Urbanism – Opus

Survey of London

Survey of London is a long-running and highly respected series of publications that document and analyze the architectural and historical development of the city of London. First published in the early 20th century, the Survey provides in-depth studies of various areas and buildings within the city, offering insights into the history, design, and significance of London’s urban landscape. The project was initiated in 1894 by the London County Council (LCC) and later continued by the Greater London Council (GLC) and other entities. Its primary goal was to record and preserve the history of London’s architecture, as well as to examine the social and cultural impact of its built environment. The Survey has become an invaluable resource for scholars, architects, urban planners, and historians, offering detailed descriptions, photographs, and illustrations of London's buildings and neighborhoods.

Sparoza

Sparoza is a garden in Greece.

Boskoop

Boskoop is a town in the South Holland province of the Netherlands, recognized for its extensive horticultural history and its network of canals. Established in the Middle Ages, Boskoop became a center for tree and plant nurseries, a reputation it maintains today as one of the largest nursery districts in the world. The town’s geography is defined by its narrow waterways and low-lying agricultural plots, which are characteristic of the Dutch polder landscape. Boskoop is also known for its efficient transportation systems, historically using boats to move goods through its canals.

Varosha

Varosha is a former resort town located in the city of Famagusta, Cyprus. After Turkey took control of northern Cyprus in the 1970s, the resort town Varosha was left empty. Before the division of Cyprus in 1974, Varosha was a booming resort town with sky-scraping hotels, glamorous shopping districts, and sandy beaches frequently called the best in Cyprus. At its height, the resort town of Varosha was home to 39,000 residents and thousands more visited each year as tourists. But after 1974, everyone but the Turkish military was forbidden from entering, and today, buildings in the once-booming resort town are crumbling and abandoned.

Laguna Garzón Bridge

The Laguna Garzón Bridge is a bridge crossing the Laguna Garzón in Uruguay, on the border between the Maldonado and Rocha departments. The bridge is famous for its unusual circular shape and was designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly.

Al-Araqeeb

Al-Araqeeb is a Bedouin village located in the Negev desert region of southern Israel. The village has gained international attention due to its ongoing legal and political struggles with the Israeli government over land ownership and residency rights. The history of Al-Araqeeb dates back several generations, with Bedouin families residing in the area for decades. However, the Israeli government does not recognize the village as an official settlement and has repeatedly attempted to demolish the structures and forcibly evict its residents. The village has been rebuilt over 200 times.

Dynamic compaction

Dynamic compaction is a method that is used to increase the density of the soil when certain subsurface constraints make other methods inappropriate. It is a method that is used to increase the density of soil deposits. The process involves dropping a heavy weight repeatedly on the ground at regularly spaced intervals. The weight and the height determine the amount of compaction that would occur. The weight that is used, depends on the degree of compaction desired and is between 8 tonne to 36 tonne. The height varies from 1m to 30m. The impact of the free fall creates stress waves that help in the densification of the soil. These stress waves can penetrate up to 10m. In cohesionless soils, these waves create liquefaction that is followed by the compaction of the soil, and in cohesive soils, they create an increased amount of pore water pressure that is followed by the compaction of the soil.

Money train

A money train is one or more railcars used to collect cash fare revenue from stations on a subway system and return it to a central location for processing. This train was typically used to carry money bags guarded by transit police to deter robberies. On the New York City Subway, a "money train" was first mentioned in 1905, a year after the system opened. Their trains were converted from subway cars that have been removed from passenger service. This has since been discontinued, with the last service running in January 2006.

Ponte City

Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Berea suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, just next to Hillbrow. It was built in 1975 to a height of 173 m (567.6 ft), making it the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa. The 55-storey building is cylindrical, with an open centre allowing additional light into the apartments. The centre space is known as "the core" and rises above an uneven rock floor. When built, Ponte City was seen as an extremely desirable address due to its location and views over Johannesburg, but it became infamous for its crime and poor maintenance in the late 1980s to 1990s.

Hashima Island

Hashima Island is an island off the coast of Nagasaki in southwest Japan. Coal mines operated on Hashima from the 1890s, and at one point in time it was the most densely populated place in the world. At its peak, over 5000 miners lived with their families on an island measuring just over a kilometre long and half as wide, working in mines at depths of up to 660m. When the mine closed there was no reason for anyone to reside here, and in the early 1970s the entire island was abandoned, leaving the structures and contents to rot.