Urban Geography

""Nel considerare l’impatto dei fenomeni migratori sulle città italiane, solo di rado l’attenzione viene rivolta al portato dei migranti in termini di diversità religiosa, e sull’impatto che tale diversità religiosa ha sul panorama urbano. Eppure, l’arrivo di confessioni religiose ‘allogene’, e in particolare della religione islamica, sta influenzando in modo significativo le città italiane. A tal fine, il paper presenta un’analisi dell’incidenza della presenza islamica in Italia sullo spazio urbano. Dopo aver considerato la consistenza e le caratteristiche della presenza musulmana in Italia, il paper analizza le specificità del rapporto fra religione islamica e spazio urbano. Successivamente, vengono analizzati i quattro principali ‘marcatori spaziali’ della presenza (urbana) islamica in Italia (luoghi di culto, macellerie halal, cimiteri, forme della vita pubblica). Nel corso dell’analisi, uno specifico affondo è praticato rispetto al caso di Milano. Le conclusioni del testo sono dedicate all’analisi delle prospettive di sviluppo del rapporto fra presenza musulmana e città italiana nei prossimi decenni.

[English Abstract: When analysing the impact of migration in the Italian urban context, seldom, if ever, does research focus on the fact that a large proportion of migrants to our country bring a religion different from the Catholic religion of the majority, and that these different religions (Islam, in particular) have a specific and relevant impact on the urban space. With this in mind, this paper deals with the characteristics of Muslim spatiality in Italian cities. After the analysis of the prevalence and features of the Muslim presence in Italy, the paper focuses on the specificity of the relationship between the Islamic religion and urban space. Then, the four main “landmarks” of the urban presence of Muslims in Italy are analysed – places of worship, halal butcheries, graveyards, and forms of public life. (During the analysis, some evidence about the case of Milan is presented). Conclusions are devoted to considerations about evolutionary perspectives of the relationship between the Muslim presence and Italian cities in the next decades.]""

El tema elegido para la presente comunicación es el Paisaje Urbano Industrial que se ha ido generando en torno a la Avenida Miraflores. Esta calle comienza en la actual Ronda de Capuchinos, en el límite de la antigua ciudad amurallada, y su trazado radial corresponde con el antiguo Camino de Córdoba. El nombre actual de esta vía se debe a la Hacienda Miraflores, construcción agrícola empleada por los jesuitas y situada en el actual Parque de Miraflores.

"The Atlas of Dutch Urbanization. A Comparative and Diachronic Overview of Urban Development

Jeroen Bouwmeester, Cultural Heritage Agency, Netherlands
Jaap Evert Abrahamse, Cultural Heritage Agency, Amersfoort, Netherlands
Reinout Rutte, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

The Atlas of Dutch Urbanization is an interdisciplinary research project that was initiated by researchers at the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency and the Architecture Department of Delft University of Technology. Its main goal is to create a long-term overview of the urbanisation of the Lowlands, from the tenth century up to the present time. The past fifteen years, archaeological and historical research into many individual cities has been conducted and published. At the same time knowledge of the history of urban development is fragmented, in both thematic and geographical terms. There have been few synthesising studies, and there are no publications that consider larger areas and overarching aspects of urbanisation and the urban heritage (M. de Boer et al., Erfgoedbalans 2009: Archeologie, monumenten en cultuur¬landschap in Nederland, Amersfoort 2009, pp. 116-128).
The Atlas of Dutch Urbanisation will focus on the 35 largest cities in the present-day Netherlands, most of which originate from medieval times. As a framework, we will use a categorization of cities, based on their period of origin, their location and urban characteristics. The interaction between the growth and decline of towns and underlying factors, such as the economic development and the transformation of landscapes in de Dutch delta, will be an important element in this study.
The main categories of cities are the early medieval towns, towns from the 13th and 14th centuries, the international trade and proto-industrial towns from the 16th and 17th centuries, the industrial cities from 1870 onwards and the modern residential towns, such as the 19th century suburban areas and planned New Towns of the post-war Netherlands. The many historical and archaeological monographs and city atlases will serve as a source of information. Archaeological data will be combined with historical and geographical research, resulting in an integrated (GIS-based) overview of urbanisation, urban design and urban practice. Knowledge gaps will be filled in with additional research.
In this paper, we will present the first results of the research project: the chronology of urbanisation from (early) medieval times up to the end of the Dutch Golden Age, around the year 1700. This paper will discuss the origins of towns, their geographical situation, urban development and the shift in urbanisation from the inland parts of the Netherlands towards to province of Holland from the 16th century onwards.""

Governments and international institutions have been slow to recognise, accept and address the shift of refugees to cities. UNHCR's report on this issue is to be commended, as it calls attention to an urgent concern with global implications. It is also a significant and positive step away from the agency's previous grudging acceptance of urban refugee realities.

"This article explores the different labels under which refugees in Dar es Salaam may be categorised. It identifies and profiles different
groups of urban refugee in Dar es Salaam and considers some common assumptions about urban refugees."

"CALL FOR PAPERS ON BIG DATA AND URBAN INFORMATICS WORKSHOP ON BIG DATA AND URBAN INFORMATICS WITH SUPPORT FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, 11-12 AUGUST 2014, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA

Big Data has opened up several opportunities to obtain new insights on cities. We invite papers at the intersection of the urban social sciences and the data sciences to be presented in an NSF-sponsored workshop to be held on Aug 11-12, 2014, in the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. We hope that the workshop will generate discussions in this emerging area of research, with the goal of long-term community-building on the topic. Travel funds will be available for presenters.
We welcome papers that discuss research results as well as idea pieces of work in progress which highlight research needs and data limitations. Workshop papers will be published in an online workshop proceeding.

Selected papers will be published, after additional peer-review, in an edited book titled "Seeing Cities Through Big Data – Research, Methods and Applications in Urban Informatics" to be published with Springer.

The objective of the workshop is to bring together researchers with an interest in the use of Big Data for urban analysis. The focus will be on understanding of urban systems, and related examples of urban applications, methods and tools. We are seeking papers that clearly create or use such novel sources of information for urban and regional analysis. Urban and regional analysis spans a broad range of areas. A far from complete list of areas include transportation, environment, public health, land-use, housing, economic development, labor markets, criminal justice, population demographics, urban ecology, energy, community development and public participation.

We invite original research, including position papers, on theoretical developments and applications demonstrating the use of urban Big Data, and the next-generation of Big Data services, tools and technologies for urban informatics. We are interested in papers that use Big Data in one or more of the following five themes:

1) Theoretical developments and knowledge discovery in urban systems;
2) Planning and operational uses of urban Big Data;
3) Urban Big Data measurement, analysis and methodological questions;
4) Information management for urban informatics;
5) Institutional issues, organizations, networks and infomediaries in urban Big Data. 

Travel funds of up to $700 will be available for a single presenter per paper, on a reimbursement basis. Student presenters will be able to compete for an additional limited pool of funds, for upto an additional $250 per student presenter.

Dates: Extended abstracts of 750-1000 words are due April 1, 2014. Full papers for accepted presenters will be due July 15, 2014.

For more information on the workshop, please visit http://urbanbigdata.uic.edu/workshop-2014/call-for-papers/

For additional information, please contact Prof. Nebiyou Tilahun at ntilahun@uic.edu
"

Ibn Baṭūṭah (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة‎, ʾAbū ʿAbd al-Lāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Lāh l-Lawātī ṭ-Ṭanǧī ibn Baṭūṭah), or simply Ibn Battuta (ابن بطوطة) (February 25, 1304 – 1368 or 1369), was a Moroccan explorer of Berber descent. He is known for his extensive travels, accounts of which were published in the Rihla (lit. "Journey"). Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands. His journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa and Eastern Europe in the West, and to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China. Ibn Battuta is considered to be among the great travellers of all time.

In the first century B.C. Nabataean culture carried out the construction of one of the most important buildings that housed the city of Petra. We will then expose how they conducted their discovery process that has brought us this impressive building in knowledge of this enigmatic culture.

In 1812 the Swedish explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in Aleppo could meet the Spanish traveler Ali Bey (Domingo Badia and Leblich) conducted one of the most important discoveries of the time during one of his many trips to locate first the capital of ancient Nabataean kingdom, Petra.