Update on the Spanish Revolution

Reblogged from Path to the Possible:

From the folks at ROAR, who are always quite sanguine on the indignados, but nevertheless some good information here on how the 15M movement has decentralized into the neighborhoods and has galvanized the neighborhood asambleas.

The neighborhood associations, which appeared in Madrid in the late sixties, had gradually moderated their demands and plunged into a light sleep. The 15-M movement has reawakened local politics and boosted community-based mobilization: we are witnessing how old and new forms of neighborhood organization are coexisting, coordinating and mutually learning from one another.

Self-publishing articles

Reblogged from Progressive Geographies:

Graham Harman has an interesting series of posts on self-publishing articles (or open-access publishing). Initial thoughts here; a second-thought here; and a response and his thoughts on that. Part of this is, as he acknowledges, the security that being a full-professor gives.

I agree with the general sentiment and parts of this - and, in part, this is due to my own career position.

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I believe the conversation about open-access versus non-open access will continue for some time now, good points are raised about academic privilege (tenure)--yet although I support open access in principle, I'm wary of the problems it creates in practice... still thinking it over, and there are many potential benefits that come with recognized publishers...

Angela McRobbie Feb. 2012 Lecture

Angela McRobbie starts this city-centered lecture with a bang, discussing what are in my mind two interconnected problems 1) how researchers have been relatively unconcerned with the thing/object and 2) how in researching her 1998 book on fashion those interviewed were relatively uninterested in the fact that creative producers are also workers…. Still watching…

Carabanchel Housing (Madrid)

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dosmasuno arquitectos – Ignacio Borrego, Néstor Montenegro and Lina Toro

I saw these photos on seattleinspired but wanted to seek out more information. The site archdaily had some data and architectural-speak–stating that “places need to express their own personality, to arise naturally, to construct themselves. And concretely this one is aligned against a green area, against the concatenation of public spaces that link the old Carabanchel district with its forest through the new neighborhood.” But where is the social angle? How does the development fit into the social fabric (and not merely the geometrical and abstract city)?

Can we imagine the “heavy from Carabanchel” character played by Santiago Segura in the cult film El día de la bestia [The Day of the Beast] (by director Álex de la Iglesia, 1995) growing up in these dwellings that are now called “machines for living”…

The search for more information continues… (I did find another project by the architects at Colmenar Viejo scheduled for 2013…)

Can opener | Apriscatole

Reblogged from Cardboard Towns | Città Di Cartone:

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This one - the Can Opener - has an almost-twin brother, titled Apple Corer. Updated post - image enhanced.

Questo - l'Apriscatole - ha un quasi-gemello, intitolato Cavatorsoli. Post aggiornato - immagine migliorata.

Marco Bigliazzi's "Cardboard Towns" painted images of buildings and urban scenes are worth a look.

Deep maps in Indy

Reblogged from Stuart Dunn's Blog:

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I am here in a very hot and sunny Indianapolis trying to figure out what is meant by deep mapping, with an NEH Summer Institute at UIPUI hosted by the Polis Center here. There follows a very high-level attempt to synthesize some thoughts from the first week.

Deep mapping – we think, although we’ll all probably have changed our minds by next Friday, if not well before  – is about representing (or, as I am increasingly preferring to think, remediating) the things that…

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David Harvey Week in Athens 20-27 June 2012

Reblogged from Greek Left Review:

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David Harvey Lecture The Political Concequences of the Capitalist Crisis: Neo-Liberalism against democracy. Tuesday 26 June 2012 at 20:00pm at Tsamadou 10 Echarcheia.Organised by The Poulantzas Institute, The Rednotebook and Enthemata-Augi Newspaper.

Urban Revolution: An Interview with David Harvey (Part 1)

David Harvey is one of the world's leading Marxist theorists. He discussed the themes from his new book, 

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Mind-bending chart shows population growth in 590 cities

Reblogged from Grist:

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This chart, showing population growth in almost 600 cities worldwide, is basically too complicated to understand with the naked eye. You'll want to click through to the original, which allows you to highlight cities from Tokyo at the top to Ta'izz (Yemen) at the bottom, and see their population trajectory from 1950 to a projected 2025.

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Special issue of Journal of Urban Affairs (free access to introduction)

Journal of Urban Affairs
Special Issue on the Creative Underclass
from the Journal of Urban Affairs 
The Creative Underclass: Culture, Subculture, and Urban Renewal
George Morgan and Xuefei Ren
Pushing The Urban Frontier: Temporary Uses Of Space, City Marketing, and The Creative City Discourse In 2000s Berlin
Claire Colomb
In Between Social Engineering and Continue reading