the rich - the poor

Although the notions of richness and poverty need so much more discussion & clearance - as was started in one of the Key Concepts seminar- I just wanted to post here a link for a quite surprising recent research.

Basically, it says that low-income people who were living in higher-income neighborhoods died at substantially higher rates than the poor who were living among the poor.

Why?
One theory is primarily economic. "They may have a home right next to a health clinic, a pharmacy or a private gym, but proximity does not mean access,'' said Winkleby. Instead of enjoying a movie or a game of racket ball after work, the poor person living in the wealthy neighborhood might be working her second shift just to keep up with the rent.

Another theory reaches for a sociological explanation -- that people who feel isolated or out-of-place tend to have poorer health than those who feel part of a community, no matter what their economic status. “You look out every day and you’re at the bottom of the social ladder.” Loneliness can be a killer.

For example:

70% - The higher risk of death during the period of the study for low-income women who reside in higher-income areas compared with their wealthier neighbors.

60% - The higher risk for low-income women who reside in higher-income areas compared with low-income women in poorer areas.

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I haven't managed to find any responses to the research by any planners-urbanists. Would be very interesting though.

For more see the Stanford Institute homepage and an article in "Postimees" ("Rikkurite naabrus lühendab vaeste inimeste eluiga").

global:ideas:bank and Curitiba

Residents of Curitiba, Brazil, think they live in the best city in the world, and a lot of outsiders agree. Curibita has 17 new parks, 90 miles of bike paths, trees everywhere, and traffic and garbage systems that officials from other cities come to study. Curibita's mayor for twelve years, Jaime Lerner, has a 92 per cent approval rating. read the whole story here





The Global Ideas Bank is a digest of innovative and creative ideas for the betterment of cities, ecology, social empowerment, etc. as they describe it themselves:

- The Global Ideas Bank aims to promote and disseminate good creative ideas to improve society. It further aims to encourage the public to generate these ideas, to participate in the problem-solving process.

- These ideas we term social inventions: non-technological, non-product, non-gadget ideas for social change. These are a mix of existing projects, fledgling initiatives and new bright ideas.

- In this way, the Global Ideas Bank is part-suggestions box, part-ideas network and part-democratic think-tank, giving the "ordinary" person a chance to have their creativity recognised, rewarded and even put into practice.

- The Global Ideas Bank further aims to provide information and a community to help those individuals who wish to make their idea or project a reality in their own community. See the Practical Help and Success Stories sections for more on this.

Calendaristika

Regina has created three (google) calendars for the urbanistika master:
urbanistika 1 (1st year schedule)
urbanistika 2 (2nd year schedule)
education-extra (other events and things that are interesting)

you should have received an invitation by now. If you havent, let us know and we will invite you.
as Regina wrote,

i really think that kind of an online constantly updated calendar is a good tool for improving the studies.

anybody of you can make changes there,
just have a look before how the information has been written down there already, not to double anything or so.

besides,
i suggest - if you have reached the 3 calendars finally - to make a search in the public calendars [we too have an option wheather to make our calendar public or just to keep it to ourselves] for one that is called Urban Issues. there's information about future seminars and conferences. for that look at the bottom left corner of the browser, there's a search box.

what do you think about it all?
ah let's just give it a try and see.
best, regina

fear

President Bush signed a bill authorizing the construction of fencing along nearly 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. The bill calls for at least two layers of reinforced fencing and other security measures. Where fencing is not practical, the other measures, including cameras, lighting, sensors and surveillance, may be employed. - CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/26/border.fence/index.html

"A fence will slow people down by a minute or two, but if you don't have the agents to stop them it does no good. We're not talking about some impenetrable barrier," said T.J. Bonner, who heads the National Border Patrol Council, the AP reported. -CNN


I think the formula for fear is very simple: Increase the security = increase the fear. The more self-enclosed and paranoid a country generally becomes, the easier it is to scare it. Just say BOO and they will jump and search your body and history. Sadly, it is not only the USA's problem: the disease spreads.

Luckily they keep the balance on that side. Those of us who are on this side, searching for openness and peace, can keep doing what we think is best. At the end all that will remain will be their karma and insanity.