What’s so special about character?

Special Character Areas (SCAs) in Auckland, New Zealand, are areas with distinctive aesthetic, physical and visual qualities. Preservation policies entail controls on the design and appearance of new buildings, and on demolition, additions and alterations to existing buildings. To promote densification of the city, the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) removed SCA preservation rules in certain areas. This article assesses the trade-off between SCA preservation and housing development. We employ hedonic prices models to about 85,000 sale transactions between 2012 and 2016 and find that in 2012, the SCA price premium was 11.4% whereas the premium on upzoned properties (those with increased development allowances under the AUP) was zero. Over time, the SCA premium decreases, and by 2016 it was down to about 4.3%. At the same time, upzoning premiums increased to about 5% in 2016. These results reveal a demand shift from the protections of SCA towards flexibility on the development options of land.

Download Full-text

Design for the cycle

10.32920/ryerson.14654310 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jeffrey Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Urban Context ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

New Process ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

Design for the Cycle investigates, evaluates, and aligns contemporary ideas to propose a system for the design of fabric buildings that respond to social and cultural changes through the manipulation of form and materiality over time. In doing so, a building’s continued relevancy over time allows a project to reduce its need for embodied energy associated with demolition and repurposing due to premature obsolescence. This can be done through communities driving co-ownership development and tractable design strategies, enriched by the study of existing buildings that have evaded demolition and successfully been repurposed. These elements are brought together to establish a set of guidelines for designing the life-cycle of fabric buildings within an urban context. Using the guidelines, the following thesis proposes a new process for designing and constructing fabric buildings woven into the city with a foundation of resiliency and values reflecting the importance of our earth’s finite resources.

Download Full-text

Evidencia de un cambio de uso de suelo anunciado. La ocupación mixta no prevista en las vialidades primarias. Zona metropolitana de Xalapa

UVserva ◽

10.25009/uvserva.v0i9.2679 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 121-133

Author(s):

Lilly Areli Sánchez Correa ◽

Ma Guadalupe Noemi Uehara Guerrero ◽

Arturo Velázquez Ruiz ◽

Eva Acosta Pérez

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Vocational Interests ◽

Housing Development ◽

Land Uses ◽

Commercial Activities ◽

Mixed Use ◽

Residential Use ◽

Urban Project ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

ResumenLa lectura de la ciudad a través del tiempo permite mostrar una dinámica vinculada a los intereses vocacionales de usos de suelo; destacando el cambio generado en las vialidades principales. La investigación que se realiza sobre una vialidad primaria en un fraccionamiento, muestra el registro de los cambios experimentados en ese eje vial que originariamente fue producto de un proyecto urbano con uso generalizado habitacional, evidenciando ahora la incontrolable inercia provocada por el ímpetu comercial y de servicios coexistiendo con agonizantes viviendas esporádicas subsistentes en un paisaje lineal modificado, agregándose la conflictualidad vecinal entre la lucha por la permanencia del uso habitacional y el nuevo uso comercial. Como un referente de la creación de fraccionamientos similares, se trata de demostrar el imprevisible cambio de uso de suelo para fines comerciales, por lo que se concluye en la propuesta previsora de mezcla de usos, acorde a los actuales requerimientos urbanos.Palabras clave: Cambio de uso de suelo; corredor comercial; uso mixto; vialidad primaria; residentes. AbstractObserving the city over time allows present a dynamic linked to the vocational interests of land uses; highlighting the change generated along main roads. This research carried out on a primary road in a housing development, records the changes experienced in that road that originally was the product of an urban project with exclusively residential use, showing the uncontrollable inertia caused by the commercial activities momentum coexisting with dying sporadic dwellings subsisting in a modified linear landscape, adding a conflict between neighbours for the permanence of residential use and the new commercial uses. As a benchmark for the creation of similar developments, it demonstrates the unpredictable change in land use for commercial purposes, which is why it is proposed a mix of uses, according to current urban requirements.Key words: Land use Change; Commercial Corridors; Mixed use; Primary Roads, Residents.

Download Full-text

Design for the cycle

10.32920/ryerson.14654310.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jeffrey Mitchell

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Urban Context ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

New Process ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

Download Full-text

Seasonal Variation of Suicide in the City of São Paulo, Brazil, 1996–2010

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000222 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 5-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Daniel Hideki Bando ◽

Fernando Madalena Volpe

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Pattern ◽

Total Sample ◽

Sao Paulo ◽

Seasonal Patterns ◽

São Paulo ◽

Health Statistics ◽

Males And Females ◽

June July ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

Background: In light of the few reports from intertropical latitudes and their conflicting results, we aimed to replicate and update the investigation of seasonal patterns of suicide occurrences in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Methods: Data relating to male and female suicides were extracted from the Mortality Information Enhancement Program (PRO-AIM), the official health statistics of the municipality of São Paulo. Seasonality was assessed by studying distribution of suicides over time using cosinor analyses. Results: There were 6,916 registered suicides (76.7% men), with an average of 39.0 ± 7.0 observed suicides per month. For the total sample and for both sexes, cosinor analysis estimated a significant seasonal pattern. For the total sample and for males suicide peaked in November (late spring) with a trough in May–June (late autumn). For females, the estimated peak occurred in January, and the trough in June–July. Conclusions: A seasonal pattern of suicides was found for both males and females, peaking in spring/summer and dipping in fall/winter. The scarcity of reports from intertropical latitudes warrants promoting more studies in this area.

Download Full-text

The prevalence of underweight in 9–10-year-old schoolchildren in Liverpool: 1998–2006

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s136898000800311x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 953-956 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Lynne M Boddy ◽

Allan F Hackett ◽

Gareth Stratton

Keyword(s):

Mass Spectrum ◽

Body Mass ◽

The Body ◽

Fitness Testing ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Substantial Problem ◽

Prevalence Of Obesity ◽

Grade 3 ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

AbstractObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of underweight between 1998 and 2006 in Liverpool schoolchildren aged 9–10 years using recently published underweight cut-off points.Design and settingStature and body mass data collected at the LiverpoolSportsLinx project’s fitness testing sessions were used to calculate BMI.SubjectsData were available on 26 782 (n13 637 boys, 13 145 girls) participants.ResultsOverall underweight declined in boys from 10·3 % in 1998–1999 to 6·9 % in 2005–2006, and all sub-classifications of underweight declined, in particular grade 3 underweight, with the most recent prevalence being 0·1 %. In girls, the prevalence of underweight declined from 10·8 % in 1998–1999 to 7·5 % in 2005–2006. The prevalence of all grades of underweight was higher in girls than in boys. Underweight showed a fluctuating pattern across all grades over time for boys and girls, and overall prevalence in 2005–2006 represents over 200 children across the city.ConclusionsUnderweight may have reduced slightly from baseline, but remains a substantial problem in Liverpool, with the prevalence of overall underweight being relatively similar to the prevalence of obesity. The present study highlights the requirement for policy makers and funders to consider both ends of the body mass spectrum when fixing priorities in child health.

Download Full-text

Spatial Distribution of Lichens in Metrosideros excelsa in Northern New Zealand Urban Forests

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13040170 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 170

Author(s):

Gladys N. Benitez ◽

Glenn D. Aguilar ◽

Dan Blanchon

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Species Richness ◽

New Zealand ◽

Lichen Species ◽

Positive Correlation ◽

Breast Height ◽

Lichen Community ◽

The North ◽

The City ◽

Lichen Flora

The spatial distribution of corticolous lichens on the iconic New Zealand pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) tree was investigated from a survey of urban parks and forests across the city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. Lichens were identified from ten randomly selected trees at 20 sampling sites, with 10 sites classified as coastal and another 10 as inland sites. Lichen data were correlated with distance from sea, distance from major roads, distance from native forests, mean tree DBH (diameter at breast height) and the seven-year average of measured NO2 over the area. A total of 33 lichen species were found with coastal sites harboring significantly higher average lichen species per tree as well as higher site species richness. We found mild hotspots in two sites for average lichen species per tree and another two separate sites for species richness, with all hotspots at the coast. A positive correlation between lichen species richness and DBH was found. Sites in coastal locations were more similar to each other in terms of lichen community composition than they were to adjacent inland sites and some species were only found at coastal sites. The average number of lichen species per tree was negatively correlated with distance from the coast, suggesting that the characteristic lichen flora found on pōhutukawa may be reliant on coastal microclimates. There were no correlations with distance from major roads, and a slight positive correlation between NO2 levels and average lichen species per tree.

Download Full-text

A Tower of Tangled Histories: The Upper Silesia Tower in Poznań and the Making of an Unromantic Poland, 1911–1955

Slavic Review ◽

10.1017/slr.2020.158 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 79 (3) ◽

pp. 566-590

Author(s):

Patryk Babiracki

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

National Identity ◽

Cold War ◽

World War I ◽

Material Structure ◽

World War ◽

Upper Silesia ◽

The Cold War ◽

The City ◽

Over Time

Engaging with regional, international, and spatial histories, this article proposes a new reading of the twentieth-century Polish past by exploring the vicissitudes of a building known as the Upper Silesia Tower. Renowned German architect Hans Poelzig designed the Tower for the 1911 Ostdeutsche Ausstellung in Posen, an ethnically Polish city under Prussian rule. After Poland regained its independence following World War I, the pavilion, standing centrally on the grounds of Poznań’s International Trade Fair, became the fair's symbol, and over time, also evolved into visual shorthand for the city itself. I argue that the Tower's significance extends beyond Posen/Poznań, however. As an embodiment of the conflicts and contradictions of Polish-German historical entanglements, the building, in its changing forms, also concretized various efforts to redefine the dominant Polish national identity away from Romantic ideals toward values such as order, industriousness, and hard work. I also suggest that eventually, as a material structure harnessed into the service of socialism, the Tower, with its complicated past, also brings into relief questions about the regional dimensions of the clashes over the meaning of modernity during the Cold War.

Download Full-text

New Housing Developments in the City Center of Guadalajara (Mexico): An Analysis from the Perspective of Collective and Sustainable Dwelling

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11040168 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 168

Author(s):

Alessandra Cireddu

Keyword(s):

Point Of View ◽

City Center ◽

Compact City ◽

Housing Developments ◽

Human Scale ◽

Horizontal Growth ◽

Downtown Redevelopment ◽

Mode Of Transport ◽

The City ◽

New Buildings

New vertical housing developments in Guadalajara (Mexico) are reaching the city center as a response for redensification after many years of expansion of the urban area characterized by a suburban, low density and fragmented pattern. This horizontal growth, dominated by use of the automobile as prevailing mode of transport, has proven to be unsustainable not only from an environmental point of view, but also from a social perspective where the “human scale” of the city has been affected, same as the daily life of its inhabitants. On the other hand, vertical housing proposals are by their very nature associated with concepts of redensification, compact city and collective living; the aim of this article is to analyze some new housing developments in Guadalajara downtown in order to evaluate to what extent the new buildings embody a more sustainable, livable and collective dwelling, to discuss findings, successes and failures and thus be able to contribute some conclusions and open a broader reflection about contemporary housing, urban density and downtown redevelopment in Latin America cities through collective and sustainable dwelling.

Download Full-text

Will Peri-Urban Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) Challenge Local Eradication?

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects11040207 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 207 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rachael Horner ◽

Georgia Paterson ◽

James T.S. Walker ◽

George L.W. Perry ◽

Rodelyn Jaksons ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Spatial Interpolation ◽

Spatial Clustering ◽

Cydia Pomonella ◽

Codling Moth ◽

Catch Rate ◽

Trap Catch ◽

Urban Populations ◽

Host Trees ◽

The City

Codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a phytosanitary pest of New Zealand’s export apples. The sterile insect technique supplements other controls in an eradication attempt at an isolated group of orchards in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. There has been no attempt in New Zealand to characterize potential sources of uncontrolled peri-urban populations, which we predicted to be larger than in managed orchards. We installed 200 pheromone traps across Hastings city, which averaged 0.32 moths/trap/week. We also mapped host trees around the pilot eradication orchards and installed 28 traps in rural Ongaonga, which averaged 0.59 moths/trap/week. In Hastings, traps in host trees caught significantly more males than traps in non-host trees, and spatial interpolation showed evidence of spatial clustering. Traps in orchards operating the most stringent codling moth management averaged half the catch rate of Hastings peri-urban traps. Orchards with less rigorous moth control had a 5-fold higher trap catch rate. We conclude that peri-urban populations are significant and ubiquitous, and that special measures to reduce pest prevalence are needed to achieve area-wide suppression and reduce the risk of immigration into export orchards. Because the location of all host trees in Hastings is not known, it could be more cost-effectively assumed that hosts are ubiquitous across the city and the area treated accordingly.

Download Full-text

Distribution of ground-motion intensity inferred from questionnaire survey, earthquake recordings, and microtremor measurements—A case study in Christchurch, New Zealand, during the 1994 arthurs pass earthquake

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America ◽

10.1785/bssa0870020356 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 87 (2) ◽

pp. 356-369

Author(s):

Takumi Toshinawa ◽

J. John Taber ◽

John B. Berrill

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ground Motion ◽

Intensity Data ◽

Amplification Factors ◽

Areal Distribution ◽

Local Site ◽

Geological Conditions ◽

The City ◽

Microtremor Measurements

Abstract The areal distribution of seismic ground-motion intensity in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, during the 1994 Arthurs Pass Earthquake (ML 6.6) was evaluated using an intensity questionnaire together with local site amplifications inferred from seismic recordings and microtremors. In order to estimate the intensity in parts of the city where no intensity data were available, intensity data were compared to relative levels of shaking determined from both weak-motion and microtremor recordings. Weak ground-motion amplification factors were determined using ratios of ground accelerations at five sediment sites with respect to a rock site. Microtremor amplification factors were determined from horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios at a 1-km spacing throughout the city. A positive correlation between weak-motion and microtremor amplification factors allowed extrapolation of microtremor amplification to estimated MM intensity (EMMI). EMMI ranged from 3 to 6 and was consistent with the questionnaire intensity and geological conditions and showed detailed information on the areal distribution of ground-motion intensity in the city.

Download Full-text