Blankness: The Architectural Void of North Sea Energy Logistics

Energy logistics have contributed to the gradual transformation of the North Sea into an industrial void. Referring to the concept of blankness articulated by Roberto Mangabiera Unger and Jeffrey Kipnis, Nancy Couling and Carola Hein call for imaginative architectural interventions that respond to the potential of logistic spaces lodged within...

Introduction: Connecting Water and Heritage for the Future

Water has served and sustained societies throughout the history of humankind. People have actively shaped its course, form, and function for human settlement and the development of civilizations. Around water, they have created socioeconomic structures, policies, and cultures; a rich world of narratives, laws, and practices; and an extensive...

The Separation of Ports from Cities: The Case of Rotterdam

Since industrialisation began in the 19th century, some ports have been moving away from the cities that once hosted them. That separation was only possible if land was available where new port basins, industries, and other infrastructure could be constructed and where port activities could prosper without being restricted by urban functions....

Visual Content Analysis and Linked Data for Automatic Enrichment of Architecture-Related Images

Built form dominates the urban space where most people live and work and provides a visual reflection of the local, regional and global esthetical, social, cultural, technological and economic factors and values. Street-view images and historical photo archives are therefore an invaluable source for sociological or historical study; however,...

Mathematics and/as Humanities: Linking Humanistic Historical to Quantitative Approaches

The article reflects the state of mathematics between the natural sciences and the humanities. By arguing that mathematics is a humanities subject, it suggests a close connection between mathematics and urban morphology studies. This also applies to the discrepancy between quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. New types of...

Machi: Neighbourhood and Small Town—The Foundation for Urban Transformation in Japan

In 1854, American navy ships under Commodore Matthew Perry appeared off the shores of Japan and pressured the formerly secluded nation into accepting a treaty that included opening some ports to American ships and the beginning of trading (Reischauer and Craig 1989).<br/>With this opening to outside influences, Japanese professionals began to...

Crossing Boundaries: The Global Exchange of Planning Ideas

Beyond Oil: Designing the Transition

Earth has experienced a number of major energy transitions, each resulting in extensive systemic changes. The introduction of fire in the Paleolithic, the emergence of farming in the Neolithic, and later the industrial Revolution all changed the ways that humans lived, worked, and travelled and the materials they used.

Idioms of Japanese Planning Historiography

In this chapter, the authors highlight three important strands of interpretation in Japanese planning history—one studying planning as a part of a general urban or architectural history, one focusing on planning as a discipline, and another emphasizing urban design. These strands of history writing speak to the difficulties of studying a country...

The What, Why, and How of Planning History

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the history of planning since its emergence as a discipline in the mid-19th century. Planning is a complex discipline, with more than one body of terminology, multiple interpretations, and manifold applications...

Tatami

Use of the tatami mat reportedly goes back to the 8th century (the Nara period in Japan) when single mats began to be used as beds, or brought out for a high-ranking person to sit on. Over centuries it became a platform that has hosted all facets of life for generations of Japanese. From palaces to houses, from temples to spaces for martial art,...