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Decoding London

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Indraja Gugle

A city of London model at the Building Centre. Scale- 1:1500 Photo courtesy: Indraja Gugle

How does one of the most sought after cities like London cater to the growing needs of its population? The answer lies not in the dusty room where bespectacled men toil away amongst columns of registers, but a modern correspondent to that. Digital data.

Hours of number crunching and digital resources go into planning housing, public spaces and you getting a train after missing the previous one by just a minute.

Since the advent of the internet, every person’s activity provides for useful data that is collected, recorded, monitored and controlled.

And voila! You have a smart city which uses digital technologies to reduce energy consumption and costs while contributing to the well-being of its citizens. The main domains it dabbles in are transport, energy, health care, water and waste.

Fascinated visitors at the exhibition. Photo courtesy: Indraja Gugle

Throwing light on the phenomenon is an exhibition called “Smarter London: How Digital Technologies are shaping the city” which is on at the Building Centre till 18 December.

It comes after a six month NLA (New London Architecture) Insight study with Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London.

It summarizes the work of various organizations providing IT and infrastructural services to the city of London. Extremely beneficial to city architects and developers, this exhibition is equally interesting for the general public. “It’s fascinating! You think of London having a lot of high buildings, but in fact it is quite localised,” expressed a visitor, Chris Roberts.

City

London City Dashboard collects data from live feeds around the capital and displays it in real time.

The Urban Observatory, an open access online tool, allows users to witness the international performance of cities.

Air quality across key London sites is being monitored by Future Cities Catapult.

3D models are increasingly helping to visualise the impact of future proposed buildings. This has successfully been realised in Seattle through the Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Autodesk model. Buildings are currently responsible for 80% of carbon emissions in London. The aim is to reduce it to 60% by 2025.

People

Source: NLA exhibiton

At the heart of all data are people. But subject participation becomes all the more important here since we have become the fastest source of information,thanks to the internet. Smartphones and sensors trace the behaviour of individuals based on localised data. Data on our social media outlets like Twitter and Instagram can be mapped to understand local activity better.

Urban spaces can evoke stress or positive feelings. CASA are using mobile electroencephalography devices to detect emotions in relation to people’s surroundings.

An exhibit showcases Pigeon Sim that allows visitors to interact with London data in a lively manner. They can swoop over the city exploring any corner they like, just like a bird!

Commonplace and Stickyworld are testament to how citizen feedback is helping to make city planning more transparent. Users can leave their comments regarding a particular neighbourhood which is used by project builders and stakeholders to plan better for citizens.

Transport

London underground Source: NLA exhibition

10 million people use London’s transport system everyday. The use of Oyster cards directly inform decision-makers about the busiest hours of the day, thus enabling them to improve the transport system. Similarly, bikes concentrate in the heart of the city in the morning, which gives crucial data on bike patterns in the city.

The exhibition also talks about the latest high frequency railway line, Crossrail, serving London and the South-East.

This exhibition signals how human-internet interaction is proving to be a turning point for the optimum use of resources. It’s worth a visit, especially if you are an engineer or an architect.

Human Right to Peace lecture sounds an echo

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Indraja Gugle

L to R: David Wardrop, Marjoliyn Snippe, Alfred de Zayas, Vijay Mehta and Shanti Mehta

Uniting for Peace, an international NGO working for disarmament, peace and sustainable development, held its annual Erskine Childers lecture on 9 October 2014 at the London Euston Hilton. The keynote speaker, Dr. Alfred de Zayas, a leading UN figure on human rights, addressed a crowd of 140 people on The Human Right to Peace – Foundation for a just International Order. Presided over by Vijay Mehta, chairman of Uniting for Peace, the lecture also saw speakers Marjolin Snippe (Netherlands UNA) and David Wardrob (Westminster UNA).

The Erskine Childers lectures were started in 1997 as part of the Action for UN Renewal by Uniting for Peace. Dr. Alfred de Zayas, former Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee and ex- senior lawyer with the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a profound speech on modern realpolitik, the camouflaged relationship of peace and economic imperialism, disarmament and the attainment of peace – a continuous process.

Vijay Mehta, Chairman of Uniting for Peace

Speaking about the collective assault on Iraq, one of the largest illegal wars of modern times, De Zayas stated that no international tribunal existed with jurisdiction over the culprits in 2003. Even today, international tribunals are only moral instances of legal powers of execution. An article of the Rome Statute in 2012 has enabled the International Criminal Court to conduct investigations and prosecute individuals for crimes of aggression, but it does not provide for any investigations into past crimes.

That said, a country does reserve the right for self-defence. “But a previous armed attack is a necessary pre-condition for invoking article 51 of the Charter”, he stated. The Charter also maintains a no-intervention policy in the internal affairs of all sovereign states, thus entrusting them with all responsibility to protect their citizens from war crimes and genocide, something that has often been criticised by the media.

In the light of such situations, De Zayas stressed on the importance of a revitalized United Nations and a pro-active General Assembly that enables execution of preventive strategies, something that Uniting For Peace believes in too. “As the most representative world body the GA should not only voice the international community’s rejection of war (…) but also develop early warning mechanisms to detect and neutralize disinformation (…) and the panoply of pretexts used by some States to justify the use of force.” He suggested that a Special Advisor be appointed to the Secretary General on the prevention and suppression of war.

Alfred de Zayas

In a startling revelation, De Zayas said that in 2013, the world spent $ 1.73 trillion on the military. In some countries, military research and weapon production represented 20% to 40% of the government budget. In the face of these shocking statistics, the pursuit of disarmament assumes an urgent importance. The Non Nuclear Proliferation Treaty of 1968 (190 state parties) stated nuclear disarmament as a mandatory order of compliance. Nevertheless, Nuclear States have been flouting this norm by modernizing and stockpiling weapons. Hence, it becomes crucial to recognise the demilitarized zones in the world and inspire many more to follow.

Under the South Pacific and African Nuclear Free Zone Treaties, a large area of the Pacific, the entire African continent and many Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands are nuclear free zones in the world, apart from countries like Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and many individual cities in the UK and the USA.

Efforts are on-going for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. He explained that finally, everything boils down to money. Large profits are made from arms trade, and unless previous arms are not used, there will be no demand for new ones. Hence, transnational corporations and growing military insecurity have made things even more difficult for disarmament that is crucial for peace. Alfred De Zayas quoted Ban Ki-Moon as saying, “The world is over-armed and peace is underfunded.”

In an animated Q&A round, De Zayas responded to one of the questions on how international peace can be saved from jeopardy. He

replied, “We show our teeth to neighbours, we do not try to be friends. Russia was not integrated even after the Soviet Union had disappeared. We’re always making enemies. We need to stop provoking the other guy.”

Another question from a Pakistani gentleman brought attention to how peace is discussed in an air-conditioned environment in the West, but it is not answered in the sub-continents where the situation is indeed grave. De Zayas commented,” The Indian subcontinent needs education and a stable government. I would love to see India and Pakistan shake hands.” He also applauded the work of renowned author Arundhati Roy for trying to persuade the Indian and Pakistani governments to tackle root causes.

As his parting words of wisdom, De Zayas expressed how people were indoctrinated to repeat “I can die for my country, my religion.” When indeed it would be much more valuable if one said, “I want to live for my country.”

Alffred de Zayas interacting with a member of audience

The lecture in progress at the London Euston Hilton

Football salutes talent, not racism

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Indraja Gugle

Courtesy : flickr.com

You are in a stadium watching a nail-biting match. The air is thick with the cheers and jeers of crazy football fans. Slurping on Coke and whooping loudly has made your voice hoarse, but the adrenaline and furore inside you refuses to die. Your eyes follow the ball zooming from one end of the field to the other, but suddenly the ball is not the attention of the match. The referee has whistled and the screen displays two players, making nasty eyes at each other and caught in a different heat .

One of them has uttered words which do not show the least bit of “sportsmanship”. The other finds it difficult to swallow this verbal abuse. You have witnessed the scene. As a spectator, you are taken aback and don’t know quite what to do. You want to raise your voice against this glaring example of racism, but how?

Richard Bates talking about ‘Kick It Out’, an organisation fighting discrimination in football

This is where the role of Kick It Out starts.

Kick It Out is an organisation fighting discrimination and racism in football and enabling people to report such cases. It works with football authorities, professional clubs, players, fans and communities to tackle discrimination.

It primarily works with English football associations, but also has links with FIFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Football Against Racism (FARE) network in Europe.

At a talk hosted by the University of Westminster on 20 October, 2014, Richard Bates, the media and communication manager of Kick It Out, explained what his organisation did and answered many questions as to its various functions. Football is almost like a religion for millions on this planet, and it is essential to keep racism in check. “The problem lies at the grassroots level,” he says. The organisation aims to nip the evil in the bud by educating football players from a young age of their equality responsibilities.

“Antisemitism is very commonplace. Jewish and Black people are the most common targets”, stated Richard. There are also serious issues while dealing with sexism on the field in women’s football. He stressed that people have to be educated at the grassroots level. “This kind of behaviour is unacceptable.”

Kick It Out launched an application in July 2013 whereby spectators can anonymously report incidents of discrimination. Match-goers can use this app to report abuse they see, hear or personally experience.

“Whether you are a fan or coach, player or administrator, referee or physio, groundsman or steward, the app allows you to file complaints confidentially and anonymously,” reads their website. A user stated,“Great idea. This should be a mandatory app for football supporters.”

Regarding the very process of reporting, he stated, “Reports come via emails or the reporting app. Anna Johnson, the reporting officer, deals with all the reports, giving support to the victims and liaising with the government.” While Kick It Out itself is not a regulatory body, it cannot make sanctions or punish anybody. It investigates the report and puts it forth to the Football Association or Premier League for further measures.

Racism and discrimination can and must be dealt with. Because this beautiful sport supports talent, not racism. Because it deserves love for bringing the world together.

Visit their website http://www.kickitout.org to find out more about getting involved.

Harrow Conversations: How we made ‘Gravity’ – A report

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Indraja Gugle

Photo courtesy: gravitymovie.warnerbros.com

“People should think we shot Gravity in space” – Alfonso Cuarón’s animation brief

Soho based Framestore’s Max Solomon, animation supervisor of Gravity, gives us a peek into the massive work that went into the animation part of the blockbuster. Harrow Conversations, an initiative to bring lunchtime conversations of interest to staff and students alike, hosted this talk on the 25^th of September 2014 at the University of Westminster, Harrow.

From film buffs to animation students, this was a golden opportunity for everyone to discover the development of those special effects that left us all spellbound. The talk opened with a trailer showing Sandra Bullock somersaulting into space – way to get the adrenaline pumping. When the story was pitched in 2009, the entire animation team was acutely aware of the challenges of making a hyper realistic thriller with immersive long shots and zero gravity. Most movies didn’t do that. But this one did. Max walked the audience through the entire process, from pre-production nightmares to post-production labours.

Early tests showed that traditional shooting wouldn’t work. A previz (pre-visualisation) team of 25 first worked to visualize complex scenes in the movie before filming. A horde of thinking caps explored the shot structure, the visual/spatial concepts and the animation/actor relationship. This gave them a lowdown on the choreography, 3D, physical cameras and performances beforehand.

Max explained, “The long shot scenes that lasted more than 13 minutes were a real pain. We had to avoid making it seem like audience was watching it through a window. We used long lenses that gave the audience the feel of actually being there in space.” For the destruction scenes, they had to carry out various tests in order to get the material to bend more than breaking into thousands of pieces, which would be unrealistic.

The lightbox and motion control bit was revolutionary, which he opines led to an Oscar win. “In the process of making the film, we developed a new camera especially for the purpose”. Some of the material used was a 2 tonne robotic arm, a 10 feet cube (to film the epic scene where Sandra is hurtling into space), removable planes and 1.8 million LEDs! The defining feature of filming the movie was when they had to deconstruct the motion to the camera, which means the cameras and not the actors did the moving. They had to avoid cowboy shots, i.e. shots from the waist up, and instead shot confused angles of the body as seen in zero gravity.

Max modestly added that the other departments had a lot to work on, for example creating different looks of earth as seen at sunset and sunrise, modelling and texturing exterior surfaces. The NASA outfits themselves were selected after testing them for both, looks and motion. Finally, the emotional performance had to match live action for which they reanimated shots during post-production. The entire film incurred a massive R&D expenditure.

3 years and a special effects team of 400 people later, we had the spectacle called Gravity that blew our minds away. “Even when you have talent, it is sheer hard work that is more important”, Max ended solemnly while referring to the crazy hours his team had clocked in.

The talk proved to be extremely insightful for budding film makers and animators. Aravind Sundar, an audio production student at Westminster, expressed, “The talk was a ‘mind opener’. I learned a lot.”

Max Solomon addressing the crowd at University of Westminster, Harrow

Interacting with a student post-talk