Concepts of space and movement

Nuggets Extracted from my RE:

There is little doubt that the individual is mobile: he moves about an urban area daily in the course of fulfilling various day-to-day needs and motives (e.g. home to work commuting). As the individual moves about an urban area, he synthesizes stimuli from his observation and experiences of this urban area, allowing him to conceptualise this built environment.

In describing the boundary of this urban area, Eilot Hurst proposes the conception of movement space... action space... *section cut*

The individual’s movement space is one defined by boundaries:

*section cut* (Limitations of transport system, socioeconomic/time abilities, psychological determinants)

In consideration of these boundaries on movement space, we would instead propose a refined concept of and viable micromovement space, that is, the part of the built environment within which day-to-day micromovement is viable. There is no universal viable micromovement space, rather, it varies on the boundaries placed upon the individual; it varies from the limited realm of a toddler to the more extensive realm of a young adult with a car. The viable micromovement space of individuals is not absolute, it can vary with time and changing housing locations; it changes as the boundaries and limitations placed on his movement space change.

Undoubtedly, modern urban transport has enabled the individual to travel much further in the finite amount of time available for commuting each day, and hence greatly enlarged the individual’s viable micromovement space.

A logical subset of viable micromovement space would be the first two extents of Brown and Moore’s postulate of the individual’s activity space (Brown and Moore, quoted in Hurst, 1974), that is, his day-to-day activity space, which is the part of the urban area with which direct contact occurs as the result of daily activities.

*section cut* (Core area, Median Area, Extensive area)

It should be self-apparent that in dealing with urban micromovement flows, we are primarily interested in the individual’s day-to-day activity space (especially the core area, which is responsible for the majority of trips), and not his extensive area of activity space.

In general, as viable micromovement space expands, opportunities increase as the “catchment area” for them increases, and therefore day-to-day activity space similarly expands, as individuals have the impetus and self-interest to realise these opportunities, in line with individual needs and goals.

This conception of space “allows for a re-orientation of movement studies away froom a description of habit patterns to an analysis of the causes behind movement behaviour” (Hurst, 1974), therefore promoting a better understanding of travel patterns “and insights into the true conditions governing transportation demands.” (Hurst, 1974), allowing for better management and manipulation of these demands.

Phone cam pic spam #1

The title says it all... warning: phone cameras make for random badly-taken pics. Do not look for artistic merit, but have a good laugh. Images resized as usual for faster loading.



Ashish's slum


Posers




Guess who's taller? (or will be in 6 months)


Failed astrochallenge model...


New airport skytrain station


Airport skytrain station (looks better turned this way ><)


Industrial zone? Or University? NUS Science (Chemistry?) blocks actually. Looks quite bad...NUS lacks character, gives no esthetic pleasure (concept: Loftland)


pencil box and black notebook /random


The view from my table (my house is of the same design... and let's hope no joker changes the facade when he rebuilds his house)


Bad memories, and good.

Democratisation of the internet

it's been a while since i posted a "content" post... and this is an interesting one i hope =)

Time magazine's "person of the year": YOU (look at the mirror)
image from gawker

We may not realise it, but each time we participate in the online community, be it blogging, adding our 2 cents worth to Wikipedia, or uploading a video to Youtube, we are contributing towards the "democratisation of the internet": the power of the internet has indeed truly been given to the people.

It is interesting, as a study of emergent properties in systems, and how bottom-up content-creation by millions or billions of individual users can vastly outdo what a top-down approach is capable of. Just look at Wikipedia, the most comprehensive resource available, and a de facto first stop for most of us when wanting to find out about something.

As an internet phenomenon the democratisation of the internet is unrivalled. Personal and social space online is free and plentiful (though fraught with dangers). The reach and the power it gives to the individual (ask mrbrown) is amazing. All is needed from the top is the infrastructure, and perhaps giving it some momentum.

There are implications, of course. First is abuse and censorship: just as people can post useful stuff online, so can the post hate speech and bomb-making instructions. And the internet is horrendously hard to censor, especially when it knows no borders.

Next is the reliability of online sources like Wiki: you probably won't want to rely on it for your thesis paper, but as general reading it is perfectly fine. The error rate is very, very low, and any errors can be corrected easily (unlike print encyclopedias: britannica got jacked when they went to look for errors in wiki, cos someone corrected the errors in 2 days).

But lim (t --> infinity), these problems will iron out. We are stepping closer to the ubiquity of information; the true age of the internet has just dawned.


P.S.

I also contribute to Wiki and Google Video (click on "more from user" in the sidebar".

I can't believe it that my atomic bomb video has 22700 views and 1230 downloads!!! Ok hopefully it has benefitted others.

Other RI wikipedians i know: Ren Yan, Joel Kek, Vincent, Jun Sean, Jeremy Sia

Light and reflection in the orange breeze.

This occurred a long time ago I was waiting for a taxi outside the school gate.

The setting sun's cast a faint orange glow, and the playful shadows of dusk disrupted that, for the road's orange sodium lamps had yet to turn on. Traffic came in noisy waves, with every green from the Braddell junction. The floor was strewn with fallen yellow leaves, and these flew up as a cool breeze blew.

But no taxi came by, for half an hour.

As patient appreciation of the surreal scene (which reminded me of standing at the Beijing traffic light in winter) turned into impatience and frustration, my mind started to wander.

And suddenly I knew God was talking to me. He gave me 2 words: Refuge and Rejoice , and I stood silently in his company, praying and reflecting.

Those are 2 powerful words: To rejoice in the Lord, for his sacrifice, giving us life, and for what we are and what we have; To find refuge in him, patiently knowing that he loves us, will carry us through, and that he plans to prosper us and not harm us.

He told me to cross the road and get a taxi there - and i thought, how could it be? That spot is just down the road from J8, and with the long taxi queues at J8, all taxis coming down from there are bound to be occupied. Plus there was already someone waiting across the road

But cross the road I did. The guy aleady waiting there got his taxi within 30s, and I got mine a minute later.

Couldn't believe it - and I stil can't. But he works in amazing ways.