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Motto of the Borromeo family. Humility is here expressed by a colorful and big ceiling painting with a crown. Clearly they have a lot of it and of a particularly noble quality.
Lilac symbolizes youthful innocence and confidence. White lilac symbolizes humility and innocence, field lilac symbolizes charity while purple lilac symbolizes first love.
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Their “seven virtues,” or “core values,” are kindness, gratitude, patience, compassion, honesty, humility, forgiveness.
All Saints, Bingley, West Yorkshire.
East Window, 1890.
Charity - Purity - Love - Truth - Humility.
Designed by Henry Holiday (1839-1927).
Made by James Powell & Sons.
Annoyingly, partially obscured by the reredos.
Henry George Alexander Holiday entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of 15 and was soon drawn to the ideas, and the artists, of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He succeeded Edward Burne-Jones as the chief designer for the stained glass firm James Powell & Sons in 1863 and his style had a long-lasting effect on their production into the 1920s. Some of his windows were made by Lavers & Barraud and Heaton, Butler & Bayne, and after eventually ending his association with Powells, he established his own workshop in 1890. From about 1900 he even made his own glass at the workshop. His later work was made at the Glass House, Fulham.
Henry Holiday also worked as a painter, illustrator and sculptor, and his broad range of interests led to involvement in the campaign for Irish Home Rule, women's suffrage and dress reform.</b
I was in Prague last weekend - one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, if not further afield. While there, I was reminded of the stark contrast of life. The world bustled and hurried and scurried on around this man with excited tourists taking snaps of the sights and scenes, while listening to the droning voices of their tour guides. For this man, however, this hive of activity brings only hope. Hope for generocity and kindness. Hope for a bowl of food and a bed for the night. And perhaps something for his loyal companion and friend. A humbling experience and a strong, timely reminder of the importance of humility and the full spectrum of life as we each live and experience it.
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"True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes".
-- Edward Frederick Halifax
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."
-- Socrates
To ask a question is but a moment's shame, but to live in ignorance is lifelong shame.
-- Unknown
For the Macro Mondays challenge this week, the theme is Humility. This was to take the form of an expression of humbleness.
For this subject, I decided on showing one of my first USB thumb drives, a 128MB stick. Compare it with the 16GB SD card that I use with my camera. [Even that card is 2 years old.] Also note the beat up skin of the device, showing lots of ab/use over the years. It's not pretty, yet it's still functional.
Interestingly, I still use this 128 MB stick. If I have to install drivers, it is so small that there are no compatibility issues with old machines or BIOS. This also makes it convenient to use when going to a photo kiosk to print some pictures. At 128 MB, I can't put too many "important" files on it so there's no hesitation to reformat periodically to wipe all cruft from strange machines.
Taken with the Pentax K10D camera using the smc P-D FA 100mm F2.8 lens. Lighting was with the Pentax AF540FGZ at 1/8 power shooting through a 30'' umbrella at camera left. Also at camera left is the Pentax AF160SA with a Just Blue gel. At camera right is the Sunpak auto 144PC with Birght Red gel. All three were controlled with the Cactus V 5 wireless triggers. See this setup here. No PP, this is the jpg straight from the camera. I tried to match it with LR after the fact but I can't get the smooth reds that are seen on the SD card.
We are here to serve God and each other
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Bl Marie of the Incarnation (Madame Acarie)
"Barbara was born in Paris on Feb. 1, 1566, daughter of Nicholas Avrillot, lord of Champlâtreux, and Mary L'Huillier. Her prime glory is to have contributed more than all others to the introduction of the reform of St. Teresa of Jesus into France, so much so that she merits the title of «mother and foundress of the (Discalced) Carmel in France.» As a young girl she was entrusted to the care of the Little Sisters of the Humility of Our Lady at Longchamp. At the age of fourteen she was recalled to her family. Her parents blocked her aspirations to the religious state; at the age of sixteen she was obliged to marry Peter Acarie, viscount of Villemor, lord of Montbrost and of Roncenay. Beautiful, rich, well-liked, she wished only to correspond with God's graces in the perfect fulfillment of her duties towards her husband, towards her six children, and towards her dependents, whose devoted affection she gained. During the thirty years of her married life she showed how Christian spouses can reach sanctity.
Her faith shone in her unconditional adherence to the Church when the Protestant heresy sought to extend itself to French soil. Meanwhile, she gave herself generously to works of mercy, especially on the occasion of the siege of Paris (1590), and to zeal for the salvation of souls. At the same time she was favored by God with extraordinary graces, which were accompanied, however, by both exterior and interior trials. The period of prosperity was followed by one of misfortune. Her husband was exiled by Henry IV and expelled from Paris after the defeat of the League to which he belonged. In these conditions Barbara learned the meaning of ingratitude; but, upheld by her heroic trust in God, she worked tirelessly day and night for her children and for her husband, until she obtained their complete rehabilitation. When after four years the family was thus reunited and once more in possession of its home and holdings, the blessed again gained popular esteem, including that of the royal family. The young Peter de Bérulle, her cousin and a future cardinal, venerated her as a mother; and St. Francis de Sales gave her his approval and directed her.
In the autumn of 1601 Barbara read the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and felt urged to introduce Teresa's religious reform into France. Trusting in the counsel of theologians and saints and facing up to difficulties of all kinds, in 1602 she began preparing for the foundations of the Teresian Carmel. She gathered the first vocations; she obtained the royal approval and also the pontifical bull of foundation (In supremo, of Pope Clement VIII, Nov. 13, 1603); and she built the first monastery.
Chosen and guided by Peter de Bérulle, six Discalced Carmelite nuns arrived from Spain on Aug. 29, 1604. At their head was the servant of God, Anne of Jesus (Lobera), and as lay sister, Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew (Garcia). Then, on Oct. 17, the regular life was inaugurated in Paris. Barbara Acarie also cooperated in the new foundations of Pontoise (1605), Dijon (1605) and Amiens (1606), and was happy to see all three of her daughters, beginning with fifteen-year old Margaret, enter there.
Meanwhile Barbara spent herself in continued good works, even though her physical and spiritual sufferings were great. In 1613 her husband fell gravely ill, and she never left his beside until, nine days later, she saw him die the death of the just. The tears and the prayers of the blessed widow were comforted by the heavenly confirmation of the eternal salvation of her pious husband.
Free now from the duties towards her family, Barbara broke every bond with the world and decided to become a Carmelite. Though she was so well-known in Paris, and the various Carmels, which through her efforts were beginning to stud her native land, vied for her presence, she chose Amiens, the poorest and the one farthest away and asked the grace of being received as a lay sister there. On April 7, 1614, she was clothed in the Teresian habit and rapt in ecstasy; she received the name of Mary of the Incarnation.
As a religious, she edified her fervent sisters by her attention to the humblest tasks of the kitchen, by her complete submission to all, by her practice of poverty and a unique finesse in charity, especially towards the sick. Although favored by God with exceptional gifts, she was extremely cautious and preferred the simple practice of the common, solid virtues. She made her solemn profession on April 8, 1615, in the course of a prolonged sickness. The coming of a new prioress from another monastery also caused her much suffering. Then, on Dec. 7, 1616, for reasons of health, she was sent to the Carmel of Pontoise. After a long illness, and after being comforted repeatedly by holy viaticum, by ecstasies and heavenly visions, she died peacefully on April 18, 1618, at Pontoise.
The process for beatification was opened in Rome in 1627. The successive decrees of Pope Urban VIII and other circumstances contributed to have the cause suspended, and it was not resumed until 1782. It was concluded with her beatification, proclaimed by Pope Pius VI on June 5, 1791. Her body lies in the chapel of the convent of Pontoise."
-- Biography by John of Jesus Mary, ocd
-o-
"The great love which you have for me impels me to come to you, all the more because of the existence of the Sacrament of your love, in which you have clearly shown me your love and have drawn me to love you in return; this is why I desire to receive you, so that when my soul is satiated with this spiritual food, I may joyfully embrace you within my soul, never be separated from you and love you with all my heart."
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban design considers 'bigger picture' issues of economic, social and environmental value and social design. The scope of a project can range from a local street or public space to an entire city and surrounding areas. Urban designers connect the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning to better organize local and community environments' dependent upon geographical location.[1]
Some important focuses of urban design on this page include its historical impact, paradigm shifts, its interdisciplinary nature, and issues related to urban design.
Theory
A Christmas-lit Alexander Street in Helsinki, Finland
Urban design deals with the larger scale of groups of buildings, infrastructure, streets, and public spaces, entire neighbourhoods and districts, and entire cities, with the goal of making urban environments that are equitable, beautiful, performative, and sustainable.[2][3][4]
Urban design is an interdisciplinary field that utilizes the procedures and the elements of architecture and other related professions, including landscape design, urban planning, civil engineering, and municipal engineering,[5][6] while extenuating to the Spatial Sciences. It borrows substantive and procedural knowledge from public administration, sociology, law, urban geography, urban economics and other related disciplines from the social and behavioral sciences, as well as from the natural sciences.[7] In more recent times different sub-subfields of urban design have emerged such as strategic urban design, landscape urbanism, water-sensitive urban design, and sustainable urbanism. Urban design demands an understanding of a wide range of subjects from physical geography to social science, and an appreciation for disciplines, such as real estate development, urban economics, political economy, and social theory.
Model of Dubai Sports City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Urban design theory deals primarily with the design and management of public space (i.e. the 'public environment', 'public realm' or 'public domain'), and the way public places are used and experienced. Public space includes the totality of spaces used freely on a day-to-day basis by the general public, such as streets, plazas, parks, and public infrastructure. Some aspects of privately owned spaces, such as building facades or domestic gardens, also contribute to public space and are therefore also considered by urban design theory. Important writers on urban design theory include Christopher Alexander, Peter Calthorpe, Gordon Cullen, Andrés Duany, Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, Allan B. Jacobs, Kevin Lynch, Aldo Rossi, Colin Rowe, Robert Venturi, William H. Whyte, Camillo Sitte, Bill Hillier (space syntax), and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
History
Although contemporary professional use of the term 'urban design' dates from the mid-20th century, urban design as such has been practiced throughout history. Ancient examples of carefully planned and designed cities exist in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and are particularly well known within Classical Chinese, Roman, and Greek cultures. Specifically, Hippodamus of Miletus was a famous ancient Greek architect and urban planner, and all around academic that is often considered to be a "father of European urban planning", and the namesake of the "Hippodamian plan", also known as the grid plan of a city layout.[8]
European Medieval cities are often, and often erroneously, regarded as exemplars of undesigned or 'organic' city development. There are many examples of considered urban design in the Middle Ages.[9] In England, many of the towns listed in the 9th-century Burghal Hidage were designed on a grid, examples including Southampton, Wareham, Dorset and Wallingford, Oxfordshire, having been rapidly created to provide a defensive network against Danish invaders.[10] 12th century western Europe brought renewed focus on urbanisation as a means of stimulating economic growth and generating revenue.[11] The burgage system dating from that time and its associated burgage plots brought a form of self-organising design to medieval towns.[12]
Throughout history, the design of streets and deliberate configuration of public spaces with buildings have reflected contemporaneous social norms or philosophical and religious beliefs.[13] Yet the link between designed urban space and the human mind appears to be bidirectional. Indeed, the reverse impact of urban structure upon human behaviour and upon thought is evidenced by both observational study and historical records. There are clear indications of impact through Renaissance urban design on the thought of Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei.[14] Already René Descartes in his Discourse on the Method had attested to the impact Renaissance planned new towns had upon his own thought, and much evidence exists that the Renaissance streetscape was also the perceptual stimulus that had led to the development of coordinate geometry.[15]
Early modern era
Early modern
Boulevard Haussmann, Paris (Georges-Eugène Haussmann)
Boulevard Haussmann, Paris (Georges-Eugène Haussmann)
Vienna Ring Road, Vienna, (Georges-Eugène Haussmann)
Vienna Ring Road, Vienna, (Georges-Eugène Haussmann)
Circus, Bath completed in 1768
Circus, Bath completed in 1768
The beginnings of modern urban design in Europe are associated with the Renaissance but, especially, with the Age of Enlightenment.[16] Spanish colonial cities were often planned, as were some towns settled by other imperial cultures.[17] These sometimes embodied utopian ambitions as well as aims for functionality and good governance, as with James Oglethorpe's plan for Savannah, Georgia.[18] In the Baroque period the design approaches developed in French formal gardens such as Versailles were extended into urban development and redevelopment. In this period, when modern professional specializations did not exist, urban design was undertaken by people with skills in areas as diverse as sculpture, architecture, garden design, surveying, astronomy, and military engineering. In the 18th and 19th centuries, urban design was perhaps most closely linked with surveyors engineers and architects. The increase in urban populations brought with it problems of epidemic disease, the response to which was a focus on public health, the rise in the UK of municipal engineering and the inclusion in British legislation of provisions such as minimum widths of street in relation to heights of buildings in order to ensure adequate light and ventilation.[citation needed]
Much of Frederick Law Olmsted's work was concerned with urban design, and the newly formed profession of landscape architecture also began to play a significant role in the late 19th century.[19]
Modern urban design
Ebenezer Howard's influential 1902 diagram, illustrating urban growth through garden city "off-shoots"
In the 19th century, cities were industrializing and expanding at a tremendous rate. Private businesses largely dictated the pace and style of this development. The expansion created many hardships for the working poor and concern for public health increased. However, the laissez-faire style of government, in fashion for most of the Victorian era, was starting to give way to a New Liberalism. This gave more power to the public. The public wanted the government to provide citizens, especially factory workers, with healthier environments. Around 1900, modern urban design emerged from developing theories on how to mitigate the consequences of the industrial age.
The first modern urban planning theorist was Sir Ebenezer Howard. His ideas, although utopian, were adopted around the world because they were highly practical. He initiated the garden city movement.[20] in 1898. His garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by parks. Howard wanted the cities to be proportional with separate areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Inspired by the Utopian novel Looking Backward and Henry George's work Progress and Poverty, Howard published his book Garden Cities of To-morrow in 1898. His work is an important reference in the history of urban planning.[21] He envisioned the self-sufficient garden city to house 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres (2,428 ha). He planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks, and six radial boulevards, 120 ft (37 m) wide, extending from the center. When it reached full population, Howard wanted another garden city to be developed nearby. He envisaged a cluster of several garden cities as satellites of a central city of 50,000 people, linked by road and rail.[22] His model for a garden city was first created at Letchworth[23] and Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. Howard's movement was extended by Sir Frederic Osborn to regional planning.[23]
20th century
In the early 1900s, urban planning became professionalized. With input from utopian visionaries, civil engineers, and local councilors, new approaches to city design were developed for consideration by decision-makers such as elected officials. In 1899, the Town and Country Planning Association was founded. In 1909, the first academic course on urban planning was offered by the University of Liverpool.[24] Urban planning was first officially embodied in the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1909 Howard's 'garden city' compelled local authorities to introduce a system where all housing construction conformed to specific building standards.[25] In the United Kingdom following this act, surveyor, civil engineers, architects, and lawyers began working together within local authorities. In 1910, Thomas Adams became the first Town Planning Inspector at the Local Government Board and began meeting with practitioners.[citation needed] In 1914, The Town Planning Institute was established. The first urban planning course in America was not established until 1924 at Harvard University.[citation needed] Professionals developed schemes for the development of land, transforming town planning into a new area of expertise.
In the 20th century, urban planning was changed by the automobile industry. Car-oriented design impacted the rise of 'urban design'. City layouts now revolved around roadways and traffic patterns.[citation needed]
In June 1928, the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM) was founded at the Chateau de la Sarraz in Switzerland, by a group of 28 European architects organized by Le Corbusier, Hélène de Mandrot, and Sigfried Giedion. The CIAM was one of many 20th century manifestos meant to advance the cause of "architecture as a social art".[citation needed]
Modernism
Brasília (Oscar Niemeyer, Lúcio Costa)
Brasília (Oscar Niemeyer, Lúcio Costa)
Palace of Assembly (Chandigarh) (1952–1961) (Le Corbusier)
Palace of Assembly (Chandigarh) (1952–1961) (Le Corbusier)
Headquarters of the United Nations
Headquarters of the United Nations
FDR Drive designed by Robert Moses
FDR Drive designed by Robert Moses
Postwar
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Team X was a group of architects and other invited participants who assembled starting in July 1953 at the 9th Congress of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM) and created a schism within CIAM by challenging its doctrinaire approach to urbanism.
In 1956, the term "Urban design" was first used at a series of conferences hosted by Harvard University. The event provided a platform for Harvard's Urban Design program. The program also utilized the writings of famous urban planning thinkers: Gordon Cullen, Jane Jacobs, Kevin Lynch, and Christopher Alexander.
In 1961, Gordon Cullen published The Concise Townscape. He examined the traditional artistic approach to city design of theorists including Camillo Sitte, Barry Parker, and Raymond Unwin. Cullen also created the concept of 'serial vision'. It defined the urban landscape as a series of related spaces.
Jane Jacobs, urban design activist and author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
Also in 1961, Jane Jacobs published The Death and Life of Great American Cities. She critiqued the modernism of CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture). Jacobs also claimed crime rates in publicly owned spaces were rising because of the Modernist approach of 'city in the park'. She argued instead for an 'eyes on the street' approach to town planning through the resurrection of main public space precedents (e.g. streets, squares).
In the same year, Kevin Lynch published The Image of the City. He was seminal to urban design, particularly with regards to the concept of legibility. He reduced urban design theory to five basic elements: paths, districts, edges, nodes, landmarks. He also made the use of mental maps to understand the city popular, rather than the two-dimensional physical master plans of the previous 50 years.
Other notable works:
Rossi, Aldo; et al. (1982). The Architecture of the City. Translated by Diane Ghirardo and Joan Ockman (American ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262181013.
Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (1972)
Collage City by Colin Rowe (1978)
The Next American Metropolis by Peter Calthorpe (1993)
The Social Logic of Space by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson (1984)
The popularity of these works resulted in terms that become everyday language in the field of urban planning. Aldo Rossi introduced 'historicism' and 'collective memory' to urban design. Rossi also proposed a 'collage metaphor' to understand the collection of new and old forms within the same urban space. Peter Calthorpe developed a manifesto for sustainable urban living via medium-density living. He also designed a manual for building new settlements in his concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson introduced Space Syntax to predict how movement patterns in cities would contribute to urban vitality, anti-social behaviour, and economic success. 'Sustainability', 'livability', and 'high quality of urban components' also became commonplace in the field.
Current trends
New Urbanism
Market Street, Celebration, Florida
Market Street, Celebration, Florida
New urbanist Sankt Eriksområdet quarter in Stockholm, Sweden, built in the 1990s
New urbanist Sankt Eriksområdet quarter in Stockholm, Sweden, built in the 1990s
Poundbury, Dorset
Poundbury, Dorset
Jakriborg, in Sweden, started in the late 1990s as a new urbanist eco-friendly new town near Malmö
Today, urban design seeks to create sustainable urban environments with long-lasting structures, buildings, and overall livability. Walkable urbanism is another approach to practice that is defined within the Charter of New Urbanism. It aims to reduce environmental impacts by altering the built environment to create smart cities that support sustainable transport. Compact urban neighborhoods encourage residents to drive less. These neighborhoods have significantly lower environmental impacts when compared to sprawling suburbs.[26] To prevent urban sprawl, Circular flow land use management was introduced in Europe to promote sustainable land use patterns.
As a result of the recent New Classical architecture movement, sustainable construction aims to develop smart growth, walkability, architectural tradition, and classical design.[27][28] It contrasts with modernist and globally uniform architecture. In the 1980s, urban design began to oppose the increasing solitary housing estates and suburban sprawl.[29] Managed Urbanisation with the view to making the urbanising process completely culturally and economically, and environmentally sustainable, and as a possible solution to the urban sprawl, Frank Reale has submitted an interesting concept of Expanding Nodular Development (E.N.D.) that integrates many urban designs and ecological principles, to design and build smaller rural hubs with high-grade connecting freeways, rather than adding more expensive infrastructure to existing big cities and the resulting congestion.
Paradigm shifts
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Throughout the young existence of the urban design discipline, many paradigm shifts have occurred that have affected the trajectory of the field regarding theory and practice. These paradigm shifts cover multiple subject areas outside of the traditional design disciplines.
Team 10 - The first major paradigm shift was the formation of Team 10 out of CIAM, or the Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne. They believed that Urban Design should introduce ideas of 'Human Association', which pivots the design focus from the individual patron to concentrating on the collective urban population.
The Brundtland Report and Silent Spring - Another paradigm shift was the publication of the Brundtland Report and the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. These writings introduced the idea that human settlements could have detrimental impacts on ecological processes, as well as human health, which spurred a new era of environmental awareness in the field.
The Planner's Triangle - The Planner's Triangle, created by Scott Cambell, emphasized three main conflicts in the planning process. This diagram exposed the complex relationships between Economic Development, Environmental Protection, and Equity and Social Justice. For the first time, the concept of Equity and Social Justice was considered as equally important as Economic Development and Environmental Protection within the design process.
Death of Modernism (Demolition of Pruitt Igoe) - Pruitt Igoe was a spatial symbol and representation of Modernist theory regarding social housing. In its failure and demolition, these theories were put into question and many within the design field considered the era of Modernism to be dead.
Neoliberalism & the election of Reagan - The election of President Reagan and the rise of Neoliberalism affected the Urban Design discipline because it shifted the planning process to emphasize capitalistic gains and spatial privatization. Inspired by the trickle-down approach of Reaganomics, it was believed that the benefits of a capitalist emphasis within design would positively impact everyone. Conversely, this led to exclusionary design practices and to what many consider as "the death of public space".
Right to the City - The spatial and political battle over our citizens' rights to the city has been an ongoing one. David Harvey, along with Dan Mitchell and Edward Soja, discussed rights to the city as a matter of shifting the historical thinking of how spatial matter was determined in a critical form. This change of thinking occurred in three forms: ontologically, sociologically, and the combination of this socio-spatial dialect. Together the aim shifted to be able to measure what matters in a socio-spatial context.
Black Lives Matter (Ferguson) - The Black Lives Matter movement challenged design thinking because it emphasized the injustices and inequities suffered by people of color in urban space, as well as emphasized their right to public space without discrimination and brutality. It claims that minority groups lack certain spatial privileges and that this deficiency can result in matters of life and death. In order to reach an equitable state of urbanism, there needs to be equal identification of socio-economic lives within our urbanscapes.
New approaches
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There have been many different theories and approaches applied to the practice of urban design.
New Urbanism is an approach that began in the 1980s as a place-making initiative to combat suburban sprawl. Its goal is to increase density by creating compact and complete towns and neighborhoods. The 10 principles of new urbanism are walkability, connectivity, mixed-use and diversity, mixed housing, quality architecture and urban design, traditional neighborhood structure, increased density, smart transportation, sustainability, and quality of life. New urbanism and the developments that it has created are sources of debates within the discipline, primarily with the landscape urbanist approach but also due to its reproduction of idyllic architectural tropes that do not respond to the context. Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Peter Calthorpe, and Jeff Speck are all strongly associated with New Urbanism and its evolution over the years.[citation needed]
Landscape urbanism is a theory that first surfaced in the 1990s, arguing that the city is constructed of interconnected and ecologically rich horizontal field conditions, rather than the arrangement of objects and buildings. Charles Waldheim, Mohsen Mostafavi, James Corner, and Richard Weller are closely associated with this theory. Landscape urbanism theorises sites, territories, ecosystems, networks, and infrastructures through landscape practice according to Corner,[30] while applying a dynamic concept to cities as ecosystems that grow, shrink or change phases of development according to Waldheim.[31]
Everyday urbanism is a concept introduced by Margaret Crawford and influenced by Henry Lefebvre that describes the everyday lived experience shared by urban residents including commuting, working, relaxing, moving through city streets and sidewalks, shopping, buying, eating food, and running errands. Everyday urbanism is not concerned with aesthetic value. Instead, it introduces the idea of eliminating the distance between experts and ordinary users and forces designers and planners to contemplate a 'shift of power' and address social life from a direct and ordinary perspective.
Tactical urbanism (also known as DIY Urbanism, Planning-by-Doing, Urban Acupuncture, or Urban Prototyping) is a city, organizational, or citizen-led approach to neighborhood-building that uses short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions and policies to catalyze long term change.
Top-up urbanism is the theory and implementation of two techniques in urban design: top-down and bottom-up. Top-down urbanism is when the design is implemented from the top of the hierarchy - normally the government or planning department. Bottom-up or grassroots urbanism begins with the people or the bottom of the hierarchy. Top-up means that both methods are used together to make a more participatory design, so it is sure to be comprehensive and well regarded in order to be as successful as possible.
Infrastructural urbanism is the study of how the major investments that go into making infrastructural systems can be leveraged to be more sustainable for communities. Instead of the systems being solely about efficiency in both cost and production, infrastructural urbanism strives to utilize these investments to be more equitable for social and environmental issues as well. Linda Samuels is a designer investigating how to accomplish this change in infrastructure in what she calls "next-generation infrastructure" which is "multifunctional; public; visible; socially productive; locally specific, flexible, and adaptable; sensitive to the eco-economy; composed of design prototypes or demonstration projects; symbiotic; technologically smart; and developed collaboratively across disciplines and agencies".
Sustainable urbanism
BedZED, Hackfield, London
BedZED, Hackfield, London
BedZED, Hackfield, London
BedZED, Hackfield, London
Arcosanti, Arizona
Arcosanti, Arizona
Sustainable urbanism is the study from the 1990s of how a community can be beneficial for the ecosystem, the people, and the economy for which it is associated. It is based on Scott Campbell's planner's triangle which tries to find the balance between economy, equity, and the environment. Its main concept is to try and make cities as self-sufficient as possible while not damaging the ecosystem around them, today with an increased focus on climate stability.[4] A key designer working with sustainable urbanism is Douglas Farr.
Feminist urbanism is the study and critique of how the built environment affects genders differently because of patriarchal social and political structures in society. Typically, the people at the table making design decisions are men, so their conception about public space and the built environment relates to their life perspectives and experiences, which do not reflect the same experiences of women or children. Dolores Hayden is a scholar who has researched this topic from 1980 to the present day. Hayden's writing says, “when women, men, and children of all classes and races can identify the public domain as the place where they feel most comfortable as citizens, Americans will finally have homelike urban space.”
Recently, "New Contextualism" has emerged as a philosophy in architecture and urban design, primarily coined and propagated by Bangladeshi architect and academic Mohammad Habib Reza.[32] This approach advocates for creating built environments that are profoundly informed by both historical precedents and future predictions, while embracing a holistic understanding of context.[33] Unlike universalist or purely modernist perspectives, New Contextualism emphasizes the deep integration of a design within its specific setting, considering not only the immediate site but also broader universal values, regional characteristics, and the socio-cultural fabric of a place.[34][35] It stresses the importance of equity, social justice, and the revitalization of vernacular building traditions to achieve sustainable and inclusive designs. The philosophy encourages the use of data analytics and scenario planning to anticipate future needs and challenges, aiming for timeless yet adaptable architectural solutions.[36][37]
Educational urbanism is an emerging discipline, at the crossroads of urban planning, educational planning, and pedagogy. An approach that tackles the notion that economic activities, the need for new skills at the workplace, and the spatial configuration of the workplace rely on the spatial reorientation in the design of educational spaces and the urban dimension of educational planning.
Black urbanism is an approach in which black communities are active creators, innovators, and authors of the process of designing and creating the neighborhoods and spaces of the metropolitan areas they have done so much to help revive over the past half-century. The goal is not to build black cities for black people but to explore and develop the creative energy that exists in so-called black areas: that has the potential to contribute to the sustainable development of the whole city.
Debates in urbanism
Underlying the practice of urban design are the many theories about how to best design the city. Each theory makes a unique claim about how to effectively design thriving, sustainable urban environments. Debates over the efficacy of these approaches fill the urban design discourse. Landscape urbanism and New Urbanism are commonly debated as distinct approaches to addressing suburban sprawl. While landscape urbanism proposes landscape as the basic building block of the city and embraces horizontality, flexibility, and adaptability, New Urbanism offers the neighborhood as the basic building block of the city and argues for increased density, mixed uses, and walkability. Opponents of landscape urbanism point out that most of its projects are urban parks, and as such, its application is limited. Opponents of New Urbanism claim that its preoccupation with traditional neighborhood structures is nostalgic, unimaginative, and culturally problematic. Everyday urbanism argues for grassroots neighborhood improvements rather than master-planned, top-down interventions. Each theory elevates the roles of certain professions in the urban design process, further fueling the debate. In practice, urban designers often apply principles from many urban design theories. Emerging from the conversation is a universal acknowledgement of the importance of increased interdisciplinary collaboration in designing the modern city.[38]
Urban design as an integrative profession
L'Enfant's plan for Washington DC
Gehl Architects' project for Brighton New Road employing shared space
Urban designers work with architects, landscape architects, transportation engineers, urban planners, and industrial designers to reshape the city. Cooperation with public agencies, authorities and the interests of nearby property owners is necessary to manage public spaces. Users often compete over the spaces and negotiate across a variety of spheres. Input is frequently needed from a wide range of stakeholders. This can lead to different levels of participation as defined in Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation.[39]
While there are some professionals who identify themselves specifically as urban designers, a majority have backgrounds in urban planning, architecture, or landscape architecture. Many collegiate programs incorporate urban design theory and design subjects into their curricula. There is an increasing number of university programs offering degrees in urban design at the post-graduate level.
Urban design considers:
Pedestrian zones
Incorporation of nature within a city
Aesthetics
Urban structure – arrangement and relation of business and people
Urban typology, density, and sustainability - spatial types and morphologies related to the intensity of use, consumption of resources, production, and maintenance of viable communities
Accessibility – safe and easy transportation
Legibility and wayfinding – accessible information about travel and destinations
Animation – Designing places to stimulate public activity
Function and fit – places support their varied intended uses
Complimentary mixed uses – Locating activities to allow constructive interaction between them
Character and meaning – Recognizing differences between places
Order and incident – Balancing consistency and variety in the urban environment
Continuity and change – Locating people in time and place, respecting heritage and contemporary culture
Civil society – people are free to interact as civic equals, important for building social capital
Participation/engagement – including people in the decision-making process can be done at many different scales.
Relationships with other related disciplines
The original urban design was thought to be separated from architecture and urban planning. Urban Design has developed to a certain extent, and comes from the foundation of engineering. In Anglo-Saxon countries, it is often considered as a branch under the architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture and limited as the construction of the urban physical environment. However Urban Design is more integrated into the social science-based, cultural, economic, political, and other aspects. Not only focus on space and architectural group, but also look at the whole city from a broader and more holistic perspective to shape a better living environment. Compared to architecture, the spatial and temporal scale of Urban Design processing is much larger. It deals with neighborhoods, communities, and even the entire city.
Urban design education
Globe icon.
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The University of Liverpool's Department of Civic Design is the first urban design school in the world founded in 1909.[40] Following the 1956 Urban Design conference, Harvard University established the first graduate program with urban design in its title, The Master of Architecture in Urban Design, although as a subject taught in universities its history in Europe is far older. Urban design programs explore the built environment from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and points of view. The pedagogically innovative combination of interdisciplinary studios, lecture courses, seminars, and independent study creates an intimate and engaging educational atmosphere in which students thrive and learn. Soon after in 1961, Washington University in St. Louis founded their Master of Urban Design program. Today, twenty urban design programs exist in the United States:
Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI
Clemson University - Charleston, SC
Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation - New York, NY
City College of New York - New York, NY
Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University - Muncie, IN
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Design - Atlanta, GA
Harvard Graduate School of Design - Cambridge, MA
Iowa State University - Ames, IA
New York Institute of Technology - New York, NY
Notre Dame School of Architecture - Notre Dame, IN
Pratt Institute - Brooklyn, NY
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis - St. Louis, MO
Savannah College of Art and Design - Savannah, GA
Stuart Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI
University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, CA
University of Colorado Denver - Denver, CO
University of Maryland - College Park, MD
University of Miami - Miami, FL
Stuart Weitzman School of Design at University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture - Austin, TX
University of North Carolina at Charlotte - Charlotte, NC
In the United Kingdom, Master's programmes in Urban Design at University of Manchester or University of Sheffield and Cardiff University or London South Bank University and City Design at the Royal College of Art or Queen's University Belfast are offered.
Issues
Protest banner during the Climate Change Camp 2007 at Heathrow Airport in London.
The field of urban design holds enormous potential for helping us address today's biggest challenges: an expanding population, mass urbanization, rising inequality, and climate change. In its practice as well as its theories, urban design attempts to tackle these pressing issues. As climate change progresses, urban design can mitigate the results of flooding, temperature changes, and increasingly detrimental storm impacts through a mindset of sustainability and resilience. In doing so, the urban design discipline attempts to create environments that are constructed with longevity in mind, such as zero-carbon cities. Cities today must be designed to minimize resource consumption, waste generation, and pollution while also withstanding the unprecedented impacts of climate change.[4][41][42][43] To be truly resilient, our cities need to be able to not just bounce back from a catastrophic climate event but to bounce forward to an improved state.
Another issue in this field is that it is often assumed that there are no mothers of planning and urban design. However, this is not the case, many women have made proactive contributions to the field, including the work of Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch, Florence Kelley, and Lillian Wald, to name a few of whom were prominent leaders in the City Social movement. The City Social was a movement that steamed between the commonly known City Practical and City Beautiful movements. It was a movement mainly concerning lay with the economic and social equalities regarding urban issues.[44]
Justice is and will always be a key issue in urban design. As previously mentioned, past urban strategies have caused injustices within communities incapable of being remedied via simple means. As urban designers tackle the issue of justice, they often are required to look at the injustices of the past and must be careful not to overlook the nuances of race, place, and socioeconomic status in their design efforts. This includes ensuring reasonable access to basic services, transportation, and fighting against gentrification and the commodification of space for economic gain. Organizations such as the Divided Cities Initiatives at Washington University in St. Louis and the Just City Lab at Harvard work on promoting justice in urban design.
Until the 1970s, the design of towns and cities took little account of the needs of people with disabilities. At that time, disabled people began to form movements demanding recognition of their potential contribution if social obstacles were removed. Disabled people challenged the 'medical model' of disability which saw physical and mental problems as an individual 'tragedy' and people with disabilities as 'brave' for enduring them. They proposed instead a 'social model' which said that barriers to disabled people result from the design of the built environment and attitudes of able-bodied people. 'Access Groups' were established composed of people with disabilities who audited their local areas, checked planning applications, and made representations for improvements. The new profession of 'access officer' was established around that time to produce guidelines based on the recommendations of access groups and to oversee adaptations to existing buildings as well as to check on the accessibility of new proposals. Many local authorities now employ access officers who are regulated by the Access Association. A new chapter of the Building Regulations (Part M) was introduced in 1992. Although it was beneficial to have legislation on this issue the requirements were fairly minimal but continue to be improved with ongoing amendments. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 continues to raise awareness and enforce action on disability issues in the urban environment.
The issue of walkability has gained prominence in recent years, not only with the concerns of the aforementioned climate change, but also the health outcomes of residents. Car-centric urban design has an invariably negative effect on such outcomes. With proximity to internal combustion engines, residents tend to suffer from dangerous levels of air pollution which lead to cardiovascular complications ranging from the acute, in hypertension and alterations in heart rate, and the chronic, the outright development of atherosclerosis. More people die from air pollution each year than from car accidents. This issue has been used to fuel movements for alternative forms of long to mid range transportation such as trains and bicycles, with walking as the primary means of short-range travel. This would bring benefits from two simultaneous avenues. The physical activity from walking, and the lack of particulate matter (carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, etc.) has shown to alleviate and lower the risk of many maladies such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Physical activity levels from walking are closely related to the abundance of open public spaces, commercial shops, greenery, among others. These attributes also have been stated to contribute to stronger social and emotional health as the open public spaces facilitate more social interaction within communities. This issue is most prevalent in the United States, where the rise of neoliberalism directly and intentionally caused the car-centric infrastructure.
The 20th-century urbanists you mentioned—Le Corbusier, Speer, and to some extent Cerdà—suffered from what we might call the "God’s-eye view." They designed cities from above, looking at master plans as if they were abstract paintings.
Simplification vs. Simplicity: You rightly point out that they mistook simplification for simplicity. They believed that by separating the city into neat, functional zones (living, working, playing, circulating), they were solving the chaos of the metropolis.
The Loss of the Street: In doing so, they killed the traditional street—the very place where "negotiation" and unexpected connections occur.
The Genius of the "Flaw"
Your comparison between Munich and Le Havre is a perfect illustration of the difference between organic healing and surgical replacement.
Munich's Scars: By choosing to rebuild along its historical, convoluted street patterns, Munich retained its human scale. The winding streets naturally slow down movement, creating intimate, enclosed perspectives (a concept championed by the Austrian architect Camillo Sitte, who recognized that irregular, enclosed squares feel psychologically safer and more inviting than vast, open expanses).
A Defense of the "Hygiénistes": If we must offer a gentle correction or nuance to the critique of Perret and the modernist urbanists, it is important to remember why they craved the blank page. The pre-1914 cities, while romantically chaotic, were often breeding grounds for tuberculosis and cholera. The modernists’ obsession with light, air, and orthogonal grids was heavily driven by urgent public health crises and massive post-war housing shortages. They provided sanitation and shelter at scale, even if they failed to provide "breath."
The City as a Living Organism
Your assertion that a city is "not an object to be designed from above" but a "reality to be accompanied" aligns perfectly with the shift from traditional urban planning to what we now call placemaking and tactical urbanism.
A successful city allows for friction. It is the child drawing hopscotch on a concrete slab, the vendor setting up a cart in an awkward corner, or the citizens turning an abandoned railway into a park. True urbanism doesn't dictate exactly how a space must be used; it provides a robust, flexible framework that invites citizens to fill in the blanks.
The Olympic Village and the Future
The Paris Olympic Village is a fascinating test case for this exact theory. Planners have explicitly tried to design it with "reversibility" in mind—building it first for athletes, but planning its conversion into a permanent neighborhood. However, as you beautifully put it, it will only become a village if use disobeys the plan. It will require the unpredictable alchemy of local businesses, rebellious pedestrians, and the patina of time.
The shift from control to connection is the defining architectural challenge of our century. Humility in urbanism means accepting that the architect is not the author of the city, but merely a co-writer alongside millions of everyday citizens.
Given that the current academic and professional structures still heavily reward spectacular, top-down "masterpieces," how do you believe we can practically teach this necessary humility to the next generation of architects and urban planners?
Urbanism is the scientific study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban areas, and urban sociology, an academic field which studies urban life.[1][2]
Many architects, planners, geographers, and sociologists investigate the way people live in densely populated urban areas. There is a wide variety of different theories and approaches to the study of urbanism.[3] However, in some contexts internationally, urbanism is synonymous with urban planning, and urbanist refers to an urban planner.
The term urbanism was first coined in the late nineteenth century by the Spanish civil engineer Ildefons Cerdà, whose intent was to create an autonomous activity focused on the spatial organization of the city.[4] Urbanism's emergence in the early 20th century was associated with the rise of centralized manufacturing, mixed-use neighborhoods, social organizations and networks, and what has been described as "the convergence between political, social, and economic citizenship".[5]
Urbanism can be understood as placemaking and the creation of place identity at a citywide level, however as early as 1938 Louis Wirth wrote that it is necessary to stop 'identify[ing] urbanism with the physical entity of the city', go 'beyond an arbitrary boundary line' and consider how 'technological developments in transportation and communication have enormously extended the urban mode of living beyond the confines of the city itself.' [6]
Concepts
Urbanism theory writers of the late 20th century
Network-based theories
Gabriel Dupuy applied network theory to the field of urbanism and suggests that the single dominant characteristic of modern urbanism is its networked character, as opposed to segregated conceptions of space (i.e. zones, boundaries and edges).[7]
Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin[who?] argue that we are witnessing a post-urban environment where decentralized, loosely connected neighborhoods and zones of activity assume the former organizing role played by urban spaces. Their theory of splintering urbanism involves the "fragmentation of the social and material fabric of cities" into "cellular clusters of globally connected high-service enclaves and network ghettos" driven by electronic networks that segregate as much as they connect. Dominique Lorrain argues that the process of splintering urbanism began towards the end of the 20th century with the emergence of the gigacity, a new form of a networked city characterised by three-dimensional size, network density and the blurring of city boundaries.[8]
Manuel Castells suggested that within a network society, "premium" infrastructure networks (high-speed telecommunications, "smart" highways, global airline networks) selectively connect together the most favored users and places and bypass the less favored.[8] Graham and Marvin argue that attention to infrastructure networks is reactive to crises or collapse, rather than sustained and systematic, because of a failure to understand the links between urban life and urban infrastructure networks.
Other modern theorists
Douglas Kelbaugh identifies three paradigms within urbanism: New Urbanism, Everyday Urbanism, and Post-Urbanism.[9]
Paul L. Knox refers to one of many trends in contemporary urbanism as the "aestheticization of everyday life".[10]
Alex Krieger states that urban design is less a technical discipline than a mind-set based on a commitment to cities.[11]
Mohammad Habib Reza — architect and urban theorist who introduced New Contextualism, an urban and architectural philosophy that grounds design in layered contexts such as cultural, ecological, historical, and social, while promoting equity, belonging, and sustainability.[12]
Other contemporary urbanists such as Edward Soja and Liz Ogbu focus on urbanism as a field for applying principles of community building and spatial justice.[13][14]
See also
New urbanism
Ecological urbanism extends on concepts of Landscape urbanism
Feminist urbanism
Green urbanism
Landscape urbanism, an urbanism where cities are seen though the lens of landscape architecture and ecology
Latino urbanism
Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
Sustainable urbanism
Tactical urbanism
Unitary urbanism, a critique of urbanism as a technology of power by the situationists
Urban economics, the application of economic models and tools to analyse the urban issues such as crime, house and public transit
Urban geography
Urbanate, a living environment envisioned by the Technocracy movement
Urban vitality
World Urbanism Day
Endnotes
Wirth, Louis (1938). "Urbanism as a Way of Life" (PDF). American Journal of Sociology.
"Urbanism". obo. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
Barnett, Jonathan (April 2011). "A Short Guide to 60 of the Newest Urbanisms". Planning. 77 (4): 19–21. ISSN 0001-2610. OCLC 1762461.
Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 734. ISBN 978-0415862875.
Blokland-Potters, Talja, and Savage, Mike (2008). Networked Urbanism: Social Capital in the City. Ashgate Publishing.
Wirth, Louis (1938). "Urbanism as a Way of Life" (PDF). American Journal of Sociology. 44 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1086/217913. ISSN 0002-9602. S2CID 145174761.
Dupuy, Gabriel (2008). Urban networks : network urbanism. J. van Schaick, I. T. Klaasen, Technische Universiteit Delft. Faculteit der Bouwkunde. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Techne Press. ISBN 978-90-8594-019-7. OCLC 179789433.
Graham, Steve; Marvin, Simon (2001). Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition (1st ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203452202. ISBN 978-0-203-45220-2.
Kelbaugh, Douglas (2009), Three Urbanisms and the Public Realm[ISBN missing]
Knox, Paul L. (2010-07-12). Cities and Design (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 10. doi:10.4324/9780203848555. ISBN 978-1-136-94917-3.
Krieger, Alex; Saunders, William S. (2009-01-01). Urban Design. U of Minnesota Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-4529-1412-1.
Reza, Mohammad Habib; Nitu, Upama Das. "New Contextualism: Architecture and Urbanism for People, Place, and Justice". Contextbd.com. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
Soja, Edward (2003). "Writing the city spatially". City. 7 (3): 269–280. doi:10.1080/1360481032000157478. S2CID 144964310.
Cary, John (2018). "Design Journeys: Liz Ogbu". American Institute of Graphic Arts. Archived from the original on 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
External links
International Forum on Urbanism Archived 2012-04-23 at the Wayback Machine
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Urban planning
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
Categories: Urban planning2010s fads and trends2020s fads and trends
Paramahamsa Vishwananda’s 41st Birthday marked an incredible and beautiful two-day celebration at Shree Peetha Nilaya, His international Ashram and centre. The celebrations included a grand abhishekam on Guruji’s Feet followed by a powerful 108 Yagna ceremony performed by all the devotees dedicated to our beloved Gurudev. Throughout the day, everyone's hearts were filled with gratitude and humility. It is due to His Grace that His main Ashram and His mission exist, allowing so many people to experience His Love every single day.
The event ended with a theatre play dedicated to Chokamela, a well-known Bhakti-saint of Maharashtra India.
paramahamsavishwananda.com
bhaktimarga.org
Two Kinds of Wisdom
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
[James 3:13-18 NIV]
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
1. Like it or not, we are ALL sinners: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” (Romans 3:10-12 NLT)
2. The punishment for sin is death: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12 NLT)
3. Jesus is our only hope: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)
4. SALVATION is by GRACE through FAITH in JESUS: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT)
5. Accept Jesus and receive eternal life: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT) But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12 NLT) And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12 NLT)
Read the Bible for yourself. Allow the Lord to speak to you through his Word. YOUR ETERNITY IS AT STAKE!
Today’s Translation: The Voice Bible | Weekly Video: Savior of the World (Acts 8:26-40)
“Philip received another prompting from the Holy Spirit: Holy Spirit: ‘Go over to the chariot and climb on board.’ So he started running until he was even with the chariot. Philip heard the Eth...
Body language speaks louder than words! This man really caught my eye! Partly because he had a dog with him but even more so, because of the way he was standing there. Never once did I hear him verbally begging for money. He had on sign resting on the duffle bag that read, "Homeless anything will help. God bless". He was too proud!
•Hands clasped together or hands placed one over the other: This indicates deference and humility.
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All material in my gallery MAY NOT be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission
Canon 50D
Sigma 10-20 + Orange graduated filter + nd4 + nd half graduated filter
During the apparitions in 1948, Our Lady stressed humility, penance, prayers for the clergy and the Pope, and to pray the Rosary. Teresita reported that there was one secret for herself, one for the Carmel convent in Lipa City, one for China, and also one for the entire world.
Our Lady requested that a Mass be held on the 12th day of every month. Before She departed for the last time, the Blessed Virgin identified Herself as:
" I am the Mediatrix of All Grace"
There are acconts of a blue bird appearing at the vine where Our Lady appeared. There are also accounts of the spinning sun, heavy fragrance of roses, and showers of rose petals that had miraculous images of Christ, Mary, and other Holy Scenes on them. The rose petals (one is pictured on the top of this page, and another is pictured on the bottom) are reported to have remarkable curing powers.
It is also reported that Teresita received a Host for Holy Communion on her tongue from an angel on an occasion when she was unable to attend Mass because she was sick in bed. Teresita had other mystical experiences including visions of the Sacred Heart, a multitude of angels, St. Cecilia, St. Theresa of Lisieux, and many other saints. The seer was also seen to go into a state of unconsciousness, and then, while lying on the floor, enact the agony of Christ on the Cross. This phenomenon was witnessed by the prioress, Bishop Obviar, and members of the Carmel community at Lipa.
There was much commotion, and the Bishop and Mother Prioress were released of their jobs. The nuns were ordered to destroy all materials connected with the apparitions. They burned Teresita's diary, as well as the Mother Prioress'. The statue was also ordered to be destroyed, but the nuns kept it away, and saved it from destruction.
Our Lady warned that there would be persecutions; the convent was sealed, and the nuns could talk to no one outside of the convent.
1. .Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity. ~ William Menninger ~, 2. Untitled, 3. Bridge & Tram, 4. Untitled, 5. On the hill, 6. It is a joy to be hidden, but disaster not to be found., 7. OPEN, 8. low waters, 9. sNow rOse, 10. happy sunny fence day!, 11. Crosswalk, 12. winter light, 13. OK a little break from the veggies..., 14. friday's flower power, 15. [277/365] Sun soaked morning, 16. delimitation., 17. Untitled, 18. Root, 19. Pescador, 20. brighton rock, 21. La vie en rose ♥ (Week 5), 22. If we all jumped up & down at the same time, I said, I'll bet we could move the world..., 23. watcher of the waves, 24. flight of the swans, 25. 00403471_DSC3471 Mrs. Cardinal, I Presume?, 26. What they watch when you're gone, 27. [276/365] Behind..., 28. Stop It Please, 29. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” Buddha, 30. Nini, Ninoschka, 31. Red Roses and February, 32. Cold & Warm (Lonely Bench), 33. against all odds, 34. Covered in white, 35. All of us might wish.., 36. fascinated by light and grass
Today, the first Sunday after Easter, in the Catholic calendar, is the Feast Day of Divine Mercy.
80 years ago, in 1931, Jesus appeared to a humble devoted nun Sister Faustina (1905-1938) in Poland & told her: "My daughter, speak to the world of my inexhaustibly Mercy. I desire that this feast be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, especially poor sinners. The very depths of My Mercy will be opened on that day. I will pour out a sea of Graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My Mercy on this day....let no soul fear to come to Me, even if its sins be as scarlet. This feast emerged from the bosom of My Mercy and is founded in the depths of My Mercies. I desire that it be celebrated with great solemnity on the first Sunday after Easter".
Even though I am Catholic I know Jesus was calling to anyone - even those who feel they have no faith. Not one of us is without pain, concerns or in need of healing in some way.
During regular visions to Sister Faustina, Jesus asked that an image be painted of him; beneath which the words, "Jesus, I Trust in You" were to be written.
The late Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) was devoted to promoting the Divine Mercy message received by Sister Faustina; whom he proclaimed a Saint in 2000. Today John Paul II will himself move a step closer to Sainthood when he is beatified in Rome and becomes known as the Blessed John Paul II.
The only Pope Polish to date, John Paul II was a man of deep humility, compassion, warmth and good humour; and during his long reign (from 1978 until his death) he reached out to the people by visiting 129 countries.
I painted this portrait tribute, with deep prayers, on Easter Monday, wishing to pay tribute to his great example of the gift of forgiveness (which publically he gave to the terrorist who shot him in St Peter's Square in 1981); his promotion of the message of Divine Mercy & his special devotion to Mary, Mother of God...Mother of Divine Mercy.
I pray for great Blessings of peace, forgiveness & healing on this day.
Saint John Paul II. 2011
Oil on canvas
27 x 19.5in/68.6 x 50cm
To view Stephen's interpretations of the Image of Divine Mercy, according to the instructions Jesus gave Sister Faustina, please click the links:
www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbwhatley/2300400244/in/set-7...
www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbwhatley/2125002923/in/set-7...
www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbwhatley/3456298161/in/set-7...
www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbwhatley/4510784644/in/set-7...
J ai délibérément mis cette photo floue pour protégé l identité du lieu et la personne qui y est présente .
This shot is not on focus intentionnally in order to protect the identity of the person and the location where the photo was taken
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The words "I" and "Love" and "You" are the watermark of humanity. Strung together, they convey our deepest sense of humility, of power, of truth. It is our most common sentiment, even as the feeling of it is so infinitely uncommon: each to proclaim these three words with his or her very own heart and mindset of reason (or lack thereof); a proclamation completely and perfectly new each time it is offered. Uttered daily and nightly by millions, the words are said in an unending array of circumstances : whispered to a newborn in a mothers arms; shared between best friends on the playground; in the form of sympathy - said by a girl to a boy, as the respect continues but the relationship does not. It is said too loudly by parents to embarassed children in the company of their friends, and by grown children - to their fading parents in hospital beds. The words are thought in the company of the photograph and said in the company of the gravestone. It is how we end our phone calls and our letters... the words at the bottom of the page that trump all those above it, a way to gracefully finish a message, however important or trivial, with the most meaningful gifl of all : the communication of love. And yet the words themselves have been the victims of triviality, a ready replacement for lesser salutations among near strangers, burst forth casually as "love ya." Truly? To what degree? Why, how much, and for how long? These are questions befitting of the stature of love, though not the everyday banter of vague acquaintance. The words have also been twisted by the dark nature of deceit : To say "I love you" with a dramatic measure of synthetic emotion; a snare set by those who prey uponn fellow humanity, driven to whatever selfish end, to gain access to another's body, or their money, or their opportunity. In this realm, the proclamation is disgraced by one seeking to gain rather than to give. In any case, and by whatever inspiration, these words are woven deeply in to the fibers of our existence. Our longing to hear them from the right place is maddeningly and simultaneously our finest strength and our most gentle weakness.The album "I and Love and You" is inashamedly defined by such a dynamic of duality. As living people, we are bound by this unavoidable parallel. We are powerful yet weak, capable yet temporary. Inevitably, an attempt to place honesty within an artistic avenue will follow suit. This is a piece which shows us as we are : products of love surrounded by struggle. The music herein is, in many ways, readable as both a milestone and an arrival. A chapter in the story of young men, it bridges the space between the uncertainty of youth and the reality of it's release. The record is full with the quality of the question and response. As far as questions go, there are plenty-normally residing within the tone and delivery of the lyrics themselves, which, ironically, are sung with so much confidence. Among songs and thoughts so driven and purposeful, the most basic relatable doubt comes through with a resounding clarity. Outside of the eternal theme of romantic love, the album speaks thankfully upon a landscape of light-filled rooms, word-filled pages, time machines, forgiveness, singing birds, ocean waves, art, change, confessions of shortcomings, and reasons to continue on. Hope and a cause for smiling follow naturally. In the midst of all this, there are allusions to the less-than-ideal conditions of life : the loss of memory, the inability to control temper, insecurity, indecision, jaded indifference, and the general plague of former and current weakness. "I and Love and You" is an album of obvious human creation, chracterized by it's best and it's worst. Emotional imperfection is a reality for those who recorded the piece, just as it is for those who will hear it. The conclusion of the song from which the title is taken admits that the words "I love you" have become "hard to say". And perhaps that difficulty is as common as it's counterpart. Perhaps the inability to say these heaviest of words is as much a part of life as the lighthearted candor of those who say them without any difficulty at all. And so it ends with the phrase whispered to and by those of us most defeated and most elated... I and love and you."
- The Avett Brothers
"An authentically empowered person is humble. This does not mean the false humility of one who stoops to be with those who are below him or her. It is the inclusiveness of one who responds to the beauty of each soul. ... It is the harmlessness of one who treasures, honours and reveres life in all its forms."
- Gary Zukav
#UULent #envision #humility #Buddha #Zen #altar #earth #spirituality #ritual #meditation
St Margaret, Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk
The chancel windows, by Edward Burne Jones for the WIlliam Morris workshop, are insured for a million pounds.
If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility.
As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.
There are many things Gibbs said he is proud of when it comes to the LA District, but three things stand out: the District being recognized two years in a row as a "Best Place to Work" in the Corps; completing Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California – the Department of Defense’s only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum, carbon-neutral, net-zero certifiable hospital – on time and within budget; and the one-on-one time he was able to spend with employees in the District.
It is the people Gibbs said he will miss the most – the employees and the District’s close partners across the four-state area.
“I have never focused on relationships like I have here in this District, and I sincerely believe it is part of the District's culture,” he said. “When projects are tough, the close relationships get us through those challenges and ultimately deliver the program.”
During his time with the LA District, Gibbs has overseen a multimillion-dollar program that provides engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental and regulatory services to military, federal, state and local governments across a 226,000-square-mile area of Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. That also includes leading about 750 military and civilian personnel with a wide array of expertise.
But leading people is nothing new to Gibbs, who has served for more than 24 years as an active-duty Soldier, leading both military and civilian personnel.
“Each person is different, and I have learned that good leaders get to know each person individually and then lead them in a way that brings out the best in that employee,” he said.
Providing priorities and a solid intent on the District’s missions, particularly disaster response operations, helps employees stay focused on what’s really important, he said.
Gibbs will now serve as the chief of staff at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he said, he hopes to be an advocate for all of the Corps’ districts nationwide.
“I feel that this District and the great people are responsible for giving me the incredible opportunity of being the Corps’ chief of staff,” he said. “The people have taught me so much, and I will take that with me to make a positive impact on the Corps’ enterprise and help our Districts deliver our programs in civil works, military, Interagency and International Services, real estate and regulatory.”
Gibbs knows how the importance of mentors and having a good support system have played in shaping his career, and he credits his parents with instilling in him respect for others; his wife, Kim, who taught him to endure all challenges, no matter how great, with grace and dignity; and his former chief of staff – Col. Steve Hill – for giving him tough jobs to prepare him for success.
“(Hill) gave me tough jobs that I thought he could have done at the time, but as I look back, the toughest assignments he gave me in that civilian organization at the Corps headquarters prepared me for District command and enabled me to achieve the goal of commanding at the battalion, brigade and District levels,” he said. “I also remember he told me I would be a chief of staff for the Corps one day. He was preparing me for that. I didn't believe him, but that is my next job.”
And, as for additional advice he can share with Barta, Gibbs provided these words of wisdom:
- Be prepared to change leadership style when leading a District of professional civilians. Don't lead them in the same way as Soldiers;
- Engage with people and get around to see them across the District's entire area of operation. Don't sit behind a desk;
- Study hard initially and learn the policies, processes and programs. “You will never be the expert, but you must prepare yourself to make effective decisions as quickly as possible”;
- Always provide a commander's intent and an end state. The civilian workforce appreciates that; and, lastly,
- Lead with honor and humility. “It isn't about you. It is about the District's people and our vital mission.”
As for the future of the LA District, Gibbs said he hopes future leaders continue to change the culture to an organization that is more risk tolerant in streamlining processes and moving projects forward; deliver the Department of Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection programs phenomenally – on time, within budget and to the highest quality; and to remain a "Best Place to Work" in order to retain and recruit talent to the high-cost living area of Southern California.
“I want the District to do what it always does and ‘knock those programs out of the park,’” he said.
St Peter and St Paul, Uppingham, Rutland
Another bike ride in England's smallest county yesterday. Sixteen churches altogether, which sounds a lot, but churches in Rutland are refreshingly close together, and generally open, although I did find two yesterday that said they were open and weren't, and one that said it wasn't, but was.
Part four.
From Preston I headed south across the next valley on the A600, which was thankfully downhill for most of the way, but just before reaching the junction with the A47 at Uppingham I turned off down a narrow lane into the hamlet of Ayston. This sits on the northern edge of Uppingham, joined to it but separated from it by the A47, but far too tiny and rustic to be called a suburb. You can see the church, but you can't easily see how to get to it. In fact, what appears to be the front garden of some cottages is a remnant of an old village green, and as it narrows between houses it reaches the church.
St Mary is redundant, and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. A small church, but with aisles and clerestories to scale. It is full of interest. At first sight simple, rural, pleasingly light and uncluttered, with box pews and an odd birdbath font. However, the church is home to some of the best medieval glass in Rutland. Three figures are set below a rood group in the south aisle east window, all from the second half of the 15th Century and unlikely to be in their original place. The continental glass in another south aisle window came from Ayston Hall at around the time of the First World War.
The English glass, which was restored in 1973 with the addition of missing pieces by the York Glaziers Trust, something I don't think we would do now, depicts the Crowned Blessed Virgin looking down on the Christchild in her arms, and flanked by two Bishops, one of whom has a sword blade through his mitre, and is thus St Thomas of Canterbury. The other may be St Augustine. The Christ child in the central scene is entirely new. The bowed, crowned head of the Virgin above looks more as if she has come from a Coronation of the Queen of Heaven scene than from a Nativity, but in fact more is going on here than meets the eye, for if you look closely at the 15th Century glass you can see that the Virgin is offering her breast to the child to feed. This image, known as the Virgo Lactans was popular in late medieval iconography, depicting as it does not only motherhood but, because of the crown, humility, for most people of royal standing at that time would have given their children to wetnurses to bring up. It seems odd that the 1973 child is lying down rather than sitting up.
The rood group above it is tremendous, the crucified Christ flanked by six angels, most of them original, catching the Precious Blood from his various wounds, Mary and John looking on, not with the agony which they suffer at Gipping in Suffolk (that will come a few decades later) but the effect is similar. All in all a tremendous window.
Elsewhere in the church is a striking double effigy, weathered beyond recognition, as Pevsner puts it. Until the CCT came along it was outside beside the porch. Presumably a knight and his Lady who once lay within a tomb recess in the church. Barmy Arthur Mee was even barmier than usual when he visited Ayston for the King's England: Leicestershire and Rutland in the 1930s, claiming that the effigy keeps alive the story of two sisters, one-armed twins. They appear to have been industrious cripples, busying themselves in much good work and making money by their spinning so that they earned enough to buy a field. A second, perhaps more leisurely look prompts him to observe that the craftsman was moved by the story of these devoted sisters to give one of them two hands, that he might show them clasped in prayer.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, the war memorial is more moving and also grounded in an appalling reality. It lists eight names, which seems a large number for such a tiny hamlet, but with a shock you see that four of them are the Pykett brothers, two of these twins. Even worse, two of the other four are another pair of brothers, the Goodwins. They were obviously fighting together, because as the guide in the church notes, one was fatally wounded on the same day and in the same place that his brother was killed.
A sobering thought to move on with. It was less than a mile from here, and mostly downhill, into the centre of Uppingham. A small town of 5,000 people, but the second biggest settlement in Rutland after Oakham. The church sits right on the little market place, its north porch set among the run of buildings, a public house, bank and post office for company, a large 'Church Open, do come in!' sign outside.
You step into a remarkably wide nave, far wider than it is long. The aesthetic is very High Church indeed for a main town church, without overspilling into Anglo-catholic silliness. Ninian Comper was busy here, and so were many other workshops, mostly at the end of the previous century. Inevitably the large space is dark, but not without drama, as if it were a theatre awaiting a performance. Candles flicker in the north aisle before a Madonna of the Rutland fields triptych, and the vast east window is filled with the Ascension by Shrigley & Hunt, huge and effective. A church to feel a sense of the numinous, and unusual to be alone in I should think.
I cycled out to the edge of town, and at a crossroads kissed lightly the tour I had made a fortnight before. That time I arrived at the crossroads from the south and turned east, today I arrived from the west and turned north. Across a narrow valley stood the village of Bisbrooke. To be honest, I had chickened out of Bisbrooke two weeks previously on the strength of the alarming dip between me and it, but with a bit more physical and mental energy now I hurtled down, and then puffed and panted up into a delightful and intensely rural little hilltop village.
To be continued.
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O God, please help all mothers and fathers to raise their children equally.
That both mothers and fathers may have an equal voice in raising their children.
With Hope that children may give importance to the Wisdom from both parents.
That even if the responsibilities of fathers are providers for their family,
That Men may learn in raising their children with affection and personal service like a mother.
That even if many mothers may just be home-makers,
That Women may learn in raising their children with guardianship
And as a protector like a father.
May all men understand that a Mother’s Heart of Compassion is the greatest in the Eyes of God.
A loving Heart that does not depend on intelligence, physical skills
Or capacity to earn in livelihood -
But a humble Heart that is courteous to put the Spiritual needs of their Spouse first.
For the Spirit of Love is like that of a Mother caring for her child in her womb -
That fathers may learn to protect the least in the Eyes of Man –
Such as those of less intelligence, physical skills
Or less contribution to material blessings in the family -
By listening to the needs of others, and by teaching children to also be responsible for the least.
That all fathers be praised for their Humility to give mothers and children a chance to speak.
That all mothers may have confidence
That even the most soft-spoken advice be respected and honored.
With Hope that children may see the Oneness of Love of their parents –
These that all children may give equal respect to both of their parents.
Amen.
Painter: Giovanni di Paolo ( Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia, Siena 1398-1482)
Date: ca. 1445
Original location:
Collection: New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art # 41.190.16. bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941
Medium and size: tempera on panel
145.1 x 81.3 cm (57 and 1/8 x 32 in.)
Literature:
Notes: this is a repeating relic carpet -- see forthcoming article. According to the online Gallery notes: ' this image was probably the center panel of an altarpiece paid for by the diminutive kneeling figure. The Virgin's humility is exalted by showing her seated on the ground, on an elaborately embroidered cushion, nursing the Christ child. The Anatolian carpet—a much valued object—is beautifully rendered. At some point in the past the gilt background was scraped away and substituted by the modern checkered background. The haloes of the Madonna and Child are also modern, but the rest of the painting is in very good condition.'
The Carpet Index
Lauren Arnold, last update 8/19/11
laurenarnold@cs.com