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Increasingly the world around us is becoming ‘smart.’ From smart meters to smart production, from smart surfaces to smart grids, from smart phones to smart citizens. ‘Smart’ has become the catch-all term to indicate the advent of a charged technological shift that has been propelled by the promise of safer, more convenient and more efficient forms of living. Most architects, designers, planners and politicians seem to agree that the smart transition of cities and buildings is in full swing and inevitable. However, beyond comfort, safety and efficiency, how can ‘smart design and technologies’ assist to address current and future challenges of architecture and urbanism? Architectur...
"A critical review of the history and legacy of Dutch Architecture Institute (NAI) Figueiredo offers insight into how cultural policy works in practice and how specific national cultural institutions relate to the rapidly changing global context. An in-depth investigation into one of the most important architectural institutes in the world and a critical analysis of a phenomenon that has developed since its inception in the early nineteenth century, a fundamental instrument for the promotion and dissemination of architecture"--Publisher's website.
The Atlantic Forest is one of the 36 hotspots for biodiversity conservation worldwide. It is a unique, large biome (more than 3000 km in latitude; 2500 in longitude), marked by high biodiversity, high degree of endemic species and, at the same time, extremely threatened. Approximately 70% of the Brazilian population lives in the area of this biome, which makes the conflict between biodiversity conservation and the sustainability of the human population a relevant issue. This book aims to cover: 1) the historical characterization and geographic variation of the biome; 2) the distribution of the diversity of some relevant taxa; 3) the main threats to biodiversity, and 4) possible opportunities to ensure the biodiversity conservation, and the economic and social sustainability. Also, it is hoped that this book can be useful for those involved in the development of public policies aimed at the conservation of this important global biome.
It is a major challenge to write the history of post-WWII architectural theory without boiling it down to a few defining paradigms. An impressive anthologising effort during the 1990s charted architectural theory mostly via the various theoretical frameworks employed, such as critical theory, critical regionalism, deconstructivism, and pragmatism. Yet the intellectual contours of what constitutes architectural theory have been constantly in flux. It is therefore paramount to ask what kind of knowledge has become important in the recent history of architectural theory and how the resulting figure of knowledge sets the conditions for the actual arguments made. The contributions in this volume focus on institutional, geographical, rhetorical, and other conditioning factors. They thus screen the unspoken rules of engagement that postwar architectural theory ascribed to.
In the age of post-digital architecture and digital materiality, This Thing Called Theory explores current practices of architectural theory, their critical and productive role. The book is organized in sections which explore theory as an open issue in architecture, as it relates to and borrows from other disciplines, thus opening up architecture itself and showing how architecture is inextricably connected to other social and theoretical practices. The sections move gradually from the specifics of architectural thought – its history, theory, and criticism – and their ongoing relation with philosophy, to the critical positions formulated through architecture’s specific forms of expression, and onto more recent forms of architecture’s engagement and self-definition. The book’s thematic sessions are concluded by and interspersed with a series of shorter critical position texts, which, together, propose a new vision of the contemporary role of theory in architecture. What emerges, overall, is a critical and productive role for theory in architecture today: theory as a proposition, theory as task and as a ‘risk’ of architecture.
The subject of this newly updated book is the building occupied by the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi), which was designed by the architect Jo Coenen and opened in 1993. NAi is one of the international centers for architectural thought and ideas, and its home has become Famous in its own right as a contemporary architectural landmark. Featuring a wealth of new photos, floor plans and cross sections, the book also includes extensive texts examining the history of NAi, the commissioning of the building, its collections, and its policies and mission. In addition Jo Coenen describes the background of his work as well as the sources that inspired him.
Policy and the Political Life of Music Education is the first book of its kind in the field of Music Education. It offers a far-reaching and innovative outlook, bringing together expert voices who provide a multifaceted and global set of insights into a critical arena for action today: policy. On one hand, the book helps the novice to make sense of what policy is, how it functions, and how it is discussed in various parts of the world; while on the other, it offers the experienced educator a set of critically written analyses that outline the state of the play of music education policy thinking. As policy participation remains largely underexplored in music education, the book helps to clari...
A revolutionary textbook introducing masters and doctoral students to the major research approaches and methodologies in the social sciences. Written by an outstanding set of scholars, and derived from successful course teaching, this volume will empower students to choose their own approach to research, to justify this approach, and to situate it within the discipline. It addresses questions of ontology, epistemology and philosophy of social science, and proceeds to issues of methodology and research design essential for producing a good research proposal. It also introduces researchers to the main issues of debate and contention in the methodology of social sciences, identifying commonalities, historic continuities and genuine differences.
Occupational Safety and Hygiene presents selected papers from the International Symposium on Occupational Safety and Hygiene – SHO2013 (Guimarães, Portugal, 14-15 February 2013), which was organized by the Portuguese Society for Occupational Safety and Hygiene (SPOSHO). The contributions from 15 different countries focus on: - Occupational safety - Risk assessment - Safety management - Ergonomics - Management systems - Environmental ergonomics - Physical environments - Construction safety - Human factors The papers included in the book are mainly based on research carried out at universities and other research institutions, but they are also based on practical studies developed by Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) practitioners within their companies. As a result, this book will be useful to get acquainted with the state-of-the-art of the research within the aforementioned domains, as well as with some practical tools and approaches that are currently used by OHS professionals worldwide.