Labor Mobilization and Cooperation for Urban Construction: Building Apartment Compounds at Teotihuacan

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-759
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Murakami

Teotihuacan underwent an urban renewal during the Tlamimilolpa phase (AD 250–350) in which more than 2,000 apartment compounds were constructed to accommodate its estimated 100,000 residents. Although the orderly layout and canonical orientation of the city imply top-down planning, growing evidence suggests a bottom-up process of urban transformation. This study combines architectural energetics with archaeometric analysis of nonlocal construction materials (lime plaster and andesitic cut stone blocks) to examine the labor organization behind the construction of the apartment compounds. The results of the energetic analysis suggest that residents relied on labor forces external to their compounds, whereas materials analysis indicates that the procurement, transportation, and production of building material were centrally organized and thus indicative of a state labor tax. Based on these results, I argue that compounds were assembled through corporate group labor exchange or communal (neighborhood-level) labor cooperation/obligation, with differing degrees of support from the state labor tax. Apartment compound construction was not uniform but rather a diverse process in which state labor mobilization, communal labor obligations, and corporate labor exchange were articulated in various ways.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Inés Pardo Martínez ◽  
William Alfonso Piña ◽  
Angelo Facchini ◽  
Alexander Cotte Poveda

Abstract Background Currently, most of the world’s population lives in cities, and the rapid urbanization of the population is driving increases in the demand for products, goods and services. To effectively design policies for urban sustainability, it is important to understand the trends of flows in energy and materials as they enter and leave a city. This knowledge is essential for determining the key elements characterizing future urban growth and addressing future supply challenges. Methods This paper presents an analysis of the energy and material flows in the city of Bogotá over the time span from 2001 to 2017. Urban flows are also characterized in terms of their temporal evolution with respect to population growth to compare and identify the changes in the main input flows, wealth production, emissions and waste in the city. Results The results of the analysis are then compared with those for other selected large urban agglomerations in Latin America and worldwide to highlight similarities and make inferences. The results show that in Bogotá, there was a decrease in some of the material flows, such as the consumption of water and the generation of discharge, in recent years, while there was an increase in the consumption of energy and cement and in the production of CO2 emissions and construction materials. Solid waste production remained relatively stable. With respect to the other large cities considered, we observe that the 10-year growth rates of the flows with respect to population growth are lower in Bogotá, particularly when compared with the other urban agglomerations in Latin America. Conclusions The findings of this study are important for advancing characterizations of the trends of material and energy flows in cities, and they contribute to the establishment of a benchmark that allows for the definition and evaluation of the different impacts of public policy while promoting the sustainability of Bogotá in the coming decades.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6182
Author(s):  
Marijana Pantić ◽  
Saša Milijić

An agreement of cooperation and transmission of knowledge regarding the nomination for the European Green Capital Award (EGCA) was signed between the mayors of Belgrade and Ljubljana (EGCA 2016 winner) in September 2018. The candidacy of Belgrade was finally realized in October 2019. Great hope was placed in this endeavour because internationally recognized awards, such as the EGCA, represent enormous capital for both the city and the state. The EGCA requires serious preparation and significant fulfilment of preconditions. Many economically strong and environmentally responsible cities competed for the award, but did not win. On the other hand, the capital of Serbia does not appear to be an obvious winning candidate, especially as it is differentiated from the previous winners by being a non-EU city and by the fact that it is still undergoing an intense urban transformation, characteristic of transitional countries. Therefore, the main aim of this article is to present a review of the current state of Belgrade’s environmental qualities and its comparison with the EGCA criteria and with Grenoble as one of the winning competitors. The article gives a full overview of the EGCA requirements with certain details on required indicators, gives relevant insight into the procedure, which could be of use for any future candidacy, and discusses potential benefits for winners, losers and repeat candidacies.


Author(s):  
Minh-Tung Tran ◽  
◽  
Tien-Hau Phan ◽  
Ngoc-Huyen Chu ◽  
◽  
...  

Public spaces are designed and managed in many different ways. In Hanoi, after the Doi moi policy in 1986, the transfer of the public spaces creation at the neighborhood-level to the private sector has prospered na-ture of public and added a large amount of public space for the city, directly impacting on citizen's daily life, creating a new trend, new concept of public spaces. This article looks forward to understanding the public spaces-making and operating in KDTMs (Khu Do Thi Moi - new urban areas) in Hanoi to answer the question of whether ‘socialization’/privatization of these public spaces will put an end to the urban public or the new means of public-making trend. Based on the comparison and literature review of studies in the world on public spaces privatization with domestic studies to see the differences in the Vietnamese context leading to differences in definitions and roles and the concept of public spaces in KDTMs of Hanoi. Through adducing and analyzing practical cases, the article also mentions the trends, the issues, the ways and the technologies of public-making and public-spaces-making in KDTMs of Hanoi. Win/loss and the relationship of the three most important influential actors in this process (municipality, KDTM owners, inhabitants/citizens) is also considered to reconceptualize the public spaces of KDTMs in Hanoi.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Hellemans

<p>For the coming ten years, the heart of Europe will turn into a gigantic construction site for works on one of the largest hubs of the continent: Antwerp. The Oosterweel Link is the project whereby the motorway ring around Antwerp is undergoing a metamorphosis to reinvigorate traffic flow and add living space to the City. The project had come to a standstill for several years as a result of protests by assertive citizens, but was given a second lease of life following a large-scale participation project.</p><p>To ensure its successful completion, unparalleled efforts are being made in the field and in the area of digitization. It is therefore with good reason that in Belgium the project is referred to as “the construction site of the century”.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 216495611880305 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Garrett Conyersm ◽  
Helene M Langevin ◽  
Gary J Badger ◽  
Darshan H Mehta

Background Chronic stress plays a role in the development of health disparities. However, the relationship between neighborhood stressors and stress-related health problems and behaviors is unknown. In the city of Boston, Massachusetts, 3 neighborhoods, while within a 3 mile radius, have widely divergent life expectancies. This work aims to investigate and compare perceived neighborhood-level stressors, stress-related negative behaviors, and stress-related health problems in these neighborhoods. Methods Three hundred twenty-six participants were surveyed from the neighborhoods. Participants were asked to rate (1) 27 neighborhood stressors, (2) 16 stress-related negative behaviors, and (3) 13 stress-related health problems using a 1 to 5 Likert-type scale. Differences in responses between neighborhoods were analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis and χ2 tests. Results The highest neighborhood stressors overall were related to finance, unequal treatment, and unsafe bike/pedestrian access. The highest stress-related health problems were related to substance abuse and obesity, and the largest stress-related behaviors were related to poor diet, intolerance, and aggressive driving. There were significant differences across neighborhoods ( P < .05) for 18 of the 27 neighborhood stressors, 8 of the 10 stress-related health problems, and 12 of the 15 stress-related behaviors. Conclusions There is marked contrast in stress landscapes between the 3 neighborhoods in Boston despite their geographical proximity. This finding potentially serves as an explanation for the drastic differences in health outcomes, even though these neighborhoods are equidistant from academic medical centers. Strategies for improving the health of individuals should incorporate the unique stressors at the neighborhood level. Further research is needed to investigate how specifically neighborhood stressors influence the health of residents, thereby informing what policy interventions might be useful.


2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 213-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yorgos Koumaridis

AbstractThis article examines the ways in which nationalism transformed Greek urban space during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through urban planning, architecture, archaeology, the destruction of Ottoman material remains and the promotion of Ancient Greek and (later) Byzantine heritage, urban space was gradually hellenized and cleansed of its Ottoman past. Specific examples, including the case of Thessaloniki, where the strong Ottoman character of the city was gradually effaced, are examined so as to outline the aims and the patterns of this transformation.


Author(s):  
Meredith Dale ◽  
Josefine Heusinger ◽  
Birgit Wolter

Chapter 5 examines the impact of gentrification processes in Berlin, Germany, on the distribution of older people across the city as well as the everyday experiences of ageing in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The chapter concludes with an overview of developments in the context of political processes, where urban transformation driven by economic interests generates growing conflict and contradiction with the needs of an ageing and increasingly less affluent population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 1579-1605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojin Chen ◽  
Patrick Rafail

This study aims to investigate the longitudinal associations between patterns of housing vacancies, neighborhood social disorder, and crime in the city of New Orleans. Using large-scale administrative and contextual data collected from the year 2012 to 2018, our spatiotemporal regression analysis provides empirical evidence for the salient effects of housing vacancy on neighborhood level of property crime and violence. In addition, the spillover effect of housing vacancy is observed on the neighborhood level of drug offense, property crime, and violence. These results potentially identify vacant properties as a modifiable target for intervention to reduce urban crime and suggest that community-based programs aiming to enhance informal social control and collective efficacy may be as important as broken window policing programs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document