Public Norms in Practices of Transitional Planning—The Case of Energy Transition in The Netherlands

The fallibility of intervening in complex realities is widely recognized in planning theory. The prevailing planning approaches of the last two decades may be summarized as attempts to make planning more responsive, corrective, and resilient, and also more sociocratic vis à vis the traditional government-centric rationalization of planning. These adaptations make sense, yet keep planning within the pragmatic scope of purposive aspirations and pragmatic problem solving. The pivotal statement of the article is that purposive systems run down in complex societies when not adequately sustained by institutionalizing sets of public norms. Public norms fulfil a different function than goal orientation. They provide a normative compass in times of uncertainty and set conditions to social interaction rather than organizing the performance of objectives or solving problems. The article aims to highlight the interrelationships of public norms and pragmatic strategies of planning. Empirically, the article addresses the major turning points of Dutch climate policy concerning the transitions of the electricity market, the major municipal–entrepreneurial initiatives of city-heating, and the decentralization of climate policies. The method of analysis is based on policy analysis of legislation, policy documents, and published contributions to public debates. The results of the analysis highlight the differences between the high policy aspirations and the outcomes. The results give evidence of the wicked problems in the complex energy transition. The discussion questions the mischievousness of ‘good’ planning intentions in complex social figurations, and critically examines the institutionalization of the material norms and the norms of politico-ordinance. The conclusions suggest that the social normalization of public norms in Dutch climate policies is not yet adequately materialized to effectively cope with wicked problems

It’s About Time:computational and Experimental Investigations of Adaptation to Nature’s Temporal Structure

The brain can be conceptualized as a predictive machine that generates predictions in order to act instead of react to an ever-unfolding world. Time is critical to any prediction. Think about an athlete awaiting the start signal: "Ready?" - "Set..." - "Go!". A good start depends on the athlete's estimate of the interval between "Set..." and "Go!".In my research, I propose that almost all of our behavior is timed, even though we are hardly aware of it. Probably, up to now, you have never considered that while the shower water heats, the brain somehow keeps track of the time. By using your shower, you form an implicit estimate of when the water is heated up. Based on this estimate, you can prepare to hop under your warm shower at the right time. How does the brain track such intervals (the time it takes for the water to heat) to anticipate when an event takes place? Because we are so used to thinking about clock-time, we tend to think in terms of 'brain-clocks' that track time. However, this turns out to be an incorrect concept. Research suggests that time is intrinsic to the brain’s neural dynamics. My research demonstrates that these dynamics can be tuned through associative memory to time behavior. By interacting with events in our world, we learn to associate their occurrence with certain points in time and adapt behavior accordingly, for example, to take off right after the "Go!" signal

Nuevos conceptos de planeamiento espacial estratégico del Randstand holandés

As in many metropolitan regions of Europe, the town and country planners in the most advanced urban region of Holland (Randstad) are facing an increasingly dynamic form of urban development.The current transformation of urban forms (throughout urban Europe) into diverse polycentric configurations, at a metropolitan level, is not merely the latest whim in urban growth but is instead a result of the complex new worldwide and interregional dimensions of social and economic flows which exist, in different proportions and on different scales, in urban spaces.With regards metropolitan planning, it is essential to create and rejuvenate the institutions’ ability to face growing spatial complexity at a regional and metropolitan level. In this sense, Dutch planners are now facing a dilemma. One tendency consists of increasing the ability to limit active planning in order to further development at a regional level, above all by giving new legal and financial tools to strategic regional plans (e.g. regional policy and development bodies).This tendency may lead to institutional conflicts within the varied institutional landscape of Holland’s urban regions.The second option does not choose to broaden the governing powers of regional planning but rather to increase its joint strategic capacity by improving coordination and communication between intermediate regional planning bodies.The authors highlight that the second option is better suited to the mutability of urban spaces

A Study of Deterministic Positioning of Carbon Nanotubes by Dielectrophoresis

A self-limiting dielectrophoresis technique, aimed at deterministically assembling individual or bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), is experimentally investigated. A limiting resistor is used to control the electric field after the deposition of a single carbon nanotube. The role of some key parameters such as voltage and duration of the deposition with and without the limiting resistor is studie

The Abstract Police:a conceptual exploration of unintended changes of police organizations

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