Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jun 1, 1971
Since the end of World War II, much evidence has accrued of the primary phase of village-farming ... more Since the end of World War II, much evidence has accrued of the primary phase of village-farming community life in Southwestern Asia, which began about 7000 B.C. The remains of (usually) several of the positively domesticated animals (dog, sheep, goat, pig) and plants (wheat, barley, legumes such as peas and lentils) assure us that these settlements were based on effective food production, although collected wild foods also remained a significant portion of the human diet. Evidence of a transitional phase (or phases) that must have immediately preceded the primary phase of effective food production has, however, remained very elusive. Part of a breakthrough appears to have been made in the autumn 1970 field campaign at Cayoni Tepesi in southeastern Turkey, where the expansion and deepening of earlier exposures has yielded evidence that may span a significant portion of the transition. * Pottery was in fact recovered, primarily from the northeast quadrant of Qaydna, but pertained to a restricted and considerably later occupation. Its area of distribution was delineated in
Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. ... more Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. As temperatures in cities continue to break extreme heat records, it is necessary to develop and test new approaches capable of tracking human thermal sensations influenced by microclimate conditions, complex urban geometries, and individual characteristics in dynamic settings. Thermal walks are a promising novel research method to address this gap. During a thermal walk in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, we examined relationships between the built environment, microclimate, and subjective thermal judgments across a downtown city neighborhood slated for redevelopment. Subjects equipped with GPS devices participated in a 1-hour walk on a hot sunny day and recorded their experience in a field guide. Microclimate measurements were simultaneously collected using the mobile human-biometeorological instrument platform MaRTy. Results revealed significant differences in physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and modified physiologically equivalent temperature (mPET) and between street segments with more than 18 °C (25 °C mPET) between the maximum and minimum values. Wider range of mPET values reflected the inclusion of individual level data into the model. Streets with higher sky view factor (SVF) and east-west orientation showed a higher PET and mPET overall. Furthermore, we showed evidence of thermal alliesthesia, the pleasure resulting from slight changes in microclimate conditions. Participants' sense of pleasure was related to the mean PET of the segment they just walked, with linear regression explaining over 60% of the variability. We also showed that estimated percent shade was significantly correlated with SVF, PET, mPET, and pleasure, indicating that participants could sense minor changes in microclimate and perceived shade as pleasant. Although generalization of results is limited by a low sample size, findings of this study improve the understanding of dynamic thermal comfort in complex urban environments and highlight the value of thermal walks as a robust research method.
This study redefines safe-to-fail infrastructure as built systems designed to lose function in co... more This study redefines safe-to-fail infrastructure as built systems designed to lose function in controlled ways, thus different types of failure consequences are experienced as incurred by prioritized decisions, even when safety thresholds are exceeded by unpredicted risks. The new framing of safe-to-fail paradigm reveals the decision dilemma of infrastructure trolley problem, i.e., how to prioritize the consequences of infrastructure failures that may be experienced by different attributes and population, which raises societal and ethical questions regarding whom and what should be prioritized to remain safe when infrastructure fail. Climate change adaptation via resilient infrastructure system must build upon multiple stakeholders engagement, including policy makers, planners, engineers, utilities, and communities, in order to bring stakeholders' knowledge into the infrastructure development process, and help adapt cities to unpredictable and changing climate risks.
Infrastructure development is central to the processes that abate and produce vulnerabilities in ... more Infrastructure development is central to the processes that abate and produce vulnerabilities in cities. Urban actors, especially those with power and authority, perceive and interpret vulnerability and decide when and how to adapt. When city managers use infrastructure to reduce urban risk in the complex, interconnected city system, new fragilities are introduced because of inherent system feedbacks. We trace the interactions between system dynamics and decision-making processes over 700 years of Mexico City's adaptations to water risks, focusing on the decision cycles of public infrastructure providers (in this case, government authorities). We bring together two lenses in examining this history: robustness-vulnerability trade-offs to explain the evolution of systemic risk dynamics mediated by feedback control, and adaptation pathways to focus on the evolution of decision cycles that motivate significant infrastructure investments. Drawing from historical accounts, archeological evidence, and original research on water, engineering, and cultural history, we examine adaptation pathways of humans settlement, water supply, and flood risk. Mexico City's history reveals insights that expand the theory of coupled infrastructure and lessons salient to contemporary urban risk management: (1) adapting by spatially externalizing risks can backfire: as cities expand, such risks become endogenous; (2) over time, adaptation pathways initiated to address specific risks may begin to intersect, creating complex trade-offs in risk management; and (3) city authorities are agents of risk production: even in the face of new exogenous risks (climate change), acknowledging and managing risks produced endogenously may prove more adaptive. History demonstrates that the very best solutions today may present critical challenges for tomorrow, and that collectively people have far more agency in and influence over the complex systems we live in than is often acknowledged.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jun 1, 1971
Since the end of World War II, much evidence has accrued of the primary phase of village-farming ... more Since the end of World War II, much evidence has accrued of the primary phase of village-farming community life in Southwestern Asia, which began about 7000 B.C. The remains of (usually) several of the positively domesticated animals (dog, sheep, goat, pig) and plants (wheat, barley, legumes such as peas and lentils) assure us that these settlements were based on effective food production, although collected wild foods also remained a significant portion of the human diet. Evidence of a transitional phase (or phases) that must have immediately preceded the primary phase of effective food production has, however, remained very elusive. Part of a breakthrough appears to have been made in the autumn 1970 field campaign at Cayoni Tepesi in southeastern Turkey, where the expansion and deepening of earlier exposures has yielded evidence that may span a significant portion of the transition. * Pottery was in fact recovered, primarily from the northeast quadrant of Qaydna, but pertained to a restricted and considerably later occupation. Its area of distribution was delineated in
Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. ... more Designing cities for thermal comfort is an important priority in a warming and urbanizing world. As temperatures in cities continue to break extreme heat records, it is necessary to develop and test new approaches capable of tracking human thermal sensations influenced by microclimate conditions, complex urban geometries, and individual characteristics in dynamic settings. Thermal walks are a promising novel research method to address this gap. During a thermal walk in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, we examined relationships between the built environment, microclimate, and subjective thermal judgments across a downtown city neighborhood slated for redevelopment. Subjects equipped with GPS devices participated in a 1-hour walk on a hot sunny day and recorded their experience in a field guide. Microclimate measurements were simultaneously collected using the mobile human-biometeorological instrument platform MaRTy. Results revealed significant differences in physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and modified physiologically equivalent temperature (mPET) and between street segments with more than 18 °C (25 °C mPET) between the maximum and minimum values. Wider range of mPET values reflected the inclusion of individual level data into the model. Streets with higher sky view factor (SVF) and east-west orientation showed a higher PET and mPET overall. Furthermore, we showed evidence of thermal alliesthesia, the pleasure resulting from slight changes in microclimate conditions. Participants' sense of pleasure was related to the mean PET of the segment they just walked, with linear regression explaining over 60% of the variability. We also showed that estimated percent shade was significantly correlated with SVF, PET, mPET, and pleasure, indicating that participants could sense minor changes in microclimate and perceived shade as pleasant. Although generalization of results is limited by a low sample size, findings of this study improve the understanding of dynamic thermal comfort in complex urban environments and highlight the value of thermal walks as a robust research method.
This study redefines safe-to-fail infrastructure as built systems designed to lose function in co... more This study redefines safe-to-fail infrastructure as built systems designed to lose function in controlled ways, thus different types of failure consequences are experienced as incurred by prioritized decisions, even when safety thresholds are exceeded by unpredicted risks. The new framing of safe-to-fail paradigm reveals the decision dilemma of infrastructure trolley problem, i.e., how to prioritize the consequences of infrastructure failures that may be experienced by different attributes and population, which raises societal and ethical questions regarding whom and what should be prioritized to remain safe when infrastructure fail. Climate change adaptation via resilient infrastructure system must build upon multiple stakeholders engagement, including policy makers, planners, engineers, utilities, and communities, in order to bring stakeholders' knowledge into the infrastructure development process, and help adapt cities to unpredictable and changing climate risks.
Infrastructure development is central to the processes that abate and produce vulnerabilities in ... more Infrastructure development is central to the processes that abate and produce vulnerabilities in cities. Urban actors, especially those with power and authority, perceive and interpret vulnerability and decide when and how to adapt. When city managers use infrastructure to reduce urban risk in the complex, interconnected city system, new fragilities are introduced because of inherent system feedbacks. We trace the interactions between system dynamics and decision-making processes over 700 years of Mexico City's adaptations to water risks, focusing on the decision cycles of public infrastructure providers (in this case, government authorities). We bring together two lenses in examining this history: robustness-vulnerability trade-offs to explain the evolution of systemic risk dynamics mediated by feedback control, and adaptation pathways to focus on the evolution of decision cycles that motivate significant infrastructure investments. Drawing from historical accounts, archeological evidence, and original research on water, engineering, and cultural history, we examine adaptation pathways of humans settlement, water supply, and flood risk. Mexico City's history reveals insights that expand the theory of coupled infrastructure and lessons salient to contemporary urban risk management: (1) adapting by spatially externalizing risks can backfire: as cities expand, such risks become endogenous; (2) over time, adaptation pathways initiated to address specific risks may begin to intersect, creating complex trade-offs in risk management; and (3) city authorities are agents of risk production: even in the face of new exogenous risks (climate change), acknowledging and managing risks produced endogenously may prove more adaptive. History demonstrates that the very best solutions today may present critical challenges for tomorrow, and that collectively people have far more agency in and influence over the complex systems we live in than is often acknowledged.
Uploads
Papers by Charles Redman