Breakable fire resistant glass performance criteria

More than half of the fire protection authorities surveyed believed that there is a need for breakable fire resistant glass. A product has been tested, and a proposal has been made for a test method to measure performance and for acceptance criteria. Note: Author Fowler is Professor of Architectural Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, and author Grimm is the Associate Director, Center for Building Research, The University of Texas at Austin.     

Flexible production,electronic linkages,and large firms: evidence from the automobile industry

At the beginning of the 1980s, a reverse trend in local economic development began, supporting old urban industrial areas in whichlarge firms represented the most competitive territorial and industrial systems. Using the case of the automobile industry as an example, this paper argues that contrary to what is anticipated by some researchers, the new flexible organization of the large firm will support neither an asymmetrical relationship of control between spatially decentralized firms nor a spatial reconcentration of activities toward industrialized countries. On the contrary, flexible production will support symmetrical networks that bind together spatially decentralized firms in a web of two-way partnership interactions. As space reflects changes in the organization of production, we anticipate greater coordination and interaction between spaces. This process would not be determined, butfacilitated by electronic linkages through technologies such as international EDI systems and groupware designed to increase cooperative work and joint decision-making.The author is indebted to the Bureau of Business Research in the Graduate School of Business of the University of Texas at Austin and to the Foreign Economic Research Office of the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. for financial support. This paper benefited from helpful comments from an unknown referee.     

Motivation and Marginalization in African Urban Agriculture: The Case of Lusaka,Zambia

Urban agriculture in Africa has been identified as an important income generation and survival strategy among poor and not so poor households. However, official attitudes to urban agriculture vary considerably between and within different African countries. Recent field-based research undertaken in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, reveals that urban agriculture makes a significant contribution to the food basket of many urban households in the city. Despite this contribution, urban agriculture in Lusaka has remained a peripheral issue in urban development strategies and planning policy. Interviews with urban farmers and professionals from various government departments and non-governmental organisations indicate that urban agriculture suffers from a number of factors such as a shortage of land and unsupportive official policy. This paper attempts to illuminate the patterns, processes and decision-making strategies associated with the production of foodstuffs for sale and/or household consumption. The extent to which urban agriculture is being supported or marginalized in Lusaka is examined in the context of evolving strategies for achieving sustainable urban development, poverty alleviation and food security.

The effects of shopping center ownership on center composition in planned and unplanned shopping center hierarchies

This paper undertakes an empirical examination of the internal composition of planned and unplanned shopping centers in planned and unplanned shopping center hierarchies. In both hierarchies, in comparison to planned centers, unplanned centers are found to have more replication of stores of types for which replication would represent excess capacity and fewer stores of types for which replication would reduce consumer search costs. It is also expected that constraints on entry in the planned hierarchy will result in higher turnover rates in a less regulated non-hierarchical sector of retailing and that planned and unplanned centers within the planned hierarchy will have similar turnover rates. These hypotheses are also confirmed by empirical tests.     

美国大学地理系举办规划专业的经验与启示——以美国两所大学为例

选择美国东密歇根大学与西密歇根大学的地理系为典型案例,总结了美国大学地理系举办规划专业教育的发展历程、课程设置、特色和优势,进而得出对我国城乡规划教育的几点启示。     

城市居民购物出行等级结构及其演变——以北京市为例

以北京市为例,通过问卷调查研究城市居民购物出行等级结构特征及其演变规律。研究发现:城市居民购物出行总体上符合中心地理论的等级体系模式,男性居民比女性居民购物地等级普遍要高;近年来,北京市居民购买不同商品的购物地等级均有所下降;高收入阶层空间等级跨越最大,表现出较强的购买力,而低收入阶层购物出行等级结构跨越最小,且物品倾向于在同一等级地购买;近郊区居民购物出行逐渐由以往的"市中心指向"向"近郊区指向"演变,购物地等级有所降低,而中心城区居民购物出行等级没有太大变化;商业网络体系完善和商业业态变化是影响北京市居民购物出行等级结构演变最主要的因素。最后,讨论了城市居民购物出行等级结构特征及其演变研究对北京城市商业未来发展和空间布局的启示。     

内装产业如何改变建筑

建筑物总是由许多,甚至多达成千上万个技术构件组成。越来越多各种类别的普通建筑（如办公建筑、购物中心、医院或住宅）由许多构件根据其控制模式或职责组建。基于开放建筑的术语,这些职责模式被归于不同层级,例如城市设计（城市结构）、建筑（建筑主体）以及室内建筑（内装,fit-out）。这些工作根据控制模式来划分,并次序地造就了一些新建筑产业群体来服务于这些层面,其中之一便是内装产业。探讨了内装产业的发展并展示了其在一些国家正在进行的工作,以此证明内装这一层级的产业将得到认可。     

All Night Long: The Architectural Jazz of the Texas Rangers

In the mid-1950s, a group of young faculty at the University of Texas School of Architecture in Austin - aka the Texas Rangers - entertained themselves with weekly sessions of a sophisticated, collective drawing game, ‘Dot-the-Dot’, in which there was an emphasis on inventive fluency in hand drawing as well as an innate knowledge of historic European city plans. What happened when Mark Morris , Visiting Associate Professor at Cornell University, decided in a design studio to ask present-day students to revive the game?     

The Evolving South African Neighbourhood: The Case of Westdene,Bloemfontein

Neighbourhoods have not received much research interest until comparatively recently. Internationally, the paucity of research has now been addressed through a steady flow of new contributions. In South Africa, however, neighbourhoods remain largely ignored in the academic press. The aim of this paper is to make a contribution towards gaining greater insight into the development of South African neighbourhoods. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the Bloemfontein neighbourhood of Westdene, the authors show that post-apartheid neighbourhoods are diverse and fragmented urban spaces that fulfil very many different functions. In the process, our conceptual understanding of neighbourhood has to be adjusted from one representing a relatively homogenous residential urban space to one that incorporates a diverse range of urban functions.

Retail location and consumer behavior

Summary Central place theory is the theory pertaining to the spatial aspects of retail and service business. Among these spatial aspects are the location and groupings of central functions, the consequent size and spacing of central places, consumer travel behavior, and the size, shape, and arrangement of trade areas. This paper has attempted to view these aspects in their interdependence at both the aggregate and elemental levels of inquiry, and to present some theoretical implications of the findings. Of interest are the recognition that the basic requirements of the theory (thresholds and ranges) are satisfied in the Iowa case, and the verification of the major postulate of the theory (the hierarchy). While the spatial pattern of centers conforms to a particular set of location principles (the principles of transportation), the nesting of trade areas does not, due to the importance of the information content of central places (number of central functions performed) in consumers' shopping and travel be havior.Research was supported by Contract NONR 2121-18, Prcject NR 389-126, Geography Branch, United States Office of Nava Research.     

Do shopping centers abate the resilience of shopping streets? The co-existence of both shopping venues in Ankara,Turkey

The sustainability of cities highly depends on city center viability and shopping street resilience. With the increasing number of shopping centers and their strong impact on existing retail systems, the major urban challenge has become maintaining a balance in the market. When shopping centers appeared, shopping streets began suffering from the negative influence of these new centers. Turkey, as a developing country, suffered from this change in last two decades. With the shopping center supporting policies and regulations of both central and local governments, the situation has become worse, and detrimental to small, independent retailers located on shopping streets. The controlled, trendy and convenient shopping environment, variety, quality and pricing of goods and services have attracted customers to shopping centers. This has been a revisited topic in the planning literature and the common statement was that the emergence of shopping centers abates the viability of city centers and shopping streets. However, in time, the shopping streets have adapted to the changes, thus become more resilient to the negative impacts of shopping centers. The current planning literature has been limited to the analysis of either shopping center systems, or shopping streets. In contrast to this approach, in this study, we are analyzing both retail venues, and comparing their consumer profiles, preferences and spatial behaviors. The purpose is to exhibit the strengths and weaknesses of shopping centers and shopping streets, and identify the qualifications attractive to their customers. This will provide an opportunity for urban policy makers to redefine a retail policy framework which will contribute to shopping street resilience and city center viability. Ankara is selected for two reasons: (1) as of 2011, the shopping center gross leasable area per 1000 people was the highest in Turkey, (2) the city center is still vivid, and shopping street retailers continue to survive amid the high level of shopping center floor space. Two separate questionnaires were given in 13 shopping centers, and 11 main shopping streets in Ankara. The findings reveal that: (1) shopping centers are used by consumers from all districts, in particular, from suburban districts, and shopping streets are mainly used by consumers living in inner city districts, (2) the consumer profiles of shopping centers and shopping streets are distinctive in terms of age, occupation and education, (3) shopping centers are usually preferred by car owners, which encourages development of new shopping centers at the urban fringe, (4) shopping centers and shopping streets are preferred for similar purposes, and shopping streets, in particular, are preferred for entertainment. Therefore, the major conclusion is that the shopping streets in Ankara have a certain level of resilience in terms of consumer diversity, retailer variety, quality and complementary degree. This level can be further increased by new retail planning policies that will focus on attracting consumers from different backgrounds, offering a conducive business environment for special brands, and initiating new revitalization plans and programs for maintenance and design of city centers.     

Planning - topography and climate

The presentation of local climatic data has wide-reaching effects for planners, designers and those living and working in an area, report Sven Lindqvist and Jan O. Mattsson of the Department of Geography at the University of Lund.     

商业创新模式下的建筑设计服务

购物中心作为一种现代的零售商业模式,从上世纪90年代进入中国后,已为一般民众厂为接受。文章首先简要地介绍了美国购物中心的开发历史和类型,尤其是近年来出现的生活方式中心的特点和发展趋势。对于购物中心在中国的开发、规划设计中经常遇到的一些内容,如融资方式,主力商店和专卖店等进行了讨论。最后对于建筑师在这新的商业模式下如何与设计团队一起提供专业服务方面根据自身的经验提出了自己的看法。     

Planning ‐ topography and climate

The presentation of local climatic data has wide‐reaching effects for planners, designers and those living and working in an area, report Sven Lindqvist and Jan O. Mattsson of the Department of Geography at the University of Lund.     

现代购物中心的发展趋势与设计手法探析

对欧美发达国家近年来购物中心的开发建设简要回顾,并着重论述了现代购物中心的最新发展模式,同时也对其功能组织、空间设计手法以及当代的消费时尚进行了研究和探讨。     

Neighborhood impacts on land use change: a multinomial logit model of spatial relationships

Models of land use change are central to forecasting urban futures. This work models the related processes of parcel subdivision and land development using a pair of recent GIS-encoded Austin, Texas land use maps. Based on binomial and multinomial logit models of subdivision and use change, a variety of lagged explanatory variables offer insight into land dynamics. Results indicated that local neighborhood conditions offer substantial predictive power, though such effects seem inconsequential beyond 2 miles. Various spatial tendencies in land development are identified here, and comparisons of predicted and actual land use changes (in 2005) reveal strengths and limitations of the models.     

Automatic determination of ignition temperature

An electronic circuit has been designed and tested which can automatically determine ignition temperatures of shredded combustible materials. Note: The authors hold the positions of Assistant Professor, Electronics Technician, Graduate Research Assistant, and Engineering Technician, respectively. This paper is Scientific Article No. A2618, Contribution No. 5655 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Agricultural Engineering.     

The effect of humidity,air temperature,and wind speed on fine fuel moisture content

A controlled environmental chamber was used to study the effects of relative humidity, air temperature, and wind speed on moisture content of tobosa grass. Prediction equations were developed to show rates of change in fine fuel moisture content and equilibrium fine fuel moisture content for both absorption and desorption. Note: Mr. Britton is a Research Associate at Texas Tech University; Mr. Countryman, a Project Leader, Forest Fire Laboratory, Riverside, California; Dr. Wright, Associate Professor of Range Management, Texas Tech University; and Dr. Walvekar, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, Texas Tech University. Mr. Britton’s current address is Range Science Department, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. Note: This paper is College of Agricultural Sciences, Texas Tech University Contribution No. T-9-111.     

Some observations on orderly development in an emerging city

Recent expression on the differences and similarities between cities in developed and emerging nations has perpetuated the notion that rural-urban migrants simply wander into cities of developing countries without purpose and that their pattern of settlement is unsystematic, and furthermore that they have little chance of significantly improving their economic status. This paper undertakes to determine whether some order is apparent in Accra, Ghana--an emerging city that is perhaps typical of other expanding cities in developing countries.Analysis of population density gradient and upward mobility among the masses, and employment of regression analysis are used to establish whether order exists in Accra's development process. The results indicate that settlement patterns appear to be in accordance with patterns observed in developed nations and upward mobility in the city appears to be substantial.This paper is based on chapters 6, 7, and 8 of the author's doctoral dissertation. The author is indebted to Professor Frank Mittelbach for helpful suggestions and comments. The research reported herein was undertaken by the author while conducting a study of urban land use and residential consumption in Accra, Ghana. During that time, he was a Research Fellow in the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Legon. The research was supported by grants from the United Nations Association of the United States of America (Ralph Bunche Fellowship), African-American Scholars Council, American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, UCLA Graduate Student Patent Fund, and the UCLA Graduate Advancement Program.     

Beyond HOPE VI: Demolition/Disposition and the uncertain future of public housing in the U.S.

Public housing redevelopment in the United States is virtually synonymous with the HOPE VI program, through which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has transformed over 250 housing projects into mixed-income communities. However, the overall the extent of public housing redevelopment has far exceeded the original mandate of HOPE VI due to the expansion of Demolition/Disposition activities facilitated by the program. The permissiveness of such activities has resulted in the replacement of housing projects with luxury condominiums, shopping and convention centers, and other land uses unrelated to affordable housing. In the process, over 210,000 housing units guaranteed to be affordable to low-income households have been removed from the country??s public housing inventory. This article investigates the foundations, the overall scope, and the characteristics of Demolition/Disposition activities beyond the purview of HOPE VI, and discusses their implications for the uncertain future of public housing in the U.S.