Bloody Fog

What a ridiculous place to put your international airport - in the part of the province with the worst weather and regular thick fog!
The last few days have seen most flights cancelled due to the fog.
Why is it so hard to get out of this place?!
grrrr

Sveti Naum Monastery

Last weekend I visited the Sveti Naum Monastery on the shores of Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. The lake is said to be the largest in the Balkans, and it is certainly one of, if not the biggest I can ever remember seeing.




The monastery is in a lovely setting, the small historic chapel is beautiful and the fresco’s inside impressive. A slightly bizarre and unexpected sight was the ten or so colourful peacocks on the roof of the chapel and around the grounds. I tasted and ended up buying some delicious local honey there. It’s funny how word gets around about these sorts of things to look out for and try.




Ohrid itself is proclaimed on several signs around town as a ‘City of Unesco’, the central ‘old’ city is heritage protected. There are a series of pedestrian streets, paved with marble, and while full of tourist focused bars, shops and restaurants, it has a nice feel to it. Unfortunately due to the training course I was there for (its not all fun and games) I was unable to explore the city during daylight hours and get any decent photos…

A New Country?

Status

The presentation of the Ahtisaari package has been delayed again to allow for the Serbian elections scheduled in January. This package outlines the recommendations for the future status of Kosovo/a. The presentation of the package comes after an extended and delayed process of discussion and negotiation this year, but still does not represent the end point. There will need to be time for Pristina and then Belgrade to read and analyse the package. Then the Security Council will go over it. This puts the decision on status back several more months, though many are still hopeful for a mid year decision.

How amazing could it be, to be at the birth of a new country?!

How scary could it be if it all goes to shit? There are concerns that these delays run the risk the population getting too restless and lead to a repeat of the March 2004 riots .

It’s been a long and difficult road and many still feel there is no right way to decide status – let alone implement it. The ethnic tension is amazingly high in some parts of the country – it is said to be worse than ever before. In Mitrovice/a there is almost a complete stand off on either side of the river, with no official cooperation between administrations possible. Making the stated task of many agencies near impossible to undertake, including UN Habitat and spatial planning support team.

How can you plan effectively for a divided city?

The duplication of services and infrastructure on each side of the river makes very little sense given the relatively small size (in both area and population) of the northern part of the city. But this looks like the way forward for the near future and somehow we have to find a way to assist the local planners to plan for and hopefully improve the standard of life in this unique place.

First Snow

Yesterday was the first snow for the season here in Kosovo. It was just beautiful!
I've rarely been able to walk through a city street with lightly falling fluffy snow before, it almost makes the freezing cold weather bearable!
Almost.

WTK

That's 'War Torn Kosovo' to the cool kids...

To further my planning nerdness I have taken a position with UN Habitat in Kosovo as an 'International Municipal Spatial Planning Advisor'. Now if that ain't a wanky long title for planning nerd, nothing is...

I've been here two weeks and its taking time to settle in and for this country to sink in. Its hard to know where to start in describing what life is like here.

For a start, its reasonably safe. Probably as safe as many western countries are at any rate. Pristina is somewhere between a European city and a Middle Eastern one, with much of the relics of the former Communist days alongside the riches of the Muslim culture and the worst outcomes of a newly market driven economy.

As for planning, Pristina is a mess. Insane traffic, haphazard development and a mix of uses that often don't mix. Its dusty in summer, muddy/slushy in winter, the roads are potholed, pedestrians have to fight the cars for walking space and your ears are assaulted at every turn.

The pollution is terrible with the air and solid waste almost unbearable some days.

But there are some positives to find here. A beautiful mosque (or hundred), a city park in town and a regional park on the edge of town. Also people's homes are the welcome respite from the outside world and are kept as palaces - they even mop the carpet!

Nerdness Confirmed

Ok its official - when I was in London a few weeks back I took a photo of this bike lane in Hoxton.

State Planning Conference

Ok so maybe I am a planning nerd. I recently attended the Victorian State Planning Conference in Ballarat and actually attended all the sessions - what's more I took notes!

Highlights included the Dean Hutton from the Curiosity Show, the Japanese Drummers at the Gala dinner

and meeting David Suzuki.

Highlights of the presentations:

Dr Dean Hutton (from the Curiosity Show!)
- If you want to control your future you have to know what has been past
- Until you do it - it is only an opportunity, transform the opportunity
into an action
- Preparation, Opportunity, Action
- Every Atom in the world has energy stored within it
And he showed various new technology materials that could revolutionise the
way products are made - a titanium wire that springs back into the shape
it was originally bent into when heat is applied, and an unbreakable
ceramic material...

Dr Terry Turney - CSIRO
- 1 nanometre = 1 billionth of a metre
- Nanotechnology has helped develop self-cleaning windows, concrete and
showers
- Bio-mimicry (abstraction of good design from nature) and nanotechnology
has helped develop non-reflective surfaces for glass based on the cicada's
wing, 'gecko' tape - sticky and holds lots of weight, sea cucumber inspired
adhesive that sets underwater in less than 10 seconds

Dr David Suzuki
- Foresight was the great survival attribute of early humans that
compensated for the lack of physical and sensory attributes that the animal
world had
- In 1992 there was a warning from hundreds of the world's top scientists
regarding environmental degradation, global warming, population issues etc
but no media took any notice - Why have we turned our backs on foresight?
The tragedy of New Orleans was predicted and measures outlined but
ignored...
- "Human brain is hard wired for order" it doesn't like chaos
- "Conventional economics is a form of brain damage" - Economics is a set
of values posing as a science with externalities removed from the equation
but externalities are the real world, the earth, the environment
- But then much science also removes natural interactions and processes
- We are using up the rightful legacy of our grandchildren
- We are hooked on growth and change, since the 1950s there has been
unprecedented and unsustainable growth
- We have passed the '59th minute' - it could be almost too late to save
the earth?
- We are a part of a single system - held together by air
- What we do to the air we do to ourselves

Andrew Bolt - "Journalist" Herald Sun
- thinks it is sad that people say that nature cannot spare water, wood,
ore for human use
- "our home is girt by sea is now 'our home is girt by urban planning
restrictions'
- asks if we should all live like people in Seoul or Hong Kong in 'chicken
coop' apartments?
- he doesn't see the impending doom - there is no black down descending
- "nothing is bad or good, but thinking makes it so"
- believes it is not healthy to follow green policies
- "we are pleasing nature gods but we are hurting people"
- the backyard is now so despised but that is what most of us have - why is
it 'beyond nature' to tend to a backyard and water it?

Shelley Penn - Associate Victorian Government Architect
- High quality buildings and public spaces engender pride, confidence and
well-being in our communities
- Good design, looks good longer and ages gracefully, and does cost more
upfront
- There is an unprecedented period of human possibility

Dr Ian McPhail - Commissioner of Environmental Sustainability
- Every plannner is an 'Environmental Planner
- There has been a 30% increase in carbon monoxide between 1970 and 2003
- Households are isolated, the modern age is unhealthy - less exercise and
more food
- Urban planning - environment is too dangerous and too unhealthy, today's
children have a lower life expectancy than their parents
- Sustainable solutions - innovation required - aim to reduce car travel
demand, enhance public transport
- There needs to be financial incentives and disincentives ie:
- salary packaging public transport tickets (instead of cars), offer tax
breaks for use of P.T.
- developers could have reduced fees if it is located close to P.T. and
services
- 'greener' cars could have lower taxes / fees

Jim Betts - Director of Public Transport
- P.T must be good and affordable, good is reliable and speedy
- Buses will increase services in Melbourne by 40% over next 4 years
- There is a need to update the technology for Melbourne's P.T. especially
trains
- A long lead time is needed for new infrastructure
- if council's have ideas or projects to integrate land use planning and
public transport planning - talk to Jim (or his department) they have $2 -
3 million available per project

"Are Planners Worth their Salt?" Debate
- Planners = megalomaniac, egomaniac, sex maniac
- Planners have an inflated idea of self importance
- But also low self-esteem?
- 'fat man walks in to a bar' - treatise on obesity, sustainable transport
and alcoholism
- Urban Growth Boundaries are a plague and will be responsible for all the
ills of the world
- We need to release more land!

That's Initiative

So in my line of work I am interested in the way cities work and how people live and interact, though I am far from being a town planning nerd.

I am fairly passionate about effective public transport and about reducing our impact on the environment. I don't own a car and usually get around on trams, trains, buses, bike or foot... however, I ruin all that by flying in planes that guzzle a years worth of fuel and emit as much pollution per flight as a year of driving a car. I almost never water the garden or use a dishwasher, I always wash a full load of clothes and I don't have a bath... but I take long, hot showers - I can't help myself. But I digress.

I am also interested in how communities work and the potential for them to band together and get what needs to be done, done. Particularly when it comes to developing countries, the resiliance shown can be so amazing!

So coming across this story that combined all of these interests and gave me a laugh gave me just the kick my day needed

Cambodians ride 'bamboo railway'


So given my not quite sustainable ways maybe I should move to zero carbon village?

Building a zero-carbon world

Serendipity

Wandering around in a daze yesterday, I came upon a wall in a back laneway, covered in quotes and paintings of leaves.
It was EXACTLY what I needed at that moment in time. I felt like somehow I was drawn to this location, like I was meant to see this wall and read these quotes and have them affect me at that moment. I had no plan to go here, I hadn't even planned to be walking around at all, but somehow my errands had disappeared. During my listless, moist eye wander I turned corners as though something else was deciding for me, I even almost took the parallel street but doubled back to take this one. I didn't know they were here. They were not here the last time I walked past this house months ago. It felt completely natural at the time that I had found them. Only now have I started to over-analyse the coincidence and start to feel like a freak. I think I will just have to put it down to Serendipity.

Thank you to whoever created this wall!

Cynical or Practical?

Should we be cynical as to the motives behind celebrity 'causes'? Or be glad that someone is bringing the suffering to the attention of the mass public?

"Gwyneth Paltrow declares "I am African" in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa."

Who knew?

This was in no way meant to be a blog about kites. I just like the song and the lyrics.

But in just a few short days I have come across so much kite imagery, metaphor and art... they're everywhere!

The idea of being able to fly with the wind yet be tethered to someone or something resonates with me more than I've ever realised or thought about before.

Kite Weather

A great day for kites could also be a shite day for bushfires.

Or make you flip out...

"numerous scientific studies have proven that windy weather can cause all sorts of weird behaviour and can make us moody, grumpy and even a little crazy"