Urbanheart surgery - a logic of design alternatives

In 1972 Sir Leslie Martin in his essay “The Grid as Generator”, advocated “a strong theoretical basis for [planning and] urban design” (Carolin P, 2000, p4) by methodically shifting design parameters regarding the way “in which buildings [could be] placed on the land” Martin was able to demonstrate how the generation of alternatives could “allow wider scope for decisions and objectives” to be considered and discussed (Carmona M, & Tiesdell S 2007, p81). Operating within a conventional design studio yet drawing of Sir Leslie Martin’s logic, ie developing an informed understanding of a problem by identifying a finite world of design ‘alternatives’, the following paper outlines a studio based program at the School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University, referred to as the ‘UrbanHeart Surgery’. While most atelier-based courses operate largely on an ad-hoc basis where students often work within self imposed competitive isolation, Urbanheart adopts a more open yet structured approach where students work in design collaboratives to generate a matrix of alternative design scenarios. The program actively integrates postgraduate students from Architecture, Urban Design and Planning into a design research culture and allows them to engage in critical discourse by working on strategic design projects in three areas significant to the future development of the state of Victoria: Metropolitan Urbanism, Urbanism on the Periphery and Regional Urbanism

On polar Legendre polynomials

10 pages, no figures.-- MSC2000 codes: Primary 42C05; Secondary 33C25.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0709.4537Accepted in Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics.We introduce a new class of polynomials {Pn}, that we call polar Legendre polynomials, they appear as solutions of an inverse Gauss problem of equilibrium position of a field of forces with n + 1 unit masses. We study algebraic, differential and asymptotic properties of this class of polynomials, that are simultaneously orthogonal with respect to a differential operator and a discrete-continuous Sobolev type inner product.Research by first author (H.P.) was partially supported by Dirección General de Investigación, Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de España, under grant MTM2006-13000-C03-02, by Comunidad de Madrid-Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, under grant CCG06-UC3M/EST-0690 and by Centro de Investigación Matemática de Canarias (CIMAC). Research by second author (J.Y.B.) was supported by CNPq-TWAS. Research by third author (W.U.) was partially supported by Centro de Investigación Matemática de Canarias (CIMAC).En prens

Proper subspaces and compatibility

Let $\mathcal{E}$ be a Banach space contained in a Hilbert space $\mathcal{L}$. Assume that the inclusion is continuous with dense range. Following the terminology of Gohberg and Zambicki\v{\i}, we say that a bounded operator on $\mathcal{E}$ is a proper operator if it admits an adjoint with respect to the inner product of $\mathcal{L}$. By a proper subspace $\mathcal{S}$ we mean a closed subspace of $\mathcal{E}$ which is the range of a proper projection. If there exists a proper projection which is also self-adjoint with respect to the inner product of $\mathcal{L}$, then $\mathcal{S}$ belongs to a well-known class of subspaces called compatible subspaces. We find equivalent conditions to describe proper subspaces. Then we prove a necessary and sufficient condition to ensure that a proper subspace is compatible. Each proper subspace $\mathcal{S}$ has a supplement $\mathcal{T}$ which is also a proper subspace. We give a characterization of the compatibility of both subspaces $\mathcal{S}$ and $\mathcal{T}$. Several examples are provided that illustrate different situations between proper and compatible subspaces.Comment: 18 page

The Effect of Information and Communication Technologies on Urban Structure

The geographic concentration of economic activity occurs because transport costs for goods, people and ideas give individuals and organisations incentives to locate close to each other. Historically, all of these costs have been falling. Such changes could lead us to predict the death of distance. This paper is concerned with one aspect of this prediction: the impact that less costly communication and transmission of information might have on cities and the urban structure. We develop a model which suggests that improvements in ICT will increase the dispersion of economic activity across cities making city sizes more uniform. We test this prediction using cross country data and find empirical support for this conclusion.ICT, urban structure, cross country data

A holistic approach to the evaluation of sustainable housing

Residential housing is often evaluated against single or at best a limited number of similar criteria. These include quantifiable indicators such as energy use and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. It might also include material consumption from an embodied energy or resource use perspective. Social factors or qualitative indicators may be evaluated but are rarely placed or juxtaposed alongside these quantifiable indicators. A one-dimensional approach will be limiting because sustainable development includes both environmental and social factors. This paper describes the methodologies that have been developed to assess housing developments against five quite different criteria. These are: energy use, resource use, neighbourhood character, neighbourhood connectedness and diversity. In each case, high and low sustainability practice has been identified so that ranking is possible. These methodologies have then been tested by evaluating a typical precinct (approximately 400 m by 400 m) of a 1970-80s housing development in a suburb of Geelong. The rankings of the particular precinct have then been combined in a visual way to assist in the evaluation of the housing in a more holistic way. The results of this evaluation method are presented, along with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies. The research is the outcome of collaboration by a cross-disciplinary group of academics within Deakin’s School of Architecture and Building

Seasonal water storage and delayed evapotranspiration across continents: patterns and drivers

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

La mujer de Palencia

Hojas sueltas de: Las mujeres españolas, portuguesas y americanas..., t.II.Copia digital. Valladolid : Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Turismo, 201

Scaling laws of strategic behaviour and size heterogeneity in agent dynamics

The dynamics of many socioeconomic systems is determined by the decision making process of agents. The decision process depends on agent's characteristics, such as preferences, risk aversion, behavioral biases, etc.. In addition, in some systems the size of agents can be highly heterogeneous leading to very different impacts of agents on the system dynamics. The large size of some agents poses challenging problems to agents who want to control their impact, either by forcing the system in a given direction or by hiding their intentionality. Here we consider the financial market as a model system, and we study empirically how agents strategically adjust the properties of large orders in order to meet their preference and minimize their impact. We quantify this strategic behavior by detecting scaling relations of allometric nature between the variables characterizing the trading activity of different institutions. We observe power law distributions in the investment time horizon, in the number of transactions needed to execute a large order and in the traded value exchanged by large institutions and we show that heterogeneity of agents is a key ingredient for the emergence of some aggregate properties characterizing this complex system.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure