The Usefulness of Uselessness: Towards a Landscape Framework for Un-Activated Urban Public Space

In recent decades, programmatic design activations have successfully rejuvenated many underperforming urban parks and vague sites. Nevertheless, the innate ephemerality of the landscape also leaves it susceptible to over-activation and loss of resilience and future possibility. Framed by this vulnerability, the article contributes a landscape-based interpretation of existing architectural and urban theories of vagueness and temporary use. Upholding of the potentiality of a site - even if not visibly active or productive - is agued to exhibit valid use-value within the contemporary accelerated urban context. The article cultivates landscape mechanisms for maintaining and propagating uselessness and neutralising existential threats to the openness of a site

NMDAR-Mediated Calcium Transients Elicited by Glutamate Co-Release at Developing Inhibitory Synapses

Before hearing onset, the topographic organization of the inhibitory sound localization pathway from the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) to the lateral superior olive (LSO) is refined by means of synaptic silencing and strengthening. During this refinement period MNTB-LSO synapses not only release GABA and glycine but also release glutamate. This co-released glutamate can elicit postsynaptic currents that are predominantly mediated by NMDA receptors (NMDARs). To gain a better understanding of how glutamate contributes to synaptic signaling at developing MNTB-LSO inhibitory synapses, we investigated to what degree and under what conditions NMDARs contribute to postsynaptic calcium responses. Our results demonstrate that MNTB-LSO synapses can elicit compartmentalized calcium responses along aspiny LSO dendrites. These responses are significantly attenuated by the NMDAR antagonist APV. APV, however, had no effect on somatically recorded electrical postsynaptic responses, indicating little, if any, contribution of NMDARs to spike generation. NMDAR-mediated calcium responses were decreased when increasing extracellular magnesium concentrations to physiological levels indicating that MNTB-LSO synapses activate magnesium sensitive NMDAR on immature LSO dendrites. In Fura-2 AM loaded neurons, blocking GABAA and glycine receptors increased NMDAR contribution to somatic calcium responses suggesting that GABA and glycine, perhaps by shunting backpropagating action potentials, decrease the level of NMDAR activation under strong stimulus conditions

Untersuchungen über den Bakterien- Hefegehalt von Wasser und Sand an einem Badestrand der Ostseeküste

Am Falckensteiner Strand bei Kiel wurden im August 1971 Untersuchungen über die Beeinflussung des Bakterien- und Hefegehaltes von Strandsand und ufernahem Ostseewasser durch die Badegäste angestellt. Demnach wirkt sich das sommerliche Strandleben deutlich auf die Menge und Zusammensetzung der im Strandsand befindlichen Mikroorganismen aus. So waren in den am stärksten beanspruchten Strandbereichen (Strandburgen, Weg, Kiosk) die Bakterien- und Hefezahlen z. T. beträchtlich größer und der Anteil der terrestrischen Formen höher als am übrigen Strand. Im ufernahen Wasser dagegen ließ sich ein entsprechender Einfluß des Badelebens auf die Mikroflora infolge der Einwirkung anderer Faktoren nicht sicher nachweisen. Auf Grund der starken Schwankungen gestattet die Untersuchung einzelner Wasser- und Sandproben keine zuverlässige Aussage über die bakteriologischen und mykologischen Verhältnisse eines Badestrandes. In August 1971 on the Falckenstein beach in Kiel, experiments were made on the influence of the seashore guests on the bacteria and yeast content of the beach sand and the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. Accordingly, the summer life on the beach clearly has an effect on the amount and composition of the microorganisms present in the beach sand. In the most populated beach areas (holes dug and occupied by the bathers, the pathway, around a snack bar), the bacteria and yeast counts are therefore sometimes considerably greater, and the percentage of terrestrial forms higher, than elsewhere on the beach. In the water near the shore, on the other hand, a comparable influence of the seaside life on the microflora could not be determined with certainty, due to other factors. As a result of strong fluctuations, the investigation of single isolated water and sand samples does not allow for a definite statement about the bacteriological and mycological conditions of a seaside bathing area

The mirage of the metropolis: city imaging in the age of digital chorography

Even as cities evolved geographically, the basis of city imaging (as codified by Kevin Lynch) remained relatively stable for over half a century. More recently, digitally driven transformations in urban life challenge the continued relevance of established city-imaging paradigms. Although digital navigation and mapping devices are readily at hand to neutralize any disorienting predicaments, the ability to image cognitively the wider urban environment remains integral to the construction of a meaningful sense of place. Towards the objective of reconciling city imaging with the place-making challenges of the contemporary metropolis, this paper explores the potential for innovating modes of urban mapping and representation. Specifically, the digital re-envisioning of the historical mapping practice of ‘chorography’ is positioned within Fredric Jameson’s challenge for a new aesthetic of cognitive mapping that enables the situational representation of the individual within the vaster totality. In doing so, the paper contributes to the wider adaptation of urban discourse to digitally propelled shifts in urban life

Green-Networks: Integrating Alternative Circulation Systems into Post-industrial Cities

Many post-industrial cities are infused with ready-made spaces for non-vehicular circulation in the form of webs of linear voids that often result from industrial era infrastructure. There have been many successful conversions of individual linear easements into greenways, although attempting to craft continuous green-networks from these residual spaces is often problematic. This paper considers how designers and planners might start to reconcile the aspirations of the green-network as a model and an idea with the actual opportunities on the ground as typically found in post-industrial cities. Central to the discussion is an extension of Robert Searns' greenway generational rubric, whereby the present generation of greenways is described as complete webs to rival the grey infrastructure of the incumbent city fabric. Within this framework, the paper elaborates on a number of themes: (1) how effective green-networks are at influencing urban form; (2) the green-network as a counterbalance to the city; (3) speed versus slowness; (4) issues of intersection and grade separation; (5) the concept of interwoven green/grey space; and (6) the greenway network model versus the standalone circuit. The paper concludes with a call for expanding the greenway nomenclature to reflect the actual diversity of the genre. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC