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Author: Prof Tim Stonor

Connectivity is only the beginning – networking is the goal
For digital users
2010 was the year to get connected; 2011 will be the year to become networked.
It is one thing to buy an iPhone, join Facebook and Twitter, get a blog, friend and follow. It is another to keep it all going.

Already, people are being encouraged to unplug. But why unplug when it is possible to network? How? The solution is to link Twitter and Facebook to a blog; to connect the blog to LinkedIn, taking advantage of the interconnections so that things are only done once.

In other words, connectivity is only the beginning – networking is the goal. And not just for tech geeks but for all users of urban places…

For urbanists
The 20th century was about cities getting connected; the 21st will be about cities becoming networked. (more…)
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March 1, 2011
Performance planning – beauty has a functional component
I spoke yesterday to Prof Jerold Kayden’s “Design Law Policy” class at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

My presentation “Performance planning – urban measurement, analysis & forecasting” can be downloaded from Slideboom. (more…)
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March 1, 2011
Spatial transformation – Berlin
The following images of Berlin have been prepared by Anna Rose and Christian Schwander at Space Syntax Limited as part of a wider study of the city. They show the pattern of “spatial integration” in Berlin at three key periods in history: 1940, 1989 and 2011. The colours read like a temperature scale, with highest levels of integration in red, orange then yellow, and lower levels of integration in green, blue then dark blue. Spatial integration measures the degree to which an urban street is connected into the overall street network. Connectedness is a key influence on the social, economic and environmental performance of urban places. The effects of the post-war division are clear, with the once integrated centre becoming disconnected until Reunification after 1989.

Anna Rose gave a keynote presentation on the spatial transformation of Berlin on 3rd March at the Berlin Kulturforum.

Berlin 1940

Berlin 1989

Berlin 2010
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February 24, 2011
Giving it all away? Space Syntax & the future of urban planning software
Notes for a lecture to be given at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 23rd March 2011

Themes
With notable exceptions, the current use of technology in planning and, especially, urban design/architecture practice is medieval. More visual than analytic. More about the “Wow!” than the “Why?”, the “Which?” or the “Will it?” Example of animation in traffic models – “Our clients like to see them move!”

Urban imperative – rapid scaling up of urban centres – provokes need for new thinking.

We need to look more at how places work than how they look.

We need to bring academic research into practice and for academia to be better led by the needs of practice.

We need to think about online social networks as well as “real-world” physical/spatial networks. Indeed real world is as much online as physical/spatial.

We need to share our data. The future will be made by great partnerships, not great individuals. It has arguably ever thus been.

Open source makes commercial as well as ethical sense as the route to collaboration.

Space Syntax as the case study. (more…)
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February 23, 2011
Weekly update
14-20th February 2011
Monday
Loeb Fellowship Seminar: “From Landscapes of Extraction to Creative Industries of Organic Matter and Waste”.

Tuesday
Meetings to discuss development of Space Syntax consulting services in Brazil.

Lunch with Prof Jerold Kayden, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Dinner with students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Mumbai Studio.

Wednesday
Meeting with Armando Carbonell, Lincoln Institute & open source software developers at Tufts University.

Attendance at presentation by Ana Gelabert-Sanchez, Loeb Fellow: “Miami 21: Zoning as Foundation for the 21st Century City” at the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy.

Thursday
Preparation of note: “Achieving prosperous local communities” for delivery to UK government Cabinet Office.

Lunch with students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Meeting to discuss Space Syntax consulting business in Brazil.

Meeting with Harvard Graduate School of Design students and Paul Cote, GIS Specialist and Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, to discuss Space Syntax research at the GSD.

Dinner with Loeb Fellows and Jill Medvedow, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Arts, Boston.
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February 20, 2011
Achieving prosperous local communities – physical connectedness is key
Community prosperity means social, economic and environmental prosperity. Each of these dimensions is strongly influenced by the physical design of the places where people live. Physical design influences human behaviour, which in turn influences community prosperity. The most important aspect of physical design is connectedness. Connectedness can be measured scientifically. Its effects on societal wealth have been identified by UK scientific research over the last forty years.

(more…)
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February 17, 2011
Can the value of design be measured? This house believes it can.
Yesterday evening’s debate at the Royal Institute of British Architects addressed the following motion:

“This house believes the value of design is not measurable”

The motion was overwhelmingly defeated. Rightly so – for, as long as architects claim that the value of design is intangible, the profession does itself a disservice. It is unsurprising that the real worlds of institutionalised politics, social activism and finance undervalue the contribution of design when designers claim that their importance is not only immeasurable but unmeasurable. This sounds hollow in the ears of people used to setting targets, taking action and measuring outcomes. (more…)
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February 16, 2011
Millennium Development Goals
MDG 1
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

MDG 2
Achieve universal primary education

MDG 3
Promote gender equality and empower women

MDG 4
Reduce child mortality

MDG 5
Improve maternal health

MDG 6
Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases

MDG 7
Ensure environmental sustainability
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February 15, 2011
Weekly update
7-13th February 2011
Monday
Travel to London.

Tuesday
Meeting with Sir Stuart Lipton to discuss Loeb Fellowship.

Meeting with Michael Evans of Davenport Lyons.

Meeting with Joachim Heintze & Christine Kohlert of Rheform to discuss opportunities in Germany.

Meeting with Alan Penn & Steven Schooling of UCL to discuss strategic relationship between Space Syntax Limited and UCL.

Wednesday
Meeting with Alan Penn & Steven Schooling of UCL to discuss strategic relationship between Space Syntax Limited and UCL.

Company Meeting with Space Syntax Limited staff.

Space Syntax Limited Board Meeting.

Space Syntax Limited Management Team Meeting.

Meeting with Sir Terry Farrell to discuss Loeb Fellowship.

Thursday
Travel to Boston.

Dinner with Loeb Fellows and Bill Doebele, Founding Curator of the Loeb Fellowship.

Friday
Attend “Making Tourism Work” event at Harvard GSD.

Sunday
Birthday celebration at Union Square and at home with family and Loeb Fellows.
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February 13, 2011
Weekly update
31st January-6th February 2011
Monday
Loeb Fellows Public Seminar “Technology & serendipity: stumbling in the city” with Ethan Zuckerman and Nicco Mele.

Thursday
Attend lecture by Hashim Sarkis “It’s Istanbul, not Globalization”.

Dinner with Loeb Fellows and Walter Hood.

Friday
Attend “Making Tourism Work” event at Harvard GSD.

Saturday
Loeb Fellowship Winter Retreat.

Dinner and bowling.
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February 6, 2011
Weekly update
24-30th January 2011
Monday
Travel to Portland, Oregon.

Portland Bright Lights presentation From highways to handshakes.

Tuesday
Open source urban planning software meeting with Fregonese Associates.

Portland City Council meeting with officials from planning, transportation and the Mayor’s office.

Lecture at Portland State University.

Wednesday
Meeting with Ankrom Moisan Architects.

Meeting with Metro regional government planning officials, TriMet (regional transit organisation).

Dinner with Portland Loeb Fellows.

Thursday
Travel to Boston.

“Dharavi: Slum for Sale” film screening at the Harvard GSD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS9mtdWOHP4

Dinner with Loeb Fellows.

Friday
Meeting to discuss establishment of Space Syntax affiliate office in Germany.
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January 29, 2011
Portland: city of hub and spoke centrality
Thank you to all the people that kindly hosted me in Portland over the past three days: Portland Bright Lights, the City of Portland, Portland State University, Ankrom Moisan and Portland TriMet. Thank you to everyone that came to hear me speak – five talks in three days was a challenge that I was happy to accept. To those of you who came more than once, I salute your interest as well as your patience.

My first presentation, “From highways to handshakes” is now online.

(more…)
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January 29, 2011
Technology & Serendipity: Stumbling in the City
Monday, 31st January at 6:30pm
Stubbins Room, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Loeb Fellowship Spring Seminars
Much, Much More with Much, Much Less

The Loeb Fellows invite…
Ethan Zuckerman, Senior Researcher, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Moderated by Nicco Mele, Adjunct Lecturer, Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Founder of EchoDitto

For thousands of years, social networks have been transacted in the physical space of buildings and cities. Facebook and Twitter have changed the landscape of transaction. To what degree is this a good thing? Do digital networks create new, unexpected and beneficial forms of transaction? Or, do they just reinforce ties with people we already know? Do these digital interactions change the ways that people behave in physical space? How should urban planners and designers be responding? (more…)
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January 28, 2011
Dharavi – slum for sale
Notes from screening at Harvard GSD

The key issue is employment, not housing. Need to retain micro-industry as well as housing.

Resident’s comment on high rise housing proposal (but no clear proposal for providing places of work): “Will the oxygen up there fill our stomachs?”

Industry generates 750 million dollars per annum. Dharavi therefore as an economic object. Much of the economy is informal.

Redevelopment as a step backwards because people can’t continue their previous trade and have to shift to new trades – “lift men and doorkeepers”

“Let people build for themselves – give them water not money.”

SPARC: Don’t leave it to the international developers.

The proposed redevelopment is not just professionally poor but morally poor because it raises expectations among the poor. The plan should instead be done by the municipality.

One objective should be to see Dharavi as a test case of dense, mixed use, low carbon community.

The lack of evidence seems important. Proposals being made in a vacuum of knowledge.

Bryan Bell – need to tap into social capital there rather than turn up in a Mercedes.
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January 27, 2011
Weekly update
17-23rd January 2011
Monday
Boston/Cambridge spatial modelling & analysis with Ed Parham in preparation for presentations on Tuesday.

Tuesday
Boston, City Hall Plaza meeting with Kairos Shen, Planning Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Cambridge City Council meeting with Community Development Department.

Meeting with Ethan Zuckerman and Chee Pearlman in preparation for Loeb Fellowship seminar on Technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design on 31st January.

EP presenting “Planning the unplanned” evening talk at the Harvard GSD.

Dinner with Ed Parham, Jim Stockard, Loeb Fellows and Loeb Alumni.

Wednesday
Meeting with Nicco Mele in preparation for Loeb Fellowship seminar on Technology at the Graduate School of Design on 31st January.

Course presentations at the Harvard GSD.

Thursday
Studio presentations at the Harvard GSD.

Meeting with Rahul Mehrotra’s Mumbai studio at the Harvard GSD.

Friday
Meeting with Randy Gragg to prepare for next week’s visit to Portland.
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January 23, 2011
The pace of change – is “online” a reflection of “urban”?
One of the challenges in achieving an integration of thinking between hackers and urbanists is the rate of change online. Will the massive experimentation currently underway on the internet continue at a pace, or settle down as norms are established and protocols emerge? Perhaps the same protocols that make it possible for people to live in cities. We sometimes call them “manners” or “cultural norms” and we know when they are being broken. Equally so, we call them street networks and we generally understand now to navigate them. We don’t all have to follow manners and streets but they offer a guide to behaviour and they make the difference between structured living and chaos.

How social networking protocols are established online will, in return, influence the social dynamic of future city living, perhaps as much as the efforts of planners and architects to structure social encounter by virtue of where we place things (buildings) and how we connect them together (streets, utilities and transport networks). This is because the people using online space and the people using urban space are the same people. (more…)
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January 21, 2011
Architecting the unexpected
“Serendipity”: it’s what cities have always provided but online environments only sometimes produce. Why “search” isn’t enough, hackers need to think like urbanists and the internet needs urban design.

It’s the start of a new semester at Harvard and there’s a real buzz about the place. I had breakfast with Nicco Mele and Chee Pearlman this morning and the Charles Hotel was a hive.

What a difference a day makes. Chee and I were in the same place yesterday and it was almost empty. On that occasion we were meeting Ethan Zuckerman who, like Nicco, lives much of his life and does most of his thinking online. He studies how people throughout the world use new media to share information and moods across cultures, languages and platforms.

Both meetings were in preparation for an upcoming seminar that the Loeb Fellows are hosting at the Graduate School of Design. Themed around “technology” this will be the first of a series of four events that aim to tackle big issues in planning and design, including food, extraction, waste and community activism. (more…)
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January 19, 2011
Connecting the disconnected – how much is enough?
Yesterday evening, Ed Parham gave a talk at the Graduate School of Design on Space Syntax’s work redesigning unplanned settlements in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Despite the really awful weather, which turned Cambridge into a pedestrian sludge, there was a full house.

Ed showed how Jeddah’s unplanned settlements share a common spatial property of being locally walkable but globally disconnected from the bigger movement structure of the city. This supresses the economic potential of these places. To counter this, the Space Syntax team has developed Area Action Plans for dozens of unplanned settlements, identifying opportunities to bridge between the local and global movement networks with new streets lined with commercial activity. These streets allow the unplanned settlements to trade outwards in new ways.

The big question raised by this work is: to what degree should unplanned settlements be reintegrated into the spatial fabric of the city? To a degree, the spatial distinction of these places creates a cultural identity for the inhabitants, with certain social benefits. The risk of reintegration is that this identity will be diluted or even lost by the new flow of movement, social identity and capital through the unplanned areas.

Ed described how, in fact, a spatial hierarchy can be created that leaves much of the original spatial fabric intact, especially the fine-grained, more residential and more spatially segregated fabric that helps to structure the cultural identity of the unplanned settlements. The long audience discussion that followed Ed’s talk showed how relevant the challenge of urban connectivity is to urban practice.
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January 19, 2011
Weekly update
10-16th January 2011

Monday
General catch-up with network after Christmas holidays.

Preparation of teaching material for Harvard teaching later in the week.

Tuesday
MAS meeting with AR, ET and RS to prepare MAS strategy for 2011.

Urban Land Institute conference call to prepare for evening event in late January with TS as speaker.

EP arrives.

Wednesday
Day One of “Introduction to Space Syntax theory, technology & practice” at Harvard Graduate School of Design – TS leads the teaching.

Thursday
AFF Germany discussion with AR and CSc about SSx strategy towards working in Germany.

Boston, City Hall Plaza site visit with EP.

Day Two of “Introduction to Space Syntax theory, technology & practice” at Harvard Graduate School of Design – EP leads the teaching.

Friday
Open Source Urban Planning Software conference call with OS developers throughout the USA.

Boston/Cambridge spatial modelling & analysis with EP in preparation for presentations next week.
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January 17, 2011
From landscapes of extraction to creative industries of organic matter & waste
Monday, 14th February 2011 at 6pm
Stubbins Room, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Participants
Pablo Rey, Basurama
Manolo Mansylla, Trashpatch
Robin Nagle, anthropologist of material culture (waste)
Scientist doing research in biomaterials (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering/ Materials Research Science and Engineering Center – School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Moderator
Richard Forman

Abstract
Technology has no limits. Science has no limits. Human creativity and imagination have no limits. The limits are imposed by matter. Raw materials are being extracted from the remotest of geographies and we are beginning to exhaust the last reservoirs of available minerals in order to perpetuate a production system based on disposability and the consumption of wholes, not parts; of large, not small; of new, not old; of multiple, not the one that is needed. In order to extract such minerals, we often deplete forests, along with the cultures that inhabit them, or contaminate river basins. Science and technology can produce brilliant responses to our environmental problems, but unless they take into account the source of the materials they consume, the counter landscapes of extraction, those of waste and slums (people get displaced as we render their land useless through monoculture or extraction), will continue to grow; setting off our good intentions to move towards a more sustainable future. (more…)
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January 14, 2011

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Tim Stonor

Architect & Urban Planner

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