The Civic Survey of Greater London: social mapping,planners and urban space in the early twentieth century

This paper examines work conducted between 1915 and 1919 by a group of architects and planners based at the Royal Institute of British Architects. The project, called the Civic Survey of Greater London, and the substantial collection of maps and diagrams that resulted from it are currently unknown in histories of mapping and planning, thus this paper offers a preliminary account and analysis of the work. The paper begins by assessing the development of surveying and mapping techniques in the nineteenth century with the aim of situating the Survey within broader historical trajectories. The following section of the paper examines the immediate context for the Survey, in particular the place of Patrick Geddes and his ideas. The third part of the paper focuses on the work of the Survey itself. The fourth part draws out key analytical threads in dialogue with a number of the maps of the Survey. The emphasis placed here is on exploring lines of continuity between the Civic Survey of Greater London and earlier techniques of representation and governmentality. The concluding section reflects briefly on the reasons for the Survey's subsequent relative obscurity and the importance of the project for later traditions of surveying.     

A Round Table discussion of The Risorgimento Revisited. Nationalism and Culture in Nineteenth Century Italy (edited by Silvana Patriarca and Lucy Riall)

Based on the Round Table discussion held at the Remarque Institute, New York University, in November 2012, this paper consists of comments on the volume of essays The Risorgimento Revisited. Nationalism and Culture in Nineteenth Century Italy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), edited by Silvana Patriarca and Lucy Riall, followed by the editors' responses.     

Deterrence Theory and the Implementation of Speed Limits in the American States

Despite the ubiquitous nature of these policies, there is disagreement in the literature regarding the direction and size of the impact that speed limits have on traffic‐related fatalities. We argue in this paper that the mixed results in previous work may arise because these studies have missed an important component of the implementation of speed limit laws. More explicitly, they have failed to adequately control for the deterrent effect of enforcement and sanctions. We develop the argument that the observed impacts of speed limits will be overly large when the certainty and severity of punishment are not accounted for. We test this assertion in a cross‐sectional time series analysis of state‐level traffic fatalities from the years 1990–2006 and find that lower speeds do save a significant number of lives. Interestingly, we find that the impact is significantly overestimated for 65‐mph limits and significantly underestimated for 70‐mph limits when enforcement, penalties, and the interaction of the two are excluded. The results also suggest that fines have a rather modest impact on fatalities unless states employ a sufficient number of troopers to enforce posted limits. In addition to clarifying previous findings related to speed limit policy, therefore, the findings contribute to the general application of deterrence theory by empirically confirming that the importance of sanction severity is dependent on the perceived certainty of punishment.     

Lower Ordovician trilobites from the Septembersø formation,North-East Greenland

McCobb, L.M.E., Boyce, W.D., Knight, I. & Stouge, S., 2014. Lower Ordovician trilobites from the Septembersø formation, North-East Greenland. Alcheringa 38, 575–598. ISSN 0311-5518.

The informally named Septembersø formation is a 76 m thick succession of microbial and peritidal shelf carbonates deposited on the North-East Greenland shelf of Laurentia. The formation, assigned to the lower part of the Cape Weber Formation in all previous studies, lies disconformably upon the Skullrockian Antiklinalbugt Formation (revised) and conformably below the Tulean to Blackhillsian Cape Weber Formation (revised) in the Fimbulfjeld Group. With the exception of Randaynia, the modest trilobite fauna recovered from the Septembersø formation consists exclusively of bathyurids, and all represent new species. Both Chapmanopyge knudseni sp. nov. and Punka adamsi sp. nov. are represented by sufficient material to merit specific names. The remaining taxa, belonging to Bolbocephalus, Peltabellia, Randaynia and Chapmanopyge are left in open nomenclature. The trilobite genera present suggest that the Septembersø formation is referable to the Tulean Stage of the Ibexian Series, latest Tremadocian/earliest Floian in Global Standard terms.

Lucy M. E. McCobb [lucy.mccobb@museumwales.ac.uk], Department of Natural Sciences, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK; W. Douglas Boyce [dougboyce@gov.nl.ca] and Ian Knight [ianknight@gov.nl.ca], Geological Survey, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, PO Box 8700, St. John’s, NL, Canada A1B 4J6; Svend Stouge [svends@snm.ku.dk], Natural History Museum of Denmark (Geological Museum), Øster Voldgade 5–7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.     

Changing Notions of Authenticity: Presenting a Castle Over Four Centuries

Bolsover Castle is a 17th‐century mock‐medieval castle built for the Cavendish family. First impressions suggest that its Pillar Parlour has survived with little alteration for nearly four centuries. In reality, there have been minor but telling changes to its fabric. The 18‐century Cavendishes venerated the castle as a shrine to their ancestors. Bolsover’s 19th‐century tenants recreated a romantic Olden Time appearance. The public bodies responsible for the castle in the 20th century used archaeology to reconstruct its 17th‐century form. In each case, these custodians aimed to present the site ‘authentically’, but their work reveals their own contemporary readings of the castle’s history. This evidence, gathered for a Conservation Plan, allowed English Heritage’s re‐display of the castle (1996–2001) to take a more reflective and positive approach to creating new meanings. This use of history to create local important meanings should give good cheer to those managing similar small but significant sites across the world.