Urban experimentation and institutional arrangements

ABSTRACT

Currently little is known about how institutional arrangements co-evolve with urban experimentation. This paper mobilizes neo-institutional literature and recent urban experimentation literature as a framework to explore how and why institutional arrangements differ across urban contexts. Empirically the paper focusses on smart city initiatives in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Ningbo. These three cities are frontrunners in adopting a comprehensive smart city agenda, but they do so in different ways. The paper examines regulative, normative and cognitive elements of institutional arrangements, explores how they shape experimentation, and reflects on their place-based specificities. The comparative analysis suggests that the focus of, and approach to, experimentation can be understood as resting in a (possibly unique) combination of strategic agency and dynamics at multiple spatial scales.     

Osteological and paleodietary investigation of burials from Cova de la Pastora,Alicante, Spain

We present results of osteological and isotopic analyses of human remains from Cova de la Pastora (Alcoi, Alicante, Spain) and discuss the implications in light of a new sequence of radiocarbon dates indicating that the cave was used as a burial site in the Late Neolithic (ca. 3800–3000 cal BC), Chalcolithic (ca. 3000–2500 cal BC), Bell Beaker Transition (Horizonte Campaniforme Transicional - HCT; ca. 2500–2200 cal BC) and the Bronze Age (ca. 2200–1500 cal BC). Similarities in stable isotopic values of C and N indicate little variation in subsistence between men and women, and a similar nutritional base from the Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. This pattern of stability is augmented by evidence of trauma and disease found on numerous skulls in the collection. Since no clear associations of specific grave goods with certain individuals based on sex or age could be determined, the only suggestion of social inequality lies in the burial practice itself, where certain individuals were interred in caves while others were not.     

Literary Works and Allusion in Three Biographies of the Hou Hanshu and Their Purpose

This article analyses pieces of literature included in Fan Ye’s chapters on Zhang Heng, Ma Rong, and Cai Yong. It interprets these pieces within the context of its authors’ biographies, coming to the conclusion that they represent different approaches to the Confucian theme of how to serve and survive in times when there is no good ruler. While Zhang Heng was able to make a career under such circumstances, Ma Rong survived but ran into great difficulties and Cai Yong was ultimately executed.     

Book reviews

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD HISTORY. By John B. Rae and Thomas H. D. Mahoney. xv+831 pages. (McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., New‐York, 1949).

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE AGE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND DICTAORSHP. By R. Strausz‐Hupé and Stefan T. Possony. xiv+947 pages. (McGraw‐Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1950.)

ISLAMIC SOCIETY AND THE WEST, by H. A. R. Gibb and Harold Bowen. Vol. I. Islamic Society in the Eighteenth Century, Part I. Oxford University Press. Published under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, pp. xi—313—53 (Appendices)—20 (Indices).

AMERICAN‐RUSSIAN RELATIONS IN THE FAR EAST. By Pauline Tompkins. (Macmillan, New York, 1949. pp. XIV, 426. Maps and bibliography. $5.00).

THE LEFT WING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. By Virginia Thompson & Richard Adloff (I.P.R.) (William Sloane Associates, New York. $4.00. pp. 298, map, illustrations).

MANCHURIA SINCE 1931. By F. C. Jones. (Oxford University Press, 1949).     

A Multi-objective Optimization Approach for Disaggregating Employment Data

In many countries, including South Africa, data on employment is rarely available on a downscaled level, such as building level, and is only available on less detailed levels, such as municipal level. The aim of this research was to develop a methodology to disaggregate the employment data that is available at an aggregate level to a disaggregate, detailed building level. To achieve this, the methodology consisted of two parts. First, a method was established that could be used to prepare a base data set to be used for disaggregating the employment data. Second, a multiobjective optimization approach was used to allocate the number of employment opportunities within a municipality to building level. The algorithm was developed using an Evolutionary Algorithm framework and applied to a case study in a metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The results showed favorable use of multiobjective optimization to disaggregate employment data to building level. By enhancing the detail of employment data, planners, policy makers, modelers and other users of such data can benefit from understanding employment patterns at a much more detailed level and making improved decisions based on disaggregated data and models.     

Book reviews

THE ADAPTABLE COMMONWEALTH. F. H. Soward, 1950 (London, O.U.P., pp. 62). 2/‐.

EUROPE IN DECAY: A STUDY IN DISINTEGRATION 1936–1940. By L. B. Namier. 1950. (London. MacMillan, viii+330. 16s.).

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY IN MODERN GERMANY. R. H. Samuel and R. H. Thomas. Routledge and Kegan Paul (Int. Lib. of Soc. & Soc. Recon.). London 1949.

THE IDEA OF CONFLICT. By Kurt Singer. (Melbourne University Press. pp. 181).