Photography and the construction of collective memory in Ghent, Belgium

The paper investigates the shifting role of photography in the construction of collective cultural memory. It focuses on urban photography in Ghent, Belgium, at two particular periods of time. The paper is situated within the framework of the exhibition Edmond Sacré. Portrait of a City, curated by Ghent University in STAM (Ghent city museum), and a parallel artistic research project at the School of Arts at Ghent University College (2011-2012). At the turn of the XX century, new monumental squares and historicizing architecture created a new sense of history rooted in Flemish patriotism, especially in the run-up to the 1913 Ghent World Fair. The photographer Edmond Sacré created canonical images of the renewed city centre that went around the world for the promotion of the World Fair. Since the 1970s, the role of photography in the construction of cultural memory in Ghent has altered. In contrast to Sacré, photographers of the late XX and early XXI century have created a more complex image of the city. A number of contemporary photographers who worked on the Wondelgemse Meersen, a brownfield site north of the city centre, depicted the site as the locus of marginalised social groups who did not find their place in the historical city centre. The paper investigates if and how these photographers contribute to a different kind of cultural memory related to ephemeral places and practices in contrast to Sacré’s image of Ghent

Crisis and Green Urban Development: Urban Agriculture and Post-Earthquake Urban Resilience in Christchurch, New Zealand

The paper examines urban agriculture and local food initiatives in post-earthquake Christchurch, New Zealand and discusses their role for urban resilience. Like many other coastal cities in the world, Christchurch is prone to a range of natural and anthropogenic disasters including earthquakes, floods, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise. In 2010 and 2011, the Canterbury region was struck by two major earthquakes and a series of aftershocks. It was one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of New Zealand killing 185 and injuring 7000 people. 90 per cent of residential properties were damaged, resulting in the demolition of around 8000 households and 80% of central Christchurch. In addition, recurrent flood events have been devastating large areas of the city on a regular basis. Shortly after the experiences of the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes, various bottom-up urban agriculture initiatives sprung up and have led to the development of a network of organisations and spaces across the city. With the help of exemplary case studies, the paper discusses post-earthquake urban agriculture initiatives in Christchurch against notions of urban resilience. It critically reflects on knowledge gaps, potential areas for future research and related barriers and enablers for green urban development

Placemaking in action: Factors that support or obstruct the development of urban community gardens

The paper examines factors that support or obstruct the development of urban community garden projects. It combines a systematic scholarly literature review with empirical research from case studies located in New Zealand and Germany. The findings are discussed against the backdrop of placemaking processes: urban community gardens are valuable platforms to observe space-to-place transformations. Following a social-constructionist approach, literature-informed enablers and barriers for the development of urban community gardens are analysed against perceived notions informed by local interviewees with regard to their biophysical and technical, socio-cultural and economic, and political and administrative dimensions. These dimensions are incorporated into a systematic and comprehensive category system. This approach helps observe how the essential biophysical-material base of the projects is overlaid with socio-cultural factors and shaped by governmental or administrative regulations. Perceptual differences become evident and are discussed through the lens of different actors

How community gardens may contribute to community resilience following an earthquake

The paper examines community benefits provided by an established community garden following a major earthquake and discusses possible implications for community garden planning and design in disaster-prone cities. Recent studies show that following extreme storm events community gardens can supply food, enhance social empowerment, provide safe gathering spots, and restorative practices, to remind people of normality. However, the beneficial role played by community gardens following earthquakes is less well known. To fill this gap, the study examines the role played by a community garden in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the 2010/2011 Canterbury Earthquakes. The garden’s role is evaluated based on a questionnaire-based survey and in-depth interviews with gardeners, as well as on data regarding the garden use before and after the earthquakes. Findings indicate the garden helped gardeners cope with the post-quake situation. The garden served as an important place to de-stress, share experiences, and gain community support. Garden features that reportedly supported disaster recovery include facilities that encourage social interaction and bonding such as central meeting and lunch places and communal working areas

Transitioning from face-to-face teaching to emergency remote teaching in landscape architecture

Landscape Architecture is a relatively young profession, and its pedagogy has evolved with time to keep up with technological advancements. Like Architecture and most design disciplines, Landscape Architecture is a project-based discipline with a focus on design process. It is based on experiential learning through field trips and site visits and is at the intersection of multiple disciplines while being site and context specific (location, culture, history, ecology, geomorphology, perception, seasonality, etc.). Today, teaching in Landscape Architecture mandates every school to graduate students with the required skills, knowledge, and values to form competent professionals. With COVID-19, the world confronted an unprecedented pandemic that affected the entire planet; more specifically, the education field had to continue delivering courses and classes remotely to make sure students could continue or finish their degrees. Being a site-centric program, Landscape Architecture faces new challenges when confronted to moving online. COVID-19 showed that traditional teaching methods lacked flexibility and needed to adapt to the fast-evolving digital world. This article reviews how an undergraduate landscape architecture program has addressed issues around remote teaching for its studios, theory, and practical courses with a direction to the future. We emphasize the difference between Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) and Online Teaching (OT). ERT has been applied in courses that were originally not designed to be taught online. In this paper, we report on how we managed the transition from Face-to-Face (F2F) to ERT. We analyze the challenges and opportunities that arose in the process and discuss their potential influence on shaping the future of our teaching Landscape Architecture programs. The results presented in the paper are based on one semester (semester 1, February to June 2020) that was characterized by a New Zealand wide COVID-19 lockdown, which forced all universities to discontinue F2F teaching. However, this is just the beginning of a reflective process. The aim of this article is to bring forward the discussion about whether there is an opportunity for design disciplines to evolve in a new pedagogical direction where blended teaching methods can promote more effective teaching

Arthropod Phylogenetics in Light of Three Novel Millipede (Myriapoda: Diplopoda) Mitochondrial Genomes with Comments on the Appropriateness of Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Data for Inferring Deep Level Relationships

Background Arthropods are the most diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, but their phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. Herein, we describe three mitochondrial genomes representing orders of millipedes for which complete genomes had not been characterized. Newly sequenced genomes are combined with existing data to characterize the protein coding regions of myriapods and to attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within the Myriapoda and Arthropoda. Results The newly sequenced genomes are similar to previously characterized millipede sequences in terms of synteny and length. Unique translocations occurred within the newly sequenced taxa, including one half of the Appalachioria falcifera genome, which is inverted with respect to other millipede genomes. Across myriapods, amino acid conservation levels are highly dependent on the gene region. Additionally, individual loci varied in the level of amino acid conservation. Overall, most gene regions showed low levels of conservation at many sites. Attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships suffered from questionable relationships and low support values. Analyses of phylogenetic informativeness show the lack of signal deep in the trees (i.e., genes evolve too quickly). As a result, the myriapod tree resembles previously published results but lacks convincing support, and, within the arthropod tree, well established groups were recovered as polyphyletic. Conclusions The novel genome sequences described herein provide useful genomic information concerning millipede groups that had not been investigated. Taken together with existing sequences, the variety of compositions and evolution of myriapod mitochondrial genomes are shown to be more complex than previously thought. Unfortunately, the use of mitochondrial protein-coding regions in deep arthropod phylogenetics appears problematic, a result consistent with previously published studies. Lack of phylogenetic signal renders the resulting tree topologies as suspect. As such, these data are likely inappropriate for investigating such ancient relationships

Paradoxically Urban

Living in Paradox: A History of Urban Design across Kainga, Towns and Cities in New Zealand, Garth Falconer, Matakana: Blue Acres Press, 2015, ISBN: 978–0–473–30219–1 (paperback

How people use temporary post-disaster open spaces: A study of three transitional community-initiated open spaces in central Christchurch, New Zealand

The study contributes to a better understanding of utilisation and interaction patterns in post-disaster temporary urban open spaces. A series of devastating earthquakes caused large scale damage to Christchurch’s central city and many suburbs in 2010 and 2011. Various temporary uses have emerged on vacant post-earthquake sites including community gardens, urban agriculture, art installations, event venues, eateries and cafés, and pocket parks. Drawing on empirical data obtained from a spatial qualities survey and a Public Life Study, the report analyses how people used and interacted with three exemplary transitional community-initiated open spaces (CIOS) in relation to particular physical spatial qualities in central Christchurch over a period of three weeks. The report provides evidence that users of post-disaster transitional community-initiated open spaces show similar utilisation and interaction patterns in relation to specific spatial qualities as observed in other urban environments. The temporary status of CIOS did apparently not influence ‘typical’ utilisation and interaction patterns

The good, the bad, the authentic: An evaluation of concepts, experiences, and considered values of authenticity of place in the context of the post-industrial city.

In response to perceived increased global competition, cities try to exhibit distinctive features to attract investors, businesses, skilled workers, and tourists. Authenticity of place has been considered as an influential ‘soft’ location factor able to enhance urban (re-)development and regeneration. However, despite its suggested significance, authenticity of place has rarely been subject of systematic theoretical and empirical research. The book addresses this apparent research gap. It investigates how authenticity is contextually intertwined with concepts, experiences, constituting elements, meanings and values of place. With the help of a comprehensive theoretical discussion and a case study – the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, UK – the author analyses how concepts of authenticity have been conveyed to places and how meanings correspond to particular identity constructions. Two key notions of authenticity of place are identified: First, ‘empirical authenticity’, second, ‘experiential authenticity’

Growing resilient cities: Urban community gardens and disaster recovery after the 2010/11 Canterbury/Christchurch earthquakes

This study explores the role and value of urban community gardens following a major crisis: the 2010/11 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand