Merging Special Collections with GIS Technology to Enhance the User Experience

This analysis evaluates how PhillyHistory.org merged their unique special collection materials with geospatial-based progressive technology to challenge and educate the global community. A new generation of technologically savvy researchers has emerged that expect a more enhanced user experience than earlier generations. To meet these needs, collection managers are collaborating with community and local institutions to increase online access to materials; mixing best metadata practices with custom elements to create map mashups; and merging progressive GIS technology and geospatial based applications with their collections to enhance the user experience. The PhillyHistory.org website was analyzed to explore how they used various geospatial technology to create a new type of digital content management system based on geographical information and make their collections accessible via online software and mobile applications

East Midlands urban action plan 2005-2011

This is the second urban action plan (UAP) for the East Midlands. The plan sets out a framework for urban renaissance in the East Midlands and provides a delivery plan that includes significant schemes in the priority urban areas that will influence the transormation of urban areas and contribute to the region's economic development

The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America

As the United States slowly emerges from the great recession, a remarkable shify is occurring in the spatial geogrpahy of innovation. For the past 50 years, the landscape of innovation has been dominated by places like Silicon Valley - suburban corridors of spatially isolated corporate campuses, accessible only by car, with little emphasis on the quality of life or on integrating work, housing, and recreation. A new complementary urban model is now emerging, giving rise to what we and others are calling "innovation districts." These districts, by our definition, are geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators. They are also physically compact, transit-accessible, and technicall

Identifying habitation patterns in world heritage areas through social media and open datasets

Although cities with World Heritage (WH) areas worldwide are socially active, specific social and cultural complexities are associated primarily with the abandonment and decay of districts. Contemporary habitation patterns in historic districts require technology to understand parallel realities in protected areas. This stakeholders-based approach benefits significantly from cross-referencing locative social media and open data sources. Therefore, the concepts put forward in this paper use evidence from an empirical case of WH areas in selected Spanish urban sites. The cartographic correlation of data identifies hotspots of activities and coldspots around services within each site. The results present two significant findings. The first confirms the successful implementation of a digital method to support current transitions for the historic city. The second demonstrates that social networks and open datasets can mirror contemporary social interaction in historic cities. Finally, the study calls on further investigating Artificial Intelligence-based assessments for the future of WH areas

Fortress America: the aesthetics of homeland security in the public realm

Architecture communicates a message about the purpose of a space, the prestige of those who use or own the space, and the values associated with both users and owners. The aesthetics of this architecture elicit specific emotions, communicate histories, and inform worldviews. In the United States, homeland security architecture is largely a physical representation of a perceived threat of a terrorist attack in public spaces. Architecture has sociological, psychological, and cultural effects, as well as security impacts, but there is little research or discourse on the physical manifestation of homeland security in the United States. What are the consequences--intended and unintended--of homeland security architecture? How does a democratic government protect itself and design buildings and public spaces that are open, attractive, and promote both physical and psychological security? This thesis is a starting point for broader awareness and discussion within the emerging discipline of security design about the importance of aesthetics in homeland security.http://archive.org/details/fortressamericae1094556169Public Space Management/Emergency Management, Seattle Department of TransportationApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Participatory Budgeting and Placemaking: Concepts, Methods, and Practices

Participatory budgeting has arisen as an interesting form of citizen participation in urban development and, thus, as a new way of exercising placemaking and grassroots democracy. In this article, we provide an analysis of projects in Lisbon (Portugal), Valencia (Spain), and Warsaw (Poland) with a focus on three key projects concerned with improving the public realm and their contribution to enhancing the network of public open spaces. Our guiding question is: What are the potential benefits of participatory budgeting to increase green spaces and urban governance? A comparison of the three cities’ participatory budgeting programmes provides an overview of their social and political goals and the contents that provide opportunities for citizens’ participation in decision-making. The cases of Jardim do Caracol da Penha (Lisbon), the Green Street Świętokrzyska (Warsaw), and the Green Plan for the Poblats Marítims District (Valencia) pave the way for a discussion on engagement, empowerment, and connectivity with the local communities through public spaces. Using participatory budgeting as a planning and political instrument at the municipal level, as the three cases show, can be a useful way to enhance and enrich the communities’ engagement with their environments. One aspect that emerged is the communication strategies implemented in the three cases. The analysis shows that the use of media and social networks to disseminate information and gather supporters for their ideas and this growth in political influence seems to be essential for participatory budgeting. The study is backed by desk work (comprehensive understanding of the local programmes) and field work to better identify the changes in loco

The return of the Follies From Traditional to Digital

The French word folie stands for delight and pleasure, and therefore fun and happiness. First built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, follies were buildings constructed purely for aesthetic pleasure, with a notion of nonsense, i.e., with a lack of good sense or foresight, resulting in often extravagant pieces of architecture with no particular function. These architectural features could be found in gardens and in the wider landscape; towers, temples, sham castles, pyramids, grottoes, obelisques or mock ruins of classical buildings, seemingly randomly abandoned, were symbolic statements of constructions not easily understood, sometimes with a practical value as landmarks, conversations places, commemorative of a person or event, as lending interest to a view, or as simple amusement places, often offering a sensorial experience