Informal urbanism and complex adaptive assemblage

Informal urbanism, from informal settlements to economies and street markets, is integral to cities of the global South — economically, socially, environmentally and aesthetically. This paper seeks to unfold and re-think this informal/formal conception using two interconnected theoretical frameworks. First is assemblage theory derived from the work of Deleuze and Guattari where a series of twofold concepts such as rhizomic/tree and smooth/striated resonate with the informal/formal construct. Second is theory on complex adaptive systems where dynamic and unpredictable patterns of self-organisation emerge with certain levels of resilience or vulnerability. These approaches are drawn together into the concept of a complex adaptive assemblage, illustrated with brief snapshots of urban informality drawn from Southeast Asian cities. The challenge is to develop multi-disciplinary, multi-scalar methodologies to explore the ways in which informality is linked to squatting, corruption and poverty on the one hand, and to growth, productivity and creativity on the other

Intensifying Melbourne

Cities are often said to be the engines of the global economy in an age of rapid urbanization. Car-dependent cities - particularly those that characterize North America and Australasia - are largely cities of suburban sprawl, freeways, shopping malls and poor public transport. They are also cities of great opportunity for significant reductions in carbon emissions through transit-oriented intensification within existing suburbs combined with improvements to transit services and shifts to active modes of transport. Such development,however, depends on a multi-scalar understanding that links the shaping of built form and public space at an urban design scale to larger scales of metropolitan structure and urban flows. This research project is an investigation of how such urban design and transport opportunities might be developed in Melbourne. We seek to show how transit-related problems and opportunities at different scales interconnect to form synergies and alliances both between projects and between scales. Through a series of design research studies we explore scenarios for the transformation of suburban railway stations, tram corridors, private shopping malls, university campuses and post-industrial zones. The analysis is undertaken within a theoretical framework of self-organization, emergence, complexity, adaptation and assemblage. Design research at every scale is argued to be a necessary link in the process of unlocking capacities for urban transformation

A taste of the unfamiliar: understanding the meanings attached to food by international postgraduate students in England

Using findings from semi-structured interviews with international postgraduate students in England, this paper explores the meanings attached to the food they eat in a new culture. Our study, using interviews, aimed to uncover student responses to both the food they eat whilst abroad and to the food they have left behind. Many students criticised local English food as bland, fattening, and unhealthy; nevertheless, most showed an openness to new foods, trying not only local food but also dishes prepared by their international friends, but this sat alongside a strong attachment to their home country dishes. Eating together was a popular leisure activity, and food of the origin country or region was the most popular cuisine. Eating home country food offered emotional and physical sustenance; students felt comforted by familiar taste, and that their physical health was stabilised by the consumption of healthier food than was available locally. Despite acknowledgement of the importance of food to cultural identity and overall quality of life in the anthropology and nutrition literatures, there is a dearth of research into this aspect of the international student experience; this study, therefore, marks an important beginning

HDAC1 regulates pluripotency and lineage specific transcriptional networks in embryonic and trophoblast stem cells

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is important in maintaining self-renewal of embryonic stem (ES) and trophoblast stem (TS) cells. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) negatively control histone acetylation by removing covalent acetylation marks from histone tails. Because histone acetylation is a known mark for active transcription, HDACs presumably associate with inactive genes. Here, we used genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation to investigate targets of HDAC1 in ES and TS cells. Through evaluation of genes associated with acetylated histone H3 marks, and global expression analysis of Hdac1 knockout ES and trichostatin A-treated ES and TS cells, we found that HDAC1 occupies mainly active genes, including important regulators of ES and TS cells self-renewal. We also observed occupancy of methyl-CpG binding domain protein 3 (MBD3), a subunit of the nucleosome remodeling and histone deacetylation (NuRD) complex, at a subset of HDAC1-occupied sequences in ES cells, including the pluripotency regulators Oct4, Nanog and Kfl4. By mapping HDAC1 targets on a global scale, our results describe further insight into epigenetic mechanisms of ES and TS cells self-renewal

Schools and skills of critical thinking for urban design

© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper explores possible ways in which urban design can engage with critical thinking and critical theory. After a brief explanation of the terms, with particular attention to the Frankfurt School of thought, it provides various answers to the question as to whether urban design is critical or not. One categorization applied to planning critical theory is then used to explain the potential for employing critical theories in urban design. Critical thinking skills are then argued to be helpful for enriching the literature of urban design in order to achieve better practice. The conclusion is that urban design can benefit from critical creativity, which is an embodiment of critical thinking within the limits imposed onto creativity. In this paper, the ways in which urban design can engage with both critical theory and with critical thinking are explored in order to achieve better critical creativity in the field

Heritage designation and scale: a World Heritage case study of the Ningaloo Coast

© 2015 Tod Jones, Roy Jones and Michael Hughes As heritage research has engaged with a greater plurality of heritage practices, scale has emerged as an important concept in Heritage Studies, albeit relatively narrowly defined as hierarchical levels (household, local, national, etcetera). This paper argues for a definition of scale in heritage research that incorporates size (geographical scale), level (vertical scale) and relation (an understanding that scale is constituted through dynamic relationships in specific contexts). The paper utilises this definition of scale to analyse heritage designation first through consideration of changing World Heritage processes, and then through a case study of the world heritage designation of the Ningaloo Coast region in Western Australia. Three key findings are: both scale and heritage gain appeal because they are abstractions, and gain definition through the spatial politics of interrelationships within specific situations; the spatial politics of heritage designation comes into focus through attention to those configurations of size, level and relation that are invoked and enabled in heritage processes; and researchers choice to analyse or ignore particular scales and scalar politics are political decisions. Utilising scale as size, level and relation enables analyses that move beyond heritage to the spatial politics through which all heritage is constituted

c-Myc Regulates Self-Renewal in Bronchoalveolar Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: Bronchoalveolar stem cells (BASCs) located in the bronchoalveolar duct junction are thought to regenerate both bronchiolar and alveolar epithelium during homeostatic turnover and in response to injury. The mechanisms directing self-renewal in BASCs are poorly understood. METHODS: BASCs (Sca-1(+), CD34(+), CD31(-) and, CD45(-)) were isolated from adult mouse lung using FACS, and their capacity for self-renewal and differentiation were demonstrated by immunostaining. A transcription factor network of 53 genes required for pluripotency in embryonic stem cells was assessed in BASCs, Kras-initiated lung tumor tissue, and lung organogenesis by real-time PCR. c-Myc was knocked down in BASCs by infection with c-Myc shRNA lentivirus. Comprehensive miRNA and mRNA profiling for BASCs was performed, and significant miRNAs and mRNAs potentially regulated by c-Myc were identified. We explored a c-Myc regulatory network in BASCs using a number of statistical and computational approaches through two different strategies; 1) c-Myc/Max binding sites within individual gene promoters, and 2) miRNA-regulated target genes. RESULTS: c-Myc expression was upregulated in BASCs and downregulated over the time course of lung organogenesis in vivo. The depletion of c-Myc in BASCs resulted in decreased proliferation and cell death. Multiple mRNAs and miRNAs were dynamically regulated in c-Myc depleted BASCs. Among a total of 250 dynamically regulated genes in c-Myc depleted BASCs, 57 genes were identified as potential targets of miRNAs through miRBase and TargetScan-based computational mapping. A further 88 genes were identified as potential downstream targets through their c-Myc binding motif. CONCLUSION: c-Myc plays a critical role in maintaining the self-renewal capacity of lung bronchoalveolar stem cells through a combination of miRNA and transcription factor regulatory networks

Inhibition of histone deacetylase 1 or 2 reduces induced cytokine expression in microglia through a protein synthesis independent mechanism

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors prevent neural cell death in in vivo models of cerebral ischaemia, brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. One mechanism by which HDAC inhibitors may do this is by suppressing the excessive inflammatory response of chronically activated microglia. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this anti-inflammatory effect and the specific HDAC responsible are not fully understood. Recent data from in vivo rodent studies has shown that inhibition of class I HDACs suppresses neuroinflammation and is neuroprotective. In our study we have identified that selective HDAC inhibition with inhibitors apicidin, MS-275 or MI-192, or specific knockdown of HDAC1 or 2 using siRNA, suppresses the expression of cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in BV2 murine microglia activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we found that in the absence of HDAC1, HDAC2 is upregulated and these increased levels are compensatory, suggesting these two HDACs have redundancy in regulating the inflammatory response of microglia. Investigating the possible underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms suggests an increase in protein expression is not important. Taken together, this study supports the idea that inhibitors selective towards HDAC1 or HDAC2, may be therapeutically useful for targeting neuroinflammation in brain injuries and neurodegenerative disease

Effects of Heparin and Enoxaparin on APP Processing and Aβ Production in Primary Cortical Neurons from Tg2576 Mice

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is caused by accumulation of Aβ, which is produced through sequential cleavage of β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) by the β-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE1) and γ-secretase. Enoxaparin, a low molecular weight form of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) heparin, has been reported to lower Aβ plaque deposition and improve cognitive function in AD transgenic mice