Academic literature on the topic 'Centres and historical cores of cities'

Urban growth is typically considered a process of expansion. As population grows and transport costs decrease urban density gradients are expected to gradually flatten. This is a basic feature of cities, explained by urban economic models and empirically supported by a plethora of studies about urban density development from all over the world. However, additional forces, such as changes in demographic composition and locational preferences of the urban population acting at local levels, may counteract the flattening tendency of urban gradients. In this paper, we suggest a methodology to test the impact of local density changes on urban gradients, looking at spatio-temporal developments in terms of housing and population. Using highly detailed data on individual housing units and inhabitants in major Dutch cities, we first assess and compare urban density gradients during the period 2000–2017. In all the analysed Dutch cities, both dwelling and population density gradients are becoming steeper over time, contradicting standard predictions from urban economic literature and empirical reports worldwide. The observed trend of steepening urban gradients is partly explained by the presence of historical monuments and urban amenities.

This paper discusses the impact of the process of rehabilitation and revitalisation of the cultural and historical heritage of Banja Luka and Sarajevo on the strengthening of ethno-national policies /patterns of a divided society. Special attention will be paid to the processes of preserving the urban centres/historical cores of the mentioned cities, which are recognisable as places of separation and distancing for 'non-belonging' ethnic groups. In that sense, the rehabilitation of the urban heritage of Banja Luka and Sarajevo will not be exclusively problematised as preservation and aestheticisation of cultural and historical heritage 'per se', but as a kind of instrumentalisation of urban space for the purpose of over emphasising ethno-national identities in the post-war period. The survey will be primarily based on a comparative analysis of available data on the development of urban centres so far. The survey results indicate that the mentioned instrumentalisation of urban heritage is manifested through the planning and construction/renovation of specific facilities that (un)justifiably fit into the existing cultural and historical context characteristic of these cities. From that perspective, it is noticeable that the cultural and historical cores of Banja Luka and Sarajevo today have a far more significant role in promoting ethno-national identities and divisions than was the case in the past. The character of these processes does not have exclusively intentional features, but is conditioned by other current policies of urban development that do not have an ethno-national background.

Abstract Expansion of cities and their impact areas extend also the semantic boundaries of urban ecentres, while public open space in the city centres maintain attractivity, especially within the medieval cores. The diverse functional processes that satisfy the needs of all users of urban space in general, on the one hand carry the function of circulation or communication, and on the other – relaxation or recreation. Elements of spatial organization and environment planning essential for the realization of each function differ, and depending on which of the functional processes prevails in the particular place, open space acquires either priority of communication or of recreation. The paper focuses on the interests and needs of main groups of users of the historical city centre – Riga Old Town, states availability of adequate space, as well as sets the criteria of high-quality public open space.

The united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO) considers the historic urban landscapes as the world heritages. Managing historic city centers and maintaining historic cores are the emerging challenges for sustainable urban planning. Today, the historic cores form an important part of the economic, social, environmental, and physical assets and capacities of contemporary cities, and play a strategic role in their development. One of the most important approaches to the development of central textures, especially in historical and cultural cities, is the sustainable urban regeneration approach, which encompasses all aspects of sustainability, such as the economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects. To maintain sustainability and regeneration of historic cores of cities, it is necessary to provide insight into the underlying characteristics of the local urbanization. Furthermore, the fundamental assets are to be investigated as indicators of sustainable regeneration and drivers of urban development. In the meantime, a variety of research and experience has taken place around the world, all of which has provided different criteria and indicators for the development of strategies for the historic cores of cities. The present study, through a meta-analytic and survey method, analyzing the experience and research reported in 139 theoretical and empirical papers in the last twenty years, seeks to provide a comprehensive conceptual model taking into account the criteria and indices of sustainable regeneration in historic cores of cities. The quality of the survey has been ensured using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA).

The article is of a generalizing nature; the authors investigate the problem associated with architectural design in the historical environment. The newly built civilian objects are considered as examples of the organic interaction between “old” and “new” in European cities. The authors’ positions of domestic and foreign professionals regarding the development of the potential of the historical centres of modern cities are considered. In connection with the dynamics of urban growth in the XXI century, the problem of renewal and development of historically established centers arises. Development as a modernization of the historical environment assumes a high-quality level of integration of relevant functions in the unique conditions of authentic urban structures. The cultural aspect of the problem is to solve the main problem of the historical environment -the preservation and protection of the valuable architectural and urban planning heritage. The authors highlight the need for an integrated approach to theproblem and formulation of a development strategy. The experience of Odessa shows the negative results of delay in such matters. Urban space as a living organism presupposes a progressive process of regeneration of both the urban structure and the “tissue” of the city, filling the space and being subordinated to the structure. A scientific approach presupposes discussion, variability and flexibility concerning the protection and development of the historical environment. However, taking into account the whole complex of economic, administrative, and cultural conditions, we can say about two main approaches in relation to the historical architectural environment in Ukraine. One is based on a conservative approach and denies the objects of modern architecture in the historical environment. This approach assumes that a historically formed urban planning formation is an integral urban planning phenomenon and only allows the construction of new objects in historical styles, allows the priority task of restoration and reconstruction of existing objects. Another approach is based on a dialectical approach and allows the introduction into the historical tissue of the city of new objects that meet all progressive achievements of engineering and technology, have modern and current features of the style (stylistic direction). At the same time, an important aspect is the novelty and high aesthetic level of architecture, due to the requirements of modern society. The logic of this approach comes from the very essence ofarchitecture, placed in the classic triad of benefit, strength and beauty. The most important factor that determines the value of the historical core of the city, in particular, the historical centre of Odessa, is the integrity of the historical structure, the interaction of all elements of the architectural complex, and a balanced urban infrastructure. At the same time, the architectural complex consists of objects of different value categories. Some are historical and architectural monuments of the universal, state and local importance. Others are authentic objects of “back-ground” development that contribute to the integrity of the city’s historical tissue. This is the picture that shows a historical accuracy. According to the authors, the scale for determining the objective value of each architectural object in this case is of a relative nature and, to a large extent, in our time is not the primary task of preserving the architectural heritage. The task of an integrated approach to the problem and elaboration of a preservation strategy is a priority task. In recent years, intensive construction has taken place on local fragments of the historical part of the city, which leads to the final destruction of the historical city. In many cases, modern civil engineering works are monotonous and have doubtful cultural qualities, and at the technical level they exacerbate the situation of collapse at the infrastructural level. There is an international, in particular, European experience in solving the problem of the conflict between new and historical in the cities of Germany, Poland, Spain, etc. The destructive cataclysms of the XX century caused great losses to the architectural heritage. The world community has developed norms and rules that allow for a huge number of implementation options in the context of regional features. The problem of a new construction in the historical environment today is not about the question of whether the object is stylized or modernized. The problem is to determine the principles of interaction of the historical environment with new structures, in the degree of “civility” of a new architecture, the ability of the “new” to further develop the potential of urban space.

Many of the present eco-cities are designed and planned with an emphasis on high technology and infrastructure yet the meaning of sustainability itself implies a balance between past and present. Past urban configurations that rise from earlier traditional socio-cultural structures reflect sustainable principles localised to climate and ecology. The aim of this study is to reconstruct urban morphologies be-fore the advent of the automobile in order to analyse and characterise urban forms that are aligned with ecological criteria such as walk-ability, permeability and shade. Three traditional urban center or ‘cores’ in tropical Malaysia which had reigned during the early colo-nial era yet still related sultanate-based polities are mapped in terms of morphologies and these urban ‘core’ configurations were esti-mated and composed according to historical documents and evidences . These urban patterns are then discussed with regards to the present principles and criteria of green urbanism. The reconstructed and mapped urban cores are discussed in relation to green urban-ism principles and criteria, namely, based on global sustainable standards namely the LEED ND (Leadership in Energy and Environ-mental Design) version 4 neighbourhood rating system. The findings from this study suggest the contextualization of sustainable criteria according to climate and postulate the differences between traditional urban morphologies that can further regionalism principles of current green urbanism and further contextualise key principles in international standards on urbanism.

Pakistan has a treasure of historic cores as part of various cities that date back to Pre-Mughal, Mughal and post Mughal periods. Even those that were developed during the 19th century British rule have areas that are valuable as representative of a shared heritage with colonies of Britain. Since many historic cores have become part of the cities, these historic cores are seriously threatened. Unesco World Heritage List includes many major historical monuments and sites of Pakistan but it is yet to list any historical town in Pakistan .The local legislation also does not list any historical town. In spite of their value most historical areas are deteriorated and many parts of this significant heritage have been lost over the years. Community based conservation promotes the idea that the key to success of long term conservation lies in community engagement bringing the benefits of historical conservation to the local community. However, although community based conservation is practiced commonly world wide, it is not always successful. This paper tries to answer the following questions: 1. Is community based conservation an effective tool in Pakistan for conservation of urban areas? 2. What are the factors that contribute to the success or failure of such conservation exercises? 3. What part does a project design and local community character play in the success or failure of an urban conservation project. A multi sited case study method has been used to conservation project both similarities and differences related to review heritage conservation. Each site has been analysed for its unique local context and each project has been reviewed different project design which speaks about the multi layered challenges of heritage conservation. The three cases presented here offer valuable lessons for the design and implementation of area conservation programs in Pakistan. One lesson is the need to put all values embedded in urban heritage into play, as they are the drivers that mobilize a diverse set of stakeholders. These values include socio cultural and social justice, historic, artistic, educational and economic factors that can mobilize community, Government, Elite, Philanthropist and Entrepreneurs. The premise of analysis here is that the more the variety of values the more sustainable the conservation. The methodology used is literature review from secondary sources i.e. books, articles, academic papers and discussions with colleagues. The conclusion points towards the fact that In Pakistan community based conservation may not be the only solution to area conservation because only few groups can value it, like academia, groups from civil society and some government departments and communities at large need more motivation and awareness to become the major participant of urban area conservation exercises. The role of elite and private sector is also very insignificant. Any external agency can help only in advisory and financial capacity, but means to generate funds locally should be there. The status of urban area conservation is described by an academic conservationist Prof. Dr. Anila Naeem form the Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University o Engineering and Technology in 2009 as follows: “In Pakistan urban area conservation is not an established professional field and designation of historic centers is altogether a very new idea. Thus, conserving urban heritage areas may take many shapes and meanings and conservation of urban areas is more complex than conservation of individual buildings or archaeological remains. Keywords: Urban area conservation, community, Pakistan, heritage, historic cores.

Urban development of a modern city should combine and cover most of areas. One of the most important areas that ensure sustainable urban development is the sustainable development of the system of communication. This is one of the most important factors that shapes the city and has a direct influence on urban socio-economic viability, ensuring the quality of the environment and safe traffic conditions. Cities formed in the course of historical processes usually divide into certain areas, centres-cores, peripheral zones, functional centres etc. A territorial communication system, as well as all other infrastructure, must meet the needs of local residents and working people in the broad sense. The article analyses how the communication system infrastructure meets the spatial functioning in order to ensure conditions for work and development. In the case of Vilnius, the level of public transport organisation at the core of the city and peripheral areas is examined. The majority of residents live in residential areas dominated by multi-apartment buildings: Žirmūnai, Lazdynai, Karoliniškės, Šeškinė, Justiniškės and Fabijoniškės are areas populated by more than 5% of residents, with 4.5% residing at Antakalnis and Pašilaičiai. As these areas are easy to reach from work, they constitute the main transport zone of the city with Centras, Žvėrynas, Viršuliškės, Vilkpėdė, Šnipiškės and Baltupiai as intermediary zones. Express buses are serving the main core of the city that covers 27 transport zones out of 50; this territory covers 32% of the total area of Vilnius and the area contains 85% of the urban population and jobs. Šiuolaikinio miesto urbanistinė plėtra turi būti kompleksinė ir apimti daugumą sričių. Viena iš svarbiausių sričių, užtikrinanti darnią miestų urbanistinę plėtrą – susisiekimo sistemos darnioji plėtra. Tai vienas svarbiausių miestą formuojančių veiksnių, turinčių tiesioginės įtakos miestų socialiniam-ekonominiam gyvybingumui, užtikrinančių aplinkos kokybę ir saugias eismo sąlygas. Istorinių procesų eigoje susiformavę miestai, kaip įprasta, dalijasi į tam tikras teritorijas – centrus-branduolius, periferines zonas, funkcinius centrus ir kt. Teritorijų susisiekimo sistemos, kaip ir visa kita infrastruktūra, turi tenkinti tos teritorijos gyventojų ir darbo žmonių poreikius plačiąja prasme. Straipsnyje nagrinėjama susisiekimo sistemos infrastruktūros atitiktis teritorijų funkcionavimui, siekiant užtikrinti sąlygas dirbti ir vystytis. Vilniaus pavyzdžiu nagrinėjamas viešojo transporto organizavimo miesto branduolyje bei periferinėse zonose lygis. Gyvenamuosiuose rajonuose, kur vyrauja daugiaaukščiai, gyvena didžioji dalis miestiečių: daugiau nei po 5 % miesto gyventojų Žirmūnų, Lazdynų Karoliniškių, Šeškinės, Justiniškių, Fabijoniškių rajonuose, per 4,5 % – Antakalnio ir Pašilaičių rajonuose. Visi šie rajonai gyventojų darbo pasiekiamumo pagrindu formuoja pagrindinę miesto susisiekimo zoną, į kurią kaip tarpiniai rajonai dar patenka Centro, Žvėryno, Viršuliškių Vilkpėdės, Šnipiškių, Baltupių rajonai. Greitieji autobusai aptarnauja pagrindinį miesto branduolį, į kurį patenka 27 transportiniai rajonai iš 50, jų teritorija sudaro 32 % visos Vilniaus teritorijos, ši teritorija apima 85 % gyventojų ir darbo vietų.

A comparison of transportation systems in the metropolitan areas of the world’s financial capitals—London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo—found that although all of the urban areas are spreading outward from their historical and economic cores, there are striking differences in their patterns of development—and the transport consequences. The principal determinant of travel demand and mode in the four cities is the extent to which housing and employment are clustered around transit. It appears that the more that daily trip needs can be met by walking, the more likely that longer trips will be made by transit than by automobile. This conclusion is drawn from the high transit use and low automobile use in the inner zones of New York, where there is the largest number of rapid-transit stations of all four cities. It is reinforced by comparisons of outer zones of New York and Tokyo with similar total population density but strikingly different configurations of settlement and greatly contrasting travel patterns. Extensive supporting data are reported. The land use configurations of each region are as much the product of institutional and economic forces as of each city’s geography, history, and culture. London, the urban area most similar to the New York region in size and culture, is responding to aggressive national policies that mandate land use plans to promote town centers and reduce travel demand. Long-range planning processes in Tokyo and Paris have achieved transit-oriented development even in their outer zones. In contrast, hundreds of municipalities in the 31 -county New York metropolitan area make reactive land use decisions influenced by incentives to sprawl inherent in the U.S. economy. Measures to offset these forces are recommended.

Urban interior environment mostly serves as a place for various meetings and social events. Thus, these spaces come alive thanks to people, who give them reason and meaning. However, the question is what role urban interior has in the present day, which, at the beginning of the new millennium, is characterized by a high degree of individualism. Within the deurbanization tendencies, buildings and adjoining areas in central parts of cities are often abandoned and the activities move to the periphery. If we want to return the social function to the urban interior, as a place of pleasant encounters and relationships, we need to approach its formation with respect to current trends in the development of human society. From the perspective of sustainable development, it is also necessary not to extend the boundaries of urbanized area to adjacent landscape, while abandoning the central locations in cities, but to maintain their intensive character. From this point of view, it is necessary to realize, that it is the greenery that gives the city an opportunity to perceive public spaces as an integral part of urban life and not just as places that people walk through having no reason to stay longer than necessary. Application of greenery in urban interior provides many positive features to the city. Greenery is an added value that can also operate independently as a functional unit that links the other functions of the urban organism. Both in its solitary form and in line or area applications. Along with water elements, urban furniture, various hard surfaces and landscaping, greenery creates a pleasant and interesting living environment in the city that can be desirable and sought-after again.

This book offers the first systematic analysis of the cultural and religious appropriation of Andalusian architecture by Spanish historians during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Early Modern Spain was left with a significant Islamic heritage: Córdoba Mosque had been turned into a cathedral, in Seville the Aljama Mosque’s minaret was transformed into a Christian bell tower, and Granada Alhambra had become a Renaissance palace. To date this process of Christian appropriation has frequently been discussed as a phenomenon of hybridisation. However, during that period the construction of a Spanish national identity became a key focus of historical discourse. The aforementioned cultural hybridity encountered partial opposition from those seeking to establish cultural and religious homogeneity. The Iberian Peninsula’s Islamic past became a major concern and historical writing served as the site for a complex negotiation of identity. Historians and antiquarians used a range of strategies to re-appropriate the meaning of medieval Islamic heritage as befitted the new identity of Spain as a Catholic monarchy and empire. On one hand, the monuments’ Islamic origin was subjected to historical revisions and re-identified as Roman or Phoenician. On the other hand, religious forgeries were invented that staked claims for buildings and cities having been founded by Christians prior to the arrival of the Muslims in Spain. Islamic stones were used as core evidence in debates shaping the early development of archaeology, and they also became the centre of a historical controversy about the origin of Spain as a nation and its ecclesiastical history.

This chapter considers the resurgence of the City of London as an international financial centre in the late twentieth century. It highlights the role played by a campaign to promote the revival of the City as a post-sterling international financial centre. The Committee on Invisible Exports campaigned for the recognition of the City’s contribution to Britain’s balance of payments through its ‘invisible earnings’, and argued that this could be increased by reducing impediments on its activities. The invisibles campaign was a distinct product of the post-war preoccupation with the balance of payments, which challenged the fundamental belief, embedded in economic policy since the war, that the route to national prosperity was in expanding industrial production. The campaign sought to reconceptualize Britain as a historic commercial and financial, rather than industrial, economy. In doing so it undercut a core principle on which the social democratic political–economic project was based.

Ecosystem management is an integrative, systems-based approach developed in response to the inadequacy of land management strategies centered on single species or resources such as timber. Contemporary ecosystem management acknowledges the dynamism of natural systems, need for ongoing adaptive learning, and importance of citizen engagement, especially in managing public lands. However, ecosystem management faces both conceptual and ethical challenges. Core concepts—such as ecosystem, stability, health, and resilience—remain difficult to define and operationalize. In addition, rapid directional changes in ecological systems have destabilized the use of historical baselines for management. One response to this challenge is to seek new moorings in an “ecosystem services” approach, focused on the role of ecological systems in supporting human interests and needs. Although ecosystem management began as a way to broaden beyond a focus on maximizing yields of particular resources, ecosystem services approaches may—ironically—reintroduce reductionistic tendencies that thwart this original goal.

This book aims to make an innovative contribution to the history of the state-building process in late medieval Lombardy (thirteenth–fifteenth centuries), by illuminating the myriad conflicts attending the legitimacy of power and authority at different levels of society. Through the analysis of the rhetorical forms and linguistic repertoires deployed by the many protagonists (not just the prince, but also cities, communities, peasants, and factions) to express their own ideals of shared political life, the work proposes to reveal the depth of the conflicts in which opposing political actors were not only inspired by competing material interests—as in the traditional interpretation to be found in previous historiography—but were often also guided by differing concepts of authority. From this comes a largely new image of the late medieval–early Renaissance state, one without a monopoly of force—as has been shown in many studies since the 1970s—and one that did not even have the monopoly of legitimacy. The limitations of attempts by governors to present the political principles that inspired their acts as shared and universally recognized are revealed by a historical analysis firmly intent on investigating the existence, in particular territorial or social ambits, of other political cultures which based obedience to authority on different, and frequently original, ideals.

This book gathers leading economic historians, geographers, and social scientists to focus on the developments in key international financial centres following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and to consider the likely effects of Brexit on these centres. Eleven centres in eight countries are taken into consideration: New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich/Geneva, Hong Kong/Shanghai/Beijing, Tokyo, and Singapore. The book addresses three main issues. The first is the hierarchy of international financial centres, in particular whether Asian financial centres have taken advantage of the crisis in the West. The second is the medium-term effects of the crisis, with respect to the volume of business activity (including employment), and the level of regulation, with concerns regarding the risks of regulatory overkill. And the third is the rise of new technology, known as fintech, possibly the most important change in the decade following the crisis, with questions as to whether it will render financial centres, as we know them, unnecessary for the functioning of the global economy, and which cities are likely to emerge as hubs of new financial technology. Finally, the book discusses the likely effects of Brexit on international financial centres, in particular London, Paris, and Frankfurt. The book takes a decidedly interdisciplinary approach, with a general introduction providing a global overview from a historical perspective, and a general conclusion providing a global overview from a geographical perspective. Its focus on the implications for global financial centres is unique among books about the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis.

The creation of the Library of Alexandria is widely regarded as one of the great achievements in the history of humankind—a giant endeavour to amass all known literature and scholarly texts in one central location, so as to preserve it and make it available for the public. In turn, this event has been viewed as a historical turning point that separates the ancient world from classical antiquity. Standard works on the library continue to present the idea behind the institution as novel and, at least implicitly, as a product of Greek thought. Yet, although the scale of the collection in Alexandria seems to have been unprecedented, the notion of creating central repositories of knowledge, while perhaps new to Greek tradition, was age-old in the Near East where the building was erected. Here the existence of libraries can be traced back another two millennia, from the twenty-seventh century BCE to the third century CE, and so the creation of the Library in Alexandria was not as much the beginning of an intellectual adventure as the impressive culmination of a very long tradition. This volume presents the first comprehensive study of these ancient libraries across the ‘cradle of civilization’ and traces their institutional and scholarly roots back to the early cities and states and the advent of writing itself. Leading specialists in the intellectual history of each individual period and region covered in the volume present and discuss the enormous textual and archaeological material available on the early collections, offering a uniquely readable account intended for a broad audience on the libraries in Egypt and Western Asia as centres of knowledge prior to the famous Library of Alexandria.

Abstract According to some estimates, about 60 million people of Italian origin live outside of Italy today. To manage and, at first, encourage emigration, Italy has historically built a composite diaspora infrastructure. As discussed in the first part of this chapter, instruments to consult and represent politically citizens abroad have been core features of Italy’s diaspora engagement policies. The second part of the chapter examines the social protection dimension of diaspora more closely and highlights the central role played by the Patronati (welfare advice centers). As explained, the Patronati are to this day a unique institution at the international level, by which Italians abroad can be helped, free of charge, to gain access to social protection in Italy and abroad.

In the summer of 1943, a year after the Baedeker raids on Canterbury that devastated large sections of the historic city, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger began to film A Canterbury Tale on location in wartime Kent. Its plot was curious: three individuals find themselves on the railway station of Chillingbourne, a fictitious village in Kent, during a blackout. Bob Johnson, an American GI on leave, is heading for Canterbury, but has got off at the wrong stop. Alison Smith has come to Chillingbourne to work as a land girl. Sergeant Peter Gibbs is based at an army camp nearby. As these three head into the village, Alison is ambushed by an assailant who leaves some sticky stuff in her hair. They give chase, but the stranger disappears. Arriving at the town hall, they are told that Alison has been the latest victim of a local troublemaker dubbed the ‘Glue-Man’, believed to be a soldier, who pours glue onto the heads of young women, making them scared to go out with the soldiers stationed near the village. Alison, Bob, and Peter eventually deduce that the ‘Glue-Man’ is the local magistrate, Thomas Colpeper. Colpeper runs lectures on the beauties of the English countryside for (male) members of His Majesty’s Forces. Disappointed by small audiences, he comes up with the idea of pouring glue on young women to stop them from dallying with the soldiers who would otherwise be learning about the Old Road that runs by the village, and other matters of local interest. When all four—Alison, Bob, Peter, and Colpeper— travel to Canterbury at the end of the film, Peter intends to report Colpeper to the police, but other events intervene, and each of the three central characters receives an unexpected blessing. This detective story, of sorts, in which the perpetrator of a bizarre crime is unmasked less than halfway through the film, where the criminal goes unpunished, and where his motives stretch credibility, was bound to confuse contemporary audiences when the film was released in 1944. As Ian Christie notes, A Canterbury Tale ‘perplexed even the film’s relatively few admirers’.

The chapter reinterprets the United Kingdom-US special relationship through the lens of vicarious identification. It demonstrates how historical proclamations of the special relationship have responded to recurrent British anxieties related to its postwar, post-imperial, and now, following Brexit, its (impending) post-(EU)ropean decline. Vicarious identification with the United States is seen to offer the chance to reaffirm core narratives of self-identity central to British ontological security and which when successful enable the country to avoid serious reflection on its current situation. The chapter highlights the historical continuities of this move but also shows how vicarious identity promotion operates as a foreign policy strategy designed, not only to legitimize the special relationship, but also to entice the United States and its citizens to reciprocate in kind. Beyond exploring the temptations of vicarious identification as a form of foreign policy strategy, the chapter also explores its vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities crystallized during the course of the Trump presidency.

The internationalization of the Thai economy and the Thai state analysed in the last two chapters was—like all processes of internationalization—highly uneven. The modern Thai state was formed historically through collaboration between the Siamese monarchy, based in Bangkok, and British colonial officials, with Chinese merchants playing an important subsidiary role (Suehiro 1989; Chaiyan 1994; Thongchai 1994). By the early twentieth century, internationalization of capital and the state under this triple alliance had already led to the emergence of the Bangkok-centred political economy and strongly centralized state that has characterized Thailand throughout the past one hundred years (Dixon and Parnwell 1991). Thus, by the time rapid agrarian and industrial transformation began to take hold in the post-World War II period, it did so against a backdrop of already substantial Bangkok primacy and political dominance. The patterns of internationalization that have developed in the post-World War II period have largely strengthened this primacy and political dominance. Bangkok was the centre of the new triple alliance based on collaboration between military capitalists, Chinese merchants, and the US Cold War state (Suehiro 1989). As Cold War counter-insurgency and development projects proceeded, significant numbers of displaced peasants left agrarian society to seek urban-industrial employment and, as the overwhelmingly dominant centre of industry, Bangkok received a disproportionate share of the rural-tourban migration stream, with secondary cities remaining small and economically underdeveloped (Tables 4.1 and 4.2; London 1980; 1985). Consequently, the transformation of urban-industrial labour and the labour relations system described in Chapter 3 took place fundamentally in and around Bangkok, which remained the core area of manufacturing growth. For most of the post-World War II period up to 1985, the BMR’s industrial development was centred on low-wage, low value-added products such as textiles, garments, and low end electronics components, and though there were a number of very large firms in these lines, most manufacturers remained very small in scale, this being the case even among investment-constrained exporting firms. Small size was even more the norm with firms in upcountry regions, where manufacturing development was largely very rudimentary and generally centred in industries such as textiles, garments, and food processing (Table 4.3; Department of Labour 1985–6).

This chapter aims to address the emergence of Baghdad and the phases of its morphology and transformation. The first era began with the Round City; this originated the first nucleus that later formed Baghdad. The historical parts of most Middle Eastern old cities usually occupy polar places in relation to the rest of their city zones. These historical centres can give a city its own identity and embody exceptional urban assets, if carefully maintained and managed. In this chapter, there are two significant periods, the Abbasid Empire and post-Abbasid Empire. One of the main concerns is the conflict between two trends, old fabric as a traditional pattern and modern thoughts and, consequently, how that could affect in formulating the development plan.

Killgrove presents new bioarchaeological perspectives on life in middle Imperial Rome (first–third centuries A.D.). She challenges the core versus periphery models for understanding migration, diet, and disease and questions whether life in urban Rome and the metropolitan area was good with access to resources and sociopolitical capital–or whether life was a “pathopolis” with infectious disease, poor sanitation, and low quality food resources. She compares archaeological and historical narratives with bioarchaeological data and her own work at two cemeteries, Casal Bertone and Castellaccio Europarco to broaden baseline understandings of physiological stress. There is diversity in biological stress levels, however, and much remains to be unearthed to understand the etiology of this diversity. Killgrove explores the explanations for why certain groups, some of them lower class groups, had higher frequencies of physiological stress, citing lead exposure, poor sanitation, and lack of access to clean water and high quality food sources to explain these patterns. This contribution is among a handful of pioneering bioarchaeological investigations of imperial Rome that challenge previous dichotomizing views of life in Rome in the core versus the periphery. Most critically, she integrates the important component of class to the different effects of life under imperial rule.

Böckenförde shows how and why the modern state is a product of the historical process of secularization. Three key conflicts between papacy and European kings led to the establishment of administrative, political, and later legal structures independent from the Catholic Church: the Investiture Controversy (1087–1122), the confessional wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the declarations of rights as universal rather than based on religion in the Virginia Bill of Rights of 1776 and the French constitution of 1789. The modern state emerged from this process independent from the Church, without claims on the religious lives of its citizens or questions of sin and salvation. Böckenförde regards the constitutional recognition of freedom of religion as the bedrock of modernity. In the article, Böckenförde identifies what he regards as the core challenge facing the liberal democratic state, formulated in his most prominently cited sentence: ‘The liberal secularized state is sustained by conditions it cannot itself secure.’ Böckenförde argues that the modern state relies on a moral substance, thriving only under conditions of solidarity and cohesion that need to emanate from within society. Religiosity is one potential source of this moral substance. At the same time, one of the goals of the liberal state is the promotion and safeguarding of pluralism: If the modern state were to promote a given worldview or a sense of morality, it would violate the very liberalism on which it is founded. This dilemma has become known in the literature as the ‘Böckenförde dictum’.

Historical, contemporary, and future-oriented urban identities are presently being challenged worldwide at an unprecedented pace and scale by the continuous influx of people into cities and the accompanying effects of deindustrialization, conflict, and social differentiation. Archaeology is unique in its capacity to contribute a materialist perspective that views recent and present-day struggles of cities as part of longer term cycles of urban life that include processes of decay, revitalization, and reclamation. The aim of this volume is to position contemporary archaeology in general, and studies of cities in particular, as central to the discipline of archaeology and as an inspiration for further interdisciplinary, materially engaged urban studies. In doing so the contributing authors collectively challenge prevailing approaches to cities. Whereas scholars have routinely conceptualized contemporary cities within the bounds of particular analytical categories, including cities as gendered, deindustrialized, global, or urban ecological units of study (see Low 1996 for an overview), the cities discussed in this volume do not fit neatly into these individual analytical units, nor do they exist outside the influence of capitalist policies or institutions (Harvey 2012: xvii). They are instead recognized by the authors as operating within increasingly globalized systems, but also, following Jane Jacobs’ concept of open cities (2011), as places that are full of alternative possibilities. Rather than adhering to particular classifications of cities, the volume’s contributions are intentionally broad and attentive to the dynamics of the local and everyday in specific urban places—the politics, people, interventions, and materialities of specific urban places and the ways in which these dynamics operate across conceptual categories, temporal boundaries, and spatial terrain. Contemporary Archaeology and the City consciously employs a critical, materially engaged perspective that considers urban centres as both discrete and networked entities that are interrelated with places beyond geopolitical city limits. While many cities have characters formed from their vibrancy and centrality, their successful functioning often also relies upon the exploitation and even ruination of peripheral and rural hinterlands. The preceding chapters are original contributions inspired by the fieldwork of archaeologists who work in Europe, North America, Africa, Australia, and Western Asia. They incorporate a diversity of perspectives from across contemporary archaeology and beyond in responding to very different national, social, institutional, and cultural contexts.

Since the 1960s, developing Asia has been going through a historically unprecedented process of urbanization and industrialization. This process, which began in East Asia with Japan after World War II (Johnson 1982), then spread first to Korea (Amsden 1989; Rock 1992; Westphal 1978), Taiwan Province of China (Wade 1990), Hong Kong, China (Haggard 1990), and Singapore (Huff 1999) and subsequently to Indonesia (Hill 1996), Malaysia (Jomo 2001), Thailand (Pongpaichit 1980; Rock 1994), and China has spawned enormous interest. While most of the debate surrounding the East Asian development experience has centered on the proximate causes of its development trajectory and the economic and political consequences of this trajectory for the East Asian newly industrializing economies (NIEs), because Asia looms so large in the global economy and ecology, interest has belatedly turned to the environmental consequences of East Asia’s development path and to the political economy of governmental responses to deteriorating environmental conditions in the region (Brandon and Ramankutty 1993; Rock 2002a). The focus on the environment came none too soon. Rapid urbanization, industrialization, and globalization in the East Asian NIEs, when combined with ‘grow first, clean up later’ environmental policies, have resulted in average levels of air particulates approximately five times higher than in OECD countries and twice the world average (Asian Development Bank 1997). Not surprisingly, of the 60 developing country cities on which the World Bank (2004: 164–5) reports urban air quality, 62% (10 of 16) are in developing East Asia, all but one of the rest are in South Asia. Measures of water pollution in East Asia, such as biological oxygen demand (BOD) and levels of suspended solids are also substantially above world averages (Lohani 1998). With the prospect for further rapid urban-industrial growth rooted in the attraction of foreign direct investment and the export of manufactures in East Asia, the rest of Asia, and the rest of the developing world as the East Asian ‘model of development’ spreads, local, regional, and global environmental conditions may well get worse before they get better (Rock et al. 2000). At the core of this environmental challenge in East Asia is rapid urban industrial growth.

After Fukushima nuclear power generation plant accident disaster, all of residents in the area contaminated by radioactivity, and all public facilities are evacuated to surrounding regions or more remote cities by central government’s directions. So refugee temporary housing estates are scattered and aged people left there after six years since the disaster. Namie town is the biggest one in these area. City of Nihonmastu is typical Japanese castle town city and adjacent to contaminated area, and accepted many Nanie refugees, temporary housings, town office and schools, hospitals and industry site, so on. Fukushima Namie Recovering Project team, organized by NPO Shinmachi-Namie and Waseda university, proposed Network-community connecting several refugee housing estates, evacuated public facilities and other city cores. It is necessary to connect them and reintegrate their community facilitating “supporting system for network community” in practice. This vision of Network-community would be adapted to the historical stable region, which involves various dispersed, aged and isolated communities. Nihonmatsu, as the Castle Town City of Nakadori-region in Fukushima prefecture, attracts people’s attention by its historical urban areas, old streets and lots of unoccupied housing and so on. That is, it is very hard to let Nihonmatsu people think optimistically about the shelter for Namie evacuees. Nevertheless, the areas of Nakadori region including Nihonmatsu may cooperate with the Namie evacuee and energize the ruined coastline by “Network Community” – the network that encompasses various historical traditions that still exist today as the regional resources; thus, the vision of future Fukushima is expectable.

In the age of globalization, architecture (through an identity crisis) is directly connected with the loss of progressive recognition of morphological studies of city and territory, in a gradual replacement with real-time views of phenomena and urban facts. The satellite gaze finally flattens the interpretation ability of living spaces that were the prerogative of the morphological studies. The actual complexity of cities and territories escapes from the architect's eyes as they increase their technical capability to know details. The season of great renovations and methodological studies that had powered the 1960s, 70s and 80s seems hopelessly distant. Studies on social, economic, and environmental components of the cities and territories (infrastructure, public space, environmental networks) are so proliferated without actually being supported by adequate interpretations of their physical-spatial dynamics. The result: a substantial failure of architectural design to express human habitat visions. It is imperative a theoretical and practical effort to pick up the threads of an interrupted conversation, and return where these studies have expressed their richest potential: the historical centers, the places with most dense and rich heritage. Historical centers of cities like Quito, Siracusa and Suzhou have settled and stratified the morphological structures of several different settlement patterns. As a result, architecture has demonstrated an ability of description and interpretation. Reflecting on how this goal was reached in these cities (by means much less powerful than the current) settlement will be able to bid the morphological component of urban and regional studies and architecture project as a fundamental tool for understanding the human habitat.

The postal service is suffering an adaptation to the new markets opened by the users. The traditional post, letters and postcards, is being used less and is substituted by mail and packaging. To adequate to this new market it's important for the postal sector companies. In Spain, the operator of the Universal Postal Service has taken example from other companies of the sector, national and international, implanting electrical bicycle mail and packaging service in the centre of big cities. This is due to the fact that there are more the cities that are forbidding vehicle access to it's historical centres and the volume of packaging to deliver is greater. But, is it viable to deliver using hybrid and electrical vehicles in cities? This study intends to improve the distribution in cities with the implantation of these vehicles. It takes into account the characteristics of populations between 50.000 and 100.000 inhabitants, in which it will be analysed the advantages and inconvenience, doing special emphasis in the economic cost, conducting studies of the costs of implantation and amortization time.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4085

The development of small towns in Latvia is strongly affected by the growth of the tourism industry. New tourism products and sightseeing objects are created to develop local tourism and increase the number of visitors to cities/regions owing to municipal support. It has been found that in artisanal quarters, product sales and educational masterclasses create a new added value for tourism, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of the area. The first part of the research explained the role of crafts and artisans in urban development. The second part of the research performed a comparison of the operational patterns of current houses and centres of crafts, conducted an expert survey of administrators of the houses and centres of crafts and identified the demand for artisan products by the population and their interests in the development of the Jelgava Old Town street quarter. The research has concluded that in order for crafts to survive, national and local government support is needed for creating houses, centres, quarters and streets of crafts, improving the infrastructure for artisans to work and for tourists to visit them. Municipalities need to develop and implement a policy and a programme for craft development. Crafts have transformed into the cultural industry and in many autonomous communities, the craft competences have merged with tourism and contributed to a broad supply of products and have become important for the development of the area. Overall, the number of visitors to some Jelgava city tourism facilities increased in 2018, yet the total number of visitors decreased. This indicates that the city needs new local tourism facilities. Four operational patterns of houses and centres of crafts were identified in Latvia. Crafts as an important and supportive activity to be developed are incorporated in a number of European, national, Zemgale planning region, Jelgava city and region development strategies and programmes, thereby emphasizing the support needed for traditional artisan activities. Respondents highly rated the need for a house of crafts in the Jelgava Old Town street quarter – 45% expressed very convincing opinions, while 42% rated it as average. The main benefits in the context of craft functions pertain to the cultural and historical heritage and social value. Further research studies are needed to analyse the economic and creative/innovative functions of crafts.

Elena Logunova1Master of Urban Planning, Post-graduate student, 1Department of Urban Design and Planning, School of Architecture and Design, Siberian Federal University Address: 79 Svobodny pr., 660041 Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation E-mail: ikukina@inbox.ru , el.lgnv@yandex.ruScientific adviser: Pd.D., Professor - I. V. Kukina Keywords: fringe-belt, Siberia, urban morphology, fixation lineConference topics and scale: Tools of analysis in urban morphologyThe fringe-belt concept is one of the most important concepts in urban morphology which provides a possibility to analyze existing urban layout. Urban fringe-belt phenomenon in cities of Siberia hitherto was poorly investigated. Thus, it constitutes an extremely broad research area.Phases and processes of formation, transformation and alienation in urban fringe-belts examines at the case of Krasnoyarsk from the 17th to mid 20th centuries. Krasnoyarsk was founded as a military stockaded town in 1628 during the first period of Siberia development and experienced several historical stages in the process of urban growth.Relation of changes in fringe-belts structure and political and socio-economic contexts is evidently at all periods of their physical formation. Natural fixation lines (topographic features, body of big river, and development of small river valley) and man-made fixation lines (city walls, railway corridor) influenced to the formation and evolution processes of fringe-belts and urban fabric generally. Railway was a turning point in the city expansion and contributed to overcoming of the power natural fixation line as the Yenisei river. Unlike the urban core, right bank of Krasnoyarsk formed as a linear city with specific fringe belts.Detailed analysis of Krasnoyarsk city plan indentifies several morphological units separated by fringe-belts. These fringe-belts are characterized by distinctive road network, variety of land-use units and heterogeneous forms in plan. It presents difficulties for reconstruction projects of modern city. An approach for renovation of these territories needs to depend on urban morphology methodology. ReferencesConzen M. P., Kai Gu, Whitehand J. W. R. (2012) ‘Comparing traditional urban form in China and Europe: a fringe-belt approach’ Urban Geography, 33, 1, p. 22–45.Whitehand J.W. R, Morton N. J. (2003) ‘Fringe belts and the recycling of urban land: an academic concept and planning practice’, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, volume 30, p.819- 839. Ünlü T. (2013) ‘Thinking about urban fringe belts: a Mediterranean perspective’, Urban Morphology 17 (1), p. 5-20.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.