New World Research

Germany’s Hidden Weaknesses

2012-02-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Germany’s Hidden Weaknesses

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/opinion/germanys-hidden-economic-weaknesses.html?src=tp&smid=fb-share

By NORBERT WALTER

Published: February 8, 2012

REPRINTS

Frankfurt

Times Topics: European Debt Crisis | Germany

WITH Greece once again nearing default, calls are going out this week for Germany to step in to help. And many Germans are, once again, responding with indignation, saying they shouldn’t have to bail out their profligate neighbors.

But there is another reason Germany should resist demands to intervene, one that Chancellor Angela Merkel can hardly express publicly. Though Germany is undeniably Europe’s strongest economy, its outlook is not nearly as rosy as people imagine. And while a bailout might seem to help in the short term, it would make it harder for Germany to lead in the place where it really matters: creating a fiscal union, a United States of Europe.

A quick checkup of Germany in early 2012 would give the country a clean bill of health: it grew at about 3.5 percent in 2010 and 2011, outperforming the rest of the Group of 8 countries, as well as the consensus forecasts. Moreover, despite the recession, the number of people unemployed, well above five million just a few years ago, has been cut by almost half.

Germany’s success story does not end there. German companies continued to increase their market share in world exports. With only about 1 percent of the world’s labor force, last year Germany produced about 10 percent of global exports. And the value of its exports of goods and services exceeds that of its imports by something like 150 billion euros, about 5 percent of Germany’s G.D.P.

It is this current account surplus that has convinced economists from Munich to Cambridge that Germany is benefiting at the expense of countries with a current account deficit, particularly its southern European partners. For moral as well as economic reasons, they argue, Germany now has an obligation to bring that distortion back into balance.

But this is a dangerously one-sided verdict. For one thing, Germany’s position is hardly permanent. Its labor force is growing older, and as we have seen in Japan, a country with a high savings rate and a current account surplus can quickly turn into a low-savings and current-account-deficit country as its population ages.

Moreover, the view that Germany must reduce its current account surplus ignores the interconnectedness of European economies. If a country like Germany is successful in exporting investment goods and cars to emerging markets, it pulls its neighbors along — if the German car industry is doing well, supplier industries in the Netherlands, Belgium and Slovakia do well, too.

This view also ignores the fact that a strong German export sector acts as a sponge for surplus labor in other countries — unemployed workers in Madrid or Athens can easily move to Munich or Cologne for work.

But the fact is that, even without a German-led bailout, the German economy is poised for a slowdown. Many economists expect growth to be well below 3 percent this year; my own guess is that it will come in around 1 percent.

Such expectations are hardly secret, and they reinforce the German public’s fear of aggressive action right now. After all, the international community appears unaware of the sobering experiences that Germany’s taxpayers have gone through in the last two decades. By the middle of this decade, the equivalent of up to 100 percent of Germany’s annual G.D.P. will have been spent to finance German reunification alone. This will have amounted to an annual contribution of 4 percent of G.D.P. for nearly a quarter century.

Most of it is being financed through a slowdown in government investment in western Germany and limits on social spending, higher taxes and social contributions. A third of that investment, however, has been shifted onto the shoulders of the next generation as debt. In fact, the country’s debt-to-G.D.P. ratio has risen from just below 60 percent to almost 80 percent, a bearable number in a strong economy but dangerously high should things slow down.

Is now a time to rejoice? Is Germany the star performer, the role model to be emulated? Or is the start of 2012 just a snapshot, showing a series of lucky coincidences that should not be misread as structural strengths? With some qualifications, I believe it is the latter.

With that in mind, Germany should not squander its recent gains through ill-advised macroeconomic policies. It should strive for sober policies, promoting sustainable reforms in Greece like privatization, an efficient tax collection system and modernization of the tourist industry.

Germany has learned the hard way that monetary union without some unification of fiscal policy making, and ultimately without political union, does not work. While today — on average — national parliaments control 50 percent of the European Union’s G.D.P. via the public sector, the budget of the union itself amounts to just 1 percent of G.D.P. To work, the European Parliament needs to command about a tenth of the national budgets, or about 5 percent of G.D.P.

Instead of looking to Germany for short-term bailouts, Europe should demand that Germany lead the way to a true fiscal union. It is a challenging task, but one that Chancellor Merkel and the German public are willing and able to meet.

Norbert Walter is chief economist emeritus for Deutsche Bank.

Holland Art Cities: cooperation as competitive advantage

2012-02-08T07:21:00.000-08:00

Source:

http://blog.inpolis.com/2012/02/08/holland-art-cities-cooperation-as-competitive-advantage/

by Hans Pul

Especially since the Place Branding Conference of last month, the concepts competition and cooperation have been the theme of some recent posts on this blog. In this post I will follow-up on this topic and discuss some aspects of the Holland Art Cities project (2009-2010). This project was a cooperation between 10 museums in 4 Dutch cities, aimed at attracting foreign visitors. Holland Art Cities was initiated and organised by the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (NBTC).

I will finish this post arguing that cooperation can be seen as a strategy within a competitive context.

Holland Art Cities is a temporary project by NBTC. NBTC also runsHolland.com, which is the central platform for foreign tourists visiting the Netherlands. Unlike what the NBTC claims on its website, “the Netherlands” and “Holland” are referring to two different concepts. The former refers to the country as a whole, while Holland refers to two out of twelve provinces within the Netherlands. However, in English the term Holland is more frequently used to refer to the country as a whole, while The Netherlands is seen as a more formal way to refer to the same entity. The same holds true for many other languages as well. Apparently, the NBTC does want to get away with the lack of clarity about these two concepts: On the “Did you know – funny facts about the Netherlands” page of Holland.com, it is stated that “The Netherlands and Holland are one and the same place”.

Holland Art Cities

Although NBTC calls it an “event”, Holland Art Cities is pretty much a straight-forward cooperative marketing campaign with a clear target group. The target group is constituted by a well-off, art-interested public from nearby countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the UK). In 2009 and 2010, the top ten museums in the four biggest cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) worked together in an art event under the “Holland Art Cities” umbrella (Interestingly, Utrecht is not located in one of the two Holland provinces). These cities are located within a range of 1 hour. Holland Art Cities had 3 themes: International influences, Dutch Masters and Young: modern and contemporary art.

According to the NBTC, the campaign was a great success:

“With 41 expositions in the main programme and 51 in the side programme, Holland Art Cities had a strong appeal on both Dutch and foreign visitors. Around 5 million people visited the expositions in the main programme of the ten museums; 2.9 million Dutch visitors and 2 million visitors from all over the world. For 25% of the foreign visitors the Holland Art Cities expositions was one of the main reasons for their visit to the Netherlands. To underline the quality of the programme: many of the visitors came specifically to the Netherlands and/or the city to see the exhibition and were delighted with their visit.”

The campaign generated a lot of media exposure in the target countries, especially on art websites. The fact that Holland Art Cities caught a lot of attention is probably due to the fact that it is a clear concept: four cities, ten high-end art museums. However, exactly this aspect of the campaign touches on my first point of critique. This point of critique is that only a very small fraction of Dutch art museums received a massive amount of international media attention, while other cities and museums did not. Other cities in the Netherlands and other museums in the four cities profited from Holland Art Cities only indirectly, if at all. A second point of critique on the Holland Art Cities event is pointed at in an article in Recreatie & Toerisme (in Dutch) by Stephen Hodes. The author is content with the focus on art in positioning the Netherlands as a destination. However, he argues that the event seems to be part of the regular programming of the involved museums. According to Hodes, the “Holland Art Cities” event seems to add less of innovative art programming (content), but rather is a “fancy packaging” around already existing products.

My main argument in this blogpost is that in place branding, cooperation can be of competitive advantage. Places cooperating in place branding efforts can be more effective, as they have a more complete product to sell and share costs. In that sense, cooperation and competition are often related, and are different aspects of the same process. For me, the Holland Art Cities campaign example shows that cooperation is a way of withstand within a competitive context.

Within the European context, the Holland Art Cities cooperation effectively positioned the museums/cities involved against competing European cities with great art museums. Within the Dutch context, however, the Holland Art Cities cooperation excluded dozens of other great art museums, in order to keep the concept clear and easy to communicate to foreign publics. From the perspective of the excluded museums, the cooperation of Holland Art Cities museums constituted strong competition.

What is your stance? Is cooperation an alternative to competition? Or is cooperation just a nice-sounding word, but effectively a strategy to achieve competitive advantage?

Dinner with Barack

2012-02-08T00:42:00.000-08:00

Smell me and com

2012-02-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Ilha do Gerês - Northwest of Portugal

2012-02-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

Special Edition on the Place Branding

2012-02-03T10:13:00.001-08:00

After the conference: First impressions from Utrecht

http://www.inpolis.de/home_de.html

From left to right: Jan Brown, Greg Ashworth, Robert Govers, Martin Boisen, Keith Dinnie, Ares Kalandides

by Ares Kalandides

http://www.inpolis.de/home_de.html

http://blog.inpolis.com/2012/01/23/after-the-conference-first-impressions-from-utrecht/

With my impressions on the Special Edition on the Place Branding still fresh, both exhausted and enthusiastic after two days of intensive work, I will try to sum up my thoughts from the event, more or less as I presented them in the closing panel:

There were two issues that came up during the conference, one to be expected the other rather a surprise. The first was about the nature of Place Branding – and by extension of place itself. Are we dealing with the real place or with perceptions of place? And could we call the former place identity and the latter place image? Now the ones who follow my research will know that I have written repeatedly about place identity (1) and that I am still intrigued by the many different ways the term is used. I suggest that we follow Henri Lefebvre’s “trialectics of space” in his 1974 book, The Production of Space (2). There Lefebvre suggests that we can look at space from three different perspectives: lived space (éspace vecu), perceived space (éspace perçu) and conceived space (éspace conçu). Inspired by Lefebvre, I tend to think about space (and place) as simultaneously lived (experienced through materiality, practices or norms), perceived (through complex processes of identification, incorporation, abstraction, reduction etc.) and represented (through symbols, signs or artefacts). I think place branding is somewhere in the middle of this triangle: Our aim is to influence perceptions, but we do that both by working on representations of place and on the lived place itself.

The second issue, that really came as a surprise, is that there we had very interesting presentations and discussions on whether Place Branding makes any sense if we take it out of the competitive environment of the neo-liberal doctrine. There were a couple of papers and Robert Govers’ key note lecture that went into the possibility of understanding Place Branding in the context of more complex place relations that may include co-operation. As I have argued before (3) places are involved in extremely complex relations that may include inter- and co-dependency, co-operation and indeed competition. Reducing these relations to one, i.e. competition, is rather a conceptual and political choice, rather than merely a statement reflecting reality. Here I find David Harvey’s (4) approach to space as simultaneously absolute, relative and relational extremely helpful. Absolute, in the sense that it can be limited (through all kind of boundaries), divided up and measured; relative in the sense that it is constituted by relations among objects (very much as Einstein defined it); and relational, in the sense that each object contains in itself its relations to other objects across space. Places is at the same time all of the above and can thus be interdependent,cooperate or compete, depending on the issue, the agent and the actual question: Who is competing/cooperating etc.with whom for what?

I hope that our next International Place Branding Conference in Manchester 18th – 20th January 2013 together with the Institute of Place Management will take on this issues and develop them further.

(1) e.g. Kalandides, A. (2011), “The problem with spatial identity: revisiting the ‘sense of place’”, Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 28-39

(2) Lefebvre, H. (2012), La production de l’éspace, Anthropos, Paris.

(3) Kalandides, A. (2012), “Place Branding and Place Identity. An integrated approach”, Tafter online journal, Nr. 43, Jan 2012, http://www.tafterjournal.it/2012/01/03/place-branding-and-place-identity-an-integrated-approach/

(4) Harvey, D. (1996), Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA

10 Things I have learned about Mountainbiking

2012-02-02T15:28:00.001-08:00

10 Things I have learned about Mountainbiking from Filme von Draussen on Vimeo.

Sheep Cyclone

2012-02-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

The Best Global Leaders are Local Leaders

2012-02-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

NDUBUISI EKEKWE

NdubuisiEkekwe is a founder of the non-profit African Institution of Technology. He recently edited Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Global Diffusion, Economics, and Policy.

A few years ago, Thomas Friedman eloquently said that "the world is flat." Technology and globalization have made commerce a far more level playing field than it was many decades ago. The internet has unlocked opportunities, giving businesses access to previously unreachable customers. There's a sense of equal opportunity in markets, with geographical and historical knowledge becoming more and more irrelevant. From business schools to boardrooms, building global leaders has been identified as a crucial factor for organizational growth. That makes sense when competition can come from anywhere. Being globally-focused is now a prerequisite for survival.

Yet, despite increasing interdependence across the globe, the world is not necessarily flat. Customers have unique tastes and values, and local knowledge can be a distinct competitive advantage. Anyone who depends on deploying a one-solution-fits-all strategy across cultures and nations will lose. Being a global leader today goes beyond having a "global strategy." Fragmentation exists, and firms need "interface leaders" — or local leaders — to execute strategies.

Local communities appreciate great global brands, but they also treasure the relationships they have with their local brands. For any global brand to displace those local brands, they have to understand the customers and offer better value, in the local context. Why? When customers are making purchasing decisions, they're simply looking for value. What you're doing in your corporate headquarters is of no concern to them.

Future global leaders must be those who can develop local leaders with the ability to execute company-wide plans, across nations and regions, at the local level. Commerce is still communal in nature, regardless of the sophistication of the product or service. Intangibles like local fashion, language, and cultural norms must not be taken for granted at the physical interface where brands connect with customers.

Let me use an example of two companies from two different industries — Google and Coca-Cola — to illustrate some points on how next-generation global leaders can build their firms. Coca-Cola is an iconic global brand, and yet, it is the most successful local "Nigerian brand." Only, no one buys "Coke" in Lagos, and no one cares to know what the Coca-Cola executives are doing in Atlanta. The products are packaged and "bottled" in Nigeria, and few things are visibly foreign in the products or the business operations. Coke even has a Nigerian taste that differs from the U.S. version — possibly changed to satisfy the local preference.

In the case of tech giant Google, the global to local transformation is visible, though it's still in the early stages. In Africa, Google is local, and most of their managers are natives. When you interact with the team, you have the feeling that you're doing business with another local company. While Yahoo! delivers U.S. news feeds to most African nations, Google delivers local news via country-specific domains. Google understands that a virtual global marketplace requires a physical local presence. It's easier to run ads for customers in Boston by paying into a Google local Nairobi bank account than by wiring money to California.

Even within nations, global leaders need to have local plans. Consider Nigeria — what works in the predominantly Christian south may not work in the Muslim north. It's the same nation, but in commerce terms, they are poles apart because the people are so vastly different. The most successful national brands are also the best community or local brands. These brands have built an enviable "physical interface" with customers, at the point where they relate with the brands. They know the local area and can compete with local competitors. They understand that, in the end, the business needs to be distilled down to the community or local level, because understanding local markets still matters. Next-generation global leaders must know that to become successful, they need to develop local leaders who will represent them across communities and regions. You can have a global strategy, but it is the local one that customers experience. It's the local one that wins and loses customers. Indeed, the best global leaders are also the best local leaders.

This post is part of the HBR Insight Center, The Next Generation of Global Leaders.

Dutch Cycling Embassy

2012-02-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

Cycling For Everyone from Dutch Cycling Embassy on Vimeo.

The Austerity Debacle

2012-02-01T04:48:00.001-08:00

The Austerity Debacle

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real G.D.P. since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it did during the Great Depression. Four years into the Depression, British G.D.P. had regained its previous peak; four years after the Great Recession began, Britain is nowhere close to regaining its lost ground.

Nor is Britain unique. Italy is also doing worse than it did in the 1930s — and with Spain clearly headed for a double-dip recession, that makes three of Europe’s big five economies members of the worse-than club. Yes, there are some caveats and complications. But this nonetheless represents a stunning failure of policy.

And it’s a failure, in particular, of the austerity doctrine that has dominated elite policy discussion both in Europe and, to a large extent, in the United States for the past two years.

O.K., about those caveats: On one side, British unemployment was much higher in the 1930s than it is now, because the British economy was depressed — mainly thanks to an ill-advised return to the gold standard — even before the Depression struck. On the other side, Britain had a notably mild Depression compared with the United States.

Even so, surpassing the track record of the 1930s shouldn’t be a tough challenge. Haven’t we learned a lot about economic management over the last 80 years? Yes, we have — but in Britain and elsewhere, the policy elite decided to throw that hard-won knowledge out the window, and rely on ideologically convenient wishful thinking instead.

Britain, in particular, was supposed to be a showcase for “expansionary austerity,” the notion that instead of increasing government spending to fight recessions, you should slash spending instead — and that this would lead to faster economic growth. “Those who argue that dealing with our deficit and promoting growth are somehow alternatives are wrong,” declared David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister. “You cannot put off the first in order to promote the second.”

How could the economy thrive when unemployment was already high, and government policies were directly reducing employment even further? Confidence! “I firmly believe,” declared Jean-Claude Trichet — at the time the president of the European Central Bank, and a strong advocate of the doctrine of expansionary austerity — “that in the current circumstances confidence-inspiring policies will foster and not hamper economic recovery, because confidence is the key factor today.”

Such invocations of the confidence fairy were never plausible; researchers at the International Monetary Fund and elsewhere quickly debunked the supposed evidence that spending cuts create jobs. Yet influential people on both sides of the Atlantic heaped praise on the prophets of austerity, Mr. Cameron in particular, because the doctrine of expansionary austerity dovetailed with their ideological agendas.

Thus in October 2010 David Broder, who virtually embodied conventional wisdom, praised Mr. Cameron for his boldness, and in particular for “brushing aside the warnings of economists that the sudden, severe medicine could cut short Britain’s economic recovery and throw the nation back into recession.” He then called on President Obama to “do a Cameron” and pursue “a radical rollback of the welfare state now.”

Strange to say, however, those warnings from economists proved all too accurate. And we’re quite fortunate that Mr. Obama did not, in fact, do a Cameron.

Which is not to say that all is well with U.S. policy. True, the federal government has avoided all-out austerity. But state and local governments, which must run more or less balanced budgets, have slashed spending and employment as federal aid runs out — and this has been a major drag on the overall economy. Without those spending cuts, we might already have been on the road to self-sustaining growth; as it is, recovery still hangs in the balance.

And we may get tipped in the wrong direction by Continental Europe, where austerity policies are having the same effect as in Britain, with many signs pointing to recession this year.

The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/krugman-the-austerity-debacle.html?_r=1

‘Made in Britain’ gets new logo

2012-02-01T02:13:00.000-08:00

‘Made in Britain’ gets new logo:

As globalization advances and as more and more companies move their

production to more salary-competitive countries, it’s harder to tell where

does one product some from.

Hence the need to clearly mark products made in Cyprus as ‘Made in Cyprus’,

products made in Ireland as ‘Made in Ireland’,

products made in the Netherlands as ‘Made [...]

Armin & Noord Nederlands Orkest

2012-01-31T15:09:00.000-08:00

2012 Top 100 Best NGOs by The Global Journal

2012-01-30T01:42:00.001-08:00

2012 Top 100 Best NGOs by The Global Journal

Source:

http://theglobaljournal.net/article/view/585/

by The Global Journal JANUARY 23, 2012

THE GLOBAL JOURNAL publishes the first ever TOP 100 NGOs list.
WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION heads the global ranking.

GENEVA - The Global Journal is proud to announce the release of its inaugural ‘Top 100 Best NGOs’ list. The first international ranking of its kind, this exclusive in-depth feature will no doubt stimulate debate, while providing academics, diplomats, policymakers, international organizations and the private sector an insight into the ever changing dynamics and innovative approaches of the non-profit world and its 100 leading actors.

Recognizing the significant role of NGOs as influential agents of change on a global scale, The Global Journal has sought to move beyond outdated clichés and narrow conceptions about what an NGO is and does. From humanitarian relief to the environment, public health to education, microfinance to intellectual property, NGOs are increasingly at the forefront of developments shaping the lives of millions of people around the world.

The Global Journal is especially pleased to congratulate the Wikimedia Foundation for achieving first place in the Top 100 for 2012. A quintessential example of the power of a great idea well executed, Wikimedia’s most famous initiative - Wikipedia - has transformed the way in which the world obtains information, reaching 477 million visitors per month. Entirely volunteer-driven, the site has rapidly become the largest collection of shared knowledge in human history.

The following organizations joined the Wikimedia Foundation at the top of The Global Journal’s ranking:

#01 - Wikimedia Foundation

#02 - Partners In Health

#03 - Oxfam

#04 - BRAC

#05 - International Rescue Committee

#06 - PATH

#07 - CARE International

#08 - Médecins Sans Frontières

#09 - Danish Refugee Council

#10 - Ushahidi

The Top 100 Best NGOs - Full List

Further details regarding the Top 100 Best NGOs issue is available on The Global Journal website at www.theglobaljournal.net, or by purchasing the magazine at newsstands or via the online store.

Just made my day II

2012-01-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

Challenge the Best 2012

2012-01-29T05:43:00.001-08:00

‘Challenge the Best’ invites you to have an impact on our future by being the intuitive, unconventional and smart student thinking out of the box.

On the 26th of March, the Student Union of the University of St. Gallen will bring together respected personalities of our time as well as 40 students from across Europe to discuss the problem of "Global Water Scarcity" – and how we are supposed to learn of the mistakes of our societies, our political and our economic leaders.

The four-day conference will take place in St. Gallen, Switzerland. After a three-day preparation seminar with international guest lecturers, you will get the chance to discuss with our honourable guests in small groups of no more than 8 students per guest – an amazing and inspiring intergenerational dialogue.

Do not miss this opportunity to meet talented students from across Europe. Costs for travel & accommodation, Welcome Dinner and parties: covered by us!

Find information on our confirmed guests here:

http://www.challengethebest.org/index.php?page=guests

Application deadline: 5th of February 2012.

Visit www.ChallengeTheBest.org , learn more about our event, apply online and get invited to this uniquely output-driven event with probably the most intensive contact to the achievers of today that a conference can offer.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChallengeTheBest

The Portuguese village that came back to life

2012-01-29T01:06:00.001-08:00

The Portuguese village that came back to life

One man has transformed a ghost town in the western Algarve into a thriving eco-tourism destination

Beach near Aldeia da Pedralva, Portugal.

The crusty, chewy pão caseiro loaf that I find hanging in an embroidered bag from the shuttered doorway of our village house in Pedralva every morning reminds me that this is no ordinary Algarve holiday.

As I open the door onto the small courtyard, the cool September air is fragrant with eucalyptus and forest flowers. A cockerel crows, the owner's New Foundland puppy, Urso, sets off in hot pursuit of a cat, and two silver-haired villagers, with lines etched deep into their faces, sit chatting on the doorstep, barely acknowledging my presence.

I balance on tiptoe to open the blue wooden shutters. Bright sunlight streams in from the picture-postcard narrow street of quaint whitewashed stone houses, their shiny wooden doors painted the colour of traffic lights – reds, greens and yellows – though there is no traffic or rush hour here.

Cutting the thick crust of the pão caseiro for breakfast requires patience and the biceps of Popeye but the taste is worth it. I pop to the grocery next door to buy deliciously fragrant home-grown tomatoes and sweet juicy melons to accompany the ham, cheese and eggs left in our refrigerator earlier.

Today we are off for a yoga session on Praia do Amado beach, where thunderous foam-curled waves will greet our "omms" and calming tree balances. Tomorrow we are going bird-watching in the stunning Ria Formosa nature park and on Friday I will be testing my nerve with a surfing lesson, another of the many activities on offer here.

Two years ago, the village of Pedralva, near Vila do Bispo on the Algarve's west coast, lay in ruins. Now thanks to one man's creative vision, it has been brought back to life. Like Victor Kiam, who liked the company so much he bought it, adman Antonio Ferreira visited Pedralva to buy a holiday home and ended up buying virtually the entire village.

At 42, he had been at the top of his career for 16 years but had grown tired of working day and night on campaigns and decided to take early retirement. All but seven houses in the once-thriving agricultural community of Pedralva, in the Costa Vicentina parque natural, had been abandoned, long forgotten by their owners. Just nine residents remained.

"This village used to be full of life, but when I arrived it was sad," said Antonio, sitting in the village square with wife Filipa. "I tried to imagine what it would look like if it was rebuilt, and realised it could be a tourism project for me."

He initially bought two small houses, then 12 more, and now owns a total of 31. Four advertising colleagues were persuaded to join the €4m venture, and the council agreed to invest €1m in roads and lighting. It took Antonio nearly two years to find the owners of the properties: some families had forgotten they even owned a house. One owner was traced via a sister he had not spoken to for 12 years. Another sale involved 28 owners, who took it in turns to cram into the attorney's tiny office.

"Everyone thought I was crazy," said Antonio. "They thought I had been drinkingmedronho [the local fire-water]. They said no one went to Pedralva. It was a challenge for me."

Antonio and Filipa sold everything they owned in Estoril, on the Algarve's busier south coast – house, Billabong surf shop and car – and moved to Pedralva. With them came their two children, Manuel and Maria, aged 10 and seven, and Urso, who bounds around the village with as much energy as his energetic owners. Four years later, the dreams of creating a tourism village where holidaymakers are in touch with nature, have come to fruition. The 31 abandoned houses have been restored to their rustic glory, each named after one of the area's many glorious beaches.

Ours is Ingrina, a beautifully designed two-bathroom, two-bedroom stone house with quaint shuttered windows, sky-blue round wooden beams and a terracotta roof with a typical finely carved chimney. The furniture and decor are rustic chic, the showers made of local stone. The house is cleaned daily, bed linen is crisp, fluffy towels are changed if required and the kitchen has all mod cons, including a Tassimo coffee machine.

Each house was individually furbished by a designer friend of Antonio. Some have bamboo-covered patios, others a gallery bedroom and another a kids' hideaway in the eaves. The only new building is the reception and restaurant, and the popular Pizza Pazza, which buzzes with surfers and locals.

Technophiles and children will love the Apple computer training centre in the old school house, which offers courses in creating animated videos and podcasts. A vegetable garden sells fresh produce direct to the holidaymakers and supplies the village shop. It's a far cry from the 1950s and 60s, when 200 villagers worked in the wheat fields, there was no electricity, and donkeys were the main mode of transport.

"Life was tough but we enjoyed it here," says Fernando Sintra, 71, who has lived all his life in Pedralva. "We grew all our own produce, every family had a pig, and on Sundays everyone dressed up. Villagers left in the 70s to work in hotels along the coast, so people became very lonely here. It was like a ghost town. Now there are children running around again in the streets."

During the day, the village is quiet, as visitors explore the eucalyptus-scented forest, picturesque villages and jaw-droppingly beautiful beaches, some accessible only by 4WD. Others head off on guided walks and cycle rides, or go fishing.

The first day we lazed on vast Cordoama beach, watching surfers ride awesome waves and paragliders swoop from the cliffs. The sea here is rougher and the beaches more rugged than in the southern Algarve, and the coast teems with surf schools. It's a great place to learn, because the waves break close to the beach so if, or rather when, you fall off, you're in shallow water.

I was booked into a group beginners' session at the Amado Surf School a little way up the coast. Standing on the sand, Jacu, our instructor, told us how to stand on the board in three easy moves. On sand, they were easy – relatively. It was quite different when there was a wave dancing precariously beneath my twitchy board.

I managed to stand and balance a few times, admittedly only for a few seconds, but the thrill of riding a wave was amazing. I was hooked.

After lunch, we walked to Bordeira beach. A 15-minute dirt track drive took us on to wild beaches at Vale Figueiras – where a naked couple found they no longer had the beach to themselves – and breathtaking Monte Clerigo.

That evening we dined on excellent sea bass at the Sitio do Forno restaurant (00 35 1 963 558404) in Carrapateira while watching an amazing sunset. The vast choice of seafood and fish in this area includes odd-looking percebes (goose barnacles, celebrated at a festival in nearby Aljezur every November) which we sampled at the O Sitio do Rio restaurant (00 35 1 282 973119) just outside the village. There was a knack to eating them but the fresh salty taste was worth the wait.

The next day we were driven by Sonia Manso of eco-tourism promoter Natura Algarve (natura-algarve.com) to Olhão for a boat trip around the stunning Ria Formosa, a lagoon enclosed by barrier islands off the south coast. We saw shellfish farms and a working tide mill, ate freshly caught mackerel on the island of Culatra and waded through warm shallows on uninhabited Barreta, where only the lark's song disturbed the peace. Through binoculars we spotted pink herons, curlews, spoonbills and terns.

That evening, we returned to the Eira Do Mel restaurant (eiradomel.com) in Vila do Bispo, where owner and chef Jose Pinheiro is famous for his flavourful slow-cooked food. On this holiday, there really is no other pace.

Water scarcity - Challenge the Best

2012-01-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

Dear friends!

Apply for this year's Challenge the Best conference on 'water scarcity' at

St.Gallen University! Discuss with the Director-General of International

Committee of the Red Cross, the President of the Green Cross and other

experts!

http://www.challengethebest.org/

Travel 101 ... Braga

2012-01-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

TODAYonline | Travel | Travel 101 ... Braga

Travel 101 ... Braga

How to spend S$101 (you big spender, you) in a day

by Serene Lim

04:45 AM Jan 26, 2012

FOUNDED by Cesar Augustus around 16 BC, the third largest city in Portugal is nicknamed the "Rome of Portugal" for the magnificent splendor of its many baroque churches. But the Catholic capital of the Iberian Peninsula, as it is known, isn't just a hushed, musty old town. It brims with youthful energy and is a good indication why Braga has been named 2012 European Youth Capital - giving you all the more reason to swing by this captivating city. SERENE LIM

Breakfast at A Brasileira: S$8.22

Despite undergoing a facelift in 2009, A Brasileira (Largo Barao de Sao Martinho) has retained its authentic old school flavour. Breakfast starts as early as 9am at this spot conveniently located in the city centre. Pick up a strong brew of espresso and have a power brekkie.

City Tour of Braga: S$16.43

While you can trek on foot to see the 35 churches and many other historical buildings within Braga, an easier - and less strenuous - way is simply to join the Yellow Bus Tour (www.yellowbustours.com). It not only takes you around the city to all the biggest sights such as the Se Cathedral; the €10 ticket includes the price of a trip up the funicular of Bom Jesus do Monte, one of Portugal's most arresting attractions.

Late lunch at Restaurante A Ceia: S$41.08

A popular wine tavern, Restaurant A Ceia (Largo do Rechicho 331, Braga) serves hearty Portuguese fare as well as regional specialties like Alheira de Caça, garlicky sausage stuffed with chicken. Eat up a storm on €25 in this rustic atmospheric setting. Food's pretty affordable for its deliciously generous portions, which explains the crowd. Be sure to arrive early or much later.

Catch a performance at Theatro Circo de Braga: S$19.72

Immerse yourself in some culture inside of Portugal's most beautiful theatres. Theatre Circo de Braga (www.theatrocirco.com) reopened after much restoration in 2006. It's also Braga's most prestigious performing spaces and the acts here pretty much sell themselves. Tickets average about €12.

Party at Insolito: S$15.55

You'll know why Braga's a happening young city the moment you step inside Insolito (Avenida Central, 47). Students from the University of Mino dominate the dance floor as guest DJs spin. However, there's plenty of room to avoid the crushing young bodies, especially if you head to the outdoor terrace. Blow the rest of your dough here.

Total: S$101

Prices and conversion rates accurate as of press time

Inseticida inovador com Filipa Oliveira

2012-01-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

Statler and Waldorf Online

2012-01-26T12:34:00.000-08:00

Social Media Week Global Promo 2012

2012-01-26T02:01:00.000-08:00

Nadabrovitchka

2012-01-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

Coming soon

2012-01-26T01:24:00.000-08:00

Just made my day

2012-01-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Project Amsterdam Street Art 2011 - an impression

2012-01-25T03:02:00.000-08:00

Bundling it all into time and place: District spatial quality for creative entrepreneurs with children

2012-01-25T02:19:00.001-08:00

Annet Jantien Smit: Bundling it all into time and place: District spatial quality for creative entrepreneurs with children

On Thursday, January 26th, Annet Jantien Smit from consultancy Denkbeeld will hold a lunch seminar called "Bundling it all into time and place: District spatial quality for creative entrepreneurs with children”

Location: 5419.0237 (Kapteynborg, second floor) Time: 12:00 - 13:00 hrs. Coffee and tea will be provided.

Numerous Western world cities expend considerable effort to attract creative entrepreneurs and urban-oriented households to mixed-use neighborhoods, in part as a redevelopment strategy for formerly abandoned or neglected districts. Many studies suggest that creative entrepreneurs and workers favor an urban way of life (loft living, working on lab tops in cappuccino bars). Few studies, however, have explored whether creative entrepreneurs with families do actually take into account their time-space constraints as members of busy households into their choices of place to work. Several studies have shown that dual-earner couples with children face strong time-space constraints in their daily activity patterns. They combine paid work, household chores and child care on a daily basis. These parents combining ambitious career tracks with having children have been termed ``family gentrifiers,'' while many of them work in creative professions (Karsten, 2003, 2007). Consequently, an emergent subgroup of interest to creative city development is middle class families that deliberately choose for an urban residential location. However, because of different definitions of their research subjects, a connection between location theory of creative entrepreneurs and of family gentrifiers is hard to demonstrate. Therefore, this paper addresses the unexplored question whether personal time-space constraints influence firm location decisions of creative entrepreneurs with children.

I find that creative entrepreneurs with children make carefully weighed decisions on places to live and work within cities. Their choices for places to work are partly based on proximity to their homes, schools and childcare facilities, parks, and daily shops. Short distances to homes and such facilities are important because of their household situation with children. This finding applies in particular to creative entrepreneurs with children up to 12 years of age, both working from home and from in business premises. The latter were mostly living deliberately close-by their office in order to relax their daily schedules of combining their work with caring and household tasks. Thus, it seems that creative entrepreneurs do not only act as individuals, as creative class theory suggests (see eg. Florida, 2002). The data suggest that creative entrepreneurs also take into account their household dynamics in their location decisions of a place to work. Therefore, urban live-work districts that have creative entrepreneurs among its intended users should offer features for both daily work and private practices.

We hope to see all of you on Thursday,

The URSI Lunch Seminar Organising Committee

http://129.125.2.51/gradschoolspat/index

Another great add

2012-01-24T00:47:00.000-08:00

Portugal vence "melhor stand internacional" em Madrid - Economia - DN

2012-01-23T02:28:00.001-08:00

Portugal vence "melhor stand internacional" em Madrid - Economia - DN

2012-01-23T02:28:00.000-08:00

Portugal vence "melhor stand internacional" em Madrid - Economia - DN

La Fura dels Baus na CEC 2012 - Guimarães

2012-01-22T04:58:00.000-08:00

Visit Portugal: 5 Things You Will Love & Hate about Portugal

2012-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Maria / Joana - Infografia

2012-01-20T01:57:00.000-08:00

WHheat Thins: Family Guy

2012-01-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Being DJ

2012-01-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Elevator Pitch at University of Groningen

2012-01-19T06:01:00.001-08:00

Elevator Pitch at University of Groningen

View more presentations from Eduardo Oliveira

Master's Degree in Marketing at the University of Groningen

2012-01-19T02:16:00.000-08:00

The Top 10 Smart Cities On The Planet

2012-01-18T02:09:00.001-08:00

The Top 10 Smart Cities On The Planet

WRITTEN BY: Boyd Cohen

Crunching a list of variables about innovation and sustainability, we rank the world’s smartest cities, from New York to Hong Kong (and with an unexpected winner)

Last year, I spent considerable time researching best practices for climate resilient cities--an endeavor that culminated in what I believe was the first ever global ranking of resilient cities. Now, after extensive research on smart cities initiatives around the globe, I have developed what may be the first ever global rankings of smart cities.

NOTE

A note on methodology: There are many other rankings that are relevant to this conversation. I leveraged about a dozen global and regional rankings of smart-city components in order to develop a global ranking of smart cities.

I took into account theInnovation Cities Top 100 Index from 2thinknow to get a fair comparison of the level of innovation in top global cities. I also used more well-known rankings of the quality of life of cities, as well as theSiemens regional rankings of green cities, the digital city rankings of Digital Community for cities in the U.S. (indicated as DC in the table), and the IDC rankings of smart cities in Spain (indicated as IDC in the table). Finally, I used the digital governance in municipalities worldwidestudy to compare cities on their innovative use of ICT.

I am including a table which summarizes the rankings used to develop this first global ranking of smart cities.

The term "smart cities" is a bit ambiguous. Some people choose a narrow definition--i.e. cities that use information and communication technologies to deliver services to their citizens. I prefer a broader definition: Smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint--all supporting innovation and the low-carbon economy.

Here, then, are the top 10 smart cities:

1.) Vienna. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, as going into the research I had not heard much about Vienna as a smart city. But Vienna was the only city that ranked in the top 10 in every category: innovation city (5), regional green city (4), quality of life (1) and digital governance (8). Vienna is establishing bold smart-city targets and tracking their progress to reach them, with programs like the Smart Energy Vision 2050, Roadmap 2020, and Action Plan 2012-2015. Vienna’s planners are incorporating stakeholder consultation processes into building and executing carbon reduction, transportation and land-use planning changes in the hopes of making the city a major European player in smart city technologies.

2.) Toronto. The highest rated smart city in North America, Toronto also scores pretty well across the board. Recognizing its importance in the movement, IBM recently opened a Business Analytics Solutions Center in Toronto. Toronto is also an active member of the Clinton 40 (C40) megacities, which seek to transition to the low-carbon economy. The private sector in Toronto is collaborating too, creating a Smart Commute Toronto initiative in the hopes of increasing transit efficiency in the metro area. Toronto also recently began using natural gas from landfills to power the city’s garbage trucks. That’s smart closed-loop thinking.

3.) Paris. As is typical of sustainability-related rankings, Europe fared well. Paris was highly rated in several categories including innovation (3), green cities in Europe (10), and digital governance (11). Paris was already on the world map for its highly successful bike sharing program, Velib, and just last month, the mayor launched a similar model for small EVs called Autolib, which currently has 250 rental stations.

4.) New York. New York scored higher than most other cities in the ranking in all of the categories outside of quality of life, where it ranked a miserable 47th. New York partnered with IBM in 2009 to launch the IBM Business Analytics Solution Center to address “the growing demand for the complex capabilities needed to build smarter cities and help clients optimize all manner of business processes and business decisions.” In New York, IBM is already helping the city prevent fires and protect first responders as well as identify questionable tax refund claims--a move that is expected to save the city about $100 million over a five-year period.

5.) London. The UK capital also scored relatively high across the board. London has been well-recognized for some of its sustainability innovations (i.e. congestion tax) and its robust transit system. The city will soon be home to Smart Cities research center housed at Imperial College, which will leverage transport, government, business, academic and consumer data in hopes of making the city more efficient and innovative. Just the other day, London announced a partnership with O2 to launch the largest free Wi-Fi network in Europe.

6.) Tokyo. Tokyo is the first Asian city on this list, scoring well in the innovation (22) and digital city (15) categories. Last year, the city announced plans to create a smart town in the suburbs. In partnership with Panasonic, Accenture, and Tokyo Gas (among others), the eco-burb will contain homes that integrate solar panels, storage batteries, and energy efficient appliances all connected to a smart grid. Tokyo is also focused on promoting smart mobility solutions.

7.) Berlin. Berlin also performs well across the board, with good scores in innovation (14), green-ness (8th in Europe) and quality of life (17). In collaboration with Vattenfall, BMW, and others, Berlin is testing out vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies in the hopes of creating a virtual power plant from electric vehicles.

8.) Copenhagen. Lately, it seems Copenhagen has been doing a lot right. It was rated number one on the green scale in Europe by Siemens and also achieved number one ranking in my global resilient cities ranking last year. All with good reason: Copenhagen is taking a real leadership role on sustainable innovation. The city has committed to carbon neutrality by 2025 and 40% of its citizens regularly commute via bicycle. Furthermore, I was quite impressed with the way their mayor, Frank Jensen, recently articulated the role of cities as growth engines and the potential to stimulate the economy through cleantech innovation.

9.) Hong Kong. Hong Kong scored quite well in key areas, including the digital governance ranking (3). However, its quality-of-life score (70) dropped the city down to ninth in my ranking of smart cities. Hong Kong is experimenting with RFID technology in its airport, as well as throughout the agriculture supply chain. The city has also been a leader in the use and adoption of smart cards, which are already used by millions of residents for services like public transit, library access, building access, shopping, and car parks.

10.) Barcelona. Barcelona was recently ranked the number two smart city in Spain in the IDC report, and with good reason. The city is a pioneer in smart city and low-carbon solutions. It was among the first in the world to introduce a solar thermal ordinance about a decade ago, recently launched the LIVE EV project to promote the adoption of EVs and charging infrastructure, and the city also recently announced a major partnership to develop a living lab for smart-city innovation.

There were many other strong candidates which are runners-up in this first ranking, including Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seattle, São Paulo, Stockholm, and Vancouver.

Pundits and industry insiders expect smart cities to become a sizable market, with projections of nearly $40 billion spent on smart-cities technologies by 2016. And real estate experts predict that smart cities will in the future be attractive to the educated work force and will therefore become real-estate gold. All reasons enough to get on the smart-city bandwagon. Who knows? Maybe next year your city could crack the top 10 rankings.

100 Years in 10 Minutes (1911 - 2011 in 10 Minutes)

2012-01-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

E agora algo totalmente diferente

2012-01-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

How the Dutch got their cycle paths

2012-01-17T04:10:00.000-08:00

Speeding Around The World in Under 5 minutes Time Lapse

2012-01-17T02:18:00.000-08:00

Musical research

2012-01-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

Gross National Happiness

2012-01-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Maribor Pohorje Slovenia - European Capital of Culture 2012

2012-01-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

You're like no one on Earth could be

2012-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Down through the dark trees
You came to save me
You're so ugly and you're so beautiful
You're like no one on Earth could be

All of my life I've been waiting
For you
I wanna be the one that you take home
Let me be the one
'Cause I'm so lonely

Take me home
In time you'll love me like one of your own

Take me home
With you
No one on Earth knows me like you do

Take me home
In time you'll love me like one of your own

Take me home
With you
No one on Earth knows me like you do

Down through the dark trees
You came to save me
You're so ugly and you're so beautiful
You're like no one on Earth could be

Take, take me home
With you
No one on Earth knows me like you do

Take, take me home
With you
No one on Earth knows me like you do

The Netherlands by numbers - fascinating!

2012-01-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

Eurosonic 2012 - Blogue da 3

2012-01-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

Eurosonic 2012 - Blogue da 3

Sick penalty shot! Best penalty ever, by Havard Tvedten from Norway!

2012-01-12T01:22:00.000-08:00

Agnes van den Berg benoemd tot bijzonder hoogleraar Beleving en waardering van natuur en landschap Home University of Groningen

2012-01-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

Agnes van den Berg benoemd tot bijzonder hoogleraar Beleving en waardering van natuur en landschap Home University of Groningen

Velo Culture: em tempo de troika, anda de bicicleta | P3

2012-01-11T03:03:00.000-08:00

Velo Culture: em tempo de troika, anda de bicicleta | P3

Porcas e Parafusos

2012-01-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

Master Culturele Geografie RUG

2012-01-10T05:29:00.000-08:00

The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23) - The Atlantic

2012-01-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23) - The Atlantic

The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23)

JAN 4 2012, 4:41 PM ET 297

Northern Europe leads the world in laying out a social safety net for children and poorer parents, but the U.S. snags a top-five finish in the key "Working Mothers" category

Copenhagen/Wikipedia

With the lowest child-poverty rate among developed nations, Denmark was named the best country for work-life balance in a 2011 report from the OECD.

All three Scandinavian countries -- Denmark, Sweden, and Norway -- finished in the top seven in the ranking. So famous for their generous social safety net, which sharply divides liberals and conservatives between envy and consternation, northern Europe dominated the list, taking almost all the top ten spots.

What constitutes a balance between work and life? The OECD settled on three chief variables: (1) The share of the labor force that works very long hours (more than 50 hours a week); (2) time spent on "leisure and personal care" (defined in contrast to paid or unpaid work as spending time with friends, going to the movies, pursuing hobbies, sleeping, eating, etc.); and (3) employment rates for women who have children. The United States, which leads most of the world in share of mothers who are working, lagged in leisure time and share of overworked employees. Onto the list, with some analysis below:

Raul Solnado - Na Minha Aldeia, Cerveja a Copo

2012-01-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Video descoberto na Cinemateca Portuguesa.

Um filme promocional protagonizado por Raul Solnado, gravado entre 1966 e 1969, pela Sociedade Central de Cervejas (SCC).

Sabe como se tira uma boa cerveja neste divertido vídeo.

Português de França

2012-01-08T04:10:00.000-08:00

Pingo Doce na Holanda

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Euro nos iria enrabar a todos

2012-01-03T02:13:00.001-08:00

Dois homens nus, um atrás do outro.
Devíamos ter percebido logo que o Euro
nos iria enrabar a todos!

European Capital of Culture

2012-01-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

Groningen rules

2011-12-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

Maior eficácia de compostos

2011-12-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

Germany, Berlin: Bike city

2011-12-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

GERMANY, BERLIN: BIKE CITY

By OLAF GEIGER

It was in Berlin, city of rampant car-mania, that I first fell for the bicycle. Berlin has always been a hotbed of new ideas and experimental lifestyles, but now that it is no longer an isolated outpost of western ways, the possibilities for change become even more interesting. The city is still choked by a million petrol engines, but it becomes obvious by the day that it is, potentially, a perfect city for cycling. It's flat, and it's compact: when the city was a state within an inhospitable state extending the suburbs was not an option (in the western part at least). As a result, the three million Berliners have easy access to the glorious lakes and woods of the previously forbidden hinterland.

Surprisingly, the city centre still has plenty of green areas, allowing cyclists to slip through parks, and alongside waterways, clear of the raging traffic. For longer distances bikes can be carried on the S-Bahn rail system, and (for now) on the underground. This is a fine way to reach the surrounding countryside.

In spite of all this, the bicycle hardly figures in city politics. Any pro-cycling measure is usually cancelled out by a simultaneous step backwards. For example, priority lanes for buses, taxis and bicycles were recently installed on various major thoroughfares. Unfortunately they were designed in such a way that they led to constant friction between bus drivers and cyclists. Sensing a good local story, the press has taken to vilifying cyclists. The Berlin branch of the ADFC (the German national cycling club) responded succinctly in their quarterly magazine Radzeit: 'As in previous years, there has been no known case of a cyclist failing to see a motorist and killing him in the resulting collision. The ADFC and the Berlin cycle campaign group Grunge Rader have for years been tirelessly fighting the obstinacy of officialdom and the mindless demands of the motor lobby.

The ADFC's Radlerzentrum (Cycling Centre) acts as a meeting place for all cyclists. It organises cycle tours and events, provides a self-help cycle workshop, and it is also a resource centre, offering cycle maps, cycle touring literature, and general cycling books.

Visitors to Berlin are welcome to take part in the now traditional bike demo, on the first Sunday in the month, under heavy police escort. The high point of the campaigning year is the great critical mass Star Ride, when thousands cycle in from gathering points around the city, for a huge demonstration in the city centre.

Berlin has over a hundred bike shops, from the high-tech to the low-budget. Some are Aladdin's caves of unorthodox bikes; others are humble repair stations and self-help workshops. Some offer hire bikes, others guided cycle tours of the city.

Germany, Berlin: Bike city - a Bike Culture article on Cyclorama

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel: top 10 cities for 2012

2011-12-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel: top 10 cities for 2012

View gallery

After globe-trotting research and fierce debate, Lonely Planet has come to a decision on its favourite cities for 2012. As always, our shortlist has some known gems and a few to raise a quizzical eyebrow, but each one is poised for greatness in 2012. While sporting events are bringing new adrenaline to a couple of classic destinations, other cities in our list have bounced back from difficult times with a renewed lease of life. The coming year will put all of these cities in a fresh light, whether they’re showing new flair with music and art festivals or dusting off preconceptions by showing their wilder streak. Without further ado, here’s our top 10 cities for 2012.

1. London

London is going for the knock-out blow in 2012. The Olympics are riding into town and a whole swath of the capital is being transformed in the process. London’s east will be thrust into the spotlight but the rest of the capital will be rolling out the red carpet too. Seeing Tower Bridge lift its bascules to let a tall ship pass beneath is all stately grace, as opposed to your first rush-hour trip on the tube, getting up close and personal with strangers of every colour, creed and nationality. Mind the gap! Whoever you cheer for, you won’t be alone in this most international of cities.

2. Muscat

Oman is firing on all fronts to attract international visitors, expanding everything from its museums to its resorts. Muscat is the focus for the revamp, with cultural events, luxury accommodation and aquatic activities taking centre stage. This year it’s all about Qurum’s trendy designer outlets, Old Town souks and wacky water sports enlivening its coastline alongside traditional dhows. Muscatis are still genuinely interested to see visitors, so much so that first-timers might have the odd feeling of returning to the house of an old friend. ‘Tomorrow will be a new dawn on Muscat,’ the Sultan pledged upon attaining power in 1970. Today in Muscat, the sun has well and truly risen.

3. Bengaluru (Bangalore)

The undisputed Elvis of South Asian megacities, Bengaluru is in a class of its own when it comes to redefining flamboyance. Perpetually drunk on the good life, this South Indian metropolis packs in the best brews, the scrummiest cuisines, and the liveliest arts and music scene, not to mention the hippest population you could hang out with. This year, evenings in the ‘capital of cool’ are poised to get even more intoxicating. And if the maddening traffic has always been your concern, take heart: Bengaluru’s new high-speed Metro network now ensures that your favourite watering hole is easier to reach than ever. There’s only one thing you could say to that: ‘Chillmaadi!’

4. Cádiz

It might normally look like a peaceful pocket of old-world Spain, complete with old men in flat caps shuffling about in cafe-lined squares. But once a year, sleepy Cádiz undergoes a Superman-like transformation and hosts Spain’s most raucous carnival – a 10-day bender of drinking, singing and dancing. The locals are famed throughout Spain for their wit, and this is put to the test during February’s carnival where groups wearing lipstick and neon wigs perform satirical skits. Cádiz has found itself named Ibero-American Capital of Culture for 2012 – the first time a European city has held the honour. It may not pull the same crowds as Seville or Córdoba, but few places embody the spirit of gutsy Andalucían living like Cádiz.

5. Stockholm

The film release of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo might have prompted a new wave of Stieg Larsson fans to look for the grimy side of Stockholm. Unfortunately they’ll have to look quite hard, because Stockholm looks as perfect as it’s ever been. This is as seductive a capital city as can be imagined – cosy yet cosmopolitan, wilfully alternative and effortlessly picturesque. With its trendy design shops and bohemian bars, the island of Södermalm is one of the coolest kids on the block, while the stately parks of Djurgården make it the best island for an evening stroll. Admittedly Stockholm has never been a cheap date. But even if Stockholm leaves you with a lighter wallet, you’ll inevitably still leave it with a heavy heart.

6. Guimarães

This northern Portugal city is breathtakingly beautiful, as recognised by its place on the Unesco World Heritage List, yet mysteriously it doesn’t figure on the radars of many foreign visitors. The old city is a beguiling tangle of medieval, red-roofed, colonnaded buildings, punctuated by awe-inspiring mansions and palaces, and centred on a spikily crenellated castle. Now is the moment to visit, as the city has been anointed the European Capital of Culture in 2012. Building on an already impressive cultural scene and fired up by its significantly youthful population, the city will be a hot spot of artistic endeavour throughout the year, with creative artists gathering from across Portugal and Europe to showcase their work.

7. Santiago

Calamity came calling to Chile, first through an 8.8-magnitude earthquake and later when 33 miners were trapped in the country’s north. With the world watching, Chile displayed its defiant optimism, and these experiences have seemed to ignite a seismic shift in the capital. Culture and sports have come to the fore and new museums have opened to acclaim. Dining is now top-notch, nightlife exhilarating and this year also marks the inauguration of the tallest building on the continent, the 70-storey Torre Gran Costanera. Day trippers can scale an Andean peak in summer, ski its powder-clad slopes in July, or cycle through the idyllic vineyards of the Casablanca, Maipo and Colchagua valleys. Visit Santiago and you’ll feel the buzz.

8. Hong Kong

The mood in China’s most liberated city is edgier and more vocal than ever. This will be a particularly exciting year for Hong Kong, as it continues its march towards full democracy. Rallies are infused with theatrics and eruptions of song, dance and poetry, reflecting the city’s vibrant indie music and literary scenes. Enjoy views of skyscrapers marching up hills from the Star Ferry, before challenging your senses at a wet market or divining your future at a temple. Go shopping, gallery hopping and check out the bars of Soho. Explore walled villages or go hiking on Asia’s most breathtaking trails. Whatever you do, sprinkle your day generously and boldly with some of the city’s 11,000 restaurants.

9. Orlando

This should be a great year for Orlando as it’s hosting the 61st NBA All-Star Weekend (25 and 26 February). The hippest sporting event in the USA , it brings much of the basketball and music worlds together for slam-dunk contests, after-hours parties and concerts, as well as the all-star game itself. Most visitors will head for the theme parks but it’s worth poking around the city, too. Keep an eye on the boho ‘Milk District’, a neighbourhood on the rise with its motley crew of eateries, bars serving microbrews, bookshops and tattoo parlours, just a short drive east of downtown. Orlando, hip? Who knew?

10. Darwin

It was once easy to dismiss Darwin as a frontier town full of brawling fishermen, dreamy hippies and redneck truckers. But with a pumping nocturnal scene, magical markets and restaurants, and world-class wilderness areas just down the road, today Darwin is the triumph of Australia’s Top End. Beat the crowds to the redeveloping Waterfront Precinct with its wave pool, bars and wharf eateries; or score some brilliant Indigenous art before East Coast galleries snap it up and charge double. Nose your way through the food stalls at Mindil Beach Sunset Market, then watch the sun melt into the Timor Sea. When southern Australia is chilling through winter, here it’s blue skies, party nights and sleeping late.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/london/travel-tips-and-articles/76861#

Alto do Minho

2011-12-28T14:27:00.001-08:00

Trailer "Alto do Minho" from MIGUELFILGUEIRAS on Vimeo.

EcoTretas: Príncipes em greve

2011-12-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

EcoTretas: Príncipes em greve:

Amanhã, os utilizadores de transportes públicos, terão mais um dia infernal, cortesia das greves previstas para o Metro de Lisboa, CP, Carri...

Iberian Peninsula at Night

2011-12-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Iberian Peninsula at Night

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76777&src=share

The city lights of Spain and Portugal define the Iberian Peninsula in this photograph from the International Space Station (ISS). Several large metropolitan areas are visible, marked by their relatively large and brightly lit areas, including the capital cities of Madrid, Spain—located near the center of the peninsula’s interior—and Lisbon, Portugal—located along the southwestern coastline. The ancient city of Seville, visible to the north of the Strait of Gibraltar, is one of the largest cities in Spain. The astronaut view is looking toward the east, and is part of atime-lapse series of images.

The network of smaller cities and towns along the coastline and in the interior attest to the extent of the human presence on the Iberian landscape. The blurring of city lights is caused by thin cloud cover (image left and center), while cloud tops are dimly illuminated by moonlight. Though obscured, the lights of France are visible near the horizon line on the upper left, while the lights of northern Africa are more clearly discernable at right. The faint gold and green line of airglow—caused by ultraviolet radiation exciting the gas molecules in the upper atmosphere—parallels the horizon (or Earth limb).

The Iberian Peninsula is the southwestern-most of the European peninsulas (together with the Italian and Balkan peninsulas), and includes the Principality of Andorra, as well as the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic. The approximately 590,000 square kilometer landmass is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest, west, and southwest and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Its northeastern boundary is marked bythe Pyrenees mountain range.

Astronaut photograph ISS030-E-10008 was acquired on December 4, 2011, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 24 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 30 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, Jacobs Technology/ESCG at NASA-JSC.

Instrument:: ISS - Digital Camera

Luck in an attitude

2011-12-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

University of Groningen new video

2011-12-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

revolights. join the revolution

2011-12-17T11:16:00.001-08:00

--
A Technology project in Palo Alto, CA by Kent, Adam & Jim · send message
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/revolights/revolights-join-the-revolution?ref=card

Lazer Helmets

2011-12-15T01:04:00.001-08:00

http://www.lazerhelmets.com/

The World as we know

2011-12-15T00:56:00.001-08:00

I Gave My Kids a Terrible Present

2011-12-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

País - Universidade do Minho conquistou o Grande Prémio BES Inovação - RTP Noticias, Vídeo

2011-12-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

País - Universidade do Minho conquistou o Grande Prémio BES Inovação - RTP Noticias, Vídeo

because we are the BEST - University of Groningen

2011-12-12T01:55:00.001-08:00

Department of Planning & Environment

Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen

Anarquia já. Governos nunca mais.

2011-12-08T03:09:00.001-08:00

source: http://www.scribd.com/ and

http://www.scribd.com/doc/72455096/BELGICA-A-Vinganca-do-Anarquista#source:facebook

RollingStone elege Mourinho como “Rockstar do ano” | P3

2011-12-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

RollingStone elege Mourinho como “Rockstar do ano” | P3

Revista

RollingStone elege Mourinho como “Rockstar do ano”

A ilustração do treinador português do Real Madrid vem na capa da revista musical, acompanhada da frase “A maquiavélica arte de deixar nervoso todo o mundo”

Comparativa entre Fútbol Y ciclismo

2011-11-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

Someone needs to work right

2011-11-30T05:56:00.001-08:00

Goes like this

2011-11-29T02:45:00.001-08:00

Suddenly Bursts

2011-11-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

Social Media Marketing - 10 Inspiring Infographics | Jeffbullas's Blog

2011-11-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

Social Media Marketing - 10 Inspiring Infographics | Jeffbullas's Blog

Mariza - Chuva

2011-11-27T05:04:00.000-08:00

UNESCO declares the Portuguese music genre of FADO 'world intangible heritage’, 27/11/2011

Amsterdam City Promotion Film

2011-11-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the research give us things like this

2011-11-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

Paradise Circus uncensored (in The Netherlands you can open it)

2011-11-24T05:06:00.000-08:00

Old Jerusalem - Seventh Day, Dawn live in Groningen (from Portugal)

2011-11-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Europe by bicycle. Trailer

2011-11-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

Phding my talent

2011-11-22T07:56:00.001-08:00

Quite amazing that I have been mastering my talent here, since I arrive by the early morning of november 1st. Imagine how the dream can comes true. You only need put that on mind and work hard to fill the with the best rocks your path (some of you maybe need know that the traditional side walks, streets and so on, in Portugal, are made by using rocks).

So far, 125 books, 167 papers + 80 only from the last doctoral thesis in branding from this department and I am quite happy...seems a lot of things to do but I can tell you that I will do the best I can and in the end you are all invited to the PhD public defense party in 2015 in Groningen.

Porto wine will be the special drink guest and one bottle of the best one is already reserved in my parents home.

2015 you are the goal...today is only the beginning.

‘‘Glocalising’’ urban landscapes: Athens and the 2004 olympics

2011-11-22T02:52:00.001-08:00

‘‘Glocalising’’ urban landscapes:
Athens and the 2004 olympics

Elias Beriatos*, Aspa Gospodini

Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
This paper deals with transformations of urban landscape in the era of globalization. First, it attempts
to describe and understand how particular aspects of urban morphology, such as built heritage and
innovative design of space, have become the competitive edge in terms of landscape. Second, it develops the argument that on the basis of their great potential for (a) promoting economic growth and (b)
enhancing place identity of cities, both built heritage and innovative design of space appear to be
expansively used as major components of contemporary strategic plans of cities for the transformation
and improvement of urban landscape. Combining and promoting built heritage and innovative design of
space as two central themes in urban landscape transformations generates, for the 21st century city, a
new landscape collage dominated by two extremes: (a) that of tradition with rather local spatial references and (b) that of innovation having more universal or global spatial references. Thus, under the
forces of globalization, the new emerging urban landscapes may be termed as ‘‘glocalised’’ ones. As a
case study, Athens and the landscape transformations for Olympic Games 2004 are analysed.
Q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Urban landscape; Globalization; Built heritage; Innovative design of space; Greece

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275104000307

RUG Discovery: jouw energie van morgen

2011-11-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

State of the World's Mothers 2011 Statistics and Facts - Save the Children

2011-11-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

State of the World's Mothers 2011 Statistics and Facts - Save the Children

The beginning is always hard

2011-11-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

New World Research

Germany’s Hidden Weaknesses

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