Coloured Views: Images of the New Zealand City and Town, 1880-1930

<p>"Coloured Views" is a comparative and multidisciplinary examination of the motives and methods of New Zealand's urban boosters between 1880 and 1930. It looks at the positive image of the country's cities and towns rendered in the literature and art of the period, and compares it with other British Dominions as well as with America. Such optimistic images were considered vital to urban growth by promoters who were intent on inducing increased immigration, tourism and investment to their cities and towns. In addition to economic motivation, it will also be argued that the boosters in New Zealand were imbued to an unusual degree by dreams of creating an urban utopia in their New World, one that was free from the influences of vices typically associated with the Old World. In examining perceptions of urban New Zealand, this thesis also attempts to revert the imbalance in New Zealand historiography which has generally ignored cities and towns or which has assumed that all debate about them was negative. It undertakes a study of a wide array of promotional sources, including material which has never before been examined, such as motion pictures and foreign language texts. "Coloured Views" attempts to show that cities and towns had their ardent defenders in New Zealand as well as their critics. The study concludes with an examination of modern booster techniques in order to emphasise the topicality of the subject matter.</p>

Coloured Views: Images of the New Zealand City and Town, 1880-1930

<p>"Coloured Views" is a comparative and multidisciplinary examination of the motives and methods of New Zealand's urban boosters between 1880 and 1930. It looks at the positive image of the country's cities and towns rendered in the literature and art of the period, and compares it with other British Dominions as well as with America. Such optimistic images were considered vital to urban growth by promoters who were intent on inducing increased immigration, tourism and investment to their cities and towns. In addition to economic motivation, it will also be argued that the boosters in New Zealand were imbued to an unusual degree by dreams of creating an urban utopia in their New World, one that was free from the influences of vices typically associated with the Old World. In examining perceptions of urban New Zealand, this thesis also attempts to revert the imbalance in New Zealand historiography which has generally ignored cities and towns or which has assumed that all debate about them was negative. It undertakes a study of a wide array of promotional sources, including material which has never before been examined, such as motion pictures and foreign language texts. "Coloured Views" attempts to show that cities and towns had their ardent defenders in New Zealand as well as their critics. The study concludes with an examination of modern booster techniques in order to emphasise the topicality of the subject matter.</p>

Redeeming the shopping center. Victor Gruen's ideal cellular metropolis and Louvain-la-Neuve

The ‘mall maker' Victor Gruen is well known as the architect who played a dominant role in the design and global proliferation of the shopping mall. While many recent publications already highlighted and re-evaluated the architectural importance of Gruen's shopping center, the urban ideal/utopian projects proposed by Gruen have not been considered in depth thus far. Gruen mixed his design principles for shopping centers with ecological interpretations, proposing the Cellular Metropolis as a new urban utopia. This paper aims to shed light on Gruen's urban ideas, from his critical idea of the ecological-commercial realm to the study of radical commercial hybridizations, which are still relevant lessons for the design of our socio-spatial contemporary condition. In particular, the article focuses on the case study of Louvain-la-Neuve to ground such ideas into a real site.

Spatial and Structural Analysis of Futuristic Urban Utopian Thoughts in Climate Change Dystopias

It is thought that climate change will radically affect societies in the future, leading to radical changes in the structural and spatial mechanisms of cities. Today, most of the World, particularly 10% of the World's population living in settlements below the sea level are expected to be affected by extreme climatic conditions such as sea-level rise, change in ocean currents, destructive weather events and heat waves (IPCC, 2019). As discussed in the literature (see. Hjerpe & Linner, 2009; Foust, 2009), in this study, the most severe effects of climate change are described as a dystopian period. In this direction, the study aims to share and discuss the samples of futurist urban utopia thoughts for the environments such as floating, underwater/sub aqua, underground/subterranean and overhead/aerial (sky, space), which are considered as uninhabitable or difficult to live under normal conditions together with their structural and spatial properties, in order for societies to survive in the dystopia of climate change. In the context of climate change, the futurist urban utopias, which are envisaged for different environments, are analyzed through four variables; technological features, ways of obtaining resources, spatial and urban form conceptions, and their mutual evaluation has been determined as the method to be followed in the study.

Contemporary urban utopia, a query trapped in the capitalist kaleidoscope

Purpose This paper aims to assess the contemporary paradigm of urban utopia’s ability to fulfil its goals and to evaluate its attainability in the first place. Its main question is: are contemporary urban utopias achievable? If not, is there an alternative? Design/methodology/approach In light of modern urban utopia’s failure to achieve the “good city/society,” skepticism regarding utopianism has prevailed. However, many scholars stress the significance of utopianism, calling for its revival. Recently, a new paradigm of urban utopia has emerged; one that stems from present capitalist urban conditions and requires resolving its ills. It puts great emphasis on rights as a means to accomplish the good society and the just city. This research critically examines contemporary urban utopia to evaluate its ability to fulfill its goals. It poses questions such as: Does capitalism facilitates achieving its goals? Could rights as a means achieve the good city/society? If not, is there an alternative? To answer these questions, a substantially different perspective, that of Islam (as a societal system), is used as a utopic paradigm that could open up new paths for developing an alternative utopia. Findings It is found that despite the focus of both the Islamic societal system and mainstream contemporary urban utopia is on the concept of rights, vital dissensions exist between the two models regarding the concept of rights per se. Hence, the urban utopia of the good city and society is achievable, yet, it cannot transpire within the capitalist kaleidoscope. Originality/value Recently, discussions on what constitutes the future city and the alternative conceptions to the (Western) post-Enlightenment approaches generally offered in the English language planning literature have been on the rise. Therefore, this paper contributes to this debate through critically assessing Western contemporary urban utopias from a non-Western perspective, that of Islam. It introduces an alternative model based on Islamic urbanism that could open doors for deeper thinking regarding the alternative future/good city.

Creative Clusters – Urban Utopia or Regional Remedy?

The creative industries have had a major impact on cultural policy, and it is often argued that these industries can be a vehicle for regional growth. Using regional film production in Norway as a case, I discuss the creative industries, the cluster concept and its impact on policy. I analyse two film policy documents from 2007 and 2015 in order to show how the issue of size and critical mass is an unsettled topic within the creative industries, and I question the relevance of film as an economic and regional development tool in a country with a small film industry, such as Norway. This article shows that the creative industries concept, adopted from international discourses, especially creative industries policies in the UK, has influenced Norwegian film policy, reducing the importance of cultural objectives and increased the focus on the business potential and economic aspects of culture.

The Governance Approach of Smart City Initiatives. Evidence from Trondheim, Bergen, and Bodø

A pragmatic and polity-focused solution for governing a smart city in the direction of sustainability is still missing in theory and practice. A debate about whether a smart city is a pragmatic solution for modern challenges or just a technology-led urban utopia is entangled with the vexed issue of governance. While ‘smart governance’ has drawn unprecedented interest, the combination of its conceptual vagueness and broad applications couple with a lack of focus on its underlying international and local political paradigms have raised concerns about its utility. This study contributes to restoring attention to the original concept of governance, its differences with governing and government, and the potential challenges resulting from its functionality in its real, multi-layered, and complex contexts. This paper explores the intellectual connection between governance and smart cities, from both an empirical and a conceptual/analytical perspective. From the empirical side, we examine which actors, processes, and relational mechanisms at different levels that have had an impact on the initiation of smart cities in three Norwegian cities: Trondheim, Bergen, and Bodø. We illustrate how the structural sources of the interests, roles, and power in smart city initiatives have caused governance to emerge and change, but have also affected the goals designed by specific actors.

MAIN FACTORS INFLUENCING THE VECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTED URBAN UTOPIA

The article discusses the role of the social context in the evolution of implemented urban development utopia. The ontological and morphostructural problems of one of the implemented urban development utopias on the example of the city of Togliatti are revealed. It was established that the general plan of the Avtozavodsky district of Tolyatti, which fully met the ideals of the Athenian Charter, came into conflict with the idea of the city as a concentrated environment. It is noted that modern Togliatti is in search of a solution to the problem of the integrity of the urban structure. The conclusion is drawn: overcoming the crisis state of Togliatti lies in the field of generating, including new utopias; integration of existing morphostructures; reinforcing redundant conceptuality of form with contextual content. A new morphological unit is proposed - this is macro frame, which is based on multilevel integration of traffic and pedestrian flows.