Thank you London

As I have given up my job I have taken up going to lectures. London hosts an abundance of free lectures every evening at universities, and so far I've at LSE heard distinguished lecturers speak on the subjects of climate change, the sociology of space and global health. I've decided to review the lectures I go to - to help me remember (which is pretty much a necessity!) and to spread the word.

David King spoke on the interrelated challenges the world faces. Population increases (the world's population is projected to be 9 billion in 2050, a 50% growth from current levels) will put pressure on energy security and supply, water resources, health and education, conflict and terror, biodiversity, food production and factors influencing climate change. These are all closely related, as for example an increased population will need more food, there will be less land to produce it on, which will lead to conflicts over water/land/food resources.

The US's choice to use food produce for bio-fuel has already had a considerable global effect in that there is less food available for global food aid, i.e. people are starving that were previously recipients of maize and other crops. Another example was the unwillingness to accept GM rice that can withstand being submerged for up to 3 weeks ("normal" rice can only survive about 6-7 days). The slower, traditional gene-enhancing selective purification has taken 18 years, whereas he postulated that GM could have yielded the same result in just 2 years.

His main points seem to be that science should be used intelligently to solve the global problems mentioned above through focused scientific development, and that regulation and government leadership is imperative to ensure development and innovation. Finally, "the most important change needed is a mental and ideological change" regarding the acceptance and use of science to ensure human life and comfort. His focus on scientific advances as the crux of development and decisions is perhaps a bit questionable, but nevertheless an interesting and challenging position.

Next lecture was Robert Sampson from Harvard speaking on the sociology of spaces, and how perceptions on places are shaped by the degree to which places are (un-)kept/disordered (which is a fairly common conception) and also by the influence of demographics and poverty levels. These factors determine not just the current situation, but also the future through a perceived understanding of the place. It may sound banal, but the way a place is perceived has a strong influence on the development of that place over long periods of time. (I can't find my notes from this one, so I might plump this review up when I locate my notebook!)

Tonight I intended to go to a lecture on urban spaces and representation of social issues through the media of film. It was however cancelled, and instead a random selection landed on another lecture, this one on global health inequalities. It was really interesting and with a great lecturer, Michael Marmot, who's at the forefront of his field (he lead the WHO Commission on Social Determinants on Health).

He showed through a variety of research that health inequality (or inequity, as he called it) is closely related to the economical situation of the population being examined. Furthermore, the economical situation is (as you would expect) closely linked to educational achievements. He gave the example of how medical advances had over a number of years saved 180.000 lives in the US. Educational improvements in the same period and context held the potential to save 1.4 mio. lives.

He said that it had been suggested that this cause, improving the living conditions and health of the world's poor, would be heard more if it was possible to quantify the benefits of improving the education/economy/health of vulnerable communities. His response was in that situation to say that social justice, fairness and empowerment of people should be enough of a reason. I really respect him for this, and wish that more people would accept and value human decency to a further extent than what is currently the case. Politicians rarely make any decisions that don't (presumably) lead to improvements to the economy. But is it not more important to consider the quality of life of people, and to rethink our current infatuation with the "development-is-good mantra"?

An investment of 100 billion USD could give 1 billion people living in slums running water, cooking facilities and toilet facilities, improving their quality of life immensely and reducing the health and economic inequalities (by freeing up time spent queuing for water, less people sharing toilets, etc). This is generally considered an unrealistic pipe-dream of well-wishing do-gooders. In contrast 900 billion USD has just been pumped into failing banks.

I find it interesting that all three lectures focused on the way we perceive the world as important to the development. Again, it seems banal, but these guys, who are all important in their field, stress it, so I don't feel too stupid repeating it.
Positive change is not impossible, it's simply a question of will. Idealist as I am (and I'm actually a bit proud of my "slightly" naive outlook on life in this regard) I believe that it is possible for all of us to make a difference. Things only stay the same as long as we stay the same.

I intend to keep it up. In particular I hope to maintain the statistics of hitting a free reception after 2 out of 3 lectures.

Going batty, uh.. I mean dotty!

So. Here's a little taste of what I'm up to these days:



Presentation's tomorrow and I remarkably feel ok. I have LOADS to do still tonight, but I'm just working away. It makes such a big difference to be doing things for yourself not for some boss you don't really... well... like.

Study madness

So, I've a big presentation on Thursday and I'm getting a bit upset. It's hard to work full time and to study evenings, as I've been telling anyone who cares to know.. I'm no feeling the pinch and project a massive lack of sleep this week.

I've had a pain in my foot (a colleague meant to know that it's a strain caused by overworking it..), and have been laying low on the running and taking anti-inflammatory medicines to keep the pain down. It appears to have worked, and I on the last day of the month completed my 60km goal! Yay! Very satisfactory! My goal for September is 70km, so that should be doable if my foot acts as it should.

And now, back to being worried about uni.

anything but what i should do..

Today I have managed to clean up my laptop (i.e. delete accumulated crap, sort downloaded articles, move unnecessary but amusing pics from my desktop etc...), eat an abundance of Danish candy (own import!) and gaze out the window a fair few times. Plus text and call a number of people. Plus chat to my current stand-in flatmate.

I hope this is not how it'll be the next months.

I'd much rather be out and about.

Pooooor, poor, me. Sob.

fall has come

I was sitting in the park a few days ago when a small leaf landed on my bag. It is now an unavoidable fact: The seasons have turned, and what was a wet, confusing, painful, caring, tough, self-investigating summer is over. It is fall.

The new students have been arriving in the last couple of days, and it seems such a long and such a short while since we ourselves commenced this course. This evening my coursemates will be opening the exhibition of their work of the year. I will not have any work on show. It is odd, to have been a part of this group lke everyone else, and yet not to complete together with them. I chose it, and I accept my decision (and try my best to laud it, actually), but it is not easy at all times. Au contraire.

Tomorrow I have my first "real" job interview. Scary, thrilling and slightly disconcerting. There's a full programme of 2 hours (!) including me holding a 10-minute presentation on my skills, Q&A, showing project work examples and a written test. I think that it's really a lot! I just hope I get to walk out of that room with a good feeling's all.

Less than 45 minutes to the exhibition. Judging by how jittery I feel, they must be nervous wrecks.

Hopefully the new season will not just be an end to all that is known, but rather an opportunity to begin afresh and anew.

Rain also has its charms.

Crit in 2 hours and 21 minutes..

Pulling a trusted allnighter is somehow comforting; I feel that I'm doing all that I can do. However, perhaps a bit of planning and motivation at an earlier stage might provide another type of comfort - and a bit more relaxation in the process.

Note to self: Do not simply contemplate setting up a structure for your studies. Actually do it.

Group work as opposed to individual work

What is more important: To be able to participate satisfactorily in group work or to be able to work entirely individually?

I sincerely hope that having capabilities in the group work category will bring me far in my upcoming career, 'cause my individual skills are truly lacking. It's just easier for me to be motivated when I'm working *with* someone.. I'm beginning to think that this "being independent"- thing is something I'll have to battle with forever, at least with regards to urban design :.)

I have got only two months to do some seriously sweet urban design work on my own, so I had better get going on a steep learning curve! Tomorrow, to the British Library, where I cannot procrastinate, at least not without getting so bored that I fall asleep.. which is then again also a challenge to my studies.. but it's better, at least I get SOME work done!

Here's a nice peaceful pic from Nordhavn in Copenhagen to wrap up a post about something entirely different..! Enjoyed a couple of hours with my dear childhood friend there (know her for 26 years!), watching the boats sail by and soaking up the last rays of the sun..


It's off to bed for me, so, one love to y'all, thanks for dropping by my very irregularly updated blog of sorts.

the neverending story...

I remember hearing about a book, written with red and green ink, and which would continue in a coherent fashion if you were to re-start it once finished. I was very fascinated by this and naturally read it as soon as I could ahold of it. I read virtually anything I could get my hands on back then, incuding the dictionary and any obscure mathematical/feminist books stored by my parents. Amazing as the book was, I didn't have the energy to re-read the book after the first go, at least not more than a few pages. I was however striken by the weaving of story lines and time that was necessary in order to create this endless loop of a book.

Now I find myself in a situation, that seems similar. Whenever I "finish" something, I need to redo it. Doing my portfolio for this semester, I am virtually redoing it all (and I am sure that I could easily redo it all once more when I am done) in order to make it just remotely attractive to the tutors. Perhaps not "just" like in the book, but the general drift is there. This is one long year of studies. And I am NOT impressed by the weaving and general messiness of this course.

∞

edited to add...

UD overdose?

Even though I seriously (err, relatively seriously) considered changing my career into that of a house wife the day before the crit, a few days of relaxing can do a lot for a struggling mind.

It was quite inspiring to see the other students' work during the two crit-days, a lot of very different ground is being covered. However, there is a strong tendency towards landscape/ecological systems/land tracings etc. My project is also in this field, dealing with the meeting of town and countryside in all kinds of ways. The project seeks to create a new form of city that is based on an analytical and relational reading and interpretation of landscape and town. Existing and desired building blocks of nature (hedgerows, watercourses, path systems, enclaves of plants) and of town (a variety of building typologies, programmes) are used to create an overlay that generates the new development. This is guided by basic principles of sustainability, connectivity, an inter-relational evolution between the town and the countryside. Really quite interesting. Unfortunately, due to time issues, we didn't manage to conclude the process, which was and is still very frustrating... Now that the crit's over, it's time to move on to the portfolio hand-in next Friday.. A week after that, the submission of a 6000 word essay, and a week later another crit. This time we're to propose the subject of our thesis project and report... Another 3 busy weeks ahead.

Perhaps I'll have a relapse to my desire to become a house wife during that period.

More 'n more...

How many sketches can I draw that illustrate the same concept? Incredible.

Over the last three weeks I've been feeling the result of what I guess could be called an urban designer's "writer's block" - to the effect that I can't move on from the point I've reached in the design process. Very, very frustrating as the project needs to be finished before the end of the month... ARGHH!

Hopefully I can now move on, having procrastinated/struggled for such a long time. I need to. Gotta pass the project. Only problem iiiiis...... it's summer outside! 20 degrees and neighbours hanging out in the garden all day, enjoying themselves. Bugger!

info overload

Lately I've been feeling that I have waay to many things going on (or irons in the fire, as we say in Danish)....!

Basketball is coming to a close for the year - meaning that we have been training, like, 4 times a week lately! Like the "good old days", almost.. Tomorrow's a knock-out game against a supposedly horridly bad team, and next weekend is the finals tournament in Sheffield - a full 3½ days. Hopefully we'll walk away the champions of the British University Sports Association's Women's Basketball League! We have a few tough games ahead, and I am looking forward to it.

However, uni is also pushing ahead, and a new draft of my essay on social sustainability in planning processes is due soon. Plus, we have a preliminary crit (i.e. critique/presentation) in the main project real soon (in which we are studying temporal development and planning, flexibility in the built environment etc). And, we have a number of lectures every Tuesday, which again deal with entirely different issues. Today was Sir Terry Farrell, who turned out to be an incredibly inspiring and knowledgable fella with a lot to say about London and the processes involved in making city.

Not to mention my continuous discussions on religion and society with my contact in the "muslim world".

I'm not complaining.

It's just a lot to handle, even for my multitasking-accustomed brain. Somehow, I just hope that I can manage to juggle all these inputs, 'cause actually I find all of them very... shall we say, educational.

3

3 weeks gone already... This is gonna be one swift year!

Did a presentation on cities' consumption patterns and the influences of this on the built environment. Quite interesting, actually, although not a subject I had ever imagined studying! Perhaps my interest and joy in food actually came in handy....!

Have had family visiting the previous 2 weekends. Quite nice.