Obituaries: Roger Todd Davis (1926-2000).

Reports the death of Roger Todd Davis (1926-2002) and how he contributed to the post-WWII development of primatology and primate laboratories, which are important precursors to the study of modern cognition and cognitive neuroscience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Hinterland Urbanised?

What defines the urban? And can the non-urban necessarily always be classified as rural? Neil Brenner , Director of the Urban Theory Lab at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, reflects on the lack of an overarching theory to describe these realms, and argues that what we call the countryside or the hinterland has become key to the process of capitalist urbanisation.     

Global Village Media: Coming Together in the Early 1970s at Whiz Bang Quick City

Felicity D Scott , Associate Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), describes here the instant city events of the early 1970s. These foreshadowed current global village media practices in what now seems a quaintly material manner: communication between sites involved the physical mailing of videotapes and ‘wire photos’ through the postal service. The sites themselves – in the US and elsewhere – were transformed into ‘instant cities’ through the erection of physical geodesic domes, teepees and inflatables in seas of mud. The true antecedents of today's instant networking, these pioneers embraced the newest technology available at the time and the most innovative forms of temporary architecture.     

Distinguished Teaching in Psychology: Stephen F. Davis.

This article acknowledges Stephen F. Davis for receiving the Distinguished Teaching in Psychology Award. This award is given to recipients for their contributions to the teaching of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polymer‐Supported N‐Phenylsulfonyloxaziridine (Davis Reagent): A Versatile Oxidant

An efficient preparation of a new recyclable polymer‐supported oxidizing agent based on N‐phenylsulfonyloxaziridine has been developed. This new polymer‐supported oxidant was shown to effect a clean and selective conversion of a range of sulfides, selenides, amines, phosphines and enolates to the corresponding sulfoxides, selenoxides, N‐oxides, phosphine oxides and α‐hydroxy carbonyl compounds. It also enabled tetrahydrobenzimidazoles to be oxidatively rearranged to spiro‐fused 5‐imidazolones. Recycling of the polymer‐supported oxidant is possible with minimal loss of activity after several reoxidations.     

PREVI-Lima’s Time: Positioning Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda in Peru’s Modern Project

Launched in 1968, the PREVI-Lima housing competition brought informal urbanisation to the attention of architects worldwide. The competition brief required the design of low-rise, high-density expandable homes, grouped in neighbourhoods. Here Sharif S Kahatt puts PREVI’s experimental project within the social, political and theoretical context of the time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radical Interface AA New Media Research Initiative

At the Architectural Association in London, Joel Newman, Theodore Spyropoulos and Vasilis Stroumpakos are spearheading the New Media Research Initiative. Here they call for architecture to abandon its hold on the formal qualities of the physical in favour of a mode of experience that provides an interface that fully reflects the way we inhabit space today. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recombinant Landscapes in the American City

How are urban actors, such as landscape designers, community groups, developers and local politicians, actively restructuring their environments to meet the challenges of the American city in the new global context? Grahame Shane outlines the approaches to landscape that have been emerging since the mid-20th century and are set to recombine urban assemblages whether they are located in historic city centres, postindustrial waterfronts or suburban sprawl. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.