scholarly journals SIGNS OF CHANGE: THE RENAMING OF DURBAN’S STREETS Democratic Alliance v eThekwini Municipality: Unreported Judgment (KZD) Case Numbers 10787/08 and 6608/07 Judgment delivered: 3 June 2010

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishal Surbun

On 27 February 2007, the council of the eThekwini Municipality, the governing entity of the Durban and surrounding metropolitan region, passed the first of two resolutions in terms whereof certain byways and landmarks would be renamed. In a public municipal advertisement, the City’s mayor announced: “The street renaming is indeed an ultimate step towards honouring all the heroes and heroines who fought a fight for a good cause. Chief among these are those who in the pursuit of freedom ventured their way through the troubled bridges of apartheid. Therefore as eThekwini council, we feel honoured to be part of such a historic process of ensuring that names of these great men and women of the struggle remain known even to the generations to come … It is indeed a democratic process: members of the public were consulted and given an opportunity to suggest names. This will ensure that the city we live in is indeed accurately reflecting its people and its history …” Notwithstanding these sentiments, on 1 May 2007, about 10 000 demonstrators marched through the city’s central business district and converged on the City Hall, where the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) held a joint protest to complain, not about the fact that the streets and landmarks were being renamed, but about the new names themselves. The suggested names of SWAPO, Griffiths Mxenge, Andrew Zondo and Che Guevara spawned a public outcry and accusations that the process was carried out without proper consultation. The controversy prompted the New York Times to observe that “Durban is different. Intentional or not, some of the proposed name changes clearly flick at scabs covering deep divisions”. Against this background, the DA and the IFP launched an application in the public interest in the Durban High Court which will be analyzed hereunder. The Applicants prayed for an order to the effect that the decision by the Municipality to rename the streets must be set aside and for the old names to be restored. A representative for the DA announced that:“We took this case to court because we believed, and still do believe that the rights and opinions of thousands of eThekwini’s citizens were trampled by the actions of the municipality who simply roughshod over their objections”.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Zackary Johnson

<p>In cities like Auckland, suburban sprawl has led to the introduction of extensive elevated motorways that create barriers and cuts across the ordering elements of the city. Urban planner Roger Trancik refers to the areas beneath and adjacent to these urban motorways as “lost sites”, considered ‘unbuildable’ even though they occur within the central business district. This research investigation looks at how architecture can help return a sense of place identity and cultural significance to otherwise placeless zones defined by elevated urban motorways.  The central Auckland site for this design-led research is the Central Motorway Junction (CMJ), commonly referred to as ‘spaghetti junction’ — a site physically and environmentally inappropriate for housing development, but large and high profile enough to contribute significantly to Auckland’s ‘cultural hub’.  The proposed programme for this investigation is a new facility to house Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa’s stored collections. Arguably New Zealand’s most valuable cultural holdings, only 3% of Te Papa Tongarewa’s collections are on display at any time. The rest of the museum’s stored collections are completely hidden from public view within its back of house facilities and warehouse structures in Wellington.  Due to Wellington’s location on major fault lines, studies are underway to permanently move the stored collections to Auckland, where they will remain removed from the public eye. This design-led research investigation proposes that once these collections are relocated to Auckland, if they are made visually accessible to the public, they could provide a vital extension of the cultural hub for the city centre.  The investigation proposes to architecturally inhabit one of Auckland’s most prominent lost sites, the Central Motorway Junction, in a way that celebrates its iconic elevated motorway as a viable urban context capable of actively contributing to urban re-vitalisation and cultural consolidation.  The thesis investigation examines the city’s motorway infrastructure as a framework for a new typology for architecture that actively uses the ‘motorway typology’ to establish architectural and place identity. Simultaneously the investigation explores how expansive elevated motorway sites can provide significant footprints for new public buildings to enhance the cultural identity of the urban centre.</p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Umberson ◽  
Kristin Henderson

Military and media reports indicated that the Gulf War was characterized by a striking absence of death. This article applies a social construction of reality paradigm to explain why and how media reports facilitated denial of death in the Gulf War and suggests a psychological mechanism to explain why this social construction may have been particularly effective. A content analysis was conducted of war-related stories in the New York Times for the duration of the Gulf War, giving special attention to direct and indirect references to death and killing. This analysis reveals four major themes: 1) rhetorical devices that distance the reader from death and encourage denial of death in the war; 2) official denial of responsibility for war-related deaths and reassurance to the public that death would be “minimal,” 3) rhetoric that prepares the public for death in war and to view the deaths to come as just, and 4) ambiguity and uncertainty about the actual death toll from the war.


Author(s):  
Christopher Bucknell ◽  
Alejandro Schmidt ◽  
Diego Cruz ◽  
Juan Carlos Muñoz

Monitoring speeds and identifying problem areas are essential for any public transport system because of the direct impact on its operating costs and on users’ travel time. This study generated a tool that identified, quantified, and displayed operational bottlenecks of bus operation in a city. The model was applied to the public transport system in Santiago, Chile, which faced a steady decline in operating speed. It was possible to identify locations with the most serious problems; this factor allowed transit authorities to focus their efforts on the areas that needed it the most. In addition, it was found that problems were concentrated in certain sectors of the city, including the central business district and intersections where the radial axis roads encountered the city’s central ring road. Once a problem is identified, it is essential to conduct site visits and combine the findings of this research with other sources of information to find the cause of the problem and propose solutions.


Author(s):  
Dipesh J. Patil

Abstract: The concept of the Central Business District is somewhat new due to that there is a lack of Central Business Districts in India. In the early ages when the concept was introduced at that time this concept was mainly focused on the United States of America and the European countries which are developed now. To increase the development speed of the country Central Business Districts should be introduced to create more job opportunities which will help to decrease the unemployment rate of the country. In Vasai-Virar Municipal Area, there is a lack of commercial spaces, affecting the city's employment opportunities. The idea of the Central Business District will help to develop the city and increase the revenue of the municipality. Vasai-Virar Central Business District will soon be established as a strong alternative to Mumbai and an economically developed or developing city in terms of employment and will help create sustainable employment opportunities for the economically backward Vasai-Virar and the people living nearby. This project mainly focuses on the potential of Central Business District development in Vasai-Virar city to overcome the unemployment and revenue generation options for Municipality. Keywords: Central Business District, Unemployment, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Vasai-Virar city, Commercial and Trade activity


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Zackary Johnson

<p>In cities like Auckland, suburban sprawl has led to the introduction of extensive elevated motorways that create barriers and cuts across the ordering elements of the city. Urban planner Roger Trancik refers to the areas beneath and adjacent to these urban motorways as “lost sites”, considered ‘unbuildable’ even though they occur within the central business district. This research investigation looks at how architecture can help return a sense of place identity and cultural significance to otherwise placeless zones defined by elevated urban motorways.  The central Auckland site for this design-led research is the Central Motorway Junction (CMJ), commonly referred to as ‘spaghetti junction’ — a site physically and environmentally inappropriate for housing development, but large and high profile enough to contribute significantly to Auckland’s ‘cultural hub’.  The proposed programme for this investigation is a new facility to house Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa’s stored collections. Arguably New Zealand’s most valuable cultural holdings, only 3% of Te Papa Tongarewa’s collections are on display at any time. The rest of the museum’s stored collections are completely hidden from public view within its back of house facilities and warehouse structures in Wellington.  Due to Wellington’s location on major fault lines, studies are underway to permanently move the stored collections to Auckland, where they will remain removed from the public eye. This design-led research investigation proposes that once these collections are relocated to Auckland, if they are made visually accessible to the public, they could provide a vital extension of the cultural hub for the city centre.  The investigation proposes to architecturally inhabit one of Auckland’s most prominent lost sites, the Central Motorway Junction, in a way that celebrates its iconic elevated motorway as a viable urban context capable of actively contributing to urban re-vitalisation and cultural consolidation.  The thesis investigation examines the city’s motorway infrastructure as a framework for a new typology for architecture that actively uses the ‘motorway typology’ to establish architectural and place identity. Simultaneously the investigation explores how expansive elevated motorway sites can provide significant footprints for new public buildings to enhance the cultural identity of the urban centre.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ni Putu Suda Nurjani

Cities in Indonesia were initially formed through the transformation of various influences of power and power. Strength as an identity that can attract the outermost area to come to an area, while power lies in the personal strength of man as the leader of a region. These conditions have an impact on the development of the world of industry in the country. Transforming traditional city structures into a modern city, not only physically but also a basic transformation towards the concept of urbanity of its citizens. The urban village as an element of the city which is the identity of a region, still holds a traditional urbanity value system that is different from the conception of modern urbanity. This condition affects the development of industrial zones, such as what happened in Bajera Village, Selemadeg District, Tabanan Regency. The heterogeneity of the population of Bajera Village is one of the biggest indicators of the formation of an industrial zone. The existence of a transportation mode that connects the outermost areas of Bajera with the Core of Bajera Village is another driving factor that influences the growth of industrial estates. This study tried to explain descriptively qualitatively, a fact of regional development based on Asiatica Euphoria McGee's theory. The special attraction in the core of Bajera Village encourages residents in the outermost areas of Bajera to migrate to the core areas of Bajera Village with the aim of staying temporarily and to settle for long periods of time. This phenomenon is in line with the theory put forward by McGee, that the CBD (central business district) is formed due to the attraction of the core (core) and the ease of modes of transportation from peri urban areas to the CBD. This condition makes Bajera village the center of industrial and trade areas in the Selemadeg Barat region, Tabanan, Bali.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-203
Author(s):  
Robert Chatham

The Court of Appeals of New York held, in Council of the City of New York u. Giuliani, slip op. 02634, 1999 WL 179257 (N.Y. Mar. 30, 1999), that New York City may not privatize a public city hospital without state statutory authorization. The court found invalid a sublease of a municipal hospital operated by a public benefit corporation to a private, for-profit entity. The court reasoned that the controlling statute prescribed the operation of a municipal hospital as a government function that must be fulfilled by the public benefit corporation as long as it exists, and nothing short of legislative action could put an end to the corporation's existence.In 1969, the New York State legislature enacted the Health and Hospitals Corporation Act (HHCA), establishing the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) as an attempt to improve the New York City public health system. Thirty years later, on a renewed perception that the public health system was once again lacking, the city administration approved a sublease of Coney Island Hospital from HHC to PHS New York, Inc. (PHS), a private, for-profit entity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Ryan P. McDonough ◽  
Paul J. Miranti ◽  
Michael P. Schoderbek

ABSTRACT This paper examines the administrative and accounting reforms coordinated by Herman A. Metz around the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Reform efforts were motivated by deficiencies in administering New York City's finances, including a lack of internal control over monetary resources and operational activities, and opaque financial reports. The activities of Comptroller Metz, who collaborated with institutions such as the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, were paramount in initiating and implementing the administrative and accounting reforms in the city, which contributed to reform efforts across the country. Metz promoted the adoption of functional cost classifications for city departments, developed flowcharts for improved transaction processing, strengthened internal controls, and published the 1909 Manual of Accounting and Business Procedure of the City of New York, which laid the groundwork for transparent financial reports capable of providing vital information about the city's activities and subsidiary units. JEL Classifications: H72, M41, N91. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-359
Author(s):  
R. J. H.

. . . It takes about 850 acres of Canadian timber to print one Sunday's New York Times. . . . The New York Times sells for 50¢ (1972) and contains more paper and typography than an unillustrated novel selling for $7.95. While the Times carries about 500 photographs and drawings in its Sunday edition and a novel does not, book-binding costs average 22¢ per book. It costs the city of New York nearly 10¢ per copy each week to clean up discarded copies of the Sunday New York Times.


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