Hi,
Philip Ball's new book "Critical Mass" (Heinemann) may be of
interest to members of the mailbase -specially as it relates
to the current discussion on complexity.
Philip Ball is a consultant editor for Nature
(http://www.nature.com/). He can be found both at
http://www.philipball.com/ and at
http://www.nature.com/nsu/profiles/aboutus.html#ball
Here I must declare an interest: the book reviews my work.
But it also makes a compelling case for an interdisciplinary
approach to urban problems using rigorous, mathematical
techniques, so we can all be grateful to Ball for writing it
and I can promote it with a clear conscience.
Indeed, Philip Ball discusses the work of Profs. Mike Batty
and Paul Longley on fractal cities; the work of Profs. Bill
Hillier and Julienne Hanson on Space Syntax; the work of
Prof. Batty, Dr. Jake Desyllas and Elspeth Duxbury on the
Notting Hill Carnival as well as my own work with Prof. Alan
Penn on scaling and universality of urban space.
The book is available from amazon in Europe and Japan -and
will be available in the US in June.
Rui
___________________________________
Dr. Rui Carvalho
Research Fellow
The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies
1-19 Torrington Place
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom
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