Vulnerability of the power grid

New article, on the vulnerability of the grid to power failure due to climate change and corporate cost-cutting just published. You can access it here. Here is the first paragraph:

The lights went out. In the late evening of Friday June 29, 2012 electric power went out all over the Washington metro area. As the power failed television screens went blank, email links were lost, air conditioning units simply stopped and traffic lights ceased to function.  More than 1.4 million people lost power, some of them for almost a full week, in the oppressive humidity of midsummer. Without power the area was no longer a functioning modern city. The anonymous reliability of modernity was replaced by the improvisation and inventiveness of individuals, family support systems, neighborhood alliances and community connections. The vital necessity of readily available power that defines contemporary urban living was made acute by its absence. The lack of power highlighted the dependence on it. The taken for granted was revealed as the absolutely essential and the urban fragility of modernity was brutally exposed. Critical infrastructure is only experienced as vital when it fails.

Derecho storm downs power lines in Washington metro, 2012

World Travels: 10 Hong Kong

Sailed into Hong Kong; so got the full, dramatic effect of the urban skyline against the water’s edge. I gave a seminar to the Urban Research Group at the City University of Hong Kong.

The city's layout and form is dominated by the designs of a few huge developers. They want to maximize retail space so every public building is encased in a mall. The result is a dense city that is neither legible nor walkable, except by navigating miles of commercial space designed to encapture rather than enrapture. Little room for flanerie in Hong Kong.

High density but pedestrian unfriendly (Photo:© John Rennie Short)

Hong Kong skyline (Photo:© John Rennie Short)

World Travels 9: Vietnam

Spent some time in Vietnam traveling to Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Hoi Na and Haiphong. The economic reforms, known as doi moi, are having an influence. The country is recording rates of growth similar to China did twenty years ago; and there is a palpable economic dynamism to the place. Young people do not remember the 'American War'.

New investment in Ho Chi Minh City  (© John Rennie Short)

Traffic jam in Ho Chi Ming City (© John Rennie Short)

Market in Hoi Na (© John Rennie Short)

Fishing boats in Danang (© John Rennie Short)

World Travels 8: Thailand

Made two separate trips to Thailand and visited the small island of Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Everywhere was hot. It was an interesting transect from a small fishing village to major metropolis to a more relaxed city that gave me access to the hill tribes of the highlands.

Images of the royal family were ubiquitous but I saw more photos of the Crown Prince than in previous visits, perhaps getting the public ready for the death of the current King. The reigning monarch is popular but the Crown Prince has long had a bad boy reputation.

Small fishing boats in Ko Samui (© John Rennie Short)

Bangkok (© John Rennie Short)

Elephant sanctuary outside Chiang Mai (© John Rennie Short)

Young girl from hill tribe (© John Rennie Short)

Immigration policies for the wealthy in Handbook on Wealth and The Super-rich

My analysis of the tweaking of immigration policies to advantage the rich is just published in the new edited book, The Handbook on Wealth and the Super-rich. 

World Travels 7: Colombo, Sri Lanka

Spent a few days in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After years of civil war, an uncertain peace is encouraging a lot of foreign investment. The city is being transformed with the refurbishment of the colonial buildings and new-build apartments. East Asian investment into the deep-water port is making it an important transshipment point for super carriers to smaller cargo ships.

Visited religious sites and found a great example of tropical modernism in the house of architect Geoffrey Bawa who fused colonial and traditional Sri Lankan architecture. 

Colombo docks (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Staircase in house of Geoffrey Bawa (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Buddhist temple (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

New investment in the city (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

World Travels 6: India

Traveled through India visiting Mumbai, Goa and Kerala. Mumbai is a dynamic city, the center of India’s business life. It is big, brash and poverty and riches sit side by side. I loved it.

Goa is moving away from its reliance on iron ore and metalwork and tourism is becoming more important. The Portuguese influence is evident in the wonderful Catholic churches.

Kerala is one of India’s most interesting states with the highest literacy levels, the weakest caste system and a powerful communist party. Hindu nationalism has much less purchase in this part of India.

Busy street scene in Mumbai (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Catholic cathedral in Goa (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Trucks outside the port of Kochi, Kerala (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Union workers- in red- moving rice in backwaters of Kerala (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)

Ladies in Kerala wear their best saris to celebrate Diwali (Photo: ©John Rennie Short)