific and Asian region which has a huge potential should be a critical focus for the world which finds itself in a trade and monetary turmoil. A number of useful proposals to meet these ends were thrashed out in the conference. Several difficulties in realizing them were also envisaged and everyone was well aware that further studies would have to be undertaken. As indicated in the communique issued by the conference, our study should be continued. Our academic studies, I am confident, will throw light, gradually but steadily, upon pragmatic policies of the governments and business circles concerned. I am deeply grateful to all the participants and the Hawaii Committee who have worked so hard and who have created a new design for the economic development of the Pacific/ Asia region

    Processes of International Negotiations

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    Negotiations are essential mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of disputes and for maintaining stability in international relations. Negotiations can and should contribute to predictability, equity, and security among states. In achieving these goals, negotiations become important confidence-building measures. The increasing role of negotiations and of international organizations for managing the system of international order and for pursuing/achieving states' interests/policies through peaceful means has produced a fundamental evolution in the agenda, functions, and intensity of international negotiations. In the view of both researchers and negotiators over the recent past, the negotiations process that is organized along traditional lines is becoming more complex, difficult, and less effective. The processes of negotiations are in general taking more and more time and lagging behind the evolution of the international environment. Not only are the issues themselves more complex, but also, in the implementation of any agreements reached, the resolution of the issues involved will need to take place over a longer time and therefore to be managed jointly or multilaterally. Because of the increasing complexity of issues and the fast pace of changes affecting both national and international interests, it has become essential for international agreements to contain sufficient flexibility in certain of their provisions to permit dealing with uncertainty and the needs of the parties to adapt to new and changing circumstances. In this sense, international negotiations and agreements must be not only reactive but also anticipatory. These considerations indicate that a much-needed approach is one which is concerned specifically with bringing about a multinational, multicultural, and multidisciplinary understanding of and perspective on international negotiations and which also bridges the gap between practitioners and researchers. A specific objective and unique aspect of the IIASA Project on the Processes of International Negotiations (PIN Project), which started in April 1986 and was funded by the Carnegie Corporation, is the international, multidisciplinary approach brought to bear on all of the Project's activities. This was especially evident at the IIASA Conference on the Processes of International Negotiations, held in May 1987. The PIN networks in IIASA's member countries played an essential role in this Conference. To keep the focus of the work on substantive issues and on relevant applications-oriented results, while taking into account the importance and impact of different cultural and political systems in the various national approaches to negotiations, both practitioners and researchers involved in the processes of negotiations made presentations at the PIN Conference and took part in the panel discussions. These presentations form the basis for the chapters of this book. The goals of the Conference were to foster increased communication and understanding between practitioners and researchers and among various research disciplines, to present and discuss research results, and to identify possible future research activities. The participation and interaction of both high-level negotiations practitioners and researchers were considered especially valuable and unique aspects of the Conference. All of the subjects dealt with at the Conference have direct and obvious relevance to improving negotiations outcomes on, and the ability to deal effectively with, such issues as the transboundary effects (environmental, economic, etc.) of technological risk, security and confidence-building measures, and international economic cooperation -- all of which are high on the negotiations agenda of many countries

    Bowdoin Orient v.100, no.1-27 (1970-1971)

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    https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1970s/1001/thumbnail.jp

    Felix Frankfurter

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    Originally published in 1960. Felix Frankfurter, a controversial figure in American judicial history, completed more than twenty-one years of service on the Supreme Court. This book is the first extended treatment of his political performance as a justice. It portrays the influence that he, both as teacher and jurist, exerted in the growth of public law over fifty years. He has exerted his influence not only through his writing but also through his personal acquaintance with many important persons in and out of government service. Beyond examining the career of one man, Thomas opens up a wider window on the history of legal thought. The main value of the book, though, lies in its presentation of the philosophy of one leading twentieth-century educator and jurist

    Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors

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    This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed
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