Street-Naming Cultures in Africa and Israel

Street-Naming Cultures in Africa and Israel
Author: Liora Bigon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2021-07-27
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000432416

This book is focused on the street-naming politics, policies and practices that have been shaping and reshaping the semantic, textual and visual environments of urban Africa and Israel. Its chapters expand on prominent issues, such as the importance of extra-formal processes, naming reception and unofficial toponymies, naming decolonisation, place attachment, place-making and the materiality of street signage. By this, the book directly contributes to the mainstreaming of Africa’s toponymic cultures in recent critical place-names studies. Unconventionally and experimentally, comparative glimpses are made throughout between toponymic experiences of African and Israeli cities, exploring pioneering issues in the overwhelmingly Eurocentric research tradition. The latter tends to be concentrated on Europe and North America, to focus on nationalistic ideologies and regime change and to over-rely on top-down ‘mere’ mapping and street indexing. This volume is also unique in incorporating a rich and stimulating variety of visual evidence from a wide range of African and Israeli cities. The materiality of street signage signifies the profound and powerful connections between structured politics, current mundane practices, historical traditions and subaltern cultures. Street-Naming Cultures in Africa and Israel is an important contribution to urban studies, toponymic research and African studies for scholars and students. Chapters 1 and 2 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003173762

Standardisation and the Wealth of Place Names: Aspects of a Delicate Relationship

Standardisation and the Wealth of Place Names: Aspects of a Delicate Relationship
Author: Chrismi-Rinda Loth
Publisher: UJ Press
Total Pages: 236
Release:
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Standardisation and the Wealth of Place Names – Aspects of a Delicate Relationship is a selection of double-blind peer-reviewed papers from the 6th International Symposium on Place Names that took place virtually 29 September – 1 October 2021. The symposium explored the issues of multiple place names vis-à-vis processes of standardisation. These studies collectively show that there is not a simplistic dichotomy between standardisation and the protection of cultural heritage. Some papers grapple with the implications and execution of standardisation processes, while others explore the emergence of alternative or unofficial names in response to top-down initiatives. The matter of signed place names also receives some attention. A number of papers excavate the layers of multiple place names, thereby contributing to our ‘wealth’ of toponymic knowledge. These proceedings are the product of collaboration between Southern African and international researchers. As such, it is a valuable resource to local as well as international scholars who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of toponymy.

Splintering Towers of Babel

Splintering Towers of Babel
Author: Liora Bigon
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2023-07-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 100091691X

Splintering Towers of Babel focuses on and redefines soft infrastructures and critical infrastructure projects. It explores key issues in contemporary urban studies including town planning histories, architecture, heritage, colonialism and postcolonialism, philosophy, and ethics. The book combines transdisciplinary perspectives on the key historical, philosophical, and political issues associated with urban experiences, built forms, and infrastructure networks. It explores uneven dimensions in contemporary urbanisms and develops spatial phenomenological thinking with reference to the northern and southern hemispheres. This book connects the past and the present, in addition to Western and global South geographies, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Its main contribution is to broaden readers' understanding of infrastructure through the lens of the humanities and to engage with political, poetical, and ethical perspectives. This book is tailored to scholars working in the fields of urban planning, urban geography, architectural history, urban design, infrastructure studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, African studies, and philosophy.

Sustainable Urban Futures in Africa

Sustainable Urban Futures in Africa
Author: Michael Addaney
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2021-12-31
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000468151

Sustainable Urban Futures in Africa provides a variety of conventional and emerging theoretical frameworks to inform understandings and responses to critical urban development issues such as urbanisation, climate change, housing/slum, informality, urban sprawl, urban ecosystem services and urban poverty, among others, within the context of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Africa. This book addresses topics including challenges to spatial urban development, how spatial planning is delivered, how different urbanisation variables influence the development of different forms of urban systems and settlements in Africa, how city authorities could use old and new methods of land administration to produce sustainable urban spaces in Africa, and the role of local activism is causing important changes in the built environment. Chapters are written by a diverse range of African scholars and practitioners in urban planning and policy design, environmental science and policy, sociology, agriculture, natural resources management, environmental law, and politics. Urban Africa has huge resource potential – both human and natural resources – that can stimulate sustainable development when effectively harnessed. Sustainable Urban Futures in Africa provides support for the SDGs in urban Africa and will be of interest to students and researchers, professionals and policymakers, and readers of urban studies, spatial planning, geography, governance, and other social sciences.

Shrinking Cities in Reunified East Germany

Shrinking Cities in Reunified East Germany
Author: Agim Kërçuku
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2022-10-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000686221

The book explores the relationship between the shrinking process and architecture and urban design practices. Starting from a journey in former East Germany, six different scenes are explored in which plans, projects, and policies have dealt with shrinkage since the 1990s. The book is a sequence of scenes that reveals the main characteristics, dynamics, narratives, reasons and ambiguities of the shrinking cities’ transformations in the face of a long transition. The first scene concerns the demolition and transformation of social mass housing in Leinefelde-Worbis. The second scene deals with the temporary appropriation of abandoned buildings in Halle-Neustadt. The third scene, observed in Leipzig, shows the results of green space projects in urban voids. The scene of the fourth situation observes the extraordinary efforts to renaturise a mining territory in the Lausitz region. The fifth scene takes us to Hoyerswerda, where emigration and ageing process required a reduction and demolition in housing stock and social infrastructures. The border city of Görlitz, the sixth and last scene, deals with the repopulation policies that aim to attract retirees from the West.

Place Names in Africa

Place Names in Africa
Author: Liora Bigon
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2016-06-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319324853

This volume examines the discursive relations between indigenous, colonial and post-colonial legacies of place-naming in Africa in terms of the production of urban space and place. It is conducted by tracing and analysing place-naming processes, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa during colonial times (British, French, Belgian, Portuguese), with a considerable attention to both the pre-colonial and post-colonial situations. By combining in-depth area studies research – some of the contributions are of ethnographic quality – with colonial history, planning history and geography, the authors intend to show that culture matters in research on place names. This volume goes beyond the recent understanding obtained in critical studies of nomenclature, normally based on lists of official names, that place naming reflects the power of political regimes, nationalism, and ideology.

Victorian Cemeteries and the Suburbs of London

Victorian Cemeteries and the Suburbs of London
Author: Gian Luca Amadei
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2021-12-19
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000521516

This book explores how Victorian cemeteries were the direct result of the socio-cultural, economic and political context of the city, and were part of a unique transformation process that emerged in London at the time. The book shows how the re-ordering of the city’s burial spaces, along with the principles of health and hygiene, were directly associated with liberal capital investments, which had consequences in the spatial arrangement of London. Victorian cemeteries, in particular, were not only a solution for overcrowded graveyards, they also acted as urban generators in the formation London’s suburbs in the nineteenth century. Beginning with an analysis of the conditions that triggered the introduction of the early Victorian cemeteries in London, this book investigates their spatial arrangement, aesthetics and functions. These developments are illustrated through the study of three private Victorian burial sites: Kensal Green Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery and Brookwood Cemetery. The book is aimed at students and researchers of London history, planning and environment, and Victorian and death culture studies.

Waterfront Design in Small Mediterranean Port Towns

Waterfront Design in Small Mediterranean Port Towns
Author: Giovanna Piga
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2022-03-02
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1000545571

This book addresses issues that waterfronts face in small Mediterranean port towns due to increases in the tourism industry. Integrating theory and pragmatic approaches, Waterfront Design in Small Port Towns proposes a design matrix which can go on to be implemented in waterfronts globally. The demand for a sustainable regeneration of the urban waterfront is constantly growing and represents the ultimate challenge to preserve and value the uniqueness of the region and to activate an overall redevelopment of small port towns. To understand these issues, Waterfront Design in Small Port Towns contains an in-depth investigation of the cultural and environmental assets and spatial socio-economic factors of the urban waterfront. This is conducted through the author’s original methodological framework, the Waterfront Design Matrix, which responds to the specific scales and idiosyncrasies of the archetypical waterfront. The methodological and theoretical approach developed in the book can be applied to different geographical locations and countries, presenting comparable characteristics. This book is an ideal read for professionals and students alike with an interest in urban design and planning.