Barbican Centre Description and analysis of motivations behind the Essay

Barbican Centre Description and analysis of motivations behind the planning scheme - Essay Example Then, the effects of the site on the social and economic life of the local community should be identified, as possible. Also, the resources available for the realization of the particular planning scheme have to be taken into account. In current paper another aspect of urban planning schemes is explored: the motivations that can exist behind such schemes. Particular emphasis is given to the potential influence of modern and postmodern culture on the planning schemes developed within cities. The case of Barbican Centre in London is used as an example for checking the interaction between urban planning and culture. The literature developed in this field is reviewed aiming to show that urban planning is not independent from the cultural environment of modern cities. However, the level at which an urban planning scheme is affected by culture is not standardized; the practice followed in other urban planning schemes developed locally is commonly used as the basis for defining the cultural characteristics of urban planning schemes. In the case under examination the above finding is explained as follows: the designers of the Barbican Centre were based on cultural trends used in the high majority of similar buildings across UK. Of course, differences between Barbican Centre and other sites of similar use have not been avoided, a fact that it is related to the personal perceptions of its designers but also to the needs that the specific Centre has to cover. In addition, through the years, the alterations of certain of the Centre’s initial parts have been necessary under the influence of postmodern culture, an issue discussed analytically below. 2.0 Barbican Centre as a planning scheme reflecting modern and postmodern culture 2.1 Barbican Centre – Description and key characteristics The interaction between the Barbican Centre and the modern/ postmodern culture can be understood only by referring primarily to the key characteristics of Barbican Centre, meani ng especially its construction elements/ structure both in its initial phase, in 1982, and after its two refurbishments, in 2006 and in 2012. The Barbican Centre in the City of London can be characterized as an exceptional architectural work. The idea for the Centre’s establishment can be identified in 1955 but it was quite later, in 1982, that the Centre was finally completed;1 the Queen was invited to open the Barbican Centre in 1982, an invitation to which the Queen responded positively.2 At that time, the Barbican Centre was thought to be an exceptional work, not just in aesthetic terms but also in functional terms: the Centre included not only theatres and cinema but also ‘a library and a series of galleries’.3 Figure 1 – Photos of Barbican Centre, as in 1982 (E-architect 2013) The cost of Barbican Centre has been estimated to ?153m.4 In 2006 the refurbishment of the Centre was considered as necessary so that certain functional weaknesses of the Centr e to be addressed; the works done on the Centre in 2006 reached a cost of ?14m.5 Today, the Barbican Centre is the largest complex of buildings dedicated to art.6 The Centre is consisted of a series of buildings of different size; the London Symphony Orchestra is one of the most important buildings of Barbican Centre.7 The annual visitors of Barbican Centre are about 1.5million.8 An important characteristic of the construction process has been its duration.9 In fact, when the Centre was finally completed its main construction material, ‘the concrete hulk, had fallen out of fashion’.10 The access to the Centre is rather strange: ‘at street level the available connections are limited’.11 Instead, the Centre can be accessed easier by ‘

Questions about Asia Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Questions about Asia - Assignment Example In a family, it is the number of persons divided by the available arable land. Rate of natural population increase refers to the total birthrates minus the total death rates in a given population. In a family setting, the rate increases with a figure and decline if the figure is negative. Doubling time refers to the period required to achieve a double population growth rate. Doubling time involves dividing the growth rate percentage into 70. A growth rate of 3.5 shows a doubling time of 20 years. Gobi desert, a cold desert and the fifth largest in the world is Asia’s largest desert (Man 8). The desert constitutes of bare rocks unlike many other deserts that are sandy. The desert has a historic treasure for fossils, pre-historic tools and early dinosaur eggs. Gobi desert has extreme environment with temperatures of over 100 degrees in summer and below – 40 degrees in winter. The desert has rapid climatic changes and little rainfall. The desert homes many animals and drought resistant shrubs. Gobi is semi desert and desert and is expanding at a high rate. The desert has a history of human habitation by mostly nomads. The desert has strong dusty winds during the fall and spring and has a water oasis. Gobi is a Mongolian name which means ‘very large and dry’. The Himalaya Mountains block the desert from receiving enough rainfall (Man 10). Taklimakan desert is a dry and hot desert. It is the largest in China and has vast salt accumulation. The desert is sandy and contains crescent shaped sand dunes that can reach 300 meters high. This desert is one of the world’s largest shifting sand deserts. The desert has frigid temperatures. The desert is moving to the neighboring areas due to a shift in the sand caused by strong winds. South Asia has several mountains examples being Himalayas and Mount Everest. The Himalaya Mountains are the highest in the world. The

Violence in Secondary Schools and Colleges in Britain Essay

Violence in Secondary Schools and Colleges in Britain - Essay Example It is common to read in the newspapers and hear through other people that a teenager has been stabbed in the eye and the head by a fellow of 15 years old at school; we also hear and read about pupils that suffer cuts and bruises in a school/college attack or that are slashed across the face with a pencil sharpener; students mugging other students for their cash and mobile phones, and the list is long. The truth is that this issue has been raised some years ago. The police usually said that the incidents reported where not related to racial disputes. However, this need to be confirmed as usually ethnic groups is also part of the problem. In 2006, Ministers decided to change the law to provide teachers with the legal right to discipline unruly pupils and restrain children using reasonable force. In May 2005 the British government announced the creation of a task force (Curtis:2005) where experts heads and teachers would have to consider a national code of behaviour, and to set minimum standards expected by schools, parents and pupils, in order to tackle poor behaviour. Also, a new offence of "allowing a child to be found in a public place during school hours without good cause" to make sure parents keep track of their children was established, and the controversial right of parents to appeal when a pupil was excluded for more than five days was backed as well (Macleod:2005). The whole initiative represented a new move to construct a "culture of respect" in the classroom. However, as we have already seen, reforms have made little impact. Colleges started to take different measures like installing metal detectors in hundreds of secondary schools in an effort to dissuade pupils from carrying knives and dangerous weapons; increasing guards and security; introducing cameras; among others. The introduction of these cameras was important as by this measure some students were caught red-handed like for example in the act of stealing a purse or breaking the windows of the classroom, or vandalising cars in the school area. The question from now on is the following: How can we improve the current situation For the question raised we can think of many important measures that can be adopted. For example it is necessary to establish norms for behaviour for students. Students can be asked to set penalties and enforce rules. Also it is imperative to encourage parents to talk with teachers about the progress of the child, to engage in a closer relationship with the school authorities, and to learn how to recognize the warning signs of violence either at home or with their peers as they will surely reproduce later in the school environment. For teachers it is also important to recognise the signs of violence as soon as they occur and to stop them immediately. They can report immediately

Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Marketing Management - Essay Example Management is the process of performing activities by using the help of other people. Managers use the management elements, which include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Chwala highlights that marketing management is a business process, which involves â€Å"analyzing market opportunities, researching on the target markets, developing strategies for them, planning market tactics, implementing, and controlling the marketing initiatives. Further, Kotler describes marketing management as the process of achieving desired outcomes from a target market (13). It is therefore, a business process, which involves applying marketing techniques, and managing resources and activities related to marketing. Kotler highlights that marketing management process involves analyzing market opportunities, developing marketing strategies, planning marketing activities, managing, and controlling the marketing efforts (33). In the first step of analyzing market opportunities, the l eader identifies potential opportunities in the market while considering the organizations competences. This should be done by analyzing both the micro and macro environments in order to identify the best opportunities. In this step, the company can research and select market opportunities that are available. This can be done by defining the market, segmenting the market, market targeting and positioning in the market. The next step is the development of strategies for marketing whereby the marketer positions the organization strategically in the market. This step involves deciding on the brand, product lines, designs and the market. This is performed using the four P s marketing mix tools. Planning of marketing programs is the other step, and it involves making decisions on the expenditures, marketing mix and market allocation and budgets. One should set the level marketing budget that they intend to spend. Then, they allocate the budget among the various activities and the marketi ng mix tools. Lastly, they should allocate the budget to the various marketing programs in the target market (Kotler 34). The last step is management and control of the marketing programs. This step involves executing the plans, collecting feedback from the market and starting again in the planning step. Resources should be mobilized to implement and control the marketing programs of the organization Entrepreneurship is defined by the activities done by Entrepreneurs. Akrani highlights that Entrepreneur was derived from the French word Entrepredre meaning performing of activities. Entrepreneurs are the people who engage in the risky business activities of creating new businesses using their personal resources, through innovation of ideas, which are focused to satisfy the market needs (Akrani). Therefore, Entrepreneurship is the process of establishing opportunities in the market, and taking advantage of them to make a profit. There are ways in which responsible Entrepreneurial quali ties become essential for marketing management. Firstly, the Entrepreneurial qualities enable the leader to develop plans that meet their marketing goals. This can be applied in finance, production, sales, promotions, and personnel areas of marketing management. Secondly, responsible Entrepreneurial qualities enhance communication skills in marketing managem

Impact of Globalisation on the Cultural Environment of Business Essay

Impact of Globalisation on the Cultural Environment of Business - Essay Example It involves distribution of the services and the goods in the global marketplace. Globalisation also reduces the trade barriers such as, import quotas, tariffs and export fees among others. Globalisation includes the transfer of required skills, knowledge, methodology and labour. Globalisation creates a significant impact on the business environment of every economy. The impact of globalisation can be either positive or negative. Globalisation specially puts its impact on the culture of an organisation. The positive impacts can be termed as increased employment while the negative impact of globalisation on businesses can be identified as fierce monopolistic competition. It also helps to share the ‘technical know-how’, the spread of culture and education and the ethical-legal effects. Globalisation also raises various challenges for an organisation such as increased rate of operational costs, the increased rate of slavery and child labour, increased rate of terrorism all over the world. Globalisation has significantly influenced the famous multinational company of US, Microsoft. A publication report of Oxford University Press has stated that, â€Å"the events in one corner of the globe can have a major impact on others, sometimes good, sometimes bad† (Oxford University Press, 2011). Microsoft, the famous multinational company of United States of America is engaged with providing Information Technology based services to global consumers. It also possesses patent rights for manufacturing various kinds of computing products with the help of multiple divisions of production scatted all around the world. Microsoft deals in the division of the online search engines services such as Bing, Skype and also in the interactive entertainment business segment. Microsoft also serves their customers with ‘Microsoft business solutions’, ‘Windows phone division’, Windows & Windows live division’ and ‘Microsoft office divi sion’ among others (Oxford University Press, 2011). The major objective of the study is to highlight the impact of globalisation on the cultural environment of the business in the USA. The paper would involve the renowned multinational company, Microsoft to analyse and to evaluate the various theories and factors of the impact of globalisation on the business culture. The study would also involve a conclusion for the overall discussion. Findings Theoretical Framework of the Analysis Globalisation is one of the most important and popular trends in business at present times. Globalisation involves the process of sharing of knowledge, skills, education, labour, economy and social-political environment. There are certain positive and negative effects of globalisation in every organisation which are globally connected. The culture of a business considers the personal traits, different languages, races, religions among others in their approach to globalised business. The various po sitive effects of globalisation consist of factors like increased competition. These factors influence the companies to perform better and to produce quality goods due to the competition among them. These factors also focus on the satisfaction of the customers and to produce improved services and goods quality. The other positive effect of globalisation is in relation to employment. Due to the globalisation the companies are trying to be more efficient and goal oriented with effective skills, labour, and improved potential. According to Wright, â€Å"more demanding skills are needed, especially with the growth in the need for so-called knowledge workers†

Starting a high-end female sports underwear brand in the uk market Essay

Starting a high-end female sports underwear brand in the uk market - Essay Example Competitive analysis reveals that the underwear market in the UK is highly competitive and overcrowded. It has an enormous extent, making it difficult to break it down to narrower segments. On this basis, the underwear market is regarded as too large for the high-end female sport underwear to handle. As such, the UK underwear market was eliminated from further exploration (Halasa 2008). The sportswear market is anticipated to grow in the coming years, reaching its peak in 2015 at 4.89 billion pounds (Morgan 2001). This growth has encouraged various non-sport retailers to widen their clothing lines, including clothing lines. The sportswear market is growing more quality conscious, and consumers have shown significant potential to pay for it. This has created an opportunity for the high-end female sports underwear in the region. Findings show that females aged between 21 and 24, both within active leisure and mainstream sport are the appropriate target group for the high-end female sports underwear in the UK. This group is an opportunity for the company, as it provides it with an opportunity to tailor its products, and offer wool underwear in line with sports underwear. Nike and Adidas are the major players in the market. As such, it is vital for the high-end female sports underwear start up to gain a strong position. By entering the market as an untraditional retailer, the company will build a strong brand and manage to enter the UK market successfully. An agent will be highly suitable, as this will offer the high-end female sport underwear company with sufficient information about the market. The company will specialize in the production and sale of high-end female sports underwear brands. With sufficient information regarding the market, strong brands for children, men and women, the company will contribute to growth as well as profitability for convenience goods. The high-end female sport underwear brand will serve as part of an

Experimentation in social psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Experimentation in social psychology - Essay Example Typically, social psychology aims to explain human behavior as a resultant of the interaction of an individual's current mental state and the situational context. The ways in which individuals react in different situational context vary based on several factors. These factors include prior learning as well as genetics. This essay will examine the utility of experimentation in the field of social psychology and will focus on the cognitive social and discursive perspectives. In order to delineate the differences between the utility of experimentation in cognitive social psychology and discursive psychological perspective, it is prudent that we offer operational definitions for each discipline and delineate their use of experimentation. In the case of cognitive social psychology, there are many features that distinguish this perspective from the other perspectives. They include a strong cognitive and social-interpersonal focus as well as the belief in human agency and free will. The general goal of cognitive social psychology is to conduct empirical research with the purpose of advancing the theoretical knowledge pool as it relates to the antecedents as well as the consequences of human behavior within a social construct. This knowledge should also provide a foundation on which a true understanding of the inextricable link between behavior and the social context can be built and advanced. In general, the ultimate goal of cognitive social psychology resea rch is to impact behavioral changes by establishing an empirically-based testing ground for theoretical ideas. The experimental studies within this field typically originate with a real-life and testable phenomena such as obedience, discrimination and prejudice. One of the most the most poignant studies within the field is the obedience studies conducted by Stanley Milgram. This study is controversial in that its utilization of deception raised ethical concerns and it was responsible for the establishment of new standards with regards to the treatment of human subjects. Milgram asked each of the student participants to fulfill "teaching" duties in a learning task. The participants were commanded to carry out an authority's orders, and were led to believe they were delivering an electric shock each time the "learner" made a mistake. In the standard baseline condition, no one quit before 300 volts, and 65% of participants continued to obey the experimenter to the highest level available, 450 volts. Unlike research involving hypothetical authority situations, Milgram's behavioral studies indicated that adults from civilian groups could indeed be induced to comply with noxious demands of authority. Discursive social psychology in contrast to cognitive social psychology examines how people make sense of their world through their mutual engagement with each other. In so doing, it develops its methodology from the philosophy of language and the utility of common psychological sense in order to understand mainstream topics in both social and cognitive psychology. Essentially, discursive psychology has been utilized to explore the ways in which reality is constructed within the society. The topics of study which prove to be applicable for discursive methods include the study of memory, attribution and attitudes. Most recently discursive psycho