Contribution of Tony Garnier and Le Corbusier Essay

Contribution of Tony Garnier and Le Corbusier - Essay Example Le Corbusier contributed to urban planning in a wide variety of contexts. One of his first forays into urbanism occurred during the 1920s when he was asked to develop structural ways of dealing with the growing squalor in the Parisian ghettos. Le Corbusier’s intention was to develop new ways of developing urban settings that would raise the quality of life for residents living in the region. Through a number of buildings and texts Le Corbusier would articulate a theory of urban planning that would become highly influential to 20th century urban planning. This theory was perhaps most comprehensively articulated in his five points on architecture. Within this approach the building structures would be lifted off the ground and walls that could be designed as the architect wished; he also made room for garden terraces and a view of the yard as a means of promoting improved atmosphere. In terms of specific influences, Le Corbusier is recognized as being among the first to recognize the importance of the automobile to 20th century planning. Within his theoretical work in this realm, Le Corbusier made great contributions to the notion of space as a shifting element of the contemporary world that individuals moved between. While this was initially an abstract notion, it would lead to urban developments in the construction of freeways and other pathways for automobiles. Even as Le Corbusier made great contributions to the theoretical development of the freeway system, his ideas did not go far enough in promoting modes of interaction within this space; as a result, later developers would have to change his theories to include exits and increased emphasis on interstate interaction. He is also credited as being among the first to theorize the contemporary city landscape, and many public housing designers in Europe and the United States have adopted his designs. His ideas oftentimes took the form of modernist notions wherein the messy urban landscape was replaced by well-designed and formed city-structures, with meticulously planned green areas. While these notions had great influence on later designers they also came under attack by theorists such as Jane Jacobs who argued that such design structures promoted stolid and boring social landscapes that were bad for modern living. Within the potential negative impacts Le Corbusier’s theories had was in its adoption by post World War II commercial real estate developers who sought artistic and intellectual justification for the construction of high efficiency housing domains that capitalized on land-use for the greatest potential profit. Tony Garnier’s contributions to 20th century urban planning came through a number of theoretical texts and planning projects that he undertook throughout his lifetimes. While his contributions span a wide range of mediums, his overarching theoretical approach is perhaps best articulated in the text Une Cite Industrialle (Hall 2002). In this text Garni er established the cultural context for his theories and linked 19th century planning techniques to the 20th century urban environment. Within the social climate of Garnier’s time were the prominent changes the Industrial Revolution had on daily existence. Among the most notable changes was the influx of individuals into city environments seeking work; this

Article Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article Analysis - Research Paper Example Consequent to the reduce demand, February-delivery of heating oil fell by 1.2 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This paper explores how consumption patterns over a period affect the price of heating oil – when supply remains the same; demand remains the same. The paper also reviews how price elasticity of the demand for a given commodity plays a crucial role in deciding about its demand patterns. While Supply Remains Fairly Same, Price of the Commodity May Still Fall Heating oil is a freely traded commodity and its supply and demand patterns largely decide about its prices. Heating oil is a hugely consumed commodity in the U.S and globally. Apart its industrial consumption, heating oil is largely consumed by the Northeast region of the U.S. to provide warmth in the homes during winter months. It is obvious that its demand usually surges during winter months; however, this winter, as reported in the article, heating oil experienced a subdued demand; perhaps, due to m ilder winter or due to economic recession that is going in the US for quite some time or mix of it. Market always draws inference about the likely consumption from the past data and accordingly readies itself for the supply; however, when for some reason demand does not match intended supply, the price starts plummeting to find a new equilibrium. Heating oil is a sensitive item and its prices keep on fluctuating regularly following change in supply and demand dynamics. When demand and supply positions are in equilibrium prices remain fairly stationary but that is not found in case of heating oil as consumption patterns keep on changing due to various reasons regularly. The following schematic represents how new equilibrium from E1 to E2 is quickly achieved in reference to the reduced demand. D1 Price D2 Supply E1 E2 Quantity While Demand Remaining Fairly Unchanged, Price of the Commodity May Still Rise The article speaks about the reduction in the prices of heating oil due to reduce d demand; however, reverse is also true that when supply of the heating oil plummets while its demand remains more or less unchanged, its price may still rise. Though heating oil is a refinery product but its pricing is largely linked with the price of crude oil and its supply, which is controlled by OPEC countries. OPEC being an international cartel of the major crude oil producing countries controls its supply so as to prevent prices to go down beyond certain levels. This is done largely by controlling supply of the crude through reduced production among its member countries. The law of demand and supply in price determination takes its course even then. The reduced supply arrests the fall of price to find a new equilibrium that can restore the minimum desired price by this cartel. Thus, OPEC members have been maneuvering the supply of the crude oil by administering the production quota for its member countries to maintain its prices above certain levels that in turn does not allo w the prices of all downstream products to fall below specific levels. However, in a dynamic world things keep on changing rapidly. Any new large oil finds anywhere in the world outside OPEC may alter supply dynamics of crude oil and change the price behavior of all downstream products including heating oil. The Price-elasticity of Demand of Heating Oil is Low The price elasticity is a measure of the change in demand