scholarly journals URBAN OR MORAL DECAY? THE CASE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY DETROIT

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn FAHEY
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Moral Framework ◽  
Built Form ◽  
Moral Context ◽  
Moral Relationship ◽  
The City

This paper provides an alternative narrative of Detroit from one of economic struggle and racial division. It instead discusses other forces at play, focusing on questionable moral standing and its relationship to built form, specifically the city. The paper explores whether a compelling claim on building’s moral use can be established, and in doing so seeks to establish a causal link between moral relationship and the built environment. Moral relationship is established through three main avenues. The first is a brief discussion of Detroit’s history, particularly its history from WWII onward, in order to establish the complex moral context into which this argument is situated. The second avenue provides a concise summary of Stanley Cavell’s moral framework and discusses the conundrum of having moral obligation in the absence of moral relationship. The final avenue is a look to the famous Renaissance Center as emblematic of the moral relationship at play. The resulting form of analysis relies on the premises that buildings can embody the knowledge and agreement required for (moral) relationship, and that buildings are artifacts of moral relationship. The paper concludes that buildings are therefore morally appraisable, which is to say they can be appraised for their moral appropriateness.

Weeding Washington

2019 ◽  
pp. 153851321989104
Author(s):  
Julia G. Triman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
Urban Nature ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Health Officer ◽  
The City ◽  
Newspaper Articles ◽  
Weed Removal

After Congress passed the 1899 Weed Removal Act, the District of Columbia Health Officer struggled to enforce it. The discourses around the legislation reveal a disconnect between visions for order, beauty, and dignity and the uncontrollable conditions on the ground. Planning visions were for an ordered built environment flanked with orderly “nature,” but the weedy materiality of the city thwarted attempts to keep nature in its human-intended place. Through archival research of government reports, newspaper articles, photographs, and cartoons, this article explores how urban weeds complicate discourses of “urban nature” through a case study of early-twentieth-century Washington.

Sticks and stones: colonialism and Zanzibari housing

Africa ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garth Andrew Myers
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Building Codes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Local Elite ◽  
Domestic Environments ◽  
The City ◽  
House Building

AbstractIt has become commonplace for scholars to speak of cities, especially colonial cities, as texts in which power relations are embedded. This article presents the findings of six years' research, including archival research, interviewing and fieldwork on the planning and development of Zanzibar. I concentrate on house-building and domestic environments in the city's historic African neighbourhoods, known as Ngʼambo, or the ‘Other Side’. Struggles for cultural hegemony are evident in struggles over Zanzibar's built environment during the twentieth century. The focus is on how the legal language defining house types and establishing building codes, developed under colonialism, became a tactical instrument of the powerful in asserting spatial dominance. Yet the enforcement of the building code often showed the limits of colonial and local elite attempts at hegemony, especially at the end of the colonial era. Throughout the century, the words for African traditional housing and neighbourhood types in Zanzibar have betrayed the disdain with which the powerful have viewed them. There is, however, an order and plan to the ‘unplanned building’ which still dominates the city.

Modernism, Space and the City

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Thacker
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Joseph Conrad ◽  
Jean Rhys ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Blaise Cendrars ◽  
Stephen Spender ◽  
Christopher Isherwood ◽  
The City

This innovative book examines the development of modernism in four European cities: London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. Focusing upon how literary and cultural outsiders represented various spaces in these cities, it draws upon contemporary theories of affect, mood, and literary geography to offer an original account of the geographical emotions of modernism. It considers three broad features of urban modernism: the built environment of the particular cities, such as cafés or transport systems; the cultural institutions of publishing that underpinned the development of modernism in these locations; and the complex perceptions of writers and artists who were outsiders to the four cities. Particular attention is thus given to the transnational qualities of modernism by examining figures whose view of the cities considered is that of migrants, exiles, or strangers. The writers and artists discussed include Mulk Raj Anand, Gwendolyn Bennett, Bryher, Blaise Cendrars, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot, Christopher Isherwood, Hope Mirlees, Noami Mitchison, Jean Rhys, Sam Selon, and Stephen Spender.

Review: Urban Latino Cultures: La Vida Latina en LA by Gustavo Leclerc, Raúl Villa, and Michael J. Dear (eds.)

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-128
Author(s):  
Catherine S. Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
History Of ◽  
Crime Wave ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
The City ◽  
History Of Los Angeles

Throughout the twentieth century (and now the twenty-first), the specter of a Latina/o past, present, and future has haunted the myth of Los Angeles as a sunny, bucolic paradise. At the same time it has loomed behind narratives of the city as a dystopic, urban nightmare. In the 1940s Carey McWilliams pointed to the fabrication of a “Spanish fantasy heritage” that made Los Angeles the bygone home of fair señoritas, genteel caballeros and benevolent mission padres. Meanwhile, the dominant Angeleno press invented a “zoot” (read Mexican-American) crime wave. Unlike the aristocratic, European Californias/os of lore, the Mexican/American “gangsters” of the 1940s were described as racial mongrels. What's more, the newspapers explicitly identified them as the sons and daughters of immigrants-thus eliding any link they may have had to the Californias/os of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries or to the history of Los Angeles in general.

Regeneration of a historic city block: the example of the relocation of the historic Atelier building to the cloister area of the Congregation of the Resurrection in Krakow

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogusław Podhalański ◽  
Anna Połtowicz
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Steel Structure ◽  
City Block ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Heritage Buildings ◽  
Heritage Building ◽  
Historic City ◽  
The City

Abstract The article discusses a project that features the relocation of the historic Atelier building, built by Krakow-based architect Wandalin Beringer (1839–1923) who was active in the early twentieth century, and the regeneration of a plot belonging to the Congregation of the Resurrection since 1885, which is located at 12 Łobzowska Street in Krakow. The method includes cutting the entire structure off at the foundation and then after reinforcing it with a steel structure transporting it in its entirety to the new location. The project included two possible variants of moving the building in a straight line, either by 21 or 59 metres and evaluates two projects of further regeneration, the adaptive reuse of the building as an exhibition and religious space as well as a proposal for the remodelling of the nearby plot that belongs to the Congregation into a space for meditation and as a recreational park. The aim of these measures is to prevent the demolition of this building, now over a century old, as a result of which a forgotten element of the cultural heritage of the city will be saved. This project was based on the results of analyses of the cultural and historical conditions of Krakow. The block of buildings in which the Atelier in question is located is a very attractive location, near to the very centre of Krakow, adjacent to residential, service and educational buildings. It is directly adjacent to the Monastery Complex of the Congregation of the Resurrection, listed as a heritage building under conservation protection (municipal registry of heritage buildings). In the second half of the twentieth century, the building was used as a workroom by artists such as Xawery Dunikowski and later by the sculptress Teodora Stasiak. The case of the Atelier may provide an inspiration for discussion as well as raising awareness among citizens and city authorities to avoid future situations in which cultural heritage may become forgotten or demolished.

scholarly journals Simulating the effects of redesigned street-scale built environments on access/egress pedestrian flows to metro stations

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanan Liu ◽  
Dujuan Yang ◽  
Harry J. P. Timmermans ◽  
Bauke de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Route Choice ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Destination Choice ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Renewal Processes ◽  
City Center ◽  
Metro Station ◽  
Route Choice Behavior ◽  
The City

AbstractIn urban renewal processes, metro line systems are widely used to accommodate the massive traffic needs and stimulate the redevelopment of the local area. The route choice of pedestrians, emanating from or going to the metro stations, is influenced by the street-scale built environment. Many renewal processes involve the improvement of the street-level built environment and thus influence pedestrian flows. To assess the effects of urban design on pedestrian flows, this article presents the results of a simulation model of pedestrian route choice behavior around Yingkoudao metro station in the city center of Tianjin, China. Simulated pedestrian flows based on 4 scenarios of changes in street-scale built environment characteristics are compared. Results indicate that the main streets are disproportionally more affected than smaller streets. The promotion of an intensified land use mix does not lead to a high increase in the number of pedestrians who choose the involved route when traveling from/to the metro station, assuming fixed destination choice.

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

Slavic Review ◽  
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.

Kampungs and Conflict in Colonial Semarang

1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Cobban
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
City Council ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Central Java ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Semarang was a major port city and administrative centre on Java. Attainment of this position was due partly to the expansion of its hinterland during the nineteenth century. This expansion was closely related to developments in the means of transportation and the consequent ability of plantation owners to bring the products of their plantations to the port for shipment to foreign markets. By the end of the century virtually the whole economic life of central Java focused upon Semarang. The city also exercised administrative functions in the Dutch colonial administration and generally had been responsible for Dutch interests in the middle and eastern parts of the island. The importance of Semarang as an administrative centre increased after 1906. In that year the government incorporated the city as an urban municipality (stadsgemeente). In 1914 it had consular representation from the United States, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Germany, and Thailand. Subsequently, in 1926 it became the capital of the Province of Central Java under the terms of an administrative reform fostered by the colonial government at Batavia. Status as an urban municipality meant that local officials sitting on a city council would govern the domestic affairs of the city. The members of the city council at first were appointed from Batavia, subsequently some of them were elected by residents of the city. By the beginning of the twentieth century Semarang had enhanced its position as a major port on the north coast of the island of Java. It was one of the foremost cities of the Dutch East Indies, along with Batavia and Surabaya, a leading port and a centre of administration and trade. This article outlines the growth of the port of Semarang during the nineteenth century and discusses some of the conflict related to this growth over living conditions in parts of the city during the twentieth century, a conflict which smouldered for several decades among the government, members of the city council, and the non-European residents of the city, one which remained unresolved at the end of the colonial era.

Using Land Cover, Population, and Night Light Data for Assessing Local Temperature Differences in Mainz, Germany

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 658-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Lindén ◽  
Jan Esper ◽  
Björn Holmer
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Light Intensity ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Surface Coverage ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Maximum Temperatures ◽  
The City

AbstractUrban areas are believed to affect temperature readings, thereby biasing the estimation of twentieth-century warming at regional to global scales. The precise effect of changes in the surroundings of meteorological stations, particularly gradual changes due to urban growth, is difficult to determine. In this paper, data from 10 temperature stations within 15 km of the city of Mainz (Germany) over a period of 842 days are examined to assess the connection between temperature and the properties of the station surroundings, considering (i) built/paved area surface coverage, (ii) population, and (iii) night light intensity. These properties were examined in circles with increasing radii from the stations to identify the most influential source areas. Daily maximum temperatures Tmax, as well as daily average temperatures, are shown to be significantly influenced by elevation and were adjusted before the analysis of anthropogenic surroundings, whereas daily minimum temperatures Tmin were not. Significant correlations (p < 0.1) between temperature and all examined properties of station surroundings up to 1000 m are found, but the effects are diminished at larger distance. Other factors, such as slope and topographic position (e.g., hollows), were important, especially to Tmin. Therefore, properties of station surroundings up to 1000 m from the stations are most suitable for the assessment of potential urban influence on Tmax and Tmin in the temperate zone of central Europe.

Parkour, Masculinity, and the City

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Kidder
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Gender Identities ◽  
The People ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Performance Of Gender ◽  
Spatial Appropriation ◽  
The City ◽  
A Performance

Parkour is a new, and increasingly popular, sport in which individuals athletically and artistically negotiate obstacles found in the urban environment. In this article, I position parkour as a performance of masculinity involving spatial appropriation. Through ethnographic data I show how young men involved in the sport use the city (both the built environment and the people within it) as a structural resource for the construction and maintenance of gender identities. The focus of my research highlights the performance of gender as a spatialized process.

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