Notation timelines and the aesthetics of disappearance

Contemporary cities are frequently surrounded by transitional landscapes: ambiguous lands, non-places on the urban edge, commonly experienced under the condition of speed. Although variously shaped by processes of urbanisation, logistics of road engineering, safety and ownership, and local people's lives, for travellers such landscapes are usually perceived in a state of disappearance. This condition presents a major challenge for the traditional methods used in architecture and urban design. For designers interested in the organisation and design of such mobility routes for the engagement of the traveller, a method of scripting based on notation timelines would provide a helpful supplement to traditional master plans. This paper explores the development of such a method and its roots in time-based arts, such as dance, music and film, as well as in the recent history of architecture and urban design. It does so through the presentation of an experimental study based on a real route, the train journey from London to Stansted airport.

The new suburban history, New Urbanism and the spaces in between

A review article of three recent books on suburbanization and suburbia in the USA: Andrew Friedman, Covert Capital: Landscapes of Denial and the Making of the US Empire in the Suburbs of Northern Virginia. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2013. 416pp. £19.95 pbk. Elaine Lewinnek, The Working Man's Reward: Chicago's Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 239pp. 20 b&w illustrations. £30.99 hbk. Benjamin Ross, Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 249pp. £20.99 hbk.

Parallel languages in the history of language ideology in Norway and the lesson for Nordic higher education

This chapter compares recent policy on the use of English and Norwegian in Higher Education with earlier policies on the relationship between the two standard varieties of Norwegian, and it charts how and why English became a policy issue in Norway. Based on the experience of over a century of language planning, a highly interventionist approach is today being avoided and language policies in the universities of Norway seek to nurture a situation where English and Norwegian may be used productively side-by-side. However, there remain serious practical challenges to be overcome. This paper also builds on a previous analysis (Linn 2010b) of the metalanguage of Nordic language policy and seeks to clarify the use of the term ‘parallelingualism’.

Television history: archives, excavation and the future. A discussion

This article considers possible futures for television (TV) studies, imagining how the discipline might evolve more productively over the next 10 years and what practical steps are necessary to move towards those outcomes. Conducted as a round-table discussion between leading figures in television history and archives, the debate focuses on the critical issue of archives, considering and responding to questions of access/inaccessibility, texts/contexts, commercial/symbolic value, impact and relevance. These questions reflect recurrent concerns when selecting case studies for historical TV research projects: how difficult is it to access the material (when it survives)? What obstacles might be faced (copyright, costs, etc.) when disseminating findings to a wider public? The relationship between the roles of ‘researcher’ and ‘archivist’ appears closer and more mutually supportive in TV studies than in other academic disciplines, with many people in practice straddling the traditional divide between the two roles, combining specialisms that serve to further scholarship and learning as well as the preservation of, and broad public engagements with, collections. The Research Excellence Framework’s imperative for academic researchers to achieve ‘impact’ in broader society encourages active and creative collaboration with those based in public organizations, such as the British Film Institute (BFI), who have a remit to reach a wider public. The discussion identifies various problems and successes experienced in collaboration between the academic, public and commercial sectors in the course of recent and ongoing research projects in TV studies.