A Place in Mind: Designing Cities for the 21st Century

Written by Avi Friedma

Analysis and Design Methodology of a Novel Integration Topology of Storageless Off-Grid PV Systems

In this manuscript, a novel topology is proposed to integrate on-grid and off-grid PV systems supplying the same load premises. The load side is investigated and analyzed, and critical and non-critical loads are separated in terms of power supply. Critical and seasonal loads usually place stress on the grid’s point of common coupling (PCC). In the proposed topology, they are supplied by a novel topology for an off-grid solar pump PV system that lacks energy storage integration. The lack of energy storage batteries requires a novel design and sizing scheme for the off-grid PV system, and a methodology is proposed in this manuscript. The on-grid PV system is conventionally designed and coupled with the storage-less off-grid PV system to maintain load supply. The proposed methodology minimizes the ratings of the PCC and hence relieves stress on congested grids with renewable energy penetration, especially in condensed urban areas. The proposed structure enables the operation of microgrids with high penetration levels of renewable energy resources and minimizes dependance on storage batteries for off-grid systems. A case study is presented and thoroughly analyzed with the proposed methodology. The outcomes of the design process are evaluated economically and were found to be feasible, as is detailed and supported with simulation results

A climate resilience research renewal agenda: learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for urban climate resilience

Learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic opens an opportunity for enhanced research and action on inclusive urban resilience to climate change. Lessons and their implications are used to describe a climate resilience research renewal agenda. Three key lessons are identified. The first lesson is generic, that climate change risk coexists and interacts with other risks through overlapping social processes, conditions and decision-making contexts. Two further lessons are urban specific: that networks of connectivity bring risk as well as resilience and that overcrowding is a key indicator of the multiple determinants of vulnerability to both COVID-19 and climate change impacts. From these lessons three research priorities arise: dynamic and compounding vulnerability, systemic risk and risk root cause analysis. These connected agendas identify affordable and healthy housing, social cohesion, minority and local leadership and multiscale governance as entry points for targeted research that can break cycles of multiple risk creation and so build back better for climate change as well as COVID-19 in recovery and renewal

Cultural political economy and urban heritage tourism

The paper explains a cultural political economy “framing” for interpreting heritage tourism in urban contexts. Key ideas behind this research perspective are explained and illustrated through discussion of past research studies of urban heritage tourism. It is underpinned by a relational view of the inter-connectedness of societal relations, and an emphasis on taking seriously both the cultural/semiotic and the economic/political in the co-constitution of urban heritage tourism’s social practices and features. A case study of heritage tourism in Nanjing, China considers cultural political economy’s relevance and value, including the distinctive research questions it raises. It reveals, for example, how economic relations in the built environment were related to tourist meaning-making and identities in the cultural/semiotic sphere

Juridical Review of Defaults on Departure Agreements for Umrah Pilgrims Due to Force Majeur (Study at PT. Siar Haramain International Wisata in Medan City)

73 HalamanPerjanjian pada dasarnya suatu perbuatan antara satu orang atau lebih untuk mengikatkan diri dalam suatu perikatan. Setiap perjanjian yang dibuat harus ditepati bagi pihak yang mengikatkan diri didalamnya. Force Majeure sebagai alasan pemaaf memberikan pengecualian terhadap pembebasan tanggung jawab untuk tidak memenuhi suatu perjanjian dengan syarat harus dapat membuktikan tidak terpenuhinya prestasi tersebut bukan kesalahannya. Contoh konkrit wanprestasi yang diakibatkan force majeure dapat dicermati pada PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata sebagai pihak travel penyelenggara umroh yang batal memberangkatkan jamaahnya pada tahun 2020 karena faktor pandemi covid 19 yang dianggap sebagai peristiwa force majeure. Permasalahan yang timbul adalah apa unsur force majeure dalam wanprestasi keberangkatan jamaah umroh PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata, apa akibat hukum yang timbul dari force majeure tersebut, dan bagaimana perlindungan hukum terhadap para jemaah yang gagal diberangkatkan umroh pada tahun 2020. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian yuridis empiris dan yuridis normatif. Pendekatan empiris dilakukan dengan melakukan wawancara langsung pada direktur PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata. Penelitian yuridis normatif dilakukan dengan menelaah undang-undang, buku dan kamus hukum yang memiliki korelasi erat pada pembahasan dalam penelitian ini. Hasil penelitian ini dapat diketahui bahwa unsur force majeure dalam wanprestasi keberangkatan jamaah umroh PT.Travel Siar International Haramain adalah berupa prestasi yang tidak terpenuhi dalam memberangkatkan jamaah umroh sesuai dengan waktu yang ditentukan oleh PT Travel Siar International Haramain Wisata. Tidak terpenuhinya prestasi tersebut disebabkan faktor pandemi covid 19 yang berdampak ditutupnya akses masuk wisata termasuk untuk kepentingan umroh di Arab Saudi. Akibat hukum yang timbul dari adanya wanprestasi dari peristiwa force majeure, maka pihak jemaah tidak dapat meminta ganti kerugian atas penundaan keberangkatan umroh. Sedangkan akibat hukum pada PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata adalah kewajiban untuk melaksanakan pemenuhan prestasi berupa memberangkatkan jamaah umroh pada saat kondisi pandemi covid 19 berakhir. Perlindungan hukum bagi jemaah umroh terkait penundaan keberangkatan adalah dengan dilakukannya penjadwalan ulang atau reschedule hingga pandemi covid 19 berakhir. An agreement is basically an act between one or more people to bind themselves in an engagement. Every agreement made must be fulfilled for the parties who bind themselves in it. Force Majeure as a reason for forgiveness provides an exception to the waiver of responsibility for not fulfilling an agreement on the condition that it must be able to prove that the non-fulfillment of the achievement is not his fault. A concrete example of a default caused by force majeure can be observed at PT. Siar Haramain International Wisata as the travel organizer for Umrah which canceled its departure in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was considered a event force majeure. The problems that arise are what are the elements of force majeure in the default of the departure of the Umrah pilgrims of PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata, what are the legal consequences arising from the force majeure , and how are legal protections for pilgrims who fail to depart for Umrah in 2020. This study uses research methods empirical juridical and normative juridical. The empirical approach was carried out by conducting direct interviews with the director of PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata. Normative juridical research is carried out by examining laws, books and legal dictionaries that have a close correlation with the discussion in this study. The results of this study can be seen that the element force majeure in the default of the departure of the Umrah pilgrims of PT.Travel Siarsending the International Haramain is in the form of achievements that are not fulfilled inUmrah pilgrims according to the time determined by PT Travel Siar International Haramain Wisata. The failure to fulfill this achievement was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the closure of access to tourism, including for the benefit of Umrah in Saudi Arabia. As a result of the law arising from a default from event force majeure, the congregation cannot ask for compensation for delaying the departure of Umrah. While the legal consequences for PT.Siar Haramain International Wisata are the obligation to carry out the fulfillment of achievements in the form of sending Umrah pilgrims when the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Legal protection for Umrah pilgrims regarding departure delays is by rescheduling or rescheduling until the COVID-19 pandemic ends

The Stream Daylighting Literature Review & The Stream Daylighting and Climate Change Literature Review Datasets (Datasets I and II)

These two datasets spread over two Microsoft Excel Documents. The first, The Stream Daylighting Literature Review Dataset (Dataset I) compiles information gathered from a systematic review of the literature sources on the daylighting of streams. In total, we reviewed 115 English language sources (with one exception: a Swiss-German Report on the City of Zürich's unique daylighting policy). The systematic review was combined with content analysis to extract from these sources the latent content in reference to the sources' less obvious characteristics and information that can be uncovered only by a thorough reading of each source’s text. This "Stream Daylighting Literature Review Dataset" also dubbed by our research team as Dataset I, is in the form of a Microsoft Excel document spreading over seven separate sheets that are united by a unique primary key (PK) number for each literature source. Dataset I consists in total of 19 variables that we extracted from the 115 literature sources of which 10 are manifest data in reference to the literature’s obvious and indisputable attributes, such as: authors’ names and affiliations, title and year of the source’s publication. The remaining nine are extracted from the sources’ latent content through careful reading, leading to notes that are then transferred and coded in the Excel document. The research team collected the latent data around four subject matters, namely: the literature sources’ underlying themes and sub-themes, the daylighting case studies/projects discussed, and the geographic coverage or scope addressed in the literature sources. Dataset I served as the backbone for the research project’s dashboard produced in Tableau --i.e., one of the manifestations of Dataset I in the form of visual analyses, which can be viewed through the following links: https://uwaterloo.ca/stream-daylighting/literature-review-database and/or https://public.tableau.com/profile/nathan.woodcock5796#!/ The second, The Stream Daylighting and Climate Change Literature Review Dataset (Dataset II) delves deeper into one of the latent content variables extracted from the literature’s sources namely, the climate change theme. Dataset II identifies how the 16 literature sources on stream daylighting discuss climate change, specifically: 1) How is stream daylighting addressed in relation to climate change in these sources? And how do these literature sources tackle climate adaptation and/or mitigation? This Dataset II is in the form of a Microsoft Excel document organized over nine columns. The PK number, each source's unique number, connects Datasets I and II. Role of the funding source: The funding for this research project was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under file number 435-2016-0243. SSHRC was not involved in the study design nor in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data

The Stream Daylighting Literature Review & The Stream Daylighting and Climate Change Literature Review Datasets (Datasets I and II)

These two datasets spread over two Microsoft Excel Documents. The first, The Stream Daylighting Literature Review Dataset (Dataset I) compiles information gathered from a systematic review of the literature sources on the daylighting of streams. In total, we reviewed 115 English language sources (with one exception: a Swiss-German Report on the City of Zürich's unique daylighting policy). The systematic review was combined with content analysis to extract from these sources the latent content in reference to the sources' less obvious characteristics and information that can be uncovered only by a thorough reading of each source’s text. This "Stream Daylighting Literature Review Dataset" also dubbed by our research team as Dataset I, is in the form of a Microsoft Excel document spreading over seven separate sheets that are united by a unique primary key (PK) number for each literature source. Dataset I consists in total of 19 variables that we extracted from the 115 literature sources of which 10 are manifest data in reference to the literature’s obvious and indisputable attributes, such as: authors’ names and affiliations, title and year of the source’s publication. The remaining nine are extracted from the sources’ latent content through careful reading, leading to notes that are then transferred and coded in the Excel document. The research team collected the latent data around four subject matters, namely: the literature sources’ underlying themes and sub-themes, the daylighting case studies/projects discussed, and the geographic coverage or scope addressed in the literature sources. Dataset I served as the backbone for the research project’s dashboard produced in Tableau --i.e., one of the manifestations of Dataset I in the form of visual analyses, which can be viewed through the following links: https://uwaterloo.ca/stream-daylighting/literature-review-database and/or https://public.tableau.com/profile/nathan.woodcock5796#!/ The second, The Stream Daylighting and Climate Change Literature Review Dataset (Dataset II) delves deeper into one of the latent content variables extracted from the literature’s sources namely, the climate change theme. Dataset II identifies how the 16 literature sources on stream daylighting discuss climate change, specifically: 1) How is stream daylighting addressed in relation to climate change in these sources? And how do these literature sources tackle climate adaptation and/or mitigation? This Dataset II is in the form of a Microsoft Excel document organized over nine columns. The PK number, each source's unique number, connects Datasets I and II. Role of the funding source: The funding for this research project was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under file number 435-2016-0243. SSHRC was not involved in the study design nor in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data

Historic preservation and tourism development: Planning for distinctiveness and sustainability in heritage tourism.

This research addresses a question of major significance for many, if not most countries around the world that seek to bolster their economies through heritage tourism: to what extent is it possible to sustain the congruity and integrity of historic sites without degrading them in the process of development and promotion? Using three case study sites in the Middle East (Aleppo in Syria, al-Salt in Jordan, and Acre in Israel), the research investigates the impact of planning processes and stakeholder inclusion on the distinctiveness and long-term sustainability of these sites. It contributes to theory by establishing links between place-making and place experience. It also contributes to planning practice through standardizing measures of quality of place-making, place-experience, and sustainability that integrate the perspective of local residents in planning processes. This research argues that the urban form of historic cities is the physical representation of internal societal processes and external interactions with the environment. Accordingly, the distinctiveness of historic urban fabrics results from local cultural expressions that are reflected as self-representations in urban design and socio-cultural interactions. The ensuing urban form and life within the historic fabric constitute major tourist attractions. However current planning approaches overlook local residents and perceive destinations as tourism products, emphasize their physical attributes, and focus only on tourists' activities. By ignoring local residents' activities and needs such approaches jeopardize the cultural and physical sustainability of historic cities and lead to a loss of distinctiveness, the quality that initially attracts tourism. Hence, this research proposes a model that links local self-representation to current planning approaches and to desired outcomes (distinctiveness and sustainability). In the three case study sites, the model tests how these outcomes influence the destination's ability to meet residents' and tourists' needs and to compete in the global heritage tourism industry. Within the framework of case study analysis, the research methodology embraces a mixed strategy that consists of a secondary quantitative method embedded within the primary qualitative method. Data collection tactics combine interviews, observations, questionnaires, material culture analysis, cognitive mapping, and documents and archives.Ph.D.ArchitectureCommunication and the ArtsSocial SciencesUrban planningUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126738/2/3276205.pd

The Stream Daylighting Literature Review Case Studies/Projects Dataset (Dataset III)

This Dataset III: The Stream Daylighting Literature Review Case Studies/Projects Dataset ensued from a systematic literature review of 115 English language sources (with one exception: a Swiss-German Report on the City of Zürich's unique daylighting policy). This systematic review was combined with content analysis to extract from these sources the latent content in reference to the literature sources' less obvious characteristics and information that can be uncovered only by a thorough reading of each source’s text. Specifically, this dataset focuses on extracting information on the stream daylighting case studies/projects mentioned in the literature sources. Accordingly, we identify 145 different stream daylighting case studies/projects from the literature sources. We organize these case studies/projects in one Microsoft Excel Document (Database III) which consists of 20 variables that were primarily extracted from the latent contents of the 115 sources of literature on the daylighting (i.e., deculverting) of streams. In addition to the literature sources, we augmented this Dataset III with other sources (listed in column number T). These variables offer detailed information of the stream daylighting case studies/projects including: the names of the daylighting project and the daylighted/deculverted) stream or river; locational information (including, coordinates); completion year; treatment type; cost information (including, cost per metre); innovative implementation techniques (if any); and even whether the daylighted/deculverted stream is visible in Google Maps. Last, we also use the same primary key number (PK) to connect this Dataset III to our other two Datasets I and II, which are available at: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/j5zfp5vdz4/1 and https://doi.org/10.17632/j5zfp5vdz4.1: Role of the funding source: The funding for this research project was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under file number 435-2016-0243. SSHRC was not involved in the study design nor in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data