Books

Release Date: January 05, 2007

The most representative picture postcards of the capital city of the country. The photographs are arranged in the order of the various tour circuits the visitor may follow. From the port - Puerto Madero and Catalinas, Retiro - the political and commercial center is visited, a walk through San Telmo to visit Plaza Dorrego and the antique shops, moves on to the Boca, on to the Riachuelo and return to the elegant neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo where the Rosedal rose garden in Tres de Febrero Park will be admired, to end up placing a bet on the horses of the race track, watching a polo match, cheering in a one of the more traditional soccer stadiums (River Plate or Boca Juniors). The hours of darkness are reserved for the Tango, for eating in traditional restaurants where the barbecue is in full view, or for a cultural evening in the Colon Theatre. It is all in the book for the visitor to recall or share the city's attractions with friends or relatives who have not been to this European city on the banks of the River Plate. Gonzalo Monterroso's texts set the postcards in their epoch and help us to understand Porteños, the natives of Buenos Aires. In a pleasing style, with many a wink and hint at secrets known only to the initiated, the text nicely complements the illustrations.

The most representative picture postcards of the capital city of the country. The photographs are arranged in the order of the various tour circuits the visitor may follow. From the port - Puerto Madero and Catalinas, Retiro - the political and commercial center is visited, a walk through San Telmo to visit Plaza Dorrego and the antique shops, moves on to the Boca, on to the Riachuelo and return to the elegant neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo where the Rosedal rose garden in Tres de Febrero Park will be admired, to end up placing a bet on the horses of the race track, watching a polo match, cheering in a one of the more traditional soccer stadiums (River Plate or Boca Juniors). The hours of darkness are reserved for the Tango, for eating in traditional restaurants where the barbecue is in full view, or for a cultural evening in the Colon Theatre. It is all in the book for the visitor to recall or share the city's attractions with friends or relatives who have not been to this European city on the banks of the River Plate. Gonzalo Monterroso's texts set the postcards in their epoch and help us to understand Porteños, the natives of Buenos Aires. In a pleasing style, with many a wink and hint at secrets known only to the initiated, the text nicely complements the illustrations.

Release Date: April 12, 2009

Release Date: January 31, 2009

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance remains a growing industry in response to increased security threats, and whilst new developments have brought clearer images, digital recording and high speed data transmission, effective security systems still rely upon proper specification and installation by engineers with an in depth knowledge of CCTV principles and technology.The third edition of Closed Circuit Television provides a thorough technical guide for all those involved in the design, specification, installation and maintenance of CCTV systems. Fully dual-standard for PAL and NTSC systems, the book covers the essential equipment and topics of relevance to practitioners, managers and students on vocational and industry training courses. Extended coverage of flat screen devices, digital recording, and a new chapter on networking principles, bring this popular guide up to date with the latest developments in the field.Joe Cieszynski is a well-known technical writer with a wealth of experience in the security industry. After many years of college lecturing on TV, video and security topics, he currently acts as City & Guilds' Chief Examiner for security systems and provides independent CCTV system consultancy. *Demystifies CCTV technology for installers and managers*Concise, accessible text ideal for hard-pressed practitioners and students*Fully dual-standard coverage for PAL and NTSC based systems

Release Date: March 01, 1989

A brand-new designer drug arrives in New York City with the force of a hurricane: Triple X, a potentially lethal combination of ecstasy and gamma radiation that is literally turning users from the shadowy, dank alleys to the glittering, raucous party circuit into living, rampaging nightmares. For high school science teacher Peter Parker, Triple X's onslaught on some of his students and his wife's professional life is as dangerous as it is unexpected. For Peter's secret alter-ego, the costumed crime-fighter known to the world as Spider-Man, the situation quickly accelerates from bad to worse, as the drug's effects run unchecked against law enforcement's and his own valiant efforts to rein in the city-wide chaos. But there is a growing consensus between Spider-Man and the police that, for reasons yet unknown, one of the arachnid's most fearsome enemies may be behind it all as part of a greater scheme to bring the city -- and one of its most heroic and hated defenders -- to its knees at long last...

Cities and Regions in the New Learning Economy Product Details: Product: Book (Paperback) - 148 pages ISBN: 9789264185685 Author: OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Publisher: OECD Publishing (January 18, 2001) Description: Is there a new learning economy ? Do regions and cities play new roles in terms of governance and intervention in order to promote learning, innovation, productivity and economic performance at the local level? Such questions are high on the politica

In this groundbreaking work, computer scientist Leslie G. Valiant details a promising new computational approach to studying the intricate workings of the human brain. Focusing on the brain's enigmatic ability to access a massive store of accumulated information very quickly during reasoning processes, the author asks how such feats are possible given the extreme constraints imposed by the brain's finite number of neurons, their limited speed of communication, and their restricted interconnectivity. Valiant proposes a "neuroidal model" that serves as a vehicle to explore these fascinating questions. While embracing the now classic theories of McCulloch and Pitts, the neuroidal model also accommodates state information in the neurons, more flexible timing mechanisms, a variety of assumptions about interconnectivity, and the possibility that different areas perform different functions. Programmable so that a wide range of algorithmic theories can be described and evaluated, the model provides a concrete computational language and a unified framework in which diverse cognitive phenomena--such as memory, learning, and reasoning--can be systematically and concurrently analyzed. Included in this volume is a new preface that highlights some remarkable points of agreement between the neuroidal model and findings in neurobiology made since that model's original publication. Experiments have produced strong evidence for the theory's predictions about the existence of strong synapses in cortex and about the use of precise timing mechanisms within and between neurons. The theory also provides a quantitative explanation of how randomly placed neurons can be harnessed as resources for general purpose learning and memory--and is therefore synergistic with the striking recent discovery of neurogenesis in cortex. Requiring no specialized knowledge, Circuits of the Mind, masterfully offers an exciting new approach to brain science for students and researchers in computer science, neurobiology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

For Christians and Muslims alike, Jerusalem is an architectural wonder. It is also a living, vital city whose accomplishments in mass housing, public monuments, private dwellings, and urban planning rival those of the venerated past. This book is the first complete one-volume survey of architecture in Jerusalem, beginning with the vestigial remains of the First Temple Period, the Roman and Byzantine eras, the arrival of Islam, the Crusader Kingdom, the Mamluks, and the Ottomans. For Jerusalem, the modern age began in the mid-nineteenth century with the first vigorous surge of new building since the 1600s, when Suleiman the Magnificent had the city fortified with the splendid circuit of high crenelated walls that give Jerusalem its legendary fairy-tale look. Written by a leading Israeli preservationist and architectural historian, under the auspices of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, this invaluable book comes fully illustrated, with a brilliant array of maps, drawings, and photographs, hundreds in color and most of them specially commissioned.

Cities are more important as cultural entities than their mere function as dormitories and industrial sites. Yet, the understanding of what makes a city 'alive' and appealing in cultural terms is still hotly contested - why are some cities so much more interesting, popular and successful than others? In this engaging discussion in the text City Life, Adrian Franklin takes the reader on a tour of contemporary western cities exploring their historical development and arguing that it is the transformative

Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA is the best of its type." - San Diego Union-TribuneWhether you're headed to a circuit party or on a business trip, Fodor's Gay Guide USA is the ultimate source for what's where and what's gay. In this expanded and revised edition, gay travel expert Andy Collins recommends more gay-friendly places to eat, sleep, shop, and play, in 150 destinations including Canada. Some of the hot new destinations include: the Hamptons, NY; Santa Barbara, CA; Telluride, CO; Asheville, NC; Park City, UT; as well as the Canadian cities of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal, and Vancouver. The book is organized geographically by region for easy use and each city or town entry includes a section on The Lay of the Land; Eats; Scenes- for both men and women; Sleeps; and The Little Black Book which lists additional resources including media, bookstores, gyms, etc. The book offers lodging and dining options in all price ranges. Information is provided for every segment of the community including both exclusively gay resorts and beaches to mainstream hotels and nightlife. Also included throughout the book are over 50 helpful maps for navigating.

A major new volume that explores and assesses the phenomenon of the contemporary metropolis. With building space throughout the world at a premium and environmentally-sound development of tremendous importance to the future of the planet, Instant Cities looks ahead to creative, forward-thinking and possibly fanciful notions of the city such as biospheres, space stations and virtual realities. Touching on the historical context of humanity's earliest settlements in the ancient world, Instant Cities focuses on the development of the concept of the city and how it has been expanded to include sites from shopping malls to prisons, as well as various 'micro' communities within society. Today, over 60 per cent of the worlds' population live in cities which means that it is crucial that we comprehend the urban phenomenon, in order to adapt, develop and plan for the future and to fully understand contemporary society.

In a period when expanding and evolving populations are placing pressure on both cities and resources, Rudy Uytenhaaks research into urban structures, their potential densities, and the specific qualities that can be achieved with them, is invaluable. This publication describes the results of his study, offers a number of specific measures and proposals and features a great many projects illustrating the quest for ideal plans and sections in residential buildings.

How can contemporary theories of difference enhance our understanding of traditional urban studies concerns such as housing, labor markets, and structures of state entitlement? What are the connections between urban space and identity politics? This provocative text provides fresh perspectives on the fragmented city within a cultural political economy framework. Contributors explore the role of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality, able-bodiedness, and other axes of difference in the geography of postmodern cities. Using a range of cutting-edge theoretical and methodological approaches, the book probes the relationship of the broader realities of urban life--economic polarization, gentrification, and the proliferation of sites of consumption to the everyday life and political power of different communities.

The role of design in a ‘near-perfect circuit of production and consumption.’In the first half of this book, Hal Foster surveys our new 'political economy of design, ' exploring the marketing of culture and the branding of identity, the development of spectacle-architecture and the rise of global cities. In the second half, he examines the historical relations of modern art and the modern museum, the conceptual vicissitudes of art history and visual studies, the recent travails of art criticism, and the double aftermath of modernism and postmodernism. Written in a lively style, Design and Crime offers historical sketches and contemporary test-cases in an attempt to illuminate the conditions for critical culture in the present.

'Mills is a good enough picture maker to intrigue us and yet he is determined to keep us on the edge of unknowing.' - Anne Tucker Joseph Mills is a mid-career artist who has produced three distinct but interlocking bodies of work. He is best known for his surreal photomontages and collages, which were the subject of a one-person exhibition at The Corcoran Gallery in Spring 2003. The other two series are the ongoing affair, through photography, with his wife; and his black and white street work, the latter of which are featured in his first monograph, Inner City. People and their detritus are the focal points of these pictures. His subjects are not Washington¹s elite, but those whose situations in life are more peripheral and vulnerable: children, street prophets, the homeless and the mentally unstable. The resulting pictures are both about the inner city life he records and his own internal conflicts. Printed on outdated paper and heavily coated in amber toned varnish, Mills' photographs become objects, 'windows onto some world that really wasn't out there.' Published in association with Hemphill, Washington, DC; essay by Anne Tucker.

Understanding Cities is richly textured, complex and challenging. It creates the vital link between urban design theory and praxis and opens the required methodological gateway to a new and unified field of urban design. Using spatial political economy as his most important reference point, Alexander Cuthbert both interrogates and challenges mainstream urban design and provides an alternative and viable comprehensive framework for a new synthesis. He rejects the idea of yet another theory in urban design, and chooses instead to construct the necessary intellectual and conceptual scaffolding for what he terms 'The New Urban Design'. Building both on Michel de Certeau's concept of heterology – 'thinking about thinking' – and on the framework of his previous books Designing Cities and The Form of Cities, Cuthbert uses his prior adopted framework – history, philosophy, politics, culture, gender, environment, aesthetics, typologies and pragmatics – to create three integrated texts. Overall, the trilogy allows a new field of urban design to emerge. Pre-existing and new knowledge are integrated across all three volumes, of which Understanding Cities is the culminating text.

City Rules offers a challenge to students and professionals in urban planning, design, and policy to change the rules of city-building, using regulations to reinvigorate, rather than stifle, our communities. Emily Talen demonstrates that regulations are a primary detriment to the creation of a desirable urban form. While many contemporary codes encourage sprawl and even urban blight, that hasn't always been the case-and it shouldn't be in the future.  Talen provides a visually rich history, showing how certain eras used rules to produce beautiful, walkable, and sustainable communities, while others created just the opposite. She makes complex regulations understandable, demystifying city rules like zoning and illustrating how written codes translate into real-world consequences. Most importantly, Talen proposes changes to these rules that will actually enhance communities' freedom to develop unique spaces.

In the summer of 1970, the members of the New Orleans Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals understood clearly the realities of race in the South. Houston, Texas, like other Southern cities, had made haste toward racial school desegregation as slowly as the White Southern Federal courts would allow. When the High School of Performing and Visual Arts opened its doors in Houston a year later, a new superintendent and liberal-dominated Board of Education wished to demonstrate the positive potential of a voluntarily desegregated student body. HSPVA was the first United States public school for the arts specifically used for racial desegregation purposes, the prototype for the first public urban magnet program of desegregation used to replace a standing court order, and a continuing prototype for other public magnet schools for the arts across the United States. Talent Knows No Color is a 35-year history of HSPVA, exemplary in both arts and academics, which chronicles multi-perspective participant experiences within the context of ever-changing district education policies and demographics. Ten years of school system and HSPVA archival research, examination of local newspapers, and oral history interviews allow a rich narrative unusual among the already limited number of scholarly histories of individual public schools. It is the description and analysis of everyday occurrences that assist the reader in understanding what Series Editor O. L. Davis, Jr. refers to as "the continuing, likely never ending, practical development of one particular high school and its curriculum."

In the summer of 1970, the members of the New Orleans Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals understood clearly the realities of race in the South. Houston, Texas, like other Southern cities, had made haste toward racial school desegregation as slowly as the White Southern Federal courts would allow. When the High School of Performing and Visual Arts opened its doors in Houston a year later, a new superintendent and liberal-dominated Board of Education wished to demonstrate the positive potential of a voluntarily desegregated student body. HSPVA was the first United States public school for the arts specifically used for racial desegregation purposes, the prototype for the first public urban magnet program of desegregation used to replace a standing court order, and a continuing prototype for other public magnet schools for the arts across the United States. Talent Knows No Color is a 35-year history of HSPVA, exemplary in both arts and academics, which chronicles multi-perspective participant experiences within the context of ever-changing district education policies and demographics. Ten years of school system and HSPVA archival research, examination of local newspapers, and oral history interviews allow a rich narrative unusual among the already limited number of scholarly histories of individual public schools. It is the description and analysis of everyday occurrences that assist the reader in understanding what Series Editor O. L. Davis, Jr. refers to as "the continuing, likely never ending, practical development of one particular high school and its curriculum."

Cities are many things. Among their least appealing aspects, cities are frequently characterized by concentrations of insecurity and exploitation. Cities have also long represented promises of opportunity and liberation. Public decision-making in contemporary cities is full of conflict, and principles of justice are rarely the explicit basis for the resolution of disputes. If today's cities are full of injustices and unrealized promises, how would a Just City function? Is a Just City merely a utopia, or does it have practical relevance? This book engages with the growing debate around these questions. The notion of the Just City emerges from philosophical discussions about what justice is combined with the intellectual history of utopias and ideal cities. The contributors to this volume, including Susan Fainstein, David Harvey and Margit Mayer articulate a conception of the Just City and then examine it from differing angles, ranging from Marxist thought to communicative theory. The arguments both develop the concept of a Just City and question it, as well as suggesting alternatives for future expansion. Explorations of the concept in practice include case studies primarily from U.S. cities, but also from Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. The authors find that a forthright call for justice in all aspects of city life, putting the question of what a Just City should be on the agenda of urban reform, can be a practical approach to solving questions of urban policy. This synthesis is provocative in a globalised world and the contributing authors bridge the gap between theoretical conceptualizations of urban justice and the reality of planning and building cities. The notion of the Just City is an empowering framework for contemporary urban actors to improve the quality of urban life and Searching for the Just City is a seminal read for practitioners, professionals, students, researchers and anyone interested in what urban futures should aim to achieve.

The improvement of public lighting is an effective and economical way to enhance the attractiveness of urban areas. Many cities in Europe have already recognized this fact and master plans to create entirely new systems of urban lighting. Despite its growing popularity, a typology of urban lighting has not been available until now. Light the Cities is a practical guide to better light on city streets, public squares, and buildings. Drawing on the author's extensive professional experience, it addresses the technical and planning aspects of the task and provides important information on feasibility and ?nancing models. Organized systematically and with a wealth of color illustrations, detail drawings, and implementation plans, it is an indispensable guide to successfully interacting with other planners, government departments, and funders.

Within a relatively short time, urban anthropology has emerged as one of the most vital fields of anthropology. During its formative period, however, it has lacked intellectual coherence. Exploring the Cityis a bold first attempt to provide just such a coherent and unified theoretical understanding of urbanism. Hannerz draws upon the urban perspectives of other disciplines as well, such as history, sociology, and geography, to bring intellectual unity to the history and development of urban anthropology.

Los Angeles has grown from a scattered collection of towns and villages to one of the largest megacities in the world. In the process, it has inspired controversy among critics and scholars, as well as among its residents. Seeking original perspectives rather than consensus, the editors of The City have assembled a variety of essays examining the built environment and human dynamics of this extraordinary modern city, emphasizing the dramatic changes that have occurred since 1960. Together the essays--by experts in urban planning, architecture, geography, and sociology--create a new kind of urban analysis, one that is open to diversity but strongly committed to collective theoretical and practical understanding.

The work of Henri Lefebvre - the only major French intellectual of the post-war period to give extensive consideration to the city and urban life - received considerable attention among both academics and practitioners of the built environment following the publication in English of The Production of Space. This new collection brings together, for the first time in English, Lefebvre's reflections on the city and urban life written over a span of some twenty years.The selection of writings is contextualized by an introduction - itself a significant contribution to the interpretation of Henri Lefebvre's work - which places the material within the context of Lefebvre's intellectual and political life and times and raises pertinent issues as to their relevance for contemporary debates over such questions as the nature of urban reality, the production of space and modernity.Writings on Cities is of particular relevance to architects, planners, geographers, and those interested in the philosophical and political understanding of contemporary life.

Since the Middle Ages Europe has been one of the most urbanized continents on the planet and Europe's cities have firmly stamped their imprint on the continent's economic, social, political, and cultural life. This study of European cities and towns from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day looks both at regional trends from across Europe and also at the widely differing fortunes of individual communities on the roller coaster of European urbanization. Taking a wide-angled view of the continent that embraces northern and eastern Europe as well as the city systems of the Mediterranean and western Europe, it addresses important debates ranging from the nature of urban survival in the post-Roman era to the position of the European city in a globalizing world. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the middle ages, the early modern period, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - with each part containing chapters on urban trends, the urban economy, social developments, cultural life and landscape, and governance. Throughout, the book addresses key questions such as the role of migration, including that of women and ethnic minorities; the functioning of competition and emulation between cities, as well as issues of inter-urban cooperation; the different ways civic leaders have sought to promote urban identity and visibility; the significance of urban autonomy in enabling cities to protect their interests against the state; and not least why European cities and towns over the period have been such pressure cookers for new ideas and creativity, whether economic, political, or cultural.

In Event-Cities (MIT Press, 1994), Bernard Tschumi expanded his architectural concerns to address the issue of cities and their making. Event-Cities 2 continues this project through new selections from his recent architectural projects. The book includes the first comprehensive documentation of the drawings for the award-winning Parc de la Villette (including many previously unpublished drawings), his project for the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art, two architectural schools, a concert and exhibition hall, a student center, a railway station, a department store, and other urban projects. Tschumi suggests that architecture can accelerate the events of everyday life through new forms of organization. Using various modes of notation ranging from rough models to sophisticated computer-generated images, he reveals the complexities of the architectural process and the rich texture of events that define urban reality today.

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the rebuilding of America's urban areas. Beginning with an introduction into the condition of our nation's metropolitan cities and their urban problems, as they exist today, the book also discusses some 14 different practical tools available for public officials to use for inner city renewal. Sixteen case studies have been included to show real-life examples of the efforts of public officials to revitalize their inner city commercial areas and residential neighborhoods. This valuable tool for city planners, business people, and private citizens provides critical thinking about how our urban economic development programs are, and should be, designed and conducted.