Difference between revisions of "ESRG/Project Workspace"

ESRG Project Workspace

News and notes - ESRG members please feel free to add your own

Book Project

"Organizing Complexity: Essays in an Emerging Science of Sustainable Cities"

Latest Update August 27, 2007

Routledge Press has accepted the project as a candidate in their Planning, History and Environment series, in partnership with the Alexandrine Press. This is the series where Emily Talen's book was recently published. Comment from editor Ann Rudkin there: "…has great potential and, in terms of the series, would fit well."

In addition, Island Press in the US also responded positively and we will continue talks with them also.

We will need to develop the structure and the individual contributions. The current draft prospectus can be seen at http://www.tectics.com/ESRGProspectus.htm

Brian Hanson is drafting a proposed introduction, which should help to suggest the broad themes and particular elements for development. More on this ASAP.

New Orleans Pilot Project - Neighborhood Rebuilding Centers

The draft specifications are complete and can be seen at http://www.tectics.com/NRCs.htm . Versions of the proposal are in the Unified New Orleans city-wide plan, the District Plan for District 6 (Gentilly, where we did the workshop and proposed the pilot) and the Neighborhood Plan for District 6. Ed Blakely has pledged to implement a version of the concept. Sources of funding are not clear however.

We have a remarkable set of partners ready to collaborate on a pilot, as the draft shows. (Since this was written we have added several partners.)

Mexico Research

Work by Ernesto Philibert on "Social Housing and Self-Organization", now part of a major research grant application to the Mexican government. More news as available.

Paper on Self-Organization

Paper, "Social Housing and Self-Organization", with Ernesto Philibert, Nikos Salingaros, David Brain and Andres Duany now being edited by MM for publication in Brown Journal of World Affairs.

SUGGESTIONS: Topics for further collaborative investigation

It might be useful to maintain a working list of topics, so to that end here are several initial suggestions. Many of these are already under investigation by individual colleagues but there are interesting opportunities for collaborative development. (That's the idea!)

1. Biophilia - its potential, implications, implementation, methods of evaluation etc.

2. Evidence-based design: as above.

3. Generative rules and codes: modifications to rules to produce desired classes of outcome ( e.g. morphological characteristics, locational efficiency, etc). Heuristics and game-theory analysis of particular classes of rule. Combinations of SmartCode (form-based code) with generative elements.

4. New applications of pattern languages in architecture and planning, using open-source methodologies as clearly worked well in computer science.

5. New diagnostic tools to assess qualitative environmental issues in design ( e.g. "feeling maps" etc)

6. Implementations of all of the above, and follow-on research.

7. Others?...

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