COBie and beyond

Posted on: 30 January 2014
By: mackene
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COBie stands for Construction Operations Building Information Exchange, and is concerned with the organisation and structuring of information. This is information that is essential not only to the design and construction of a built asset, but also its operation and maintenance. Gathering this information at the end of the job, which is common practice, is expensive since most of the information has to be recreated from information created earlier. The COBie approach is to enter the information data as it is produced during design, construction and commissioning. So, for example, designers provide floor, space and equipment layouts and contractors provide make, model and serial numbers of installed equipment. It is the formal process that helps organise information about new and existing facilities.

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Towards a sustainable and just city region? Looking at Berlin, London and Paris. Berlin, 29 November 2013

Posted on: 30 January 2014
By: mackene
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This is the third seminar of the Regional Studies Association’s Research Network on Government Metropolitan Regions within a Localist Agenda. Berlin is currently in the process of developing a new spatial development strategy, the Stadtentwicklungskonzept 2030 (StEK 2030). Other plans and policies to shape the growing metropolitan region are also well under way, such as the new housing strategy and a new strategy of how to deal with municipal real estate. Many of these policies have been influenced by civil society stakeholders who demand a more sustainable development of the city, both in terms of climate change and socially. Extensive public participation processes have been launched to come up with development strategies, which will be perceived as ‘just’ while at the same time supporting Berlin’s economic growth. The conference discussed the proposed strategies and participatory approaches and whether they are as ‘just’ and ‘sustainable’ as promised. It will look at similar proposals in London and Paris and explore what these new approaches mean regarding current debates on governance, localism or sustainable urban development. Presentations and a report of the event are available online.

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Tourism statistics: nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments

Posted on: 29 January 2014
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This article focuses on the short-term evolutions in the nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union (EU). October 2013 data are compared with October 2012. In addition – and to smoothen fluctuations – data from January 2013 to October 2013 are compared with the same period of the previous year. Furthermore, the article includes estimates for the year-to-year evolution of the total number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments for the entire year 2013.

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Construction Skills Network: Blueprint for construction 2014-2018

Posted on: 29 January 2014
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The Construction Industry Training Board’s latest Construction Skills Network (CSN) forecasts that the industry will need to recruit 182,000 new entrants over the next five years, but most of these will be just to replace those leaving. However, by 2018 employment levels will still be 196,000 below the peak. The CSN is forecasting 2% growth this year, and 2.2% average growth for the next five years. This is a more optimistic outlook than this time last year, when CITB’s economists were predicting construction output to grow by less than 1% a year over the five years to 2017. The CSN also gives regional and sub-sector breakdowns in its forecasts to 2018.

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Smart cities: Reflections on efforts to standardize a new concept

Posted on: 29 January 2014
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The British Standards Institution is due to publish a Smart Cities ‘PAS’ (Publicly Available Specification) in the very near future.  Simon Joss, one of the International Eco-Cities Forum Managers at University of Westminster was a member of the Steering Group in charge of drafting and reviewing the PAS 180. He has written a short blog piece on the experience, reflecting on some of the challenges involved.

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Built today, treasured tomorrow: A good practice guide to long-term stewardship

Posted on: 29 January 2014
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The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have launched a good practice guide to long term stewardship models, inspired by the garden city principles of community rights, ownership and asset management to create the beautiful, inclusive and sustainable communities of the future. The guide aims to demonstrate how we can ensure that the new parks, community centres, arts centres and other assets of great value to local people created within new developments are well looked after in perpetuity. It sets out tried-and-tested methods of securing a good long-term future for community assets such as parks, community buildings, health centres, local energy sources, and community transport. It also explains how imaginative approaches to funding and management can empower local communities to take control or have a say in the running of local assets.

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Social media for better events

Posted on: 29 January 2014
By: mackene
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This video presentation focuses on how to use social media technology for better events.

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EMBARQ

Posted on: 29 January 2014
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EMBARQ’s mission is to catalyze and help implement sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities. Since 2002, the EMBARQ network has expanded to Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Turkey and the Andean Region, collaborating with local transport authorities to reduce pollution, improve public health, and create safe, accessible and attractive urban public spaces. The network employs more than 120 experts in fields ranging from architecture to air quality management; geography to journalism; and sociology to civil and transport engineering.

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Community renewable electricity generation: Potential sector growth to 2020

Posted on: 28 January 2014
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An independent report commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change that assesses the potential of Community Energy generation under different scenarios.

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Dynamics of colonial urbanism: a view from Israel/Palestine

Posted on: 28 January 2014
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This is a video of a talk by Dr Haim Yacobi, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University as well as an architect and planner. The term “mixed cities” is widely used in Israel, describing an urban situation in which Jewish and Arab communities occupy the same urban jurisdiction. However, a critical examination questions this terminology that brings to mind integration and mutual membership of society, while reality is controversial. Similar to other cases of ethnic nationalism, a clear spatial and mental division exists between Arabs and Jews in Israel, and hence the occurrence of “mixed” spaces is both exceptional and involuntary. Rather, it has resulted from a historical process during which the Israeli territory, including previously Arab cities, has been profoundly Judaized. In this process, the Palestinian community remaining in Israel following the 1948 war, has become a marginalized and dispossessed minority. Beyond the significant effect of the social and political processes, the ex-Palestinian urban fabric has been dramatically transformed. 

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