Why is construction so backward

Book Description

Construction is vital both to Gross Domestic Product and to today's politics. Prime Minister Tony Blair himself chairs a cabinet committee on the Thames Gateway development, to the east of London. Housing has proved a big factor in Chancellor Gordon Brown’s worries about the Euro. But the construction sector is one of the world’s weakest in innovation. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s target of just 4000 homes to be made through prefabrication shows how building remains a 19th century affair, not a 21st century one.

Drawing on the latest technologies that have emerged both inside and outside the sector, Why is construction so backward? forms a detailed, practical alternative to the conventional wisdom in building design and urban planning. It is a powerful call for reform, and a sharp polemic against architecture as social engineering and environmentalist dogma.

Contains a foreword by Martin Pawley
Includes contributions from such high profile figures as Stefan Muthesius and Miles Glendinning

Praise for Why is construction so backward?:

‘Very compelling… a significant piece of research and thought leadership. Essential.’ Colin Bartle-Tubbs, UK Operations Director, Deloitte

‘Welcome and timely… takes on an industry that has revelled in complacency for too long.’ Bernhard Blauel, Principal, Blauel Architects

‘The authors are prepared to be daring, reframe the question and posit new paradigms. Reflecting effortlessly across the literature of property, business, market research and construction, the book’s kaleidoscope of ideas, examples and images gives it a refreshing depth of insight and breadth of vision.’ John Worthington, Founder, DEGW

‘A tour de force of polemical provocation. This timely work forces one to think about construction in the broadest terms. Required reading.’ Paul Finch, Editorial Director, EMAP Construct

‘A must-read for architecture students and also important for practitioners, this is a passionate critique of the construction industry and the planning process, and brings new depth to debate about the relationship between architecture and society.’ Penny Lewis, Editor, Prospect

‘Shock therapy for construction policymakers.’ Austin Williams, Technical Editor, The Architects’ Journal

‘The introspection of architects, planners and politicians involved in urban, housing and planning issues needs a little turmoil, perhaps. The book is persuasive, at times heavily prescriptive, and certainly argumentative – but it may catalyse a wider and more informed debate on the future of UK housing policy.' Michael Hulme, Director, International Centre for the Study of Media, Technology and Culture, Henley Management College

‘The pleasure of this book is not only that it takes apart, with great gusto, the all-pervasive environmental prejudices of our time, but that it does so with such detailed scrutiny of construction and with such passion to build more and better.’ Alan Hudson, Director of Studies in Social and Political Science, Oxford University Department for Continuing Education

‘Important not just for architecture and design, but also for marketing – especially given how the corporate world uses different design elements, such as buildings, to build brands.’ Lisbeth Svengren and Mats Frick, Stockholm University School of Business, Sweden

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A most unique concept of combining prints and poetry

Hiroshige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry
Reiko Chiba
Manufacturer: Tuttle Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Hiroshige | ( G-I ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0804802467

Customer Reviews:

A most unique concept of combining prints and poetry.......1999-07-05

We have an 1970 edition of this out of print/stock booklet, which we feel is so unique it will become (or is already) a collectors item; contact us for further details and/or info you can share with us. Thanks, Karl

Hiroshige: 53 Stations of Tokaido (Masterworks of Ukiyo-E,)

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surely the most famous travel-guide ever

Hiroshige: 53 Stations of Tokaido (Masterworks of Ukiyo-E,)
Narazaki , and Hiroshige Ando
Manufacturer: Kodansha America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Printmaking | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0870111000

Customer Reviews:

surely the most famous travel-guide ever.......2006-04-16

In the 19th century - Hiroshige's days - the 'Tokaido' was the main road between Edo (= nowadays' Tokio) and Kyoto. Located alongside Japan's eastern coast, it connected the seat of the government with that of the Emperor - the center of political power with that of Japanese spiritual power. Spanning about 500 kilometers, it was the country's most famous road.

At the age of 36, artist Hiroshige zoomed in by having his drawings of the 'Tokaido' published. The year was 1833, and it turned him immortal overnight.

Leafing through this book, it's easy to understand why. The fine quality of Hiroshige's colored ink drawings can hardly be overestimated. Every single drawing in this travel-guide perfectly captures the mood of its pictured spot. Full of life, it makes a very fine piece of art in itself. The picture of snowy Kambara-by-night breathtakingly stands out.

Nowadays Tokio and Kyoto are connected by a modern highway, and most of Hiroshige's Tokaido-sights have gone. The prints in this book surely let them live again. Take your time to watch them, and you'll experience an unforgettable journey through the beauty of 19th-century-Japan.

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The Fifty Three Stages of the Tokaido
Hiroshige
Manufacturer: Heibonsha: Tokyo, Japan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LE7E90

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Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido
U. Hiroshige
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0824800257

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The Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido
Hiroshige Andåo
Manufacturer: Heibonsha, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LHWWWG

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The Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido
Hiroshige
Manufacturer: East-West Center Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QY08P2

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The fifty-three stages of the Tokaido,
Hiroshige AndoÌ
Manufacturer: East-West Center Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido.
HIROSHIGE.
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P1707K

Fuji, Tokaido: selections from Hokusai's Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's Fifty-three stages on the Tokaido Highway

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Fuji, Tokaido: selections from Hokusai's Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's Fifty-three stages on the Tokaido Highway
Fujihiko Kaneda
Manufacturer: Yohan Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Hiroschige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry

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Hiroschige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry
Ichiryusai [Edited By Reiko Chiba], Hiroshige
Manufacturer: Charles E. Tuttle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GUNSXU

Book Description

Film and video have grown to be as significant in our time as books, newspapers and magazines. Documentary film-making is fast becoming as important and useful a skill as the ability to write well. Like writing, it can be learned by anyone.

Film and video have grown to be as significant in our time as books, newspapers and magazines. Documentary film-making is fast becoming as important and useful a skill as the ability to write well. Like writing, it can be learned by anyone.

Documentary for the small screen is both for those who are new to documentary film-making but want to know how to create productions of a professional standard, as well as for those already working in the medium who wish to improve their skills by taking a closer look at the way they carry out their tasks. It is written in a logical, straightforward way, the first half taking the reader through an analysis of what documentary actually is, to constructing it through developing the story and assembling the appropriate building-blocks. In the second part, the pre-production stages of preparing proposals, costings and outlines, and researching the subject are all carefully examined, as are production planning and the shoot, followed by the post-production stages involved in editing and reviewing the completed film.

Paul Kriwaczek is an award winning documentary maker who has a wealth of experience to pass on, having worked for many years at BBC Television where he wrote, directed and produced documentary, drama, music and science programmes.

a step by step approach to documentary making - from research, script preparation and filming to team roles.
different aesthetic treatments and styles described by leading documentary makers in the field
practical examples illustrated by stills, scripts and approaches to actual productions

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Documentary for the Small Screen
Paul (Author) Kriwaczek
Manufacturer: Elsevier Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ5KJ6

Book Description

The system of Italian industrial districts seems to have produced a "model of capitalism" that is different from those of the "Anglo-Saxon" and "Rhine Valley". However, the Italian model - which might be defined as "horizontal or network capitalism" - is not limited to Italy. Starting from a detailed look at the relations between general theories of complexity and an analysis of the economic dynamics of industrial clusters, this volume considers two different applications. Firstly, models of industrial clusters, and secondly, success cases of clusters around the world. The volume includes papers from well-known international authors, among others Gell-Mann (Physics Nobel Price), Sabel and Dosi.

Book Description

Nassau William Senior (1790-1864) - economist, critical essayist and government adviser - was a highly original classical economist in the era between Ricardo's Principles of 1817 and Mill's Principles of 1848. He was the first Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, and in his published works he made original contributions to the theory of value, rent, population, money, and international trade.

Although Senior did not achieve the originality and influence of the leading economists of the classical school - Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus - he did make an enduring contribution on the development of economics. This collection gathers together all his important books and articles on Economics, Political Economy, Money, Ireland, and Population and the Poor Laws. Because of his varied interests and appointments Senior never produced a full-blown Principles of Economics, and it is only by means of a large critical selection such as this that Senior's importance can be re-evaluated by economics students and academics alike.

--First collected edition of Senior's works on economics and related subjects
--Includes rare editions of 23 books, pamphlets, and journal articles

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Nassau Senior and Classical Economics
Marian Bowley
Manufacturer: Octagon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0374908745

Book Description

First published in 1937

Ramsay McCulloch (Pioneers in Economics)

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Ramsay McCulloch (Pioneers in Economics)

Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1852784792

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Bank Collections and Payment Transactions: A Comparative Legal Analysis
Benjamin Geva
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLD5XE

Book Description

Internet Tools teaches how to harness the power of the Internet in 10 short lessons that quickly and thoroughly reinforce the lesson content. In addition to research, this book covers areas like shopping, communication, community, education, productivity, entertainment, investing, and protecting/updating one's computer.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent High School text. .......2007-01-06

This is an excellent book to compliment a website generating course. The ten chapters deal with research, finance, downloading updates, multimedia, structure of the internet, and more. The book is inexpensive and usually bundled with the Front Page 10 hour book.

Customer Reviews:

More than I imagined.......2000-08-16

This is intense information to keep my gifted 5th grader on the right track. The actual conversation tips are in the last half of the book, but the information leading up to that is just what I was looking for. This book lets you know where your 5th grader is or should be educationally and it shows and encourages you on how to be involved with his public education (Don't just sign and return his papers to school, really look at them). Our dinner table conversation is starting to flow...

101 Educational Conversations with Your 5th Grader

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101 Educational Conversations with Your 5th Grader
Vito Perrone
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MKLCYQ

Book Description

In My Life as a Revolutionary, María Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo presents a gripping account of her experiences as a member of M-19, one of the most successful guerrilla movements in Colombia's tumultuous modern history. Vásquez's remarkable story opens with her happy childhood in a middle-class provincial household in which she was encouraged to be adventurous and inquisitive. As an eighteen-year-old university student in Bogotá, María Eugenia embraced radical politics and committed herself to militant action to rid her country of an abusive government.

Dedicated and daring, Vásquez took part in some of the M-19's boldest operations in the 1970s and 1980s and became one of its leaders. She was able to avoid detection for nearly twenty years in the movement because she was both clever and considered too attractive to be a guerrillera. Her vivid narrative brings to life the men and women who were her comrades and conveys their anxiety and exhilaration as they carried out their actions. When she tells of her love affairs with some of M-19's top leaders, she cannot separate romance from camaraderie or escape a sense of impending tragedy.

If Vásquez gave us only a rare insider's account of youth culture and a guerrilla movement in a Latin American country, this would be a book well worth reading. But she also gives us an unsparing analysis of what it meant to be a woman in the movement and how much her commitment to radical politics cost her.

Customer Reviews:

A guerrilla narrative of Colombia's violent past.......2005-03-24

"My Life as a Colombian Revolutionary; Reflections of a Former Guerrillera," by Maria Eugenia Vasquez Perdomo is primarily a guerrilla narrative of Colombia's violent past. To this end, the author provides an intimate understanding of "how" young urban and rural Colombians flock to revolutionary movements. However, this book has two major shortcomings. First, the author fails to adequately explain "why" Colombians turn their back on establishment institutions to promote change. And secondly, Vasquez makes a very feeble attempt to demonstrate contrition for living the life of a terrorist for 18 years.

On that note, it is no surprise that the Spanish-language version of this book was awarded the Colombian National Prize for Testimonial Literature in 1998. Colombian readers have a good understanding of the absence of political, economic, social and land reforms inside their country. American readers of this text should be warned to pay close attention to the strong 22-page historical "Introduction" by Arthur Schmidt. Otherwise, they will never completely figure out "why" Colombians join guerrilla organizations. The author fails to give a comprehensive understanding of significant historical events. For instance, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the Bogotazo, La Violencia, The National Front, the controversial 1970 elections and Camilo Torres take a back seat to her day to day anti-imperialism, anti-oligharchy, anti-sectarianism guerrilla activities. Had the author dedicated more time to weave Colombia's complex history to her narrative this would be a benchmark book.

Still and all, this is an extremely valuable text. Vasquez is harassed, hunted and tortured by state institutions. She also renounces motherhood twice for her senior leadership position in the M-19 guerrilla organization. Consequently, her explanation of the turmoil on the Colombian urban campus and the era of war for the sake of peace is useful. Moreover, information on legendary M-19 leaders, Jaime Bateman, Gustavo Arias (a.k.a. Boris), Carlos Pizarro, Ivan Marino Ospina, Antonio Navarro, and Alvaro Fayad is priceless. It just would have made more sense for the author to have developed a better "connect" between the revolutionary consciousness and Colombia's long history of state-inspired violence.

Bert Ruiz

Memoir of a Dangerous Life.......2005-03-21

My wife is originally from Ecuador and her best friend is from Colombia. So, through staying with her friend's wonderful family, I have had the opportunity to explore and experience this vibrant country full of some of the most kind and generous people I have ever met. Tragically, Colombia's history, from far into the past until today, has been marred by devasting political violence and warfare.

When Maria Vasquez was a young, idealistic student she joined a group of revolutionaries, known as the M-19s, hoping to transform Colombian society. Vasquez is an excellent writer who paints a vivid and compelling portrait of her youthful adventures and political activites. That is why I give this book a high rating.

Unfortunately, Vasquez's actions included such atrocities as robbery, kidnapping and hostage taking at a foreign embassy. Obviously, her actions caused suffering to many innocent people. She and other M-19 guerillas also receiving military training in Castro's Cuba and Gadaffi's Libya. In contemporary terms she would likely be called a terrorist. Vasquez does take some responsibility for her actions in the final chapter. But most of the book is a highly romanticized account of her "glory days" as a guerilla, in which little remorse is expressed. In that respect I was disappointed.

Still this book has an amazing story to tell and I do recommend reading it. But, sadly, instead of changing Colombia for the better. Vasquez and her fellow M-19s only continued Colombia's brutal legacy of political violence and killing. This beautiful country and its people deserve better!

Book Description

This affordable text offers a traditional political history approach in one convenient volume. A classic survey of Western civilization, this text has remained popular for its balanced coverage and its consistent efforts to explain why history exhibits the patterns it has.

Customer Reviews:

A Breeze of a Read.......2003-08-14

Often most of the details that were included within the book were unnecessary and could have been left out. My advice is not to buy the book but simply borrow it from a friend taking the same class.

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The Mainstream of Civilization
Joseph R. Strayer
Manufacturer: Harcourt Australia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0155515675

Ancient Civilizations: Prehistory to the Fall of Rome (Mainstreams of Civilization)

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Ancient Civilizations: Prehistory to the Fall of Rome (Mainstreams of Civilization)
Carlton J. H. Hayes , and James H. Hanscom
Manufacturer: Collier Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B0007EK9HS

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Mainstream Civilization
Joseph R. Strayer
Manufacturer: Harcourt College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Civilization & Culture | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0155515713

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The Mainstream Of Civilization
Joseph R. et al STRAYER
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace & World
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0155515500

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The Mainstream of Civilization

Manufacturer: Harcourt Brace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HNHZLM

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The Mainstream of Civilization
Joseph R. Strayer , Stanley Chodorow , Hans W. Gatzke , MacGregor Knox , and Conrad Schirokauer
Manufacturer: Thomson Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Renaissance | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0155012002

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The Mainstream of Civilization
Joseph R. / Gatzke, Hans W. / Harbison, E Strayer
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OSIAP0

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Mainstream of Civilization
Stanley Choporow
Manufacturer: Harcourt College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0155515845

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The Mainstream of Civilization
Joseph Reese Strayer
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Civilization & Culture | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
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Sources of the Western Tradition: From the Renaissance to the Present

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