Research in Urban Studies

31 Oct 2014: Urbanism Without Effort

Date: Fri 31 Oct 2014
Time: 15:00
Venue: Lecture Room B, Boyd Orr Building, University of Glasgow

Part of our mini season of prominent US scholars.

Presenter: Charles Wolfe (a Seattle-based land use, property and redevelopment lawyer, affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington, and author of Urbanism Without Effort)

Organised jointly with the Urban Design Studies Unit, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde.

Charles Wolfe’s work on Urbanism Without Effort explores the idea that to create vibrant, sustainable urban areas, we must first understand what happens naturally when people congregate in cities. Wolfe defends the perspective that the underlying rationales for urban policy, planning and regulation are best understood from a historical perspective and in a better understanding of the everyday uses of urban space. Successful community, he argues, is among the first principles of what makes humans feel happy, and therefore city dwellers invariably celebrate environments where and when they can coexist safely, in a mutually supportive way. Wolfe believes such celebration is most interesting when it occurs spontaneously—seemingly without effort. He contends it is critical to first isolate these spontaneous and latent examples of successful urban land use, before applying any prescriptive government policies or initiatives.

Charles (Chuck) R. Wolfe, M.R.P., J.D.

Chuck provides a unique perspective about cities as both a long time writer about urbanism worldwide and as an attorney in Seattle, where he focuses on land use and environmental law. In particular, his work involves the use of sustainable development techniques and innovative land use regulatory tools on behalf of both the private and public sectors. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington and an avid traveller, photographer and writer. He contributes regularly on urban development topics for several publications including The Atlantic Cities, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Grist, seattlepi.com, and Crosscut.com. He blogs at myurbanist.com.

27 Nov 2014: What’s Bigger Than The Coming Age Wave? Then Why Are We Ignoring It?

Date: Thu 27 Nov 2014
Time: 15:00
Venue: Lecture Room B, Boyd Orr Building, University of Glasgow

Part of our mini season of prominent US scholars.

Presenter: Dr. Sandra Rosenbloom (Professor of Planning, The University of Texas at Austin and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the American Planning Association)

Organised jointly with the Urban Big Data Centre.

Most industrial countries are rapidly aging; their populations are turning “up-side-down”—that is, they will have more people over 50 than under 20.  Also called a “silver tsunami” the changing demographics of the population in countries from the United States to the United Kingdom, Sweden to Spain will affect almost all aspects of society. The so-called dependency ratio will change drastically—there will be a smaller number of younger working people who pay the taxes that finance services for the aged, as well as fewer children and grandchildren to provide family support to older relatives. 

Older people, whatever their income or assets, generally spend less than they did when younger; when they do spend they buy services more than goods, health care more than recreation. These changing market demands will alter the entire base of the economy. And unlike previous generations, older people are far less likely to move on retirement; increasingly they age in place in communities not suited to their needs, and over time, to their increasing fragility and disability. Moreover today in many countries 1 out of 4 or 5 drivers is over 65, 1 out of 20 are over 80.

Dr. Rosenbloom will outline the many common socio-demographic trends facing industrial countries and identify the policy concerns that should engage those planning the future of our cities and our economies.  Only some of these concerns are related to social justice issues; while some older people lack resources, particularly older single women and those from BME communities, many older people have sufficient resources—if their homes, neighbourhoods, commercial activities, social and recreational services, and health care opportunities were responsive to their needs. No single person, no matter how wealthy, can change the physical and emotional barriers that many cities pose to healthy and productive aging. Unless we act now, our societies may deprive themselves of the substantial contributions that healthy older people can make as volunteers, part-time workers, grandparents, mentors, and caretakers for other older people.

16 Jan 2015: Childcare provision in deprived neighbourhoods: New York and Glasgow

Date: Fri 16 Jan 2015
Time: 15:00
Venue: Lecture Room B, Boyd Orr Building, University of Glasgow

Part of our mini season of prominent US scholars.

Presenter: Professor Peter Brandon (Dept of Sociology, State University of New York at Albany

Organised jointly with the Urban Big Data Centre.

4 Feb 2015: From data to wisdom? Spatial data visualisation as a policy tool

Date: Wed 4 Feb 2015
Time: 17:15
Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical School Building

Speaker: Dr Alasdair Rae (University of Sheffield)

Dr Rae's work focuses on the current vogue for big data visualisation and its potential usefulness as a tool to guide, inform and promote public policy.

In this talk he will focus on the much-cited links between data, knowledge, information and wisdom as a way to frame the debate around the usefulness of big data visualisation. The objective is to provoke critical thinking on the ways in which big data visualisation is currently used in an urban context and how we might do it better.

A drinks reception will directly follow the seminar and Q&A session.

The seminar is free and open to the public, but registration is recommended via Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sdn-lecture-series-201415-tickets-13845374889

Organisers

• Prof Vonu Thakuriah, Urban Big Data Centre
• Prof Marian Scott, Glasgow Sustainable Development Network

6 Feb 2015: From 'Broder' to 'Don': Methodological Reflections on Longitudinal Gang Research in Nicaragua, 1996-2014

Date: Fri 6 Feb 2015
Time: 15:00
Venue: Room 250, Gilbert Scott Conference Suite, Main Building

Presenter: Prof Dennis Rodgers, University of Glasgow

Although longitudinal ethnographic research is by no means uncommon, especially within anthropology, its methodological ramifications are rarely explicitly considered. This seminar aims to offer some reflections on the particular perils and pitfalls - but also the unique advantages - of such an endeavour, in particular as they relate to currently ongoing investigations of gang dynamics in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor neighbourhood in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. It begins by considering the idea of longitudinal ethnography, and what this actually means in practice, before then exploring how longitudinality can affect the research process, both negatively and positively, with regard to practical considerations as well as research practices. While some of the issues explored are common to all forms of longitudinal research, other concerns are specific to the study of gangs, including more specifically those relating to the changing experience and understanding of risk and danger.

This seminar is free and open to the public. The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Urban Studies staff room.

19 Feb 2015: 'Mustering mosquitos’: a nomadic history of Ned Kelly for our times

Date: Thu 19 Feb 2015
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building

Presenter: Jean Hillier, RMIT University, Australia

‘I wish to acquaint you with some of the occurrences of the present past and future’. So begins Ned Kelly’s 1879 Jerilderie letter to the people of south-east Australia. Kelly is probably Australia’s most famous historical person; a hero, a villain or both-and? In the  mountainous backcountry of south-east Australia, outside of and in opposition to the law, Ned Kelly invents nomadism as a response to the challenges of the State. The war machine of Ned Kelly engages transgressive practices of becoming-nomad, revaluing values and forcing us to do likewise. Nomads occupy the Deleuzian smooth space of the social unconscious. Was the Jerilderie letter a call to revolution? From Ned Kelly to Subcommandante Marcos and the EZLN in Mexico, Phoolan Devi, so-called ‘bandit queen’ in India, the international Occupy movement and Julian Assange’s Wikileaks, war machines are resisting the State and doing things otherwise. Nomadology as the opposite of history can challenge our ‘present past and future’ and our values of ‘hero’ and ‘villain’, to creatively engage transgressive practices in the intermezzo.

Jean Hillier is Emeritus Professor of Sustainability and Urban Planning at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include poststructural planning theory and methodology for strategic practice in conditions of uncertainty, planning with non-human animals, and problematisation of cultural heritage practices and public art in spatial planning. Recent books include Deleuze and Guattari for Planners (InPlanning e-book, 2013); Complexity and the Planning of the Built Environment (2012) edited with Gert de Roo and Joris Van Wezemael, the Ashgate Research Companion to Planning Theory: Conceptual Challenges for Spatial Planning (2010) edited with Patsy Healey, Critical Essays in Planning Theory (2008) three volumes, edited with Patsy Healey.

For more information on the Urban Studies Seminar Series, please contact Annette.Hastings@glasgow.ac.uk

10 Mar 2015: Social distance, social identity and social cohesion: Investigating the ‘diversity decline’ thesis in two cities

Date: Tue 10 Mar 2015
Time: 15:00
Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Rm, Wolfson Medical School Building

Presenter:Dr. Rebecca Wickes, University of Queensland

Increased ethnic diversity is associated with decreases in social cohesion and increases in social withdrawal. We argue that two mechanisms may explain these relationships: social distance and social identity orientations. This paper investigates these associations

by using census data and the Australian Community Capacity Study survey data from 10,000 residents living in 298 neighbourhoods in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. We consider the extent to which increases in immigration, ancestry, language and religion influence social distance and if this, in turn, enhances residents’ social identities. We then assess the independent effects of social distance and social identity orientations on residents’ reports of social cohesion and interactions with fellow neighbours.

Dr. Rebecca Wickes is an ARC Research Fellow and a Senior Lecturer in criminology at the School of Social Science, The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Dr Wickes is also an Associate of the Institute for Social Science Research, a Research Fellow with the ARC Center of Excellence in Life Course Research and an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security (CEPS). Using quantitative and qualitative methods, Dr. Wickes focusses on demographic changes in urban communities and their influence on social relationships, community regulation, crime and disorder over time. She is the director of the Australian Community Capacity Study, a multi-million, multisite, longitudinal study of place. She has published substantive works in Criminology, Journal for Research in Crime and Delinquency, Plos One, the Sociological Review and the Journal for Urban Affairs.

For more information on the Urban Studies Seminar Series, please contact Annette.Hastings@glasgow.ac.uk

13-16 Apr 2015: Scottish Economic Society Annual Conference: Financial Literacy Session

Date: Mon 13-16 Apr 2015
Time: 12:00
Venue: Mercure Perth Hotel, Perth, Scotland, UK

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

UBDC researcher, Dr. Catherine Lido, will be representing Prof. Mike Osborne and presenting the work of the Integrated Multimedia City Data (iMCD) project and its links with financial literacy.

For more information and the final schedule of sessions, please visit the SES website: http://www.scotecon.org/conference.html

16 Apr 2015: Edinburgh International Science Festival: Big Solutions in Big Data

Date: Thu 16 Apr 2015
Time: 17:30
Venue: Main Hall, Summer Hall, Edinburgh, UK

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

UBDC Director, Prof. Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah, speaks about "Big Solutions in Big Data" at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. For full event details, please visit the event website: http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/event-details/big-solutions-in-big-data

22-23 Apr 2015: Big Data Society Conference: Using data to identify and tackle societal problems

Date: Wed 22-23 Apr 2015
Time: 12:00
Venue: Central Edinburgh (Venue TBC)

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

Prof. Nick Bailey, Associate Director of the Urban Big Data Centre will be speaking on "Using data to identify and tackle society problems."

Big Data presents exciting opportunities for policy makers and social researchers interested in understanding and addressing societal problems. But it is policy and social research which need to drive the technology, not the other way round.

Big Data currently have Big Gaps, and much of the current opportunities derive from combining these with more traditional data sources, notably from surveys and administrative systems.

For more a more information and a full conference agenda, visit the Big Data Society Conference website: http://bigdata.holyrood.com/

5 May 2015: Robert J. Stimson Seminar: Big Data, Smart Cities and Urban Research Infrastructure

Date: Tue 5 May 2015
Time: 17:15
Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical School Building, University of Glasgow

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

Robert J. Stimson, Senior Academic Advisor (and former Director), Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), The University of Melbourne .

For full details and agenda visit the event page: http://ubdc.ac.uk/our-services/events-workshops-training-more/upcoming-events/robert-j-stimson-seminar/

8 Jun 2015: Mark S. Fox Seminar: The PolisGnosis Project Enabling the Computational Analysis of City Performance

Date: Mon 8 Jun 2015
Time: 17:15
Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical School Building, University of Glasgow

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

Speaker: Mark S. Fox, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Computer Science, Director, Centre for Social Services Engineering, Senior Fellow, Global Cities Institute, University of Toronto

Cities use a variety of metrics to evaluate and compare their performance.  With the introduction of ISO 37120, which contains over 100 indicators for measuring a city’s quality of life and sustainability, it is now possible to consistently measure and compare cities, assuming they adhere to the standard.  The goal of this research is to develop theories, embodied in software, to perform longitudinal analysis (i.e., how and why a city’s indicators change over time) and transversal analysis (i.e., how and why cities differ from each other), in order to discover the root causes of differences.

For full details visit the event page: http://ubdc.ac.uk/our-services/events-workshops-training-more/upcoming-events/mark-s-fox-seminar/

22 Jun 2015: Neighbourhood Effects on Crime: New Evidence from a Copenhagen Natural Experiment

Date: Mon 22 Jun 2015
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow

Speaker: Prof. George Galster, Wayne State University

We investigate the degree to which criminal offenses committed by youth and young adults are influenced by their neighbourhood surroundings, especially the demographic, socioeconomic and criminal dimensions of their social housing development. We identify causal relationships by using a natural experiment wherein the Copenhagen, DK municipality assigns households with urgent housing needs to every third social housing unit that becomes vacant, a process we show produces quasi-random assignment. Regression models indicate that the proportion of neighbourhood residents aged 15-29 with prior criminal charges decreases the number of property crimes (primarily for females) and the proportion aged 30-59 with only basic education increases the number of property crimes (primarily for males) a newly assigned resident will be charged with over the following three years.

George Galster earned his Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. and now serves as Clarence Hilberry Professor of Urban Affairs at Wayne State University. He has published 135 peer-reviewed articles, 8 books and 32 book chapters on topics ranging from metropolitan housing markets, racial discrimination and segregation, community change, reinvestment, lending and insurance patterns, neighbourhood effects, and urban poverty. He has provided housing policy consultations to the governments of Australia, Canada, China, Scotland, and the U.S. The Urban Affairs Association placed him on their Service Honor Roll in 2014.

23 Jun 2015: Harvey J. Miller Workshop: The Moving Across Places Study (MAPS): Measuring the Influence of Light Rail Transit and Complete Streets on Physical Activity

Date: Tue 23 Jun 2015
Time: 17:15
Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical School Building, University of Glasgow

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

Speaker: Prof. Harvey J. Miller, Bob and Mary Reusche Chair in Geographic Information Science and Professor in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University

For full details and agenda visit the event page: http://ubdc.ac.uk/our-services/events-workshops-training-more/upcoming-events/harvey-j-miller-workshop/

25 Jun 2015: Masterclass with Prof. Harvey J. Miller

Date: Thu 25 Jun 2015
Time: 12:00
Venue: Conference Room, Urban Big Data Centre, 7 Lilybank Gardens, University of Glasgow, G12 8RZ

An Urban Big Data Centre event.

The UBDC is delighted to announce a Masterclass with Prof. Harvey J. Miller, Chair in Geographic Information Science and Professor at The Ohio State University. This masterclass is aimed primarily at postgraduate and early career researchers - please see full agenda below. Refreshments and light lunch will be provided.

Please note that registration is required.

For full details, agenda and to register, visit the event page: http://ubdc.ac.uk/our-services/events-workshops-training-more/upcoming-events/harvey-j-miller-masterclass/