Debating contemporary urban conflicts: A survey of selected scholars

This survey presents the results of a questionnaire sent to a list of key scholars and professionals in fields related to urban processes and planning – town planning, geography, sociology, architecture and anthropology. The survey raised four simple, straightforward questions. What are the most pressing conflicts with regard to contemporary cities? What are the main fields of action for solving them? How can your discipline contribute with respect to this task? Could you mention an intervention that could serve as an example of that line of work? The response represents a plural and multidisciplinary perspective on contemporary urban issues from which a series of research and intervention perspectives emerges.

Contemporary eden: the transmigration of paradise tales, into edenic architectures today

This document proceeds from the research for my doctoral thesis titled This thesis is about the subject of Eden or paradise in architecture, to understand its concepts and be able to generate a general model to generate architecture that places us in a virtual way in paradisiacal places, in holidays as well as in daily life. It also seeks to build a system of measure to be used to turn into Eden the previously non “Edenic”. A comparative measuring system to know where we are in relation to how much Eden is present in places to intervene, or project. Eden; Tale, Image and Project. The zones of the thesis that are related to this congress are those related to the use of this tale, idea and image of the collective unconscious, when it comes to projecting a place that locates us physically, mentally and in our mood in paradise.

Feo, inútil, inestable: pensamiento crítico contemporáneo y procesos proyectivos en arquitectura = Ugly, useless, unstable: contemporary critical thought and projective processes in architecture

La presente tesis doctoral persigue dos objetivos simultáneos: Determinar el alcance de los criterios clásicos para la evaluación de arquitectura y poner en crisis la prevalencia de esos mismos criterios dentro del marco crítico y productivo actual. En concreto, esta tesis se interroga sobre la posible contribución de determinadas corrientes del pensamiento post-estructuralista y neo-materialista a las tareas de expansión y transformación de los criterios clásicos antes mencionados. Asimismo, se plantea la oportunidad de formalizar estas incorporaciones conceptuales como metodologías para el proyectar arquitectónico. La tesis emplea un análisis pormenorizado de las cualidades implícitas en la triada Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas elaborada por Vitruvio como vehículo para calibrar la influencia de los paradigmas de pensamiento clásico en nuestras posiciones críticas contemporáneas. Como reacción al carácter dominante de dichos paradigmas, y con la ayuda de una compilación selectiva de ejemplos procedentes de los campos artístico y arquitectónico, la presente tesis procede a examinar y clasificar diversas estrategias arquitectónicas basadas en la no conformidad con los criterios clásicos de evaluación de la disciplina. A la hora de realizar esta tarea, y con el objetivo de superar el dualismo trascendental que caracteriza la gran mayoría de dichos criterios clásicos, se propone un modelo analítico y multidimensional que formula las instancias arquitectónicas como posibles posiciones dentro de un extenso continuo combinatorio de cualidades formales, estructurales y organizativas. Este modelo conceptual permite replantear el aparente antagonismo entre los principios de Vitruvio y sus opuestos, estableciendo en su lugar un dominio operativo continuo de producción arquitectónica. Esta operación abre una ventana de oportunidad para expandir los límites del marco crítico actual más allá de las fronteras establecidas por nuestra herencia clásica. En consecuencia con esta voluntad, la presente tesis pretende habilitar un ámbito para el análisis crítico de las estrategias que caracterizan ciertas corrientes del proyectar contemporáneo, pero también contribuir a informar nuevas aproximaciones metodológicas al proceso de proyecto, desplazando progresivamente su foco desde lo descriptivo hacia lo proyectivo. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis attempts to simultaneously determine the scope of the classical criteria for the evaluation of architecture and challenge their prevalence within the current framework of architectural production and criticism. It examines how specific strands of post-structuralism and neo-materialism may contribute to both the expansion and the transformation of these criteria and, in doing so, sets itself the goal of mobilising these conceptual incorporations as explicit design methodologies. A detailed analysis of the formal, structural and organisational qualities implicit in Vitruvius’ triad Firmitas, Utilitas, Venustas is used as a starting point to determine the influence of classical paradigms in our current critical positions. As a reaction to this critical pervasiveness, and supported by a curated collection of artistic and architectural works, diverse approaches to non-compliance with the classical criteria of assessment are examined and classified. In order to facilitate this endeavour -and to overcome the transcendental dualism of most classical critical approaches in architecture- this thesis puts forward an analytical, multidimensional model that formulates architectural instances as possible positions within a larger combinatory continuum of formal, structural and organisational qualities. Using this conceptual model, the apparent antagonism between Vitruvius’ principles and its non-compliant opposites is reframed as a continuous operative domain of architectural production, which in turn opens up a window of opportunity to expand the limits of our critical framework beyond the boundaries of classical paradigms. In doing so, this thesis attempts not only to foster a better understanding of some of the strategic approaches that characterise contemporary systems of architectural production, but also to inform future methodological approaches to architectural design, hence situating itself beyond the domain of the descriptive and moving towards the projective.

Black History Month Exhibit: Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons

Opening Doors: Contemporary African American Academic Surgeons is an exhibition celebrating the contributions of African American academic surgeons to medicine and medical education. It tells the stories of four pioneering African American surgeons and educators who exemplify excellence in their fields and believe in continuing the journey of excellence through the education and mentoring younger physicians and surgeons. Through contemporary and historical images, the exhibition takes the visitor on a journey through the lives and achievements of these academic surgeons, and provides a glimpse into the stories of those that came before them and those that continue the tradition today. The exhibition will open at Inman E. Page Library, January 21st, 2016 and close on February 27, 2016.

Harmonic Monads : Reading Contemporary Scottish Fiction through the Enlightenment

Peer reviewed

Jurisdição constitucional e política : interpretativismo, não-interpretativismo e suas alternativas políticas e jurídicas : Teoria estética ? Estudo da obra Contemporary constitutional lawmaking de Lief H. Carter / Marcio Nunes Iorio Aranha Oliveira. --

Inclui notas bibliográficas.

The Politics of Re-(en)visioning: Contemporary British Rewritings of Greek and Roman Tragedies

This thesis examines three different kinds of socio-political rewritings of Greek and Roman tragedies – Sarah Kane’s “Phaedra’s Love”, Tony Harrison’s “Prometheus”, and Martin Crimp’s “Cruel and Tender” – written, staged or screened in Britain (and, more precisely, England) between 1996 and 2004. Offering close readings of these re-visionary appropriations, this dissertation analyses some of the innumerable and unexpected forms that ancient tragedy can assume today. In particular, it explores how three talented British authors have subverted the conventions of the noblest literary and dramatic genre in order to (re)write contemporaneity in ways that oscillate between the personal and the public, the local and the global, the national and the transnational.

Small Town America Under the “Lights:” Contemporary Images of Rural America in the Series Friday Night Lights

Author: Heather K. Smith Title: Small Town America Under the “Lights:” Contemporary Images of Rural America in the Series Friday Night Lights Advisor: Rodney Buxton Degree Date: August 2015 ABSTRACT What is Small Town America? The answer to this varies based on a person’s experiences. This is not always from real-world exposure, but often vicariously through television. For some, television is the only opportunity to create a perception for such areas. For others, television could reinforce or sway their perceptions of Small Town America. Therefore, a comprehension of the identity for Small Town America broadcasted through the small screen is important. This research utilized the theory of semiotics to analyze cinematography and mise-en-scene in the opening credits of Friday Night Lights to unearth the themes and overarching ideology for Small Town America conveyed by the series. A modern depiction of rural America that played on considered “traditional values” arose. Unexpectedly, the research also unveiled the inability for an “authentic” or cohesive identity for Small Town America, or any person, location or group for that matter, to exist.