La ciutat sostenible : sostenim la ciutat

Actualment, es tendeix a carregar sobre l'urbanisme la nova contradicció en la utilització dels recursos: la sostenibilitat urbana sembla indispensable, però un urbanisme sostenible obre un terreny de (des)il·lusions. L'urbanisme, sent com és encara el govern de les transformacions urbanes, no pot defugir el mandat de fer-se càrrec dels valors de convivència que la societat manifesta, però ha de dur-los a l'objecte del qual s'ocupa principalment, és a dir, la ciutat. La seva dimensió constructiva no pot referir-se a la sostenibilitat en la ciutat, sinó a la sostenibilitat per la ciutat. El present article provarà de dir alguna cosa sobre aquest tema.Actualmente, se tiende a cargar sobre el urbanismo la nueva contradicción sobre la utilización de los recursos: la sostenibilidad urbana parece indispensable, pero un urbanismo sostenible abre un terreno de (des)ilusiones. El urbanismo, siendo como es todavía el gobierno de las transformaciones urbanas, no puede rehuir el mandato de hacerse cargo de los valores de convivencia que la sociedad manifiesta, pero debe llevarlos al objeto del que se ocupa principalmente, es decir, la ciudad. Su dimensión constructiva no puede referirse a la sostenibilidad en la ciudad, sino a la sostenibilidad para la ciudad. El presente artículo intentará decir alguna cosa sobre este tema.À l'époque actuelle on a la tendence à charger sur l'urbanisme la nouvelle contradiction sur l'utilisation des réssources: la sostenibilité urbaine s'avère indispensable, mais un urbanisme soutenable ouvre un domaine de (dés)illusions. L'urbanisme, étant toujours le gouvernement des transformations urbaines, ne peut pas éviter le mandat de s'occuper des valeurs de la vie en commun manifestés par la societé, mais doit les mener à l'objet d'étude principale, c'est à dire, la ville. Cette dimension constructive ne peut pas se rapporter à la sostenibilité dans la ville mais à la sostenibilité par la ville. Cet article tentera de dire quelque chose à ce propos

Verso una nuova dimensione metropolitana

La difusió territorial actual del fenomen urbà ha mostrat no només com els avantatges de l'aglomeració poden esdevenir problemes (congestió, augment dels costos de transport, pèrdua de qualitat ambiental) sinó també que aquests avantatges poden ser aconseguits sense aglomeració. La ciutat difusa funciona així com una ciutat concentrada sense les seves característiques morfològiques però amb les mateixes característiques funcionals i socials. En aquest procés, en el qual la ciutat central ha seguit mantenint bona part de les funcions de centre cultural, econòmic i comercial, es detecta també com una part del centres de poder segueixen la pauta de difusió i es relocalitzen en centres mitjans i petits, donant lloc al que l'autor anomena arxipèlags metropolitans. Encara que aquests processos de difusió tenen aparentment un elevat component d'autoorganització, se sosté aquí que si el procés de difusió està guiat i governat pel poder públic, la ciutat difusa està millor organitzada i els efectes negatius queden minimitzats.The current process of territorial diffusion urban has shown not only that the advantages of agglomeration can become problems (congestion, increase of transport costs, loss of environmental-quality) but also that these benefits can be achieved without agglomeration. The diffuse city works very much as a concentrated city with a complete different morphology but with the same social and functional characteristics. In this process, in which the central city has kept many of the cultural, economic and commercial functions, it can be seen that some of these functions has followed the diffusion pattern and that they have been relocated in middle and small size cities, leading to what the author calls metropolitan archipelagos. Although these diffusion processes have an apparently high component of self-organization, it is argued here that when the diffusion process is publicly guided and governed, the diffuse city is better organized and the negative effects can be minimized.La difusión territorial actual del fenómeno urbano ha mostrado no sólo cómo las ventajas de la aglomeración pueden convertirse en problemas (congestión, aumento de costes de transporte, pérdida de calidad ambiental) sino también que estas ventajas pueden ser alcanzadas sin aglomeración. La ciudad difusa funciona así como una ciudad concentrada sin sus características morfológicas pero con sus mismas características funcionales y sociales. En ese proceso, en el que la ciudad central ha seguido manteniéndolo buena parte de las funciones de centro cultural, económico y comercial, se detecta también cómo una parte de lo centros de poder siguen la pauta de difusión y se relocalizan en centros medios y pequeños, dando lugar a lo que el autor denomina archipiélagos metropolitanos. Aunque estos procesos de difusión tienen aparentemente un elevado componente de autoorganización, se sostiene aquí que si el proceso de difusión está guiado y gobernado por el poder público, la ciudad difusa estará mejor organizada y los efectos negativos quedarán minimizados

Urban disorder and vitality

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Wild West in Upstate New York: Native American Culture, Performances, and Public Debates about Indian Affairs, 1880s-1930s

From the 1880s to the 1930s, Americans flocked to public performances by Native Americans. As this thesis examines, these events –Wild West shows, dances, living museum exhibits, mock battles with torturing, and so on—were just as popular in upstate New York as around the nation. Focusing on the Rochester area, managers variously portrayed Native Americans as savage, vanishing, or noble, depending on the prevailing ideologies of the day. Many Natives were divided on participating in these events, although some joined for economic reasons or as chances to modify their traditional cultures outside the pressures of assimilationists in their communities to abandon them. Most New York policymakers, meanwhile, continually pressed for jurisdictional control over the Haudenosaunee and their assimilation as shows gained in popularity. The attention gathered by such performances, however, increased discussions among Natives and whites of the supposed virtues of Native cultures. More people sought to learn about, support, or imitate Native cultures and correct stereotypes of Native identity evident in the shows. Although numerous tropes remained, many Natives and whites used public performances by Natives as a medium to discuss Indian affairs as a whole, which ultimately aided in fostering the public sentiment necessary to transition Indian policies away from assimilation towards more culturally sensitive, yet still problematic, ones, such as the Indian Reorganization Act (1934)

Citizenship and new urban realities

AbstractCities have always been the place where 'diversity' has settled, within a substantial ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity. The author's emphasis on the need for a cultural policy on migration and welcoming not in 'moral' terms but in relation to a mutual interest between different peoples and cultures. A policy which highlights 'diversity' and allows for peaceful coexistence and sharing, provides the basis for what can be called a policy of coexistence, or a strategy for coexistence. Such a policy can only be the result of a collective debate and effort which can propose new ideas of citizenship

A Natural language interface to MS-DOS

The goal of this thesis was to design and implement a dialog facility to assist novice users of the MS-DOS operating system. A small natural language interface facility called PE-DOS (Plain English DOS) was built, which serves as a front end for a subset of simple MS-DOS commands. PE-DOS accepts English-like terminology and translates it into the appropriate MS-DOS command using a system of recursive transition networks (RTNs). The translated command then is presented to the user along with an English paraphrase of the user\u27s input sentence in an effort to provide confirmation for the intended command in both English and MS-DOS command language. PE-DOS was tested by presenting it to two classes of users. One group was made up of sophisticated users of other operating systems who had not used MS-DOS. The second group consisted of unsophisticated users of applications that run under MS-DOS who had not used any operating system commands. The feedback from these user indicates that PE-DOS is probably most useful as an educational device to teach new users a set of basic MS-DOS commands, rather than as a viable command interface

Anticipating the effects of visual gravity during simulated self-motion: estimates of time-to-passage along vertical and horizontal paths

By simulating self-motion on a virtual rollercoaster, we investigated whether acceleration cued by the optic flow affected the estimate of time-to-passage (TTP) to a target. In particular, we studied the role of a visual acceleration (1 g = 9.8 m/s(2)) simulating the effects of gravity in the scene, by manipulating motion law (accelerated or decelerated at 1 g, constant speed) and motion orientation (vertical, horizontal). Thus, 1-g-accelerated motion in the downward direction or decelerated motion in the upward direction was congruent with the effects of visual gravity. We found that acceleration (positive or negative) is taken into account but is overestimated in module in the calculation of TTP, independently of orientation. In addition, participants signaled TTP earlier when the rollercoaster accelerated downward at 1 g (as during free fall), with respect to when the same acceleration occurred along the horizontal orientation. This time shift indicates an influence of the orientation relative to visual gravity on response timing that could be attributed to the anticipation of the effects of visual gravity on self-motion along the vertical, but not the horizontal orientation. Finally, precision in TTP estimates was higher during vertical fall than when traveling at constant speed along the vertical orientation, consistent with a higher noise in TTP estimates when the motion violates gravity constraints

La ville diffuse : définition et gouvernance

Ce texte est une traduction de Francesco Indovina, « La città diffusa: cos’è e come si governa », paru dans Francesco Indovina (dir.), Territorio. Innovazione. Economia. Pianificazione. Politiche. Vent’anni di ricerca al Daest, Venezia, Iuav, 1999. Avant-propos Dans le respect de la nature du position paper, les notes qui suivent ont été organisées comme une sorte de suite de « thèses » sur le sujet. Afin d’éviter tout malentendu, il nous a paru utile de fournir des éléments d’argumentation, ..