Australian Cities and Regions in the Depression: Recent Trends in Unemployment

Australia's recent economic woes have produced a steep rise in national unemployment rates since 1989 (Figure 1) but – as always – the impacts have not been even. Some regions, some cities and some parts of our major cities have fared worse than others. This is no surprise. Much of the recent literature on the nature of urban development in the Western world has emphasised the spatial uneven-ness of the impacts of economic restructuring and demographic change. However it is important that as social scientists and policymakers weareawareof the specific spatial dimensions of the current recession in this country. This Forum examines current trends in unemployment at four spatial levels. At each level, significant variations occur as the result of the intersection of differences in industry mix, occupational structure, and demographic and socio-economic composition within local labour markets. Kevin O'Connor and Virginia Rapson begin by examining contrasts between the capital cities, establishing a national context for the subsequent more detailed contributions, and highlighting in particular the recent decline in Melbourne's job market following the collapse of the finance and property sector.     

Die Kämpf‐Stegträger der Eissporthalle Bad Reichenhall – Eine typische Holzkonstruktion der 1950er und 1960er Jahre?

A typical timber construction of the 1950's an 1960's? Kämpf‐web‐girders like the one of the ice rink in Bad Reichenhall have been used frequently, wether mostly in smaller dimensions, in the 1950's and 1960's. They are an example for the great efforts that have been made in research and practice to establish definitely the glued wood construction in timber engineering. At the latest by the end of the 1960's this aim was achieved. Nevertheless, the beginning of the glued wood construction has already been made half a century before by Otto Hetzer and others. The history of the development of the glued laminated timber is a typical example, that the so‐called process of diffusion – from innovation up to the point of general distribution and application of an innovation – especially in civil engineering often takes one or two generations.     

One city's ‘urban cosmography’

Illustrations of urban scenes naturally describe the physical characteristics of the places depicted. These representations also express implicitly broader beliefs which tie the spatial order of the surrounding world to local systems, institutions, and human actions. Images of a city embody, therefore, an ‘urban cosmography’, a concept inspired by early modern artisans' attempts to chart the contours of the world, both known and unknown. Seen from this perspective, historical graphics such as maps, posters, and birds-eye views document a city's position within a continually evolving universal order. This paper will review graphics drawn from the history of one city in particular: Baltimore, Maryland. Like other cities on the eastern seaboard of the US, Baltimore has been represented by diverse visual arts for more than two centuries. With the advent of digital and social media, Baltimore's development will depend even more upon the city's local and global interrelationships. ‘Urban cosmography’ is, therefore, a useful conceptual prism through which one may perceive the link between the city's historical legacy and contemporary urban challenges. One consequence is that visual tropes for traditional urban polarities – ‘growth’ versus ‘decay’, for instance – may be superseded by new symbols that incorporate both.     

Louise T Blouin Institute,West London

The borderlands of Notting Hill and Shepherd's Bush – at the very fringes of the Westway – have become the site of London's largest new privately owned artspace. A nonprofit foundation funded by Louise T Blouin MacBain, the Canadian CEO of a global media business and an arts philanthropist, the institute has been designed both as a home for the Blouin Foundation and as an effective showcase for the work of newly emerging and established artists. Jeremy Melvin describes how architects Borgos Dance have used the ‘intriguing’ exterior of an old coachbuilder's workshop to their advantage, in hewing out a ‘compelling’ new interior. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preserving and maintaining the concept of Letchworth Garden City

In 1903, the world's first garden city was founded in Hertfordshire, England. The utopian dream to combine the best of town and country living was about to be progressed from concept to reality. A hundred and ten years later, Letchworth Garden City is a thriving town of 33,000 people who enjoy living in a place of beauty, underpinned by a strong sense of identity and community. This paper examines how the legacy of the original garden city masterplan by Parker and Unwin is protected. It considers how the town manages its architectural heritage while striving to maintain its economic viability and responsiveness to today's challenges. The paper also discusses how a Community Benefit Society – The Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – manages the town's social reinvestment model, which ensures that commercial earnings within the town are shared for the benefit of local communities. The paper looks at the Heritage Foundation's governance structure and how it is accountable to the local residents and businesses. A case study summarizing a community consultation exercise to consider the future of the town centre is also included.     

China's Concealed Crisis

Architectural historian and author Edward Denison and architect and researcher Guang Yu Ren lift the lid on the complex and urgent matter of China's ageing population. The impending crisis is not only a matter of numbers – a third of China's population are projected to be over 60 by 2050 – but also one of shifting social responsibility. Whereas the care of ageing relatives has traditionally been the individual family's responsibility – filial obligation being written into the constitution – urban migration and economic development and the legacy of the One Child Policy are disrupting this, creating a greater need for state and private housing provision for the elderly.     

Kaleidoscopic shades of grey: The shifting (in)formalities of Rome's street markets

This article explores how Rome's municipal authorities have managed Roma's vending practices in the city's street markets during the last two decades and how Roma traders have negotiated rising bureaucratic and legal obstacles to their everyday business strategies. The study draws on a variety of data-collection methods including oral history interviews with past street vendors and market organizers, participant observation in today's (in)formal markets, and primary media and municipal documentation. The analysis focuses on three interconnected elements: firstly it traces the relationship between the formalization of some flea-markets and the elimination of others as part of a broader drive to position the city as a globalized and efficient commercial environment for tourism and real-estate development. It demonstrates, however, that this process has been highly racialized – targeting Roma traders in particular through discourses of crime and dirt/disorder – and implemented through partial, contradictory and erratic methods. Secondly, it examines the new and power-inflected informalities that have been produced as the authorities have sought to distance Roma traders from public view while failing to address the inequalities underlying those economic practices. Thirdly, it explores the costs and vulnerabilities that these informalities produce in traders' daily lives as they seek to maintain entrepreneurial autonomy. The analysis connects these dynamics to debates on urban management techniques internationally, while dissecting the unique modalities through which informalities are produced and negotiated in Rome.     

The emerging Danish government reform – centralised decentralisation

Across Western Europe, a number of governmental reforms have been implemented and more recently many have been rejected. These reforms are considered to be examples of adaptation to new global conditions; however, not all shifts in governmental systems and organisation are a result of the logic of globalisation. The current implementation of a new local government reform in Denmark can be considered to be one such example. In each case, the specific circumstances and history of a country play a major role; there is no universal model for the transition to neoliberal state reforms. To many observers, the nation state is being ‘hollowed out’ – simply squeezed from both the international and the subnational level as a result of globalisation and related processes. The Danish local government reform does not strengthen the metropolitan Copenhagen vis-à-vis other North European metropoles. Rather, the reform seems to reduce the room for manoeuvre and in fact dismantles major parts of the city's strategic capacity and institutions. On the other hand, the Danish case of increased pressure for local adaptation to global economic challenges and financial control from central government represents a special version of the neoliberal competitive state.     

Putting rooftops to use – A Cost-Benefit Analysis of food production vs. energy generation under Mediterranean climates

In today's growing cities, where land is an expensive commodity and direct exposure to sunlight is a valuable asset, rooftops constitute vast underexploited areas. Particularly with growing urban environmental concerns, the potential of transforming these areas into productive spaces – either for food cultivation or energy generation – has emerged as a viable option in recent years. Both food production and energy generation have benefits in the urban environment. Rooftop farming is an environmentally and economically sustainable way of exploiting urban rooftops, reducing “food miles” and providing local jobs, while roof-integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) modules provide clean energy, are increasingly cost-effective, and offer job opportunities. In both cases, a rooftop network of production could directly supply a portion of a necessary resource – either food or electricity – to the local community while concurrently reducing the burden on the environment. To provide a basis for comparing the implementation of these productive uses of rooftops in Mediterranean cities, this article applies a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) to a mixed-use neighborhood located in Lisbon to assess the following uses: (1) open-air rooftop farming on intensive green roofs; (2) food production in low-tech unconditioned Rooftop Greenhouse (RG) farms; (3) Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA) in high-tech RG farms; and (4) solar PV energy generation. Relative costs, cost-saving benefits and added value of these four alternative productive uses of rooftops were modeled over 50 years and deducted from present value, considering two levels of analysis: (a) effects directly incurred by the operator of the systems; and (b) societal effects on the local community. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first comprehensive comparison of rooftop PV versus rooftop farming technologies. The results have shown food production to be more beneficial than energy generation, for both the owner of the system and the local community, under the modeled conditions and given the selected items of comparison. In particular, the results show that rooftop greenhouse farming can provide significant benefits over rooftop green roof and solar PV systems when assessed from a holistic perspective that accounts for impacts on both the operator and the local community.     

Cultivating the Field in the Global Hinterland: Community Building for Mass Housing in the Amazon Region

The large-scale residential settlements that have sprung up over the last decade to house migrants flocking to join Brazil's burgeoning rural industries are in urgent need of retrofitting with infrastructure and community facilities if they are to become sustainable. To this end, international urban design practice the BAÚ Collaborative has initiated the ‘Eden’ project – a participatory design process that involves state authorities, local NGOs, residents and social workers. Rainer Hehl , a cofounder of BAÚ, outlines the problem, the project, and its test-site: the mining town of Parauapebas.     

Vom Hofbräuhaus zum Deutschen Museum – Münchner Bauten aus Eisenbeton 1890 bis 1914 (1)

From Hofbräuhaus to the German Museum – reinforced concrete buildings in Munich from 1890 to 1914. This year (2008) Munich celebrates its 850‐year anniversary and in appropriate publications the authors try to work out the special Munich style. Little attention will be paid to a special chapter of Munich's history – the beginning of construction with reinforced concrete about 1900. Munich can claim that city to have been first in the new building technology and important buildings in reinforced concrete were designed and erected. Unfortunately, today this extraordinary architectural and engineering development is widely forgotten.     

Vom Hofbräuhaus zum Deutschen Museum – Münchner Bauten aus Eisenbeton 1890 bis 1914 (2)

From Hofbräuhaus to the German Museum – reinforced concrete buildings in Munich from 1890 to 1914. This year (2008) Munich celebrates its 850‐year anniversary and in appropriate publications the authors try to work out the special Munich style. Little attention will be paid to a special chapter of Munich's history – the beginning of construction with reinforced concrete about 1900. Munich can claim that city to have been first in the new building technology and important buildings in reinforced concrete were designed and erected. Unfortunately, today this extraordinary architectural and engineering development is widely forgotten.     

Public space and the challenge of urban transformation in cities of emerging economies: Jeddah case study

Urban planning, design guidelines and new management practices have radically transformed public spaces in many countries. With fresh development decisions, urban spaces change spatially. This may improve places, increasing prosperity and extending expectations of modernization in many cities. However, widespread public disillusion and failures to produce environments reflecting local values can collectively shape public areas. This article contributes to debate about dynamism in such spaces. It explores how modernist approaches to planning and design alongside fractures in management practices in emerging cities have shaped the quality urban space. We use Jeddah as a radically re-planned city in a rapidly developing economy, but one where largely unusable public spaces have failed to meet people's everyday needs and aspirations. Our investigation – based on extensive literature reviews, documentary analyses, morphological survey, photographic and qualitative surveys – provides a better understanding of the role of a proactive urban design for promoting environmental quality. This helps resolve the multiple challenges confronting public space provision.     

Let'S Get Planning Out Of Community Care

After the Fire

The recent tragic fire in Melbourne's Kew Cottages has thrown into sharp relief the problems facing the process of deinstitutionalisation in Australia. In April of this year, national attention was focused on the disaster which took the lives of nine intellectually disabled residents of the Kew institution; in the days following the fire many articles and editorials in the major metropolitan newspapers were devoted to the broader policy difficulties – notably, funding and service quality – which have plagued the nation's attempts to improve its care of the socially dependent.     

Agency transformation and state public utility commissions

The demise of public utility commissions has been periodically predicted (sometimes hoped for). In their long history they have been attacked by critics as ineffective, inefficient, expensive, or unnecessary. Further, the demonstrated survivability of the commission concept has often been uncharitably attributed to powerful political constituencies, self-preservation maneuverings by commissioners themselves, and inertia. The implications of this article point another way. Commission regulation of public utilities has survived mainly because of continued need for social oversight of these critical industry sectors and the capacity of PUCs strategically to adapt to fundamental changes in their surroundings. Two transformational upheavals are treated here – a challenge of flexibility and responsiveness by the dramatic run-up in costs and prices in the 1970s and challenge to relevance by the policy shift to greater reliance on market competition in the 1990s – and regulation's successful accommodation to them. Viewed this way commission regulation is more in a position of “second wind” than “last breath.”     

A comparative analysis of place branding in Michigan and Ontario

Place branding has increasingly been adopted as a municipal initiative to change the trajectory of local economic development. Specifically, local municipalities and communities have used place branding not only as a response to the influence of globalization and neo-liberalism, but also economic challenges and restructuring. Like any other initiative, the ultimate goal is to enhance the economic and social well-being of local jurisdictions. Although a popular strategy, it is not clear if and how locally specific factors mediate the process. By comparing two cross-border geographical areas, this study attempts to identify how regional variability in the manifestation of political-economic forces, as well as geographical influences, affects the use of place branding at local scales. Every municipality in Michigan (n = 1774) and Ontario (n = 414) was systematically examined for the presence and message of local place brands as presented through logos and slogans. The comparative analysis demonstrated that Ontario’s municipalities utilized place branding to a greater extent, and that the dominant messages differ by region. Further, this analysis shows that – beyond political differences – geographical context appears to have an effect on both local place branding usage and message.     

Monitoring financial health of contractors at the aftermath of the Asian economic turmoil: a case study in Hong Kong

The whole construction industry (contractors, consultants and suppliers) is suffering from business shrinking under the prevailing deflationary economy in Hong Kong. Local contractors are facing tremendous financial problems. The financial situation of a typical local contractor has been analysed for the years since 1997 – the Asian Economic Crisis. By using the financial ratios together with one of Altman's distress models, it is possible to monitor and assess the financial health of contractors. Based on the results of the case study, the financial health of the contractor under study is found satisfactory. In addition to this quantitative analysis, it is advisable for local contractors to conduct a strategic review for their construction industry and their business environment so as to improve their financial performance in both the near future and longer term.     

Intimacy: Eragatory's Experiments in Materiality,Deep Texture and Mood

Because of their textural and sensory qualities – even or uneven, smooth or rough, cold or warm, reflective or matt – particular materials tend to evoke particular moods. But this does not mean that their nature and structure cannot be played with in order to create surprising atmospheres. London-based design practice Eragatory's ‘Intimacy’ series of interiors does just that, producing visual anomalies that distort the viewer's material understanding of space. Isaie Bloch , the firm's founder, describes how.     

Die ersten geschweißten Stahlbrücken in Deutschland – Über die wechselvollen Anfänge der Schweißtechnik

The first welded steel bridges in Germany – on the rocky beginnings of welding technology. Welding technology – and here primarily arc welding – began to be used about 80 years ago on bridges; first for repairing and strengthening them, and then increasingly, for building new ones. Initially, this new joining technology that had been used since before WWI in mechanical engineering, was met with skepticism on the part of building and code enforcement authorities, and hence, also by many in the building industry. Finally, in the early 1930's, welding technology started its explosive development in steel construction. This euphoric state was dampened a few years later due to several spectacular failures on bridges made of high‐quality construction steel. After comprehensive scientific studies were able to determine the causes of these failures, by the 1960's, welding finally established itself as the most important joining technology in steel bridge construction.