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Çanakkale: Travelogues of a Sentimental Journey through Çanakkale, Turkey
No full textÇanakkale is a mid-size city on the Dardanelles Strait. It is generally known as the Second World War battleground of the Gallipoli Campaign, when the British Empire and France failed to capture Istanbul as the Ottomans used geographical features to their advantage. Çanakkale also sits in the region that is believed to be the same as ancient Troy, whose destruction is featured in Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey. Until the late nineteenth century, the Trojan War was considered to be a fictional event, but then pioneer archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann followed Homer’s geographical descriptions and identified Hisarlık Hill with the help of Frank Calvert as the site of the ancient city. The site is now UNESCO World Heritage, but the line between myth and reality is still blurred. The case study of Çanakkale will thus expand on the grey area of the city’s contemporary physical condition and the mythological potential of its underlying urban narrative as a place of epic significance, a place in which fictional stories overlap with the physical description of the urban and natural environment. The multitude of meanings and symbolism assigned to the city and region of Çanakkale thus prove to be fruitful grounds for the exploration of travelogues’ potential as a subgenre of travel literature that sways between myth and reality, as was shown in the workshop The City and the Myth organized 18-20 July 2022 with the support of the COST Action Writing Urban Places. 
Towards A Poetics of Dwelling: Exploring Nearness Within the Chinese Literati Garden
Get PDFThis thesis starts with a worrisome observation tied to various phenomena across modern built environments: humans today are experiencing a weakened relatedness to and reduced intimacy with the world around them. In stark contrast to the general trend, however, most Chinese literati gardens maintain their traditional rich conditions, enabling their visitors to experience a unique, high-quality experience of relatedness to and intimacy with the world, which may serve as an antidote to the existing disruptive modern condition. What lessons can be learned from the Chinese literati gardens to address this weakened intimacy of relatedness in modern built environments? Motivated by this question, this thesis takes the Heideggerian notion of Nearness as its foundation. Through a contextually relevant interpretation of the meaning of Nearness in Heideggerian discourse, it first establishes a theoretical framework through which to assess how the experience of Nearness—the ontological relatedness to and intimacy with the world— generally occurs within built environments. Next, taking the Master of the Nets Garden as a case study, it reveals the various embedded spatial-experiential settings and complex mechanisms that continuously facilitate rich, strong, and multi-dimensional experiences of Nearness. Finally, it reflects on some of the key relevant issues, including what benefits and enlightenments the findings of this thesis could bring to current architectural practices. Overall, by exploring this essential aspect of the literati garden, the thesis equips contemporary spatial practitioners with the theoretical and practical tools necessary to recapture the high-quality experiences of Nearness within their works in the modern era
Spatial approaches to a circular economy: Determining locations and scales of closing material loops using geographic data
Get PDFRapid urbanization has exerted unsustainable pressures on the environment, and implementing circular economy (CE) in cities has been seen by policy makers as a potential solution for resource scarcity. Scholars have therefore called for an understanding of the spatial aspects of CE that go beyond urban governance strategies, engendering the recent integration of spatial disciplines, such as urban planning and regional economics, into the study of CE.
Using the Netherlands as a case study, this research asks the question, "what determines the locations and scales of closing material loops in a circular economy?”, using both quantitative and qualitative spatial analysis methods, and both present- and future-oriented perspectives. Novel data sources on locations of material stocks and flows were used, including waste statistics and material stock maps. Research results were presented in five chapters, each corresponding to an academic paper. Current locations and scales are identified by analyzing the locations of waste reuse clusters in the Netherlands, and future locations and scales are addressed by identifying the optimal locations and service areas of circular construction hubs in Amsterdam.
As an overall conclusion, I identified 5 conceptual and methodological tensions that occur when determining locations and scales for closing material loops: urban manufacturing vs urban mining, clusters vs hubs, spaces vs people vs materials, present vs future, and quantitative vs qualitative
Local Activism in Urban Neighborhood Governance: The case of Cairo, Egypt
Get PDFThis study investigates local activism in politically challenging contexts, focusing on Cairo. In such contexts, active resident groups strive for urban improvement, while governance arrangements often disregard citizen involvement in urban and public affairs. Cairo presents an exemplary case of local activism in a politically challenging and under-researched context. The study explores the characteristics, roles, and interrelations of active resident groups with local governance arrangements and their deviations from existing literature. It employs a qualitative methodology with observations and semi-structured interviews with local officials and active residents from nine different districts. The study uses Facebook to select, observe, and analyze the activities of multiple active resident groups and contributes to theoretical frameworks for analyzing local activism in complex contexts. It reveals the dominant and absent roles and the governance dimensions (un)attainable by active residents. It also traces the sources of limited local activism in the existing governance arrangements in Cairo, highlighting the importance and difficulty of changing governance arrangements in Egypt. The study broadens our understanding of local activism in the Global South beyond dominant forms of activism. 
Sensing the Cultural Significance with AI for Social Inclusion: A Computational Spatiotemporal Network-based Framework of Heritage Knowledge Documentation using User-Generated Content
Get PDFSocial Inclusion has been growing as a goal in heritage management. Whereas the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) called for tools of knowledge documentation, social media already functions as a platform for online communities to actively involve themselves in heritage-related discussions. Such discussions happen both in “baseline scenarios” when people calmly share their experiences about the cities they live in or travel to, and in “activated scenarios” when radical events trigger their emotions. To organize, process, and analyse the massive unstructured multi-modal (mainly images and texts) user-generated data from social media efficiently and systematically, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is shown to be indispensable. This thesis explores the use of AI in a methodological framework to include the contribution of a larger and more diverse group of participants with user-generated data. It is an interdisciplinary study integrating methods and knowledge from heritage studies, computer science, social sciences, network science, and spatial analysis. AI models were applied, nurtured, and tested, helping to analyse the massive information content to derive the knowledge of cultural significance perceived by online communities. The framework was tested in case study cities including Venice, Paris, Suzhou, Amsterdam, and Rome for the baseline and/or activated scenarios. The AI-based methodological framework proposed in this thesis is shown to be able to collect information in cities and map the knowledge of the communities about cultural significance, fulfilling the expectation and requirement of HUL, useful and informative for future socially inclusive heritage management processes
CFD modeling of flow and local scour around submerged bridge decks
Get PDFIn this study, the level set method-based, multiphase hydro- and morphodynamic numerical model REEF3D is used for the simulation of the flow conditions and local scouring around submerged bridge decks. Presence of hydraulic jumps, bridge overtopping, pressurized jets and the resulting scouring make the selected test cases especially challenging from the numerical modelling point of view. The models are validated against data from laboratory experiments. The influence of the submergence ratio on the prevailing flow and scouring is investigated. The level set method showed robustness and good accuracy for the treatment of the complex free surface as well as for the tracking of the mobile bed. The submergence ratio showed no clear correlation with the prevailing erosion/deposition patterns. As the simulations offered insights into the prevailing hydrodynamics and thus the relevance of numerical modelling was emphasized for such complex sediment transport problems
Where space is created societal values are generated – the case of the Sand Engine: the case of the Sand Engine
No full textA large sandy peninsula and beach were realized in Dutch coastal waters in the Sand Engine pilot project. In addition to the benefits for flood protection, the Sand Engine generates multiple other societal values. It provides a new type of landscape of uncommon size along the Holland coast where nature, culture, history and the future can come together. In this paper we discuss the added value of the Sand Engine for culture and the arts, its iconic value, and the development of knowledge in diverse sciences most notably morphology, archeology and paleontology, as well as its educational function. Then we explore how different governance modes can influence how the added value is generated and what type of societal value arises. We distinguish four different governance modes related to the level of control exercised and the level of autonomous societal development allowed by project initiators and managers: directive, co-creational, facilitatory and observational. Different modes can co-exist and may change over time. For the Sand Engine we find that the knowledge development was highly directed, archeology and paleontology were facilitated, while an observational mode was employed towards arts and culture. This leads to the inference that when the physical and societal space is created, societal value-added initiatives emerge. However, such emergence depends on the societal and institutional context as this can act to constrain or enable the type of societal value generated and the extent to which it is realized. Finally, we suggest that applying a more pro-active governance mode to the Sand Engine even at this stage could lead to more diverse and inclusive societal value generation
AeroMAPS: a framework for performing multidisciplinary assessment of prospective scenarios for air transport
Get PDFAeroMAPS is an open-source software, also available as a web application, for performing multidisciplinary assessment of prospective scenarios for air transport. Such investigations are a significant challenge for aviation stakeholders but are required to explore and evaluate different transition strategies for the sector. The framework presented in this paper aims to provide these stakeholders with a standardised methodology for simulating prospective scenarios. Developed using the Python programming language and easy to use via Jupyter Notebooks or graphical user interfaces, it enables the rapid exploration of various decarbonisation strategies for research or decision-making audiences. Several scientific computing packages are used to facilitate the modular assembly of models and solve complex numerical problems. The framework is structured around various models derived from the academic literature and newly developed ones. In particular, it can be used to model various components of the air transport system (air traffic, aircraft fleet, energy carriers), assess its environmental (climate and energy resources) and cost impacts, and perform environmental sustainability analyses. An application is proposed in this paper in order to understand the capabilities, interests and limits of the software. Future developments are planned to improve existing models, complete environmental analyses and continue extending to other disciplinary fields (economics, regulation, sociology), in order to make AeroMAPS a systemic and holistic aviation integrated assessment model.
Airlines\u27 Network Analysis on an Air-Rail Multimodal System
No full textThis article explores the potential impact of short-haul flight bans in Spain. We build the rail and flight network for the Spanish peninsula, merging openly available ADS-B-based data, for the reconstruction of air schedules and aircraft rotations, and rail operator data, for the modelling of the rail network. We then simulate a ban that would remove flights having a suitable train replacement, i.e., representing a trip shorter than a threshold that we vary continuously up to 15-h. We study the impact in terms of 1) air route reduction, 2) aircraft utilisation and fleet downsizing for airlines, 3) airport infrastructure relief and rail network requirements, 4) CO2 emissions and 5) possible itineraries and travel times for passengers. We find that a threshold of 3 hours (banning all flights with a direct rail alternative faster than three hours) presents some notable advantages in emissions while keeping the aircraft utilisation rate at an adequate level. Interestingly, passengers would then experience an increase in their itinerary options, with only a moderate increase in their total travel times
Selfie and World: On Instagrammable Places and Technologies for Capturing Them
Get PDFInstagrammable places are designed to be photographed for Instagram. This leads to the homogenization and commodification of the world to suit the app’s affordances. It is worth asking why Instagram users are so motivated to play along when only a miniscule fraction of them can monetize their pursuits. I argue that Instagram and its accompanying form, the selfie, touch upon a basic human need for meaning-making: for narratively organizing one’s experience of the world, and reversely for performing a narrativized identity in a meaningful world. The app establishes what Don Ihde has called a hermeneutic and an alterity relation to the world, by superficially contributing to an understanding of the world based on one’s own co-constitutive agency of framing and selecting features of the world to be photographed and shared, and by performing this agency to an audience