The Kind and Personal Influence of Per-Olov Löwdin

Neighborhood

10.1093/oso/9780190907495.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Emily Talen

Keyword(s):

21St Century ◽

Geographic Location ◽

Social Contact ◽

Neighborhood Structure ◽

Urban Experience ◽

Local Participation ◽

Personal Influence ◽

Social Mix ◽

Traditional Sense ◽

American Society

This book is written in support of those who believe that neighborhoods should be genuinely relevant in our lives, not as casual descriptors of geographic location but as places that provide an essential context for daily life. “Neighborhood” in its traditional sense—as a localized, place-based, delimited urban area that has some level of personal influence—seems a vanished part of the urban experience. This book explores whether 21st-century neighborhoods can once again provide a sense of caring and local participation and not devolve into enclaves seeking social insularity and separation. That the localized, diverse neighborhood has often failed to materialize requires thorough exploration. While many factors leading to the decline of the traditional neighborhood—e-commerce, suburban exclusivity, internet-based social contact—seem to be beyond anyone’s control, other factors seem more a product of neglect and confusion about neighborhood definition and its place in American society. Debates about the neighborhood have involved questions about social mix, serviceability, self-containment, centeredness, and connectivity within and without. This book works through these debates and proposes their resolution. The historical and global record shows that there are durable, time-tested regularities about neighborhoods. Many places outside of the West were built with neighborhood structure in evidence—long before professionalized, Western urban planning came on the scene. This book explores the compelling case that the American neighborhood can be connected to these traditions, anchored in human nature and regularities of form, and reinstated as something relevant and empowering in 21st-century urban experience.

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The two Tabors

10.1093/oso/9780198808282.003.0006 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew Briggs ◽

Hans Halvorson ◽

Andrew Steane

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Important Influence ◽

Cavendish Laboratory ◽

James Clerk Maxwell ◽

Personal Influence ◽

Doctoral Work ◽

The Doors

The book contains three autobiographical chapters, one from each of the authors. In this one Andrew Briggs (A.B.) presents some of his experiences. Professor David Tabor was an important scientific and personal influence on A.B. in his doctoral work at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. A visit to Mount Tabor in Israel gave a memorable opportunity for reflection on the connection between spiritual matters and physical, geographical matters. Another important influence was the humble Christian and great nineteenth-century physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell had a verse from Psalm 111 inscribed over the doors of the Cavendish laboratory. When the laboratory was moved into new premises, A.B. asked whether the inscription could be included. This was agreed by the relevant committee. It reads: ‘The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein’: a lovely motto for scientists.

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