Use and spatial patterns of newly developed public squares in urban villages in Shenzhen

This paper investigates the use and spatial patterns of newly developed public squares in urban villages in the City of Shenzhen, China. Given the lack of information about how this type of public space has been used by the Chinese, this paper provides insights that enable the development of more user friendly public space in China. The research is based on the fieldwork carried out in 2014 to examine public squares in four urban villages in Shenzhen. Direct observation and activity mapping have been used as major methodology for this research. The focus of this paper will be placed not only the formal aspects such as the design aspiration, scale and provision of public amenity, but also on the usage that includes types of users, there daily activity as well as their location preference.

Visualising dynamic passivation and localised corrosion processes occurring on buried steel surfaces under the effect of anodic transients

A new method of visualising dynamically changing electrode processes has been demonstrated by mapping localised corrosion processes occurring on buried steel surfaces under the effect of anodic transients. Dynamically shifting external electrical interferences such as anodic transients are known to affect the efficiency of cathodic protection (CP) of underground pipelines; however unfortunately conventional techniques including electrochemical methods have difficulties in measuring such effects. In this paper we report that the wire beam electrode has necessary temporal and spatial resolutions required for measuring and visualising the dynamic effects of anodic transients on CP, passivation and localised corrosion processes occurring on buried steel surfaces. For the first time a critical anodic transient duration has been observed and explained as the incubation period for the breakdown of passivity and the initiation of localised corrosion.

Caught between nationalism and internationalism : replicating histories of Antarctica in Hobart

In December 2013, a replica of Mawsons Hut (a historic structure in Antarctica) joined a growing list of polar tourist attractions in the Australian city of Hobart, Tasmania. Initially promoted as the citys latest tourist hotspot, the replica museum quickly took its place in Hobarts newly redeveloped waterfront, reinforcing the citys identity as an Antarctic Gateway. The hut forms part of a heritage cluster, an urban assemblage that weaves together the local and national, the past and present, the familiar and remote. In this article, we examine the replica hut in relation to the complex temporal and spatial relations that give it meaning, and to which it gives meaning. Our focus is the hut as a point of convergence between memory, material culture and the histories-and possible futures-of nationalism and internationalism. We argue that the replica hut, as a key site of Hobarts Antarctic heritage tourism industry, reproduces and prioritises domestic readings of exploration and colonisation over a reading of Antarctic engagement as a transnational endeavour. However, like other gateway city heritage sites, it has the potential for aligning with a larger trend in international heritage conservation and heritage diplomacy, that of prioritising narratives of the past that weave together transnational connections and associations.