Lecture 1 (sept. 13)
Part 1 – Mark Gottdiener (USA): Introduction to New Urban Studies
Mark Gottdiener gave an introductory overview of Urban Studies based on his own book (“Key Concepts in Urban Studies”). He discussed about the topics related with the field of urban studies and gave a roadmap for further reading. Some of the covered topics included:
Part 2 – Antti Ahlava (FI): The seduction of Architecture
Gottdiener's presentation was followed by Antti Ahlava with his lecture on the topic of architecture and tourism. Ahlava discussed mostly about the influence of tourism on urban space and illustrated this with several examples of architecture oriented on tourism (e.g. Dubai).
Lecture 2 (sept. 20)
Part 1 – Anne Haila (FI): Urban Construction, Asian examples
Anne Haila discussed about urban development in Asia. The speed and scale of urbanization currently happening in China and other parts of Asia is unlike anything previously witnessed. In her presentation Haila mentioned that currently the biggest city in the world is actually a little-known Chinese city called Shenzhen. Unfortunately I could not find any sources to corroborate her statement.
Haila dedicated a large part of her lecture and examples on Hong Kong and Singapore. These two cities are among the most well-known urban centers in the world. It was interesting for me to learn about the land ownership policies in those cities where over 80% of the land (in Hong Kong over 95%) is owned by the government. As far as I understand individuals and companies cannot buy the land, they can only lease it for long periods of time (up to 70 years in China). This is an interesting model because there is no accumulation of wealth as in western countries where the land you buy becomes your inheritance.
Although this system seems successful when you look at the spurring economies of Hong Kong and Singapore it has also raised some questions among local inhabitants who are becoming worried about their future (see Asia Times Online article "Chinese fear homes are castles in the air"). But why is this model still such a success? In my view this probably has it's roots in the way people think. China is a communistic country and hence the population there has (in some ways also forced) a different view of private/public ownership. Nevertheless, the more steps the government takes toward free market principles the more people will start to question the land use rights.
In my view another reason for the success of the system is the limited timespan in which you can generate profits from the use of land. Thus every business wants to get as much profit as quickly as possible from the land they have. There are no speculators who buy land with the only intention of selling it to someone else at a higher price. This is clearly the case with many properties here in Tallinn where no development has happened for years.
Part 2 – Ülar Mark (EE): Architecture in Changing Socio-Economic Context
Ülar Mark is the head of architectural company urban mark and is also the chairman of the Union of Estonian Architects. Mark showed several studies based on locative technologies which can be used to analyze the movement of people in relation to time and space. He has been exploring this subject in depth and has also been involved with several mobile positioning projects as a member of the Positium team.
The benefits of mobile tracking in developing urban environments are obvious - you get a better overview when and where people are actually moving. This is the key data for developing public space in cities for example. Mobile locative technologies are relatively new and don't have much practical applications yet but there is a lot of on-going research in this field.
You can read about some of the mobile positioning projects carried out by Positium on their web portfolio. For example they have studied the movements of tourists in Estonia, the suburb sprawl around Tallinn and the movement of EKA (Estonian Academy of Arts) students and employees with the aim of finding the best location for the new campus building. You can even track the members of the Positium team in real time and try out the tracking interface of Joint Space.
During his presentation Mark also gave an example of one of the more practical cases for the mobile positioning systems. The case was in Tartu where the city was planning to build new bicycle roads but the cyclist were not happy with the locations. They used mobile positioning to track their movements so that city officials could get a better understanding of where the new roads are really needed.
Part 1 – Mark Gottdiener (USA): Introduction to New Urban Studies
Mark Gottdiener gave an introductory overview of Urban Studies based on his own book (“Key Concepts in Urban Studies”). He discussed about the topics related with the field of urban studies and gave a roadmap for further reading. Some of the covered topics included:
- Form of Urban Space
- Models of Analyzing Urban Life
- Concepts of Change & Development
- Old and New Spatial Issues
- Politics & Public Policy Issues
Part 2 – Antti Ahlava (FI): The seduction of Architecture
Gottdiener's presentation was followed by Antti Ahlava with his lecture on the topic of architecture and tourism. Ahlava discussed mostly about the influence of tourism on urban space and illustrated this with several examples of architecture oriented on tourism (e.g. Dubai).
Lecture 2 (sept. 20)
Part 1 – Anne Haila (FI): Urban Construction, Asian examples
Anne Haila discussed about urban development in Asia. The speed and scale of urbanization currently happening in China and other parts of Asia is unlike anything previously witnessed. In her presentation Haila mentioned that currently the biggest city in the world is actually a little-known Chinese city called Shenzhen. Unfortunately I could not find any sources to corroborate her statement.
Haila dedicated a large part of her lecture and examples on Hong Kong and Singapore. These two cities are among the most well-known urban centers in the world. It was interesting for me to learn about the land ownership policies in those cities where over 80% of the land (in Hong Kong over 95%) is owned by the government. As far as I understand individuals and companies cannot buy the land, they can only lease it for long periods of time (up to 70 years in China). This is an interesting model because there is no accumulation of wealth as in western countries where the land you buy becomes your inheritance.
Although this system seems successful when you look at the spurring economies of Hong Kong and Singapore it has also raised some questions among local inhabitants who are becoming worried about their future (see Asia Times Online article "Chinese fear homes are castles in the air"). But why is this model still such a success? In my view this probably has it's roots in the way people think. China is a communistic country and hence the population there has (in some ways also forced) a different view of private/public ownership. Nevertheless, the more steps the government takes toward free market principles the more people will start to question the land use rights.
In my view another reason for the success of the system is the limited timespan in which you can generate profits from the use of land. Thus every business wants to get as much profit as quickly as possible from the land they have. There are no speculators who buy land with the only intention of selling it to someone else at a higher price. This is clearly the case with many properties here in Tallinn where no development has happened for years.
Part 2 – Ülar Mark (EE): Architecture in Changing Socio-Economic Context
Ülar Mark is the head of architectural company urban mark and is also the chairman of the Union of Estonian Architects. Mark showed several studies based on locative technologies which can be used to analyze the movement of people in relation to time and space. He has been exploring this subject in depth and has also been involved with several mobile positioning projects as a member of the Positium team.
The benefits of mobile tracking in developing urban environments are obvious - you get a better overview when and where people are actually moving. This is the key data for developing public space in cities for example. Mobile locative technologies are relatively new and don't have much practical applications yet but there is a lot of on-going research in this field.
You can read about some of the mobile positioning projects carried out by Positium on their web portfolio. For example they have studied the movements of tourists in Estonia, the suburb sprawl around Tallinn and the movement of EKA (Estonian Academy of Arts) students and employees with the aim of finding the best location for the new campus building. You can even track the members of the Positium team in real time and try out the tracking interface of Joint Space.
During his presentation Mark also gave an example of one of the more practical cases for the mobile positioning systems. The case was in Tartu where the city was planning to build new bicycle roads but the cyclist were not happy with the locations. They used mobile positioning to track their movements so that city officials could get a better understanding of where the new roads are really needed.
