District heating as heterotopia: Tracing the social contract through domestic energy infrastructure in Pimlico, London

The Pimlico District Heating Undertaking (PDHU) was London's first attempt at neighborhood heating. Built in the 1950s to supply landmark social housing project Churchill Gardens, the district heating system sent heat from nearby Battersea power station into the radiators of the housing estate. The network is a rare example in the United Kingdom, where, unlike other European states, district heating did not become widespread. Today the heating system supplies more than 3,000 homes in the London Borough of Westminster, having survived the closure of the power station and the privatization of the housing estate it supplies. Therefore, this article argues, the neighborhood can be understood as a heterotopia, a site of an alternative sociotechnical order. This concept is used to understand the layers of economic, political, and technological rationalities that have supported PDHU and to question how it has survived radical changes in housing and energy policy in the United Kingdom. This lens allows us to see the tension between the urban planning and engineering perspective, which celebrates this system as a future-oriented “experiment,” and the reality of managing and using the system on the estate. The article analyzes this technology-enabled standard of living as a social contract between state and citizen, suggesting this is a way to analyze contemporary questions of district energy

Comparing freight transport strategies and measures in London and Paris

The paper compares the approach being taken to freight transport strategy and the specific policy measures being implemented in London and Paris. It highlights the serious consideration that has been given to freight transport by the Mayors of London and Paris in the last five years. These freight policy considerations are taking place against a background of growing levels of road freight activity, energy use and pollutant emissions in both cities. The key freight transport objectives being followed in London and Paris are similar and focus on improving the efficiency and reliability of freight transport while reducing the negative environmental impacts that it causes. The specific freight transport policy measures being followed show some differences in each city. However, attempts to address problems related to loading and unloading are taking place in both, albeit through different specific initiatives. These policy initiatives have important implications for companies concerned with urban logistics operations

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Complex needs in homelessness practice; a review of 'new markets of vulnerability'

This article reviews institutional responses to adult homeless people, to argue that there is a contemporary flourishing of debates about complex needs across homelessness research and practice fields. These understand housing need as a mental and physical health issue and a care and support need, with foundations in biographical and societal events, issues and experiences, including trauma. Responses to complex needs are conceptualised as enterprising in scope; articulated as fresh, proactive, preventative and positive. The article suggests that there are a range of legislative, policy and funding drivers for these developments, from across homelessness, housing support and adult social care fields, which are distinctive to the English context. At the same time, debates about what complex needs are, and how best to respond to them, are evident in international debates about service delivery models with homeless service users in the Global Western North. ‘Complex needs’ is defined as a travelling concept, with affective qualities, which provides foundation for practice interventions, techniques and principles in different locations. The article conceptualises institutional machinations around the governance of complex needs as ‘new markets of vulnerability’. This term theorises new markets and new marketising strategies around complex needs in the context of a much larger reconfiguring of the mixed economies of welfare around markets and market mimicking devices and practices. It is argued that the intensification of activities around complex needs give insight into processes of neoliberalisation in contemporary modernized welfare ‘mixes’

Step by step to Westminster's cleaner city The report of the Cleaner Westminster Pilot Scheme working party

5.00LD:f81/3647. / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Survey of trips by trade vehicles in selected streets in Westminster

SIGLELD:9025.921(TRN--32). / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Transport policies and programme 1997/98

Includes fold out mapsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9025.85799(1997/98) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Tackling drugs together in Westminster What we know in July 1996

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:q97/05762 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Westminster cordon traffic survey 1981 Analysis of postal questionnaire return and comments

SIGLELD:9025.921(TRN--37) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Housing strategy and investment programme 1991/92

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:4335.15203(1991/92) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo