Lack of space has been a common problem among businesses situated in the urban centers. As commercial real estate properties in these areas are increasing in number, the rates of rental fees have also gone up. Office space and even apartments or condominiums have also become smaller giving business owners limited space for storing of their important documents and stocks.

These situations then call for the use of self storage facilities. This type of facility is situated in many different areas today with most of them outside of the city center. It has several units available for rent on a monthly or yearly basis.

These rental units serve as an ideal solution for businesses that need to keep their stocks and other vital documents in one safe place which they can easily access. This is the best and cost effective alternative than renting additional office space. If cost is a major concern for you or your organization, this should not be an issue with self storage facilities because you rent a unit depending on your needs. Whether it’s only for a short time or for longer periods, you can still utilize the unit at a lower cost.

But while these rental units may help you with your storage needs, not every facility will be right for you. It would be a good idea to first determine the space you need and the things that you have to keep there. Only after you’re able to do this should you start your search for an ideal self storage provide ideally just within your location.

Accessibility is an important factor for many customers especially for those who need to get some stuff or add some stuff every now and then to their unit. The closer the facility to your home or office, the better for you cost wise. As less travel is needed, you will also less expense on gas.

Security is a major concern as well for most clients. Since you’ll be storing valuable items in the unit, common sense would dictate that one should ensure that the entire facility observes modern security and alarm systems to keep burglars at bay. Some things to consider are locks and keys or swipe cards, use of fire alarm system, sturdy wall around the facility, surveillance camera (CCTV), proper lighting inside the rental unit as well as around the complex and presence of security guards.

You may also want to check if the provider or operator offers insurance to the stored items. If this is not provided, you will have to get your own insurance coverage to protect your valuables in there should incidents such as fire or theft occur.

Self storage is the thing to consider if limited space is a problem in your business. This is a common preference these days because of its affordability and the convenience it provides to people.

Urban centers are a menagerie of smells, including everything from the delicious”freshly-baked bread, sizzling garlic, taco trucks”to the atrocious”garbage trucks, roadkill, or the Abercrombie & Fitch cologne counter.

Source:
http://www.good.is/post/scratch-and-sniff-new-york-guide-tells-the-city-s-story-through-scent/

Urban centers are a menagerie of smells, including everything from the delicious”freshly-baked bread, sizzling garlic, taco trucks”to the atrocious”garbage trucks, roadkill, or the Abercrombie & Fitch cologne counter.

Source:
http://www.good.is/post/scratch-and-sniff-new-york-guide-tells-the-city-s-story-through-scent/

Today I stumbled upon this video of David Smith of the Affordable Housing Institute talking about the gentrification of Tarlabaşı that is happening now. I was surprised to hear how well informed he is and how he also has a very integrated vision for the future of the community.  I hope the Turkish Housing Authority (TOKİ) listens to his advice.

David Smith in Tarlabasi, Istanbul. On urbanisation & slums from Tarlabasi Istanbul on Vimeo.

HT: Pax Urbanus

Here are the latest pictures taken of the landmark structure in Panama City, Panama.  Here we go.

Snapshot of an unusual tower very visible from a distance, near the banking center of Panama City, Panama. I'm referring to the Revolution Tower which has a peculiar architectural design. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

A closer view of the Revolution Tower in Panama City, Panama. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the controversial Revolution Tower in Panama City, Panama. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Same previous picture, but in a black and white version to create a different mood. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the Revolution Tower in Panama City, Panama as it soars into the blue sky. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

I have a hunch that after the building is finished and operating, it will become one of the most photographed structures in Panama City, as well as one of the most visited by tourists and locals alike.

During the time I was photographing the tower with my compact Canon camera, I was mesmerized by the uniqueness of its design.  It looks like a huge “corkscrew” emerging from the ground.

Below is another picture of the Revolution Tower in black and white.  Enjoy.

A black and white snapshot of the Revolution Tower in the neighborhood of Obarrio in Panama City, Panama. The design of this structure is revolutionary and has raised quite a few eyebrows. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Then I walked around the building taking shots from different angles.  I wanted to capture the personality of the structure if I could.  You’ll be the judge if I succeeded in my picture-taking endeavor or not.

Anyway, while strolling through Calle Cincuenta, I was amazed at the construction boom going on.  The city changes almost overnight.  Direct foreign investment in Panama is high compared with other countries of the region.  As Europe struggles to pay its bills, Panama’s economy is expected to grow 9 percent in 2011 and 7 percent in 2012.

Below are several pictures of Panama City under clear blue skies.  Enjoy.

Snapshot of Panama City under clear blue skies in the neighborhood of Calle Cincuenta. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of Calle Cincuenta in Panama City, Panama; one of the most exclusive business area of the urban center. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of Panama City under clear blue skies, even though we are entering the rainy season. This happened to be a beautiful summer day. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the modern skyline of Panama City which is becoming one of the most rapidly growing cities of the region. The city's skyline is spectacular, as well as the blue dome above. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

THEME: Trinidad & Tobago: We Are Next

PAVILION: The modernistic Pavilion is meant to symbolize the pan, the national musical instrument of Trinidad & Tobago.

EXHIBIT: Utilizing shades of grey, red and white to create a sleek modern look, the Pavilion is set up in a series of curves radiating into partitions, or “pillars.” Each pillar contains an exhibit on one of the island’s growing urban centers, including Port of Spain, Scarborough, San Fernando and Sangre Grande. An information desk at the front of the Pavilion will be staffed by friendly, knowledgeable people from Trinidad and Tobago who will have further information for business opportunities and tourism facilities, in addition to being able to reserve the VIP area for businessmen wishing to invest in Trinidad and Tobago. The central area will house a theater and entertainment area, where films will be screened as well as occasional live performances. In the rear, mannequins will wear gaudy and colorful carnival outfits from Trinidad and Tobago’s splendid carnival. An exhibit on the pan will include a pan player who will perform daily. A 3D model of Port of Spain is also on display here. 

CUISINE: There is no dining area listed for the Pavilion.

SHOPPING: There is no specific shopping facility listed for the Pavilion.

Note: This Pavilion was located in the Caribbean Community Joint Pavilion

(This was a plenary address given on 20 October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa. However, since the gospel is preached and the Word is taught throughout this address, you could easily call it a mini- [16 minute] sermon.)

Please note that these sermon notes are provided only to encourage, and that any or all parts of the notes may contain errors or omissions, due entirely to the note-taker. Full audio of the sermon may be found at the Redeemer Sermon Store.

Intro: None! Tim’s first word is the first line of his outline. If you’d like to see this brief, 16 minute address, click here. For more about God’s heart for cities, see Redeemer City to City.

I. Why we must reach the great global megacities

II. How we should

III. Why we can

I. Why must we reach cities?

1. Cities are so crucially important
   1. Culturally: In the last year both The Financial Times and Foreign Policy did major issues on mega-cities. In Foreign Policy we read this: “The 21st century will not be dominated by America, or China, or Brazil, or India, but by the city. In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities, rather than states, are becoming the islands of governance upon which future world order will be built. Time, technology, and population growth have massively accelerated the advent of this new urbanized era. Already, more than half the world lives in cities, and that percentage is growing rapidly. Just 100 cities account for 30% of the world’s economy and almost all of its innovation.
      1. If you want human life as it is lived in this world to be at all shaped by Jesus Christ, we have to go to the cities.
   2. Missiologically: Four kinds of people are there.
      1. Young adults / the next generation go to cities.
      2. The most unreached peoples in the world are more reachable in cities. When they immigrate to cities, they break their kinship ties and are far more (humanly speaking) open to the gospel than they’ve ever been in their previous habitat.
      3. The people who tend to make the films, write the books, and do the business deals are there.
      4. The poor are there. Something like 1/3 of all the people moving into cities today are going to live in shanty towns. And God loves the poor! If you go to cities, you reach the people who God loves at the bottom.
   3. Viscerally: From the heart. In Jonah 4, at the end, Jonah is very unhappy because God has not destroyed the great city of Ninevah, but he’s very happy with a vine that has grown up, and it’s natural and right to love part of God’s green earth. But then the vine dies, and Jonah gets angry and discouraged and depressed. God argues, You’ve been emotionally attached to the vine! Jonah, you love plants, but I love people.
      1. We recognize that creation reflects God’s glory, but in humans you have more of the image of God per square inch than in the whole world.
      2. A missionary friend of mine once quipped that the country is where there are more plants than people, and the city is where there are more people than plants. Therefore, God must love the city more than he loves the country That’s exactly what God is arguing to Jonah in chapter 4.
      3. 300 years ago less than 3% of the world’s population lived in cities. Now that number is 50% and it’s growing rapidly. It’s estimated that every two months 8 million people move into the city. That’s a new Bangkok every two months. The church has got to be everywhere there are people, but right now people are moving into the city faster than the church.

II. How We Should

1. Urban China is different than China; urban Africa is different than Africa. If you’re going to have an effective center city church, you’ve got to contextualize it. Here are some headings for how:
   1. Churches in the city have to be extremely patient with charges of cultural insensitivity.
   2. Churches in cities have to be clear how their faith relates to their job. People in cities have jobs that are much more important to their lives. Dorothy Sayers, “What good is a church that tells you nothing that’s relevant to nine-tenths of your life?” For urban dwellers their job is 9/10 of their life.
      1. An actor came and asked Tim to disciple him. Tim said, “Great!” But the actor asked, “What roles should I take? What do you think of method acting?” Tim said, “I have no idea, because I only know how to disciple people by taking them out of their church world and into my church world.”
   3. Constantly open to disorder and change. You have to live with that.
   4. Intensely evangelistic and famous for its concern for justice–at the same time. You can’t afford to not have that balance.
   5. A commitment to the arts. Churches outside the city do not usually need to be as attentive to the arts.
   6. Cooperative with other denominations and traditions in a way that they can afford not to be outside of the city.

III. Why We Can

1. Many of us are defeatist about this. Here’s why we can:
2. In Genesis 18, God visits Abraham and says, “I’m going to destroy these cities.” Abraham approaches and does three remarkable things:
   1. He prays for an unbelieving city–this is extremely rare in the OT. He doesn’t just ask for Lot, but for the cities.
   2. He essentially endangered himself for their sake by approaching the holy God to spare the city AND asking for these cities to live even though they are a threat to him.
   3. He makes a theological case, acting as a representative, a high priest, saying, “Is it possible that the righteousness of the few could save the undeserving many?”
   4. But, in the end, Abraham didn’t get his prayer, did he? As high priest, he was turned down. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed; they didn’t have the high priest they needed…
3. …but we do.
   1. Abraham prayed for people who might have killed him, but Jesus Christ, the ultimate high priest, prayed for people who DID kill him.
   2. Abraham risked his life for these unbelieving cities, but Jesus gave his life for them.
   3. Most interestingly of all, Abraham had a theological concept that the righteous few might save the unbelieving many, but Jesus Christ is the reality,  the only righteous one.
4. When Jesus becomes your high priest, you and I can become the priests that the cities of this world need.
   1. We should pray for them, as our neighbors.
   2. We should sacrificially lay out our lives for them.
   3. Most of all, we should offer the righteousness of Jesus Christ for them, that they may be saved.

Application: We can be the priests that our cities need. Look at the cities. Look at the mass of them. Why are you not moved? Let’s go to them.

unrolls a throw rug, kneels down,

and prays toward the East.

To be sure, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050 has many salient thoughts.  Kotkin favors localism over control from the national government.  He envisions mid-size cities such as Fargo, North Dakota, Ames, Iowa and Boise, Idaho, capturing a greater degree of power and importance at the center of their respective regions.  And he acknowledges that there must be a balance between economic growth and preserving the quality of the environment.

What needs to be rejected in his analysis however are the assumptions that all density is bad, that only the rich can live in the “luxury” or “superstar cities” on the coasts, that business innovation and adaptation will be achieved by an entire generation of work-from-home cyber-entrepreneurs, and that modest town houses and mass transit are evils to be loathed rather than encouraged.

Kotkin’s vision continues to value the worst aspects of sprawl.  He rejects any effort to make better use of already developed areas in or on the edges of urban centers in favor of rapid outward development.

His generalizations are sweeping.  All Americans, including all the expected immigrants, want detached single-family homes on suitable sized lots on the urban fringe.  These homes will be havens from crime, poverty, poor schools and crowds.  They also will serve as venues for employment, bastions of family togetherness, and the terminus for technological innovations and connectivity (not now available in anything near universal access).  Leaving the homestead will be all but unnecessary.

The U.S. will reap many benefits from population growth in the next four decades.  In fact, our economic future depends on population growth. What is required to meet the needs of all these new residents is the expansion of mixed use walkable neighborhoods served by transit.  Places and neighborhoods are where the lives of citizens are intertwined and interdependent and where they are nurtured and stimulated.  The purpose of the city is to allow people to share their lives and to solidify the kinds of community bonds that are created through personal interactions.  This nation will need all its wits and all its combined gifts in order to come through this demographic leap.

photo source: Resurgence City

A few months ago, New Jersey Future looked at residential building permit data and found that New Jersey’s urban centers were faring better, relative to the rest of the state, in permit activity over the 2003-2008 period, mirroring a trend at the national level.

The same seems to be true of jobs.  Between 2003 and 2008, third-quarter private-sector employment (available at the municipal level on this page) declined statewide by a little under 30,000 jobs (-29,846 to be exact), but it actually grew in the 8 urban centers identified by New Jersey’s State Plan (Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Trenton, Camden, New Brunswick, and Atlantic City), by 5,435 jobs.  In percentage terms, this is a loss of 0.9 percent statewide and a gain of 1.4 percent for the urban centers.

Looking only at the single-year change from 2007 to 2008 (reflecting the beginning of the recession), the urban centers lost 0.4 percent of their private-sector employment, while the state lost 1.5 percent — more than three times the urban centers’ rate of loss.

The urban centers appear to have weathered the beginning of the recession better than the state as a whole, although the results were mixed among the individual centers themselves:  New Brunswick, Paterson, and Elizabeth lost private-sector jobs over the 5-year period from 2003 to 2008, while Atlantic City, Camden, Newark, Jersey City, and Trenton gained.  Looking at the one-year changes, Newark, Jersey City, and Camden posted gains while the other five lost private-sector jobs, though Trenton and Atlantic City lost jobs at less than the statewide rate.

Maybe there is something to the idea that compact, mixed-use centers are retaining their value (to employers, in this case) in the economic downturn better than other places are.

The above image comes from the fantastic website Radical Cartography.  The project artists there create wonderful maps of everything from subway systems (including Boston) to North American rail to census data.  The above map is of North American Subways, and the creators explain thus:

At a glance, many metros seem to be comparable in scale, but what separates New York from Baltimore is density: station-to-station distance, line overlap, and linkages.

Most systems are organized as a hub with spokes; the two notable exceptions are New York and Mexico City, both of which are more like nets.

This particular map is telling because, as the creators point out most systems work to funnel workers toward city centers but do an abysmal job of getting people from one place to another on the periphery without going through and back out of the center of the core.

The map is fascinating as it is telling about how people not only get into respective cities but what life is like once they are there.  My bias is to believe that subways are a sign of an active downtown and that people potentially live in the urban core.  This clearly true of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago and an interesting sign about life in Houston or Cincinnati or Phoenix.

However, cities without transit will not improve their downtown areas just by building subway lines (though it certainly cannot hurt).  Cities like Phoenix and Vegas were built around highways and an automobile driven life, and do not have the urban density necessary to support a strong subway system.  It is no coincidence that New York and Mexico City lead the pack of urban transit systems, they are both incredibly dense cities.   In order to make subways or elevated lines or lightrail lines work again it must be part of a comprehensive urban planning project, where areas are rezoned to produce dense urban centers for both residential and commercial purposes and where people have incentive to live their lives relying on public transportation first and automobiles second.

(H/T to my partner at eartotheground for the link)

“Usefulness is inversely proportional to status,” Deyan Sudjic writes in his new book “The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects.” “The more useless an object is, the more highly valued it will be.”

The author is referring to the relative value of art versus industrial design – but the observation can be applied equally well to cities such as San Francisco.

Think about it: The physical need to occupy a specific patch of earth has never been less important to one’s success. Everything we might acquire can be tracked down online; most culture we seek can be procured through a handheld device.

Our 21st century equivalent of an office tower turns out to be a cafe with free Wi-Fi.

All this should signal a death knell to the traditional core. Instead – recession aside – marquee hubs such as San Francisco stand more desirable than ever. It’s not that we need to be here. But the center serves as a stage set, the spotlit focus for people who use urbanity to define themselves and their tribe.

Cities aren’t the focus of Sudjic’s book, a well-tailored provocation that both explores why the best design work is timeless and decries how it can be debased for status or show. Thomas Chippendale and his 18th century furniture are explored as a precursor to Ikea – “a pioneer in brand creation” – and the ever-shinier line of Apple products is contrasted with the demise of the fountain pen as status symbol (“the basic concept has lost its relevance”).

The underlying theme: the quest among designers and clients for “emotional resonance,” the design of a watch or a laptop computer that connotes something beyond what it does: “to provide us with a reminder of the world beyond utility.”

More

John King
SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle)

Given that most of the available double-deck trains already serve the busiest regions, it seems unlikely that new rolling stock alone will be enough to meet the rapidly increasing demand. Moreover, the new double-deck trains will lead to an increase in cost for infrastructure maintenance because they wear out the tracks at a higher rate. Looking to 2030 and beyond, it is clear that we need new technologies to increase the passenger traffic capacities between the main urban centers. Better rolling stock for the Federal Railways is a good thing, but conventional rail technology clearly reaches its limits and faces rising maginal cost as the costs for rolling stock, infrastructure maintenance and laying of new track will go through the roof as it is being maxed out.

Swissmetro is an ideal alternative. It provides additional capacities between the main urban centers where the passenger volumes are highest and where the biggest increases are expected. It makes use of new technologies instead of updating a technology that is 200 years old and so avoids some of the major problems of the latter: it triples the speed, creates no noise, requires no land for tracks and thanks to maglev technology circulates without friction, thus minimizing wear and infrastructure maintenance costs. Swissmetro has its price, to be sure, but it takes public transport to the next level and solves some fundamental problems instead of practicing a more-of-the-same approach.

While Israel’s environmentalists have successfully pushed through the establishment of a number of national parks in recent years, they’ve been less successful at protecting green spaces that aren’t parks. Yet the preservation of pristine areas between urban areas is vital if Israel’s landscape and wildlife are to survive. In today’s Ha’aretz (Hebrew edition), Tzafrir Rinat reports on how these areas are being encroached on by settlements and farms, and cut in pieces by new roadways. He writes:

Last month the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel published a report on the threat to open spaces in Israel. The report lists 60 building and development plans that will damage open spaces. Among the most prominent are new roads in the Sharon and Modi’in areas, construction in the Ramon Crater, and the mining of phosphates in the Negev.

As I noted in my post Why Israel is Losing Its Green Spaces: The Pointed Roof Hypothesis, living in the country has become something of an Israeli middle-class dream. Add to that the mystical-nationalist aura surrounding settlement in Israel and the result is that the country’s open spaces are under a double threat.

Israel has more than enough cities and towns-and more than enough suburban communities and farms. Future residential construction must be confined to existing urban centers. Roads and railways are important in order to tie the country’s disadvantaged and forgotten periphery to its center, but they must be planned in ways that minimize their damage to habitants and landscapes. And they must be kept to a minimum-impossible if new settlements kept getting built, each with its own access road.

This article was excerpted from Seattle.gov. For the complete article and information on Seattle’s Urban Mobility Plan go to http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/ump/04%20SEATTLE%20What%20do%20we%20know%20about%20the%20future.pdf

sparyd@johnlscott.com