Informed Cities looks at the knowledge brokerage processes between cities and higher education institutions; and in particular evaluates governance mechanisms for monitoring local sustainability and the role of research within this. The first part of the book provides an analysis of tools for governing sustainable cities and develops a typology of existing tools. It then considers approaches to monitor local sustainability on a European level; focusing on a number of key tools such as the Covenant of Mayors; Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities; and Green Capital Award. The second part of the book introduces an explorative application of two tools that the author team have used in practice to monitor local sustainability; Urban Ecosystems Europe and Local Evaluation 21; presenting and evaluating European level data collected from local governments. The third part of the book looks deeper into a number of case studies discussing how a working and rewarding city-university connection can be created and nourished in an administrative and political setting. Finally; the last part of the book reflects on lessons learned from the application of the tools and accompanying research process and makes recommendations for further developing monitoring tools for urban sustainability on a European level.This book will be essential reading for professionals in urban and regional planning who are tasked with monitoring the effects of sustainability policies; as well as for graduate students in planning; environmental governance; sustainable development and related disciplines.
#2189470 in eBooks 2013-10-31 2013-10-31File Name: B00GDC7IAO
Review
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful. Infinitely more than an Art CriticBy Laurence R. BachmannDescribing Robert Hughes as merely an art critic (even if you think him a great one) seems a diminishment. Love or loath his opinions but give the man his due: his prose are beautiful and buoyed by wit and erudition. For that alone one should read (and reread) The Spectacle of Skill. Its a compilation of essays and excerpt chapters that are absolutely breathtaking in their content and style. History; travel; politics; culture (and the business of culture); ethics; fishing; High Trash as well as familial loss and failure are some of the topics Hughes turns his attention to. And oh; yes; artists and the art world.Two sentences in the spectacle of skill tell you all one needs to know about the man: "I am completely an elitist; in the cultural but emphatically not the social sense. I prefer the good to the bad; the articulate to the mumbling; the aesthetically developed to the merely primitive; and full to partial consciousness. I love the spectacle of skill; whether its an expert gardener at work or a good carpenter chopping dovetails...I dont think stupid or ill-read people are as good to be with as wise and fully literate ones." I find I disagree as often as not with Hughes. I continually return to read his critical opinions because they are informed; knowledgeable and have a moral as well as an aesthetic or political slant. He can also be hilariously funny and scathingly dismissive--Julian Schnabel; collectibles; Interview magazine; and television are favorite targets.As a critic; Hughes is fiercely passionate and honest. Two virtues anyone can admire; but few acquire. His love of Miro and Picasso is steeped in their foundational skills: as modern artists they dismissed classic forms once they learned them. They actually took the trouble to unlearn them. His contempt for Schnabel and late-Warhol is based on the formers inability to even draw and the latters apparent determination to elevate the banal to an aesthetic level. Happily for us; he despised cant (artists comparing their works to Kristallnacht beware). Reading the turgid excerpts from gallery shows hes visited is a highlight; as are his quotes from the culture rags of the 80s. Hughes was renowned for his campaigns against bombast and corruption: two afflictions that were and apparently still are epidemic in the art world. His campaign against the casual bribes of his profession was courageous and solitary.His homage to Barcelona and to Antoni Gaudi are a smorgasbord to be savored; gorging readers on courses of history; Spanish politics and chauvinism; urban blight; Catalan cuisine; Joan Miro; surrealism; modernism and the religiosity of Catalunyas premiere architect. It is a breathtaking whirlwind; all the more impressive because I never particularly cared for Gaudis overwrought; lachrymose style. I dont like it much better now but do appreciate the effort and thinking that went into it. Particularly its artisanal; organic and oriental underpinnings. We are in full accord about the appalling continuum that has become the Sacre Familia and I will not try to top a master at his dismissive best:[it] is the most blatant mass of half-digested modernist cliches to be plunked on a notable building within living memory. It is sincere in the way that only the worst art can be...Art historians of the future will point to it; no doubt; as the precise moment when the public religious art of Catholic Europe died.In all collections; some works are less impressive. Personally; I never need to read another essay or article insisting upon the joys of fishing. Halfway through Hughes paean to hooks; lines and sinkers I found my eyes glazing over; my mind wandering. His essay Long Island; would also; I thought; be less than riveting but it proved to be a delight. The writing is lyrical the observations fresh; proving again that the commonplace need not be banal. And of course; there are those artists! Wonderful appreciations of Rothko and Hopper; Pollock and Eakins and two particularly fine chapters on Goya that should be required reading for every lover of art and creativity. They are essays infused with wonder and passion for a true artistic genius.To his credit; Hughes was as fiercely critical of himself as others. His dissipated youth is reviewed in detail and his tragic failure as a parent is unflinchingly revealed. If there is tragedy and travesty in The Spectacle of Skill there is also a tremendous appreciation of greatness and accomplishment. These essays are never just about artists or paintings; cities visited or glitzy trends. Art and Art History are the springboards Hughes uses to dive deep into timeless cultural; social and political topics. It would be a shame if you didnt take the plunge with him.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Jon AppletonDont appreciate critics but Hughes gives insight into our recent artistic past relevant today.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Arthur ShapiroNot enough about art criticism