Territory and the governmentalisation of social reproduction: parliamentary enclosure and spatial rationalities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism

Recent applications of Foucauldian categories in geography, spatial history and the history of town planning have opened up interesting new perspectives, with respect to both the evolution of spatial knowledge and the genealogy of territorial techniques and their relation to larger socio-political projects, that would be enriched if combined with other discursive traditions. This article proposes to conceptualise English parliamentary enclosureea favourite episode for Marxist historiography, frequently read in a strictly materialist fashioneas a precedent of a new form of sociospatial governmentality, a political technology that inaugurates a strategic manipulation of territory for social change on the threshold between feudal and capitalist spatial rationalities. I analyse the sociospatial dimensions of parliamentary enclosure’s technical and legal innovations and compare them to the forms of communal self-regulation of land use customs and everyday regionalisations that preceded it. Through a systematic, replicable mechanism of reterritorialisation, enclosure acts normalised spatial regulations, blurred regional differences in the social organisation of agriculture and erased the modes of autonomous social reproduction linked to common land. Their exercise of dispossession of material resources, social capital and community representations is interpreted therefore as an inaugural logic that would pervade the emergent spatial rationality later known as planning.

Neighbourhood mobility: a longgone Paradigm? Approaching "proximity" and "land use mix" using data from home-based surveys

Policies trying to increase walking within urban mobility modal split usually highlight the importance of the functional patterns and the environmental quality of the urban space as major drivers of citizens modal choices. Functional characteristics would be mainly associated to an appropriate mix of land uses within neighbourhoods, whereas environmental quality would be associated to the characteristics of urban spaces. The purpose of this research is threefold: first, to identify relevant proxy indicators, which could characterize pedestrian-friendly land use mix and environmental quality. Second, to assess, for both traits, existing disparities among neighbourhoods in a major metropolitan area. And finally, to explore the association between both indicators and children mobility patterns: according to their built environment, which neighbourhoods have a greater proportion of children and, how is their mobility? Using data from the 2004 household mobility survey in the 128 neighbourhoods of the municipality of Madrid, this paper concludes that potentially favourable conditions at the neighbourhood level seem to have only a modest influence in,mobility patterns , in terms of both, selection of closer destinations and a higher share of walking within modal split. The city s policy choices, with intensive investment in road and public transport infrastructure may explain why short-distance mobility is not as important as it could have been expected in those neighbourhoods with more pedestrian-friendly conditions. The metropolitan transport system is providing mobility conditions, which make far-away destinations attractive to most citizens.

Land cover dynamics and climate change implications on water resources in South Pacific Costa Rica

Water is fundamental to human life and the availability of freshwater is often a constraint on human welfare and economic development. Consequently, the potential effects of global changes on hydrology and water resources are considered among the most severe and vital ones. Water scarcity is one of the main problems in the rural communities of Central America, as a result of an important degradation of catchment areas and the over-exploitation of aquifers. The present Thesis is focused on two critical aspects of global changes over water resources: (1) the potential effects of climate change on water quantity and (2) the impacts of land cover and land use changes on the hydrological processes and water cycle. Costa Rica is among the few developing countries that have recently achieved a land use transition with a net increase in forest cover. Osa Region in South Pacific Costa Rica is an appealing study site to assess water supply management plans and to measure the effects of deforestation, forest transitions and climate change projections reported in the region. Rural Community Water Supply systems (ASADAS) in Osa are dealing with an increasing demand of freshwater due to the growing population and the change in the way of life in the rural livelihoods. Land cover mosaics which have resulted from the above mentioned processes are characterized by the abandonment of marginal farmland with the spread over these former grasslands of high return crops and the expansion of secondary forests due to reforestation initiatives. These land use changes have a significant impact on runoff generation in priority water-supply catchments in the humid tropics, as evidenced by the analysis of the Tinoco Experimental Catchment in the Southern Pacific area of Costa Rica. The monitoring system assesses the effects of the different land uses on the runoff responses and on the general water cycle of the basin. Runoff responses at plot scale are analyzed for secondary forests, oil palm plantations, forest plantations and grasslands. The Oil palm plantation plot presented the highest runoff coefficient (mean RC=32.6%), twice that measured under grasslands (mean RC=15.3%) and 20-fold greater than in secondary forest (mean RC=1.7%). A Thornthwaite-type water balance is proposed to assess the impact of land cover and climate change scenarios over water availability for rural communities in Osa Region. Climate change projections were obtained by the downscaling of BCM2, CNCM3 and ECHAM5 models. Precipitation and temperature were averaged and conveyed by the A1B, A2 and B1 IPCC climate scenario for 2030, 2060 and 2080. Precipitation simulations exhibit a positive increase during the dry season for the three scenarios and a decrease during the rainy season, with the highest magnitude (up to 25%) by the end of the 21st century under scenario B1. Monthly mean temperature simulations increase for the three scenarios throughout the year with a maximum increase during the dry season of 5% under A1B and A2 scenarios and 4% under B1 scenario. The Thornthwaite-type Water Balance model indicates important decreases of water surplus for the three climate scenarios during the rainy season, with a maximum decrease on May, which under A1B scenario drop up to 20%, under A2 up to 40% and under B1 scenario drop up to almost 60%. Land cover scenarios were created taking into account current land cover dynamics of the region. Land cover scenario 1 projects a deforestation situation, with forests decreasing up to 15% due to urbanization of the upper catchment areas; land cover scenario 2 projects a forest recovery situation where forested areas increase due to grassland abandonment on areas with more than 30% of slope. Deforestation scenario projects an annual water surplus decrease of 15% while the reforestation scenario projects a water surplus increase of almost 25%. This water balance analysis indicates that climate scenarios are equal contributors as land cover scenarios to future water resource estimations.

Spatial divisions of society

The encounter of architecture and urbanism with parcelisation is marked with the sign of a historical debt. Parcelisation is a tremendously powerful design tool. Architecture and urban planning attest to its capacity to shape sociospatial relations across a range of scales and contexts. From Renaissance palazzi to modernist slabs, from nation-wide agrarian reforms and Haussmann’s Paris to Christopher Alexander’s new theory of urban design and Michael Webb’s Suitaloon — most of the historical revolutions and experimental projects that have shaken these fields have relied, consciously or not, on a critique and restructuration of inherited divisions of land and space. The layout of parcel patterns has a series of implications including forms of property, the divide between private and public realms, the distribution of spatial contents and uses through zoning, typological decisions and so forth. The behaviour of any urban structure depends on the tissue of plots that configures the urban fabric and many of the challenges urban design faces today —complexity, urban vitality, social equality, etc.— hinge upon the forms of land division and distribution we adopt.

Bioaccessibility of metals and human health risk assessment in community urban gardens

Pseudo-total (i.e. aqua regia extractable) and gastric-bioaccessible (i.e. glycine + HCl extractable) concentrations of Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn were determined in a total of 48 samples collected from six community urban gardens of different characteristics in the city of Madrid (Spain). Calcium carbonate appears to be the soil property that determines the bioaccessibility of a majority of those elements, and the lack of influence of organic matter, pH and texture can be explained by their low levels in the samples (organic matter) or their narrow range of variation (pH and texture). A conservative risk assessment with bioaccessible concentrations in two scenarios, i.e. adult urban farmers and children playing in urban gardens, revealed acceptable levels of risk, but with large differences between urban gardens depending on their history of land use and their proximity to busy areas in the city center. Only in a worst-case scenario in which children who use urban gardens as recreational areas also eat the produce grown in them would the risk exceed the limits of acceptability

Aplicación de nuevas tecnologías en la Arqueología de la Guerra Civil Española: Los Yesares, Pinto (Madrid. Application of new technologies in archeology of the Civil War:The Yesares, Pinto (Madrid.

ABSTRACT: The surveys carried out in the municipality of Pinto (Madrid) have enabled us to locate various structural remains linked to the military operations that took place around the capital during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). In order to identify and record them, surveys were complemented with the use of GPS and air photographs from different time periods. Afterwards, and in collaboration with researchers from various universities, further methods aimed at generating a complete special representation of the area were applied directly to one of the sites which produced the best results, known as "los Yesares". These methods include topographic mapping that resulted in cartographic material at different scales, the photographic recording with flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and the use of land scanners and GPS-corrected photogrammetrics with which to obtain 3D models.

Economics of Wheat in Egypt

Este estudio pretende estimar la eficiencia y la productividad de las principales provincias de la producción de trigo en Egipto. Los datos utilizados en este estudio son datos de panel a nivel de provincias del período 1990-2012, obtenidos del Ministerio de Agricultura y Recuperación Tierras, y de la Agencia Central de Movilización Pública y Estadística, Egipto. Se aplica el enfoque de fronteras estocásticas para medir la eficiencia (función de producción de Cobb-Douglas) y se emplean las especificaciones de Battese y Coelli (1992) y (1995). También se utiliza el índice de Malmquist como una aproximación no paramétrica (Análisis de Envolvente de Datos) para descomponer la productividad total de los factores de las principales provincias productoras de trigo en Egipto en cambio técnico y cambio de eficiencia. El coeficiente de tierra es positivo y significativo en los dos especificaciones Battese y Coelli (1992) y (1995), lo que implica que aumentar la tierra para este cultivo aumentaría significativamente la producción de trigo. El coeficiente de trabajo es positivo y significativo en la especificación de Battese y Coelli (1992), mientras que es positivo y no significativo en la especificación de Battese y Coelli (1995). El coeficiente de la maquinaria es negativo y no significativo en las dos especificaciones de Battese y Coelli (1992) y (1995). El coeficiente de cambio técnico es positivo y no significativo en la especificación de Battese y Coelli (1992), mientras que es positiva y significativo en la especificación de Battese y Coelli (1995). Las variables de efectos del modelo de ineficiencia Battese y Coelli (1995) indican que no existe impacto de las diferentes provincias en la producción de trigo en Egipto; la ineficiencia técnica de la producción de trigo tendió a disminuir durante el período de estudio; y no hay ningún impacto de género en la producción de trigo en Egipto. Los niveles de eficiencia técnica varían entre las diferentes provincias para las especificaciones de Battese y Coelli (1992) y (1995); el nivel mínimo medio de eficiencia técnica es 91.61% en la provincia de Fayoum, mientras que el nivel máximo medio de la eficiencia técnica es 98.69% en la provincia de Dakahlia. La eficiencia técnica toma un valor medio de 95.37%, lo que implica poco potencial para mejorar la eficiencia de uso de recursos en la producción de trigo. La TFPCH de la producción de trigo en Egipto durante el período 1990-2012 tiene un valor menor que uno y muestra un declive. Esta disminución es debida más al componente de cambio técnico que al componente de cambio de eficiencia. La disminución de TFPCH mejora con el tiempo. La provincia de Menoufia tiene la menor disminución en TFPCH, 6.5%, mientras que dos provincias, Sharkia y Dakahlia, son las que más disminuyen en TFPCH, 13.1%, en cada uno de ellas. Menos disminución en TFPCH ocurre en el período 2009-2010, 0.3%, mientras que más disminución se produce en TFPCH en el período 1990-1991, 38.9%. La disminución de la PTF de la producción de trigo en Egipto se atribuye principalmente a la mala aplicación de la tecnología. ABSTRACT The objectives of this study are to estimate the efficiency and productivity of the main governorates of wheat production in Egypt. The data used in this study is a panel data at the governorates level, it represents the time period 1990-2012 and taken from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt. We apply the stochastic frontier approach for efficiency measurement (Cobb-Douglas production function) and the specifications of Battese and Coelli (1992) and (1995) are employed. Also we use Malmquist TFP index as a non-parametric approach (DEA) to decompose total factor productivity of the main governorates of wheat production in Egypt into technical change and efficiency change. The coefficient of land is positive and significant at Battese and Coelli (1992) and (1995) specifications, implying that increasing the wheat area could significantly enhance the production of wheat. The coefficient of labor is positive and significant at Battese and Coelli (1992) specification, while it is positive and insignificant at Battese and Coelli (1995) specification. The coefficient of machinery is negative and insignificant at the specifications of Battese and Coelli (1992) and (1995). The technical change coefficient is positive and insignificant at Battese and Coelli (1992) specification, while it is positive and significant at Battese and Coelli (1995) specification. The variables of the inefficiency effect model indicate that there is no impact from the location of the different governorates on wheat production in Egypt, the technical inefficiency of wheat production tended to decrease through the period of study, and there is no impact from the gender on wheat production in Egypt. The levels of technical efficiency vary among the different governorates for the specifications of Battese and Coelli (1992) and (1995); the minimum mean level of technical efficiency is 91.61% at Fayoum governorate, while the maximum mean level of technical efficiency is 98.69% at Dakahlia governorate. The technical efficiency takes an average value of 95.37%, this implying that little potential exists to improve resource use efficiency in wheat production. The TFPCH of wheat production in Egypt during the time period 1990-2012 has a value less than one and shows a decline; this decline is due mainly to the technical change component than the efficiency change component. The decline in TFPCH is generally improves over time. Menoufia governorate has the least declining in TFPCH by 6.5%, while two governorates, Sharkia and Dakahlia have the most declining in TFPCH by 13.1% for each of them. The least declining in TFPCH occurred at the period 2009- 2010 by 0.3%, while the most declining in TFPCH occurred at the period 1990-1991 by 38.9%. The declining in TFP of wheat production in Egypt is attributed mainly to poor application of technology.

Approach to the potential production of giant reed in surplus saline lands of Spain

Growing energy crops on marginal land has been promoted as a way of ensuring that biomass production involves an acceptable and sustainable use of land. Saline and saline-prone agricultural lands represent an opportunity for growing energy crops avoiding the displacement of food production and contributing to restoration of degraded land. Giant reed (Arundo donax L.) is a perennial grass that has been proposed as a promising energy crop for lignocellulosic biomass production while its tolerance to salinity has been proved. In this work, the identification of surplus saline lands that could be irrigated with saline waters for growing tolerant-energy crops (giant reed) in the mainland of Spain and the assessment of the agronomically attainable yield in these limiting growing conditions were undertaken. To this purpose, a GIS analysis was conducted using geodatabases related to saline areas, agro-climatic conditions, irrigation water requirements, agricultural land availability, restrictions regarding the range of electrical conductivity tolerated by the crop, competition with agro-food crops and irrigation water provisions. According to the approach developed, the irrigated and saline agricultural area available and suitable for biomass production from giant reed amounted up to 34 412 ha. The agronomically attainable yield in these limiting conditions was estimated at 12.7 – 22.2 t dm ha−1 yr−1 and the potential production of lignocellulosic biomass, 597 338 t dm yr−1. The methodology followed in this study can be applied to other target regions; it allows the identification of this type of marginal lands, where salinity-tolerant plant species could be grown for bioenergy purposes, avoiding competition with agro-food crops, and where soil restoration measurements should be undertaken.

Mies van der Rohe's Illinois Institute of Technology: Analysis and History of a Compositive Development = El IIT de Mies van der Rohe: análisis e historia de un proceso compositivo

The Illinois Institute of Technology (iit) campus, Chicago, by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is often considered as a transitional work, usually acknowledged as significant for the reorientation of his professional career after he emigrated to the United States. Moreover, its favorable recognition today is somehow indicative of its relevance as a model for urban intervention in the contemporary American city and for contemporary city planning in general, not to mention the profound impact that it had on the cityscape of Chicago. However, today we know it was rather the result of a close collaboration between he and Ludwig Hilberseimer —later on, to be completed with Alfred Caldwell— who merged their personal ideas and expertise in the design for the first time. In addition to this, when one tries to locate the design within its own historical context and evaluate the sources of its approach to it, some contradictions arise. The major impact of the images produced by Mies to promote its realization —widely disseminated in most contemporary architectural periodicals— probably outshined the particular circumstances in which the design was conceived. In fact, it would never be materialized as originally presented, but it was, instead, continuously reworked according to land availability in the site —a circumstance often ignored by subsequent architectural critic, that enthusiastically praised the design even before it was fully completed. One of the main consequences of looking at iit from such a standpoint is that, when historically contextualized, one can appreciate that, due to the urban scale of its implementation process, the design had to face a complex reality very different to that initially planned by the architect, often far from his actual possibilities of intervention. Such approach is in contradiction with the common description of the design as a ‘tabula rasa’ that allegedly would have been formulated on the basis of a full denial of its context. On the contrary, the ever-changing circumstances of the design motivated a necessary re-interpretation of the relation between its executed fragments, in order to keep the original identity of the whole in an ever-changing context. This situation implied a continuous transformation of the design by means of a steady re-composition of its elements: as the number of completed buildings increased in its successive stages, their relation to their site-specific context changed, in a very particular process that these lines try to delineate. Requiring decades to be erected, neither of its authors would ever see the design finished as planned, partially because of the difficulties in acquiring the extension of land that it required. Considering the study of this process as able to provide a valuable gateway to understand the urban discourse that the architects entailed, the aim of these lines is to analyze the problems that the iit campus design had to face. As a starting point, a relationship between practice and theory in the activity of the authors implied in iit campus design has been assumed. Far from being interrupted during World War ii, strong historical evidence can be found to infer that both were developed in parallel. Consequently, the historical sequence of the preserved testimonies has been put into context, as well as their transformation while Mies remained in charge for the campus Master Plan. Notably, when seen from this perspective, some ideas already expressed during his previous European practice were still present during the design process. Particularly, Mies's particular understanding of certain architectural concepts — such as those of ‘order’ and ‘structure’—can be traced paralleling the theories about urban planning from his collaborators, a fact that possibly facilitated the campus successful development. The study of the way these ideas were actually redeveloped and modified in the American urban context, added to the specific process of the implementation of iit campus design, sheds a new light for a critical interpretation of the reasons that made it possible, and of the actual responsibility of Mies's collaborators in its overall development and final completion. RESUMEN El campus del Illinois Institute of Technology (iit) de Chicago, obra del arquitecto Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, es a menudo considerado como una obra de transición que, por lo general, ha venido siendo reconocida como relevante para la reorientación de su carrera profesional posterior a su exilio en los Estados Unidos. El reconocimiento del que goza el proyecto es indicativo, de algún modo, de su importancia como modelo para la intervención urbana en la ciudad norteamericana contemporánea y el planeamiento de la ciudad contemporánea en general, sin olvidar el profundo impacto que ha tenido sobre el paisaje urbano de Chicago. Sin embargo, hoy sabemos que el resultado se benefició de su estrecha colaboración con Ludwig Hilberseimer y se completaría más tarde con la de Alfred Caldwell, quienes unieron sus ideas y experiencia profesional en el proyecto por primera vez. Asimismo, cuando se intenta ubicar el proyecto dentro de su propio contexto histórico y evaluar los criterios de su manera de abordarlo, surgen algunas contradicciones. El considerable impacto de las imágenes producidas por Mies para impulsar su ejecución —ampliamente difundidas en la mayoría de publicaciones de arquitectura de la época— probablemente eclipsó las particulares circunstancias en las que el proyecto fue concebido. De hecho, nunca llegó a materializarse tal y como fue inicialmente presentado. Por contra, fue reelaborado de manera continua, de acuerdo a la disponibilidad de suelo en el emplazamiento; una circunstancia a menudo ignorada por la crítica posterior, que elogió con entusiasmo el proyecto antes siquiera de que fuese terminado. Una de las principales consecuencias de contemplar el iit desde semejante punto de vista es que, una vez contextualizada históricamente su puesta en obra, se puede apreciar que el arquitecto tuvo que enfrentarse a una compleja realidad urbana muy diferente a la inicialmente prevista —probablemente debido a la escala del proyecto— a menudo lejos de sus posibilidades reales de intervención. Este enfoque contradice la descripción habitual del proyecto como una ‘tabula rasa’, que supuestamente se habría formulado sobre la base de una negación completa de su contexto. Por el contrario, las circunstancias cambiantes del proyecto obligaron una necesaria reinterpretación de la relación entre sus frag mentos ejecutados, con el fin de mantener la identidad original del conjunto en un contexto en constante cambio. Esta situación implicó una continua transformación del proyecto por medio de una permanente re-composición de sus elementos: según se incrementaba el número de edificios construidos en las etapas sucesivas de desarrollo del conjunto, variaba su relación con el contexto específico en que se emplazaban, en un proceso muy particular que estas líneas tratan de perfilar. Al necesitar décadas para ser levantado, ninguno de sus autores vería el conjunto terminado según lo planificado, en parte debido a las dificultades para la adquisición de la extensión de suelo que demandaba. Asumiendo que el estudio de este proceso es capaz de proporcionar una valiosa puerta de entrada para elucidar el discurso urbano asumido por los Mies, el objetivo de estas líneas es analizar los problemas a los que el proyecto del campus del iit tuvo que enfrentarse. Como punto de partida, se ha supuesto una relación entre la práctica y la teoría en la actividad de los autores implicados en el proyecto del campus del iit. Lejos de interrumpirse durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, existen evidencias históricas sólidas para deducir que ambas vertientes se desarrollaron en paralelo. En consecuencia, se ha contextualizado la secuencia histórica de los testimonios conservados, así como su transformación durante el periodo en que Mies estuvo a cargo del Plan General del campus. Significativamente, al ser contempladas bajo esta perspectiva, algunas ideas ya expresadas durante su práctica europea anterior resultan aún presentes durante la redacción del proyecto. En concreto, se puede trazar un paralelismo entre la comprensión particular de Mies de ciertos conceptos arquitectónicos —como los de ‘orden’ y ‘estructura’— y las teorías sobre el urbanismo de sus colaboradores, hecho que posiblemente facilitó el exitoso desarrollo del proyecto. El estudio de la manera en que estas ideas fueron reelaboradas y modificadas en el contexto urbano estadounidense, sumado al proceso específico de su aplicación en el proyecto del campus del iit, arroja una nueva luz para una interpretación crítica tanto de las razones que lo hicieron posible, como del papel real que los colaboradores de Mies tuvieron en su desarrollo y ejecución final.