The Paris Sewers and the Rationalization of Urban Space

Sewers are perhaps the most enigmatic of urban infrastructures. Most citizens of modern cities are aware of their existence, yet few could accurately describe their layout or appearance. This paper takes as its starting point a key moment in the cultural representation of urban space: the photographs of the Paris sewers taken by Félix Nadar in the early 1860s. These images capture a dramatic transformation in subterranean Paris, initiated in the early 1850s by Baron Georges Haussmann and his chief engineer Eugène Belgrand as part of the comprehensive reconstruction of the city's infrastructure during the Second Empire of Napoléon III. This paper argues, however, that with respect to the underground city, we cannot consider the Haussmann era to be the unproblematic epitome of modernity. The reconstruction of subterranean Paris revealed a series of tensions that were only to be resolved in the post-Haussmann era in response to the combined influence of growing water usage, the persistent threat of disease and changing conceptions of public health policy. It is concluded that the flow of water in Second Empire Paris is best conceived as a transitional phase in the radical reworking of relations between the body and urban form engendered by the process of capitalist urbanization.     

Selling the world city: A comparison of promotional strategies in Paris and London

Within the globalization process which creaks new common imperatives for cities, it is felt that cities are developing similar promotional approaches. Drawing on two case studies of the promotional strategies and institutions of Paris and London, this paper investigates the balance between economic and purely non‐economic factors in shaping these capitals’ responses to global pressure. The cities’ responses are found to be shaped by national and local factors (institutional, political, cultural) rather than economic ones. Two types of strategies and actors can be outlined, London bang more aggressive and flexible than Paris. Lastly, the report highlights the emergence of new types of institutions within the capitals.     

城市更新中的上海城市遗产及其保护

过去的10年间,上海、尤其是中心城区的历史保存专题,一直在致力于从传统的精英保护模式向文化上开放、经济上协作的城市遗产再生模式的转变。对比旧区改造背景下的1997年"新天地"城市再开发、到卢湾区47街坊花园洋房区的完整修复保护,直至田子坊、绍兴路街区等更为综合、参与方式更多元的城市振兴,可以清楚地看到一个趋势:不仅依赖卓越的保护和修缮技术,同时承载着各种不同价值立场的社会角色在相互接近,他们的多元共生赋予了当代历史保护的特色和意义,即如何处理保护和发展的冲突问题,以及如何实现保护和改造行动的利益共享问题等。     

Museums as Societal Engines for Urban Renewal. The Event Strategy of the Museum of Natural History in Florence

Abstract

The paper aims to contribute to the debate on urban renewal, departing from the so-called Bilbao effect. Focusing on the resurgence of a societal function of cultural heritage, we discuss the idea of the museum as a societal engine through a case study. Although the literature has been mainly dedicated to assessing the economic impact of large art museums in former industrial regions, the paper focuses on a small scientific museum, the Museum of Natural History in Florence, and on its strategy of social enhancement through the organization of small- and medium-sized cultural events in the historical city centre. Through the application of social network analysis to 17 temporary exhibitions between 2000 and 2012 and the analysis of 790 events divided into three macro-areas (relations with territory, educational networks and scientific networks), the role played by the museum, the density and variety of events will be investigated. The resulting picture is that of a proactive museum located at the centre of a network of—mostly local—institutional actors that have effectively contributed to the re-vitalization of scientific knowledge and education as well as relations with the citizenship and the territory, therefore representing a valuable example of a societal enhancement of culture.     

巴黎的蒙萨式屋顶

<正>人们把建筑比喻成凝固的音乐,那么,作为建筑制高点的屋顶,便可以说是韵律中的五线谱,在苍穹下勾勒出美丽的曲线。当你站在巴黎圣母院的钟楼顶,抑或是蒙巴那斯塔俯瞰巴黎城,构成其屋顶景观主体的蒙萨式屋顶,与众多地标性建筑交织出丰富的线条与优美景观。2015年年初,巴黎政府向联合国教科文组织递交了申遗报告,希望巴黎屋顶能够入选世界文化遗产而受到更多关注与保护。     

旅游地的衰落与产品更新

旅游地的衰落是个普遍现象。如果资源和市场条件许可,衰落期的旅游地能够通过产品更新实现复兴。本论述了产品更新的条件,分析了产品更新的方式。     

The Urban Injustices of New Labour's “New Urban Renewal”: The Case of the Aylesbury Estate in London

This paper discusses the urban injustices of New Labour's “new urban renewal”, that is the state‐led gentrification of British council estates, undertaken through the guise of mixed communities policy, on the Aylesbury estate in Southwark, London, one of the largest council estates in Europe. In this particular case of post‐political planning I show how the tenant support for the regeneration programme was manipulated and misrepresented and how choices were closed down for them, leaving them ultimately with a “false choice” between a regeneration they did not want or the further decline of their estate. I look at what the estate residents thought/think about the whole process and how they have resisted, and are resisting, the gentrification of their estate. I show revanchist and post‐political practices, but ultimately I refuse to succumb to these dystopian narratives, very attractive as they are, for conflict/dissent has not been completely smothered and resistance to gentrification in and around the Aylesbury is alive and well. I argue that we urgently need to re‐establish the city as the driver of democratic politics with an emancipatory agenda, rather than one that ratifies the status quo or gets mired in a dystopic post‐justice city.     

The Medieval Pottery of Paris

THE CELEBRATED TIMBER aisled hall of the Bishop's Palace, Hereford, is reassessed in the light of contemporary stone halls and of new evidence for its original plan. Bishop William de Vere (1186–98) is identified as the most likely builder. In contrast to a previous interpretation of the Palace as a traditional building reflecting ancient forms, it is assigned to a group of sumptuous late 12th-century halls, products of a new fashion. Recently-discovered plans of c. 1840, in conjunction with other evidence, make possible a reconstruction of the complete original plan: a four-bay hall, a side porch, and an end chamber-block of three floors over a basement. A building demolished in the late 18th century is interpreted as a detached main chamber-block. The Palace complex was separated from the cathedral by a stone wall; its main front faced west to what may then have been the main N.-S. route through Hereford.