Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology Essay Example

Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology Paper Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology The term ‘gentrification’ has myriads of interpretations from different geographers, and sociologists. Ever since, there has been protracted debate on its methodology, consequences and whether it constitutes a dominant or residual urban form. The term ‘gentrification’ was first coined by the Marxist urban geographer Ruth Glass (Glass, 1964) to describe the influx of wealthier individuals into cities or neighbourhoods who replace working or lower-classes already living there by using London districts such as Islington as her example. On the other hand, Smith and Williams (1986, p. 1) define gentrification as â€Å"the rehabilitation of working class and derelict housing and the consequent transformation of an area into a middle-class neighbourhood. † Whilst Hamnett (2003, p. 402) builds on Glass’s definition of gentrification as a process involving class connotations and offers a more comprehensive definition incorporating economic views when he defines gentrification as a â€Å"social and spatial manifestation of the transition from industrial to a post industrial urban economy based on financial, business and creative services, with associated changed in the nature and location of work, in occ upational class structure, earnings and incomes, life styles and the structure of the housing market†. We will write a custom essay sample on Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Urban Gentrification and Urban Morphology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Smith (1987) supply side (which focuses on investments within urban structure) and offers his ‘rent-gap’ theory of gentrification whereas proponents of the Feminist perspective consider the notion of patriarchy, changing gender relations and feminisation of labour markets. (Dutton, 1998, p. 32) Therefore, with the myriads of interpretations by various authors (simultaneously enlarging the gentrification literature), it is evident that gentrification means differently to individuals depending on which school of though one ascribes to. Curran (2008, p. 37) correctly points out the sentiments of this author that vast literature on gentrification presents the challenge for students to â€Å"figure out who are the true giants in the field†. Dutton (1998, p. 32) is right when he said that gentrification has become a â€Å"contested boundary zone between radically different theories and explanations†. This essay began by explaining the different definitions of the term ‘gentrification’ by different theorists and identifying the various analysis of gentrification. It also attempts to outline the consequences of the emergence of gentrification. Finally, using the various examples, it also attempts to utline the correlation of gentrification and urban morphology. There are two distinctive theories explaining and justifying gentrification as an economic process and social process that transpires when the young middle-class are tired of the commuting and their dependency of the city lifestyle. Thus, young professionals from the capital moved to the poorer communities with startling period houses in convenient locations that are in need of restoration. As explained by Smith, (1987, cited in Bridge, p. 237-238) gentrification is an economic process resulting from the relationships among capital investments and the production of urban space. The gentrifiers maybe most attracted by the ‘rent gap’, i. e. the difference between ground-rent levels at various locations in a metropolitan area (Smith, 1979 cited in Zukin, 1987, p. 137). The low rents in the suburban encouraged continuous development of housing capital for the development of suburban areas and the expenditure of city money on suburban areas. Consequently, it provoked the economic abandonment of the city in favour of upcoming or new properties outside the city which cause the price of inner-city land decreased dramatically comparing to the gentrified area. The revalorization takes the form of gentrification of already existing neighbourhoods (as opposed to redevelopment or commercial development) it results in the spatial displacement of labour. (Bridge, 1987, p. 238) The revalorization of the inner city is employed to close the rent gap utilising the real estate capitalists’ profit boosting intention. When the gap is sufficiently wide, inner-city properties will be reinvested and redeveloped for new tenants in closing the rent-gap, leading to higher rents, mortgages, and lease rates affordable by the new tenants, but not by the original lower income tenants. Bridge, 1987, p. 239) In an alternate view, the landlord can be driving force too in influencing the process of change. Beauregard, (1981, cited in Smith and Williams, 1986, p. 52) points out that â€Å"landlords, developers and real-estate agents, both large and small, play an important role in ‘steering’ the potential gentry to a neighbourhood, buying proper ty and speculating, and preparation for sale or for complete rehabilitation. † It can also be argued that drawing on economic analysis in connection with economic concepts of gentrification (e. . housing price increment, interest rates, lending willingness and expansion of labour market) is a more holistic approach to understanding changes in urban Britain. Economists consider the cause-effect relationship between the economies and how each economic agent interacts (e. g. money and financial markets, demand and output, cost and prices). Robert Wiedemer (2009, in an interview with journalist Seidenberg) said â€Å"the stock market, housing sector and the dollar are all interrelated and helped build the other and the economy. In another word, even the demand of residences may increase, gentrification would not be possible without financial aid from financial constitutions. This is purported by Beauregard, (1981, cited in Smith, 1986, p. 53) â€Å"property interests, nonetheles s cannot operate without the assistance of financial entities able to lend large sums of capital. † The Bank of England website too supports, â€Å"the different aspects of economy are not independent of each other. Everything is inter-related. The critique from this tool of analysis is again the challenge of information overload from looking at each single factor affecting gentrification therefore making it more complex to conceptualise gentrification. Also, the limitation of research funding can affect the quality, accuracy and credibility of academic’s findings, speed to publication and research methodology problems. Hence, the potential resulting in bias research findings, if used by local government when intervening in determining housing policies in gentrifying stagnant towns and cities may be wrongly misguided. The analysis of economic driven gentrification is clearly illustrated in London beginning from the 1950s. This process began in the Canonbury area of Islington; spread to Barnsbury and other parts of Islington, as well as Camden, Notting Hill, Primrose Hill, Kentish Town, Holland Park, and West Greenwich in the 1960s; and reached as far as Hackney in East London and parts of South London like Lambeth, Battersea, Clapham, and Fulham in the 1970s. (Moran, 2007, p. 01) Before the 1950s, the North London Borough of Islington was at a broken area, its once grand Regency and Victorian houses split into poorly maintained, multi-occupation tenements. As gentrification began from 1960s onwards, middle-class newcomers started buying up slum properties and ex-rooming houses and transformed them into appealing residences. (Moran, 2007, p. 102) The transformation was vast and it was described as major restoration of grand architecture values of the Georgian places and the rebuilt houses stand out â€Å"like good teeth among bad†. Pitt, 1977, p. 7 cited in Moran, 2007, p. 103) The houses were architecturally salvaged to the middle-class designs that were comparatively of high standard in highlighting modernism and freedom. The middle-class homeowners were the major force behind the amenity societies, sponsored by the Civic Trust, which proliferated in urban areas in the 1960s. For example, the Barnsbury Association, formed by middle-class Islingtonites in 1964, used professional planners to formulate its manifestos and forged valuable links with the local council. They persuaded the council to pay for changes in their neighbourhood including tree-planting, restoring cast-iron streetlamps and railings granite setts to give the roads a cobblestone look, implementation of a traffic scheme that closed off a middle-class neighborhood to through-traffic and redirected cars along streets full of working-class tenement blocks. Alongside other gentrifies, they campaigned against replacement of old terraced houses and squares with new housing scheme. (Moran, 2007, p. 103-105) It was morphology of urbanisation when the gentrifiers revolutinised their residences and demanded a system to achieve their requirement. There is another analysis of gentrification that is influenced by economic paradigms that accentuating on production, taking into account social reproduction and consumption. Ley’s theory suggested that transition in economics, politics and culture instigated urban gentrification. (Hamnett, 1991, p. 176) With modernisation up-scaling, there is a major focus economic shift since 1960s, of recentralising or corporate investment in selected metropolitan cores. (Fainstein Fainstein, 1982, Smith 1986 cited in Zukin, 1987, p. 38) Deindustrialisation of a city reduces the number of blue-collar occupation available to the urban working class and is fundamental to the escalation of a divided white-collar employment tertiary sector of industry – focusing on professional and managerial positions that follow the spatial integration of the capital. Headquarters and ‘back offices’ no longer share space; each stratum of white-collar work generates in its proximity the am enities that suit its status, salary levels, and office rents. Industrialisation and blue-collar residences are displaced beyond the heart of the city. (Zukin, 1982 cited in Zukin, 1987, p. 39) Ley linked this to the shift from a goods-producing to a service-producing society, and to the decline of manufacturing industry and the rise of office work. (Hamnett, 1991, p. 176) The second proposition of Ley was that post-industrial society is distinguished from industrial society by the active role of government. Consequently, Ley (1980, p. 241 cited in Hamnett, 1991, p. 176) argued that â€Å"decision making and allocation of resources is now referred to the political arena and not only to the market place†¦ The politicization of varied interest groups is challenging the formerly hold of business lobby on political decision making. Governments are creating manifesto to help stabilising the economy which inevitably causes gentrification. For example, in Shanghai when Chinese govern ment is developing housing which is directly connected to the fundamental processes of urban economic, political and geographic restructuring. Residential reorganisation, which promoted housing commoditisation and promotion of home ownership, has significantly inspired the development of a real estate market, consequently altering the primary forces of urbanisation and prompted modern precedent of neighbourhood. Against the backdrop of market transition, the Shanghai local state engages an active role in commencing and assisting the gentrification process. They are motivated by the state’s decentralizing policy in fiscal and administration system to offer an important role to local state in urban morphology and economic growth. Moreover, the free market enables the local authorities to pursue of rapid economic expansion and revenue boost. (He, 2007, p. 174-176) This is exemplary of Bailey and Robertson (1997, p. 63) in their research pointing out the importance of the â€Å"role of the state, particularly the impact the state can have in shaping or redirecting the process of change. † Finally, Ley (1980, p. 241 cited in Hamnett, 1991, p. 176) contended that the reassertion of individualism and the growth of a more sensuous and aesthetic philosophy is growing among the middle class, particularly on the American West coast. This further piloted to another factor of gentrification , focusing on the post-industrialised world creating a livable city. Ley (1980, p. 239 cited in Hamnett, 1991, p. 76) argued that there is a new ideology of urban development, an â€Å"urban strategy seemed to be passing from an emphasis on growth to a concern with a quality of life; the new liberalism was to be recognised less by its production schedules than by its consumption styles. † People are demanding for more facilities, for greater beauty and a better quality of life in the arrangement of our cities. This progressivism has made way for commercial exploitation of urban lifestyle. In May 1964, Terence Conran opened the first Habitat; that branched out into the entire United Kingdom. Moran, 2007, p. 108) In London as elsewhere, gentrifiers often differentiate themselves as people who make different choices in life. Amplifying individualism notion, they want to be unique, edgy, cosmopolitan alternative to supposed conventionality and homogeneity of the suburbs. Habitat exploited this ethos, promoting itself as classless and egalitarian that was completely anti-suburban, Conran tied this lifestyle revolution to a general atmosphere of societal attitude advancement and ethical consumerism reflecting its middle-class ambiance. (Moran, 2007, p. 08-110) It was altogether a new phenomenon as this perception contrasts their previous trend and residential choice were in the less traditional area with potentially profound impacts for the deprived and lower paid households in such areas. It is normally associated with less affluent, often working class, inner-city communities which are transformed into more affluent, middle or upper class, communities by the upgrading and modernisation of buildings, resulting in increased land values and the removal of less affluent residents. (Atkinson, 2002, p. ) However, according to the Real Estate Board of New York Inc. , (New York Times,1985 cited in Smith, 1996, p. 30), â€Å"We believe that whatever displacement ge ntrification causes, though must be dealt with public policies that promote low and moderate income housing construction and rehabilitation and in zoning revisions that permit retail uses in less expensive, side street locations. We also believe that New York’s best hope lies with the families, businesses and lending institutions willing to commit themselves for the long haul to the neighbourhoods that need them. That’s gentrification. † Is this mission statement completely classless? Theoretically, using the media for the benefit for public but in reality, possibly the middle class reaches the source. A more cynical interpretation of this advertisement can be said that the advertisers were hired by those indirectly or directly benefiting from gentrification to justify their actions. Their creative advertising language is used to paint positive and downplay the negative connotations associated with emotional word, gentrification. A few considerations are worth noting here. Is there anything wrong with upgrading a residential area by meeting the demand? To one person, it means improved housing, safer streets and new retail businesses. To another, it means unaffordable housing and regimenting of a diverse neighbourhood. In other terms, gentrification is the upgrading of housing and retail business in a neighbourhood with an insertion of private investments. This process and its consequences however are complex. Conclusively, gentrification is a process of physical, social, economic and cultural changes in inner-city communities resulting from the influx of new people. Slater (2004) comments that gentrification is a highly complex issue that is very difficult to define precisely. It is observed that middle class gentrifiers are part of a much larger picture but limitations in gentrification research methodology interestingly points out that that gentrifiers are easier to find and interview than other agents of gentrification. Displaced residences are somewhat ‘unreachable’ especially those at risk of being displaced. (Slater, 2004, p. 1142 and Smith, 1986, p. 3) The theories developed above were able to shed some light on the root of gentrification but yet, they merely examine the first fold of the broad issue, i,e, why has it happened? In my opinion, gentrification is somewhat like the chain of demand and supply and it is seldom balance. It exists as an essence in the equilibrium of society facilitating the economic, political and societal growth. The need to create the market for demand, then supplying the demand and it runs in a cir cle that never ends, gentrification.

7 Sentences Energized by Elegant Variation

7 Sentences Energized by Elegant Variation 7 Sentences Energized by Elegant Variation 7 Sentences Energized by Elegant Variation By Mark Nichol In one of the most recent tugs-of-war between qualitative practice and quantitative practicality, search engine optimization has been eroding the exalted status of time-honored elegant variation, the convention of avoiding wearying repetition of words throughout a sentence or a passage. One of the principles of SEO, the suite of strategies for shaping online content to enhance its searchability, is that keywords, when repeated, strengthen the likelihood that a search will call up a particular piece of content. But let’s not allow that admittedly valid goal to be so scrupulously employed as to deaden the language. Here are some repetition-riddled sentences followed by elegant fixes: 1. â€Å"Finding a job at 55 is much harder than finding a job in your 40s.† Sentences like this aren’t wrong; they’re just a bit flat, and it doesn’t take much to pep them up a bit: â€Å"Finding a job at 55 is much harder than landing one in your 40s.† 2. â€Å"There’s a preponderance of knowledge workers working as contract workers.† Save some work with synonyms: â€Å"There’s a preponderance of knowledge workers employed as contractors.† 3. â€Å"The company is launching a new shelter magazine aimed at women in their 30s, while American Media is developing a shelter magazine for women in their 20s and 30s.† Two pairs of duplicate usage spiff up this sentence: â€Å"The company is launching a new shelter magazine aimed at thirtysomething women, while American Media is developing a home-themed title for those in their 20s and 30s.† 4. â€Å"New Jersey’s cops stopped doing consent searches, in which a cop asks a driver for permission to search the driver’s vehicle.† That sentence sports a tired trifecta. Not only is repetition of cop a cop-out, but it doesn’t take much effort to search for another word for search and summon the drive to replace a repeat of drive: â€Å"New Jersey’s cops stopped doing consent searches, in which a police officer asks a driver for permission to look around in the motorist’s vehicle.† 5. â€Å"He said he was afraid to listen to President Bush’s speech because he was â€Å"afraid Bush would announce he was going to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment.† I’m afraid that the reappearance of afraid is diminished by its previous use: â€Å"He said he was reluctant to listen to President Bush’s speech because he was â€Å"afraid Bush would announce he was going to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment.† 6. â€Å"Administrators requested waivers for regular students, special-education students, adult students, and students in continuation schools.† Send this writer back to school to come up with some other words for students: â€Å"Administrators requested waivers for regular students, special-education pupils, adult learners, and kids in continuation schools. 7. â€Å"When Brubeck chauffeured Milhaud, who didn’t drive, to the 1947 premiere, the composer drove the young musician to, as he said, ‘be true to your instincts’ and ‘sound like who you really are.’† Oh, my. The writer deftly employed chauffeured to achieve elegant variation in the literal sense of operating a car but then crashed farther down the road. Using two meanings of the same word (or even separate tense inflections) is a collision of comprehension: â€Å"When Brubeck chauffeured Milhaud, who didn’t drive, to the 1947 premiere, the composer pushed the young musician to, as he said, ‘be true to your instincts’ and ‘sound like who you really are.’† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs EnquirePrecedent vs. PrecedencePunctuation Is Powerful

A Quick Guide to Balanced Scorecards

A Quick Guide to Balanced Scorecards Here is an overview of a BSC (balanced scorecards) management tool, its advantages and disadvantages. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a popular strategic management tool developed in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David Norton to answer what the two researchers saw as a shortcoming in existing strategic planning methods: A way to connect the long-term objectives of a business to short-term performance measures, particularly financial indicators. The problem is easy enough to understand; a company’s overall goals, usually expressed in its Mission Vision Statement, are often somewhat abstract and difficult to express in terms of the day-to-day (or month-to-month, or year-to-year) activities and processes of the organization – it may not be clear to the people in the organization exactly how their work tasks at this moment are steps towards the company’s greater objectives, a bit of confusion that can create problems for maintaining productivity and motivation. The BSC is a way to â€Å"provide a roadmap† showing how to present activities lead to future objectives, and if used correctly, the tool can be very effective. If you have any questions our writers will gladly help you! STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS PART 1 Background of the BSC The Fundamental Ideas Behind It Kaplan and Norton first introduced the Balanced Scorecard in an article in the Harvard Business Review in 1992 (â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance†, HBR January-February 1992), in which they explained that any firm has four key perspectives from which it should consider its strategy: Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth. The firm needs to make money, and for that it needs customers; customers’ needs are served by the output of the firm’s internal processes, and in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage, the firm must learn and improve over time. Consequently, the BSC begins with a firm asking itself four important questions: What is our value to our shareholders? (the financial perspective) What is our value to our customers? (the customer perspective) In order to provide the value to our shareholders and customers, in what must we excel? (the internal processes perspective) How do we sustain our advantages and continue to improve? (the learning and growth perspective) The answer to each of these four questions has four parts: A relevant objective or objectives; the measures of performance that appropriately assess progress towards those objectives; the specific target value of the performance measures that would signify the objectives’ having been successfully achieved; and the specific processes or activities that must be done in order to achieve them. In form, the Balanced Scorecard is a four-sided matrix, with the firm’s vision and competitive strategy at its center: The Balanced Scorecard (Source: Kaplan Norton, â€Å"Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System†, HBR, January-February 1996) DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Advantages of the BSC The first advantage of the BSC is that it forces firms to quantify their goals. Aspirations expressed in a Mission Vision Statement such as â€Å"being an empowered organization† is a platitude without some explanation of what â€Å"an empowered organization† is, and how, exactly, the organization can become â€Å"empowered†. Or for that matter, whether or not being â€Å"empowered† actually has anything to do with effectively meeting stakeholders’ and customers’ needs, maintaining sound internal processes to achieve those, and improving the organization to maintain a competitive edge. The second advantage of the BSC is that its format makes it easy to see how all of the strategic management perspectives relate to one another. Conflicts between objectives in different areas are immediately apparent and can be corrected. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the BSC is its versatility. Although it was designed for application in business management settings, the basic template can be applied to almost any initiative or organization. By slightly modifying the four key perspectives, the BSC can even be applied to specific areas of the organization and even to individuals. In fact, there is some research that suggests that the BSC is gaining, even more, use as a performance management and assessment tool in HRM applications than as a firm-level strategic planning tool. Disadvantages of the BSC Like many other strategic management tools, the BSC has one unavoidable potential handicap in that it is only as good as the quality of the information put into it. The tool suffers from the same risk as the SWOT analysis called SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess) by Oxford’s Professor Malcolm McDonald; the importance of objectives and other factors may be over- or underestimated or overlooked entirely, which leads to the BSC returning poor results because the right information is not actually included. Another problem that can make the BSC less effective than expected is that by design, it gives equal weight to all four of the key perspectives, while in actual practice, many organizations might need to give greater weight to one or another. For example, a non-profit organization would likely have very strong customer perspectives and a lesser focus on financial outcomes; without adjusting the BSC to reflect its priorities, the organization might end up actually hindering its efforts towards achieving its goals. And finally, the results of some empirical research on the effectiveness of the BSC suggests that just as with most strategic management tools, its performance in real-world applications falls a little short of the academic hype. A fairly recent broad study of strategic management tool use and effectiveness found that the BSC tends to work better for larger and more complex firms than for smaller ones, and that the alignment of strategy and performance is perceived to be better among firms that use the BSC in combination with other strategic planning and assessment tools than among firms using the BSC by itself (E.Tapinos, R.G. Dyson M. Meadows, â€Å"Does the Balanced Scorecard make a difference to the strategy development process?† Journal of the Operational Research Society, vol. 62, no. 5, 2011). One reason for this may be that, contrary to the assertions of Kaplan and Norton, the BSC is not actually designed to develop organizational strategy; the firm’s vision an d strategy must necessarily exist beforehand in order for the BSC to work as designed, meaning that the BSC is the best thought of as a performance management and operational planning tool (hence its popularity in HRM practice), rather than a strategic development tool. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS PART 2 Whatever project you are working on, be assured you have a  reliable team  of writers  to work with. You can place your order here!

Single Parent Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Single Parent - Assignment Example As yet there are no estimates of the numbers of deaths from CHD which are due to poor psychosocial well-being or of the numbers of deaths which could be avoided if psychosocial well-being was increased. Although, some single parent are doing their best to support the needs of their family, they still encounter some potentials problems like, visitation and custody arrangements, effects upon the children of continued conflict between parents, decrease in the amount of time parents and children can spend together, effects of a divorce on children's performance in school and peer relations, and disruptions in extended family relationships. To cope with this problem, single parent should often talk to his children regarding on their feelings with each other. They should also learn how to communicate with each other, spend time together to go shopping, playing different kinds of sports, watching some interesting movies or simply going to church together. These ways will help develop a better single parent and children relationship. Amy is a 38 yr. Old single parent who has three children aged 9, 7 and a newborn baby boy. She has a hard time taking care of her children especially her new baby due to being busy looking after the rest of the family. Her brother Rys is 30, who has a moderate learning disability, shows signs of distress due to his worries to his family. Her father Ronald, who is 76 yr. Old widower, had a fall and since then his mobility has seriously deteriorated. Due to the circumstances that Amy's family is facing, she is feeling tense and anxious about how is she going to cope with supporting her dad, while continuing to meet the needs for her children. With Amy's situation, it's really hard to give everything to her family especially that she is the only one supporting them. She may experience depression and stress due to her responsibilities to her family. To cope with this, she should know the thing that a single parent must do in order to meet the needs of her family. Amy is having a hard time coping up with her kids, her father and brother and on how to make both ends meet. Having these problems at hand just right after giving birth to a baby boy made her not only physically drained but also mentally disturbed. Due to this, she may suffer from Post Natal Depression. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, around 1 in every 10 women has PND after having a baby. If untreated, it can last for months, or sometimes longer. There are number of symptoms suffers

American History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American History - Assignment Example Foreigners had to obey the rules; otherwise they were banned from ports. At the same time this situation created disagreements between the mother country and colonies of West Indies and North America. English men simply perceived colonies as a commodity, a valuable resource for their own prosperity and the colonists wished to pursue their own economic interests. 3. Why did England and France go to war with each other in the late 1600's and late 1700's? Sequence of wars between England and France represented their struggle for control over the American colonies. American territories gave vast economic benefits for the mother country: trade and farming was mounting there. Therefore England and France were interested in expanding their presence on American soil. All but one war (so called French and Indian War) started on the European territory and then moved to colonies. 4. Why were the Mid-Atlantic colonies so appealing to new colonists? Why did many colonists move to those colonies? The colonies of Mid-Atlantic were famous for its diversity, multiculturalism and significant economic growth. Therefore this pluralistic society attracted many new colonists; people saw more opportunities to earn money there. Immigrants from Ireland were looking for freer trade opportunities, less rent expenses and religious freedom.

Relatively Einstein Essay -- Essays Papers

Relatively Einstein His genius reshaped the laws of nature. His theories changed scientists? perception of the Universe. His ideas led to the most destructive and lethal weapon known to man. Albert Einstein hypothesized some of the most complex theories of all time, The Special Theory of Relativity and The General Theory of Relativity. He was a pudgy first child of a bougesois Jewish couple from Southern Germany. His father was an unsuccessful Engineer and his mother was a talented musician. His mother often encouraged his interests in Bach and Mozart. In his early years he received a toy compass, a gift from his father, that provoked his first "thought experiment." He was curious as to why the needle always pointed North (Golden 21). When he was fifteen he quit prep school, renounced his German citizenship, and entered the Swiss equivalent of MIT. There he fell in love and married a classmate. The marriage lasted a short three years (Golden 21). While coping with his loss, he moved in with a divorced cousin by the name of Elsa. She cooked and cleaned for him while he was discovering his, soon to be, theory of General Relativity. Elsa and Albert were wed a short time after (Golden 21). At the peak of World War I he risked his wife?s life, and his own, and signed an anti-war petition. When the Nazis came to power prior to World War II, he was forced to leave Germany. He moved to Princeton, where they built a physics program around him. A Hungarian scientist warned him of the Germans? attempt to make an atomic bomb. Einstein then wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt and warned him of the Nazi threat. Shortly thereafter, The Manhattan Project (the program which was responsible for the designing, building and testing of the atomic bomb) was organized, in which Einstein had no part in (Hawking 66). Albert urged for a ban on nuclear weapons after he learned of the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He tried to convince Americans that McCarthyism (false threat of communism reaching North America) was a hoax, and called for an end to racism (Golden 22). Shortly after graduation Einstein began to ponder about the universe. While living in Germany, he composed his first of two relativity theories; The Special Theory of Relativity (Golden 23). "The Special Theory of Relativity deals with phenomena that becomes noticeabl... ...ce. This is precisely what Einstein envisioned happening to planets, the moon, and the rest of the cosmos. This is the reason that Earth orbits the sun and the moon revolves around the sun. "He (Einstein) maintained that gravity, as an invisible force that pulls apples and other things to the ground does not exist," states Chaisson (99). Albert Einstein hypothesized some of the most complex theories of all time, Special and General Relativity. His Genius reshaped the way scientists think and the way we look at the universe. "I still can?t believe he thought of it."?Marcel Grossman (Feynman 49) Bibliography 1. Bohm, David. The Special Theory of Relativity. Routledge: NY, 1965. 2. Chaisson, Eric. Relatively Speaking. W. W. Norton: NY, 1988. 3. Feynman, Richard P. Six Not-So-Easy Pieces. Addison-Wesley: Reading,1997. 4. Golden, Frederick. "Person of the Century." Time 31 Dec 1999: 21. 5. Gundersen, P. Erik. The Handy Physics Answer Book. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1999. 6. Hawking, Stephen. "A Breif History of Relativity." Time 31 Dec 1999: 66. 7. Laing, David. The Earth System. Fort Kent: Wm. C. Brown, 1991. 8. Sagan, Carl. Cosmos. Random House: NY, 1980. Relatively Einstein Essay -- Essays Papers Relatively Einstein His genius reshaped the laws of nature. His theories changed scientists? perception of the Universe. His ideas led to the most destructive and lethal weapon known to man. Albert Einstein hypothesized some of the most complex theories of all time, The Special Theory of Relativity and The General Theory of Relativity. He was a pudgy first child of a bougesois Jewish couple from Southern Germany. His father was an unsuccessful Engineer and his mother was a talented musician. His mother often encouraged his interests in Bach and Mozart. In his early years he received a toy compass, a gift from his father, that provoked his first "thought experiment." He was curious as to why the needle always pointed North (Golden 21). When he was fifteen he quit prep school, renounced his German citizenship, and entered the Swiss equivalent of MIT. There he fell in love and married a classmate. The marriage lasted a short three years (Golden 21). While coping with his loss, he moved in with a divorced cousin by the name of Elsa. She cooked and cleaned for him while he was discovering his, soon to be, theory of General Relativity. Elsa and Albert were wed a short time after (Golden 21). At the peak of World War I he risked his wife?s life, and his own, and signed an anti-war petition. When the Nazis came to power prior to World War II, he was forced to leave Germany. He moved to Princeton, where they built a physics program around him. A Hungarian scientist warned him of the Germans? attempt to make an atomic bomb. Einstein then wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt and warned him of the Nazi threat. Shortly thereafter, The Manhattan Project (the program which was responsible for the designing, building and testing of the atomic bomb) was organized, in which Einstein had no part in (Hawking 66). Albert urged for a ban on nuclear weapons after he learned of the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He tried to convince Americans that McCarthyism (false threat of communism reaching North America) was a hoax, and called for an end to racism (Golden 22). Shortly after graduation Einstein began to ponder about the universe. While living in Germany, he composed his first of two relativity theories; The Special Theory of Relativity (Golden 23). "The Special Theory of Relativity deals with phenomena that becomes noticeabl... ...ce. This is precisely what Einstein envisioned happening to planets, the moon, and the rest of the cosmos. This is the reason that Earth orbits the sun and the moon revolves around the sun. "He (Einstein) maintained that gravity, as an invisible force that pulls apples and other things to the ground does not exist," states Chaisson (99). Albert Einstein hypothesized some of the most complex theories of all time, Special and General Relativity. His Genius reshaped the way scientists think and the way we look at the universe. "I still can?t believe he thought of it."?Marcel Grossman (Feynman 49) Bibliography 1. Bohm, David. The Special Theory of Relativity. Routledge: NY, 1965. 2. Chaisson, Eric. Relatively Speaking. W. W. Norton: NY, 1988. 3. Feynman, Richard P. Six Not-So-Easy Pieces. Addison-Wesley: Reading,1997. 4. Golden, Frederick. "Person of the Century." Time 31 Dec 1999: 21. 5. Gundersen, P. Erik. The Handy Physics Answer Book. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1999. 6. Hawking, Stephen. "A Breif History of Relativity." Time 31 Dec 1999: 66. 7. Laing, David. The Earth System. Fort Kent: Wm. C. Brown, 1991. 8. Sagan, Carl. Cosmos. Random House: NY, 1980.

Jet Blue Essay

There are a few trends that have come into play over the past few years. These different trends range from pricing for the flight to in flight perks. It seems that the perks and other in flight amenities are what may be what makes the difference and will impact any of the airline company’s strategy. Due to major hikes in fuel costs over the past year the airlines have had no other choice but to start passing this expense on to the flyers. The airlines have been trying to come up with competitive ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. Many of the airlines even charge for you check bags also. According to Ethan Davidoff in his article The Cost Behind Checking Bags most airlines only charge $25 for a bag to be checked but there is Southwest Airlines that allows two bags to be checked before charging. With that said in the above mentioned article one can see that you definitely want to travel light because for more than one bag the prices start to increase all the way up to $600. Although Southwest allows two checked bags there are other airlines that allow one free checked bag and most have a weight limit of 50lbs. If one were to travel internationally it may be cheaper to just purchase brand new clothes when you land. Not to mention the convenience of not checking any bags or having to wait to pick it up when you land, etc. So not only have airlines starting charging to check bags but many have stopped providing food, unless the flight is over a given amount of time and you are usually paying for that snack. The above mentioned change in airline airfares has certainly affected many airlines’ strategies. Also as mentioned above it has affected them most specifically in what type of benefits, perks, or amenities that they are willing to offer their flyers. Jet Blue has certainly followed suite and done various things to try to set themselves apart Discuss Jet Blue’s strategic intent. Jet Blue says that their â€Å"objective is optimize our fare mix to increase our average fare and, in certain markets, utilize our network to maximize connecting opportunities while continuing to provide our customers with competitive fares† (jetblue. om SEC filings, p. 31). Like any other company they are looking to cut costs without hurting any of the aspects of their company that sets them apart (i. e. customer service, tv, radio). Jet Blue airline seems to have set its strategy to take advantage of the charges that other airlines charge. They have set themselves apart by offering things on their flights that other airlines either don’t have or charge for. Jet Blue allows the firs t bag to fly free, the second costs $35, and the third costs $75. Although they do not have wireless broadband yet, unlike some other airlines, they do plan to have it in place 2012, and this is so because all of Jet Blue’s aircrafts are being set up for ViaSat satellite wireless which is new and no other airline has. Jet Blue is testing the service for ViaSat and the FAA for testing to be approved for use on airlines. However on the ground in the terminal it does offer free broadband at most airports (http://www. jetblue. com/flying-on-jetblue/onboard/wifi. asp). A strategy held by Jet Blue like that of any business is to improve its bottom line. Jet Blue wants not only to be profitable while reducing costs but they want their customers to be happy and have a good flying experience. Jet Blue has a saying on their site that says â€Å"our standards beat their extras† (http://www. jetblue. com/flying-on-jetblue/). They aim to provide stellar customer service. As a matter of fact according to ehow. com Jet Blue â€Å"was awarded the Conde Nast Traveler ‘Readers’ Choice Award’ for best domestic airline† and â€Å"in 2008, it won J. D. Power and Associates’ ‘Highest Customer Satisfaction Among Low Cost Carriers in North America’ award (ehow. com). More specifically they also state on their website that they have † ranked ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Low-Cost Carriers in North America’ by J. D. Power and Associates for five years in a row† (http://www. jetblue. com/about/work/). Jet Blue airlines prides itself on its customer service. As noticed from the previous paragraph they have won awards for their customer service. It is no wonder that the company believes in making their customer’s flight experience a pleasant one since the company was started by â€Å"David Neeleman and a number of Southwest Airlines employees in February 1999† (ehow. om). Outstanding customer service is part of their strategy and it is one of their many features that puts them heads above the competition. Discuss Jet Blue’s financial objectives and whether or not the company has been successful in achieving this objective. Before even getting into the financial objectives of the company just reading the SEC report for 2010 really shows proof that Jet Blue has been an extremely successful company over the past ten years. Since they were incorporated in 1998, flight starting in 2000, they have grown from $38. million in net income in 2001 to net income of $97 million in 2010 (jetblue. com). The aforementioned data shows proof of growth and success in lieu of turbulent financial times with rising fuel costs. Fuel costs dramatically rose over the company’s time in business which could have easily put a company under but they continue to strive. Discuss Jet Blue’s strategic elements of cost, organizational culture, and human resource practices and evaluate whether each element provides the organization with a competitive advantage. Jet Blue continues to be competitive with their ticket and baggage pricing. In their 2010 SEC filing they term themselves a â€Å"value airline – based on service, style, and cost† (p. 4). They go on to discuss in the overview how they feel that they continue to provide â€Å"best coach product† and â€Å"reasonably priced optional upgrades† (http://investor. jetblue. com, p. 4). As for Jet Blue’s organizational culture their web site specifically says â€Å"If you’re looking for a job where your career, your passion, and your sense of fun are all important then you’ve landed at the right place. At JetBlue we’ve built an award-winning brand based on delivering value, service, style and comfort to our customers — and to our crewmembers. And, by hiring people who share our vision, we’ve created a place where people enjoy coming to work† (http://www. jetblue. com/about/work/). Jet Blue continues remain un-unionized. Discuss Jet Blue’s strategies for 2008 and beyond and evaluate whether or not Jet Blue will be successful implementing these strategies. Part of their strategy in 2008 has been the same as previous and later years, to remain on time with their flights. They have continued to do well meeting this goal. Jet Blue’s ongoing strategy has been to deliver exceptional customer service and on time direct flights. In 2008 they stated in their SEC filings that they were the â€Å"7th largest passenger carrier† and in their 2010 SEC filings they were the â€Å"6th largest†. Regardless of any strategies that they planned to implement they were obviously successful. The proof lies in their continued recognition by JD Power & Assoc, their net income increases, and their growth to 6th largest passenger carrier in the US. While other airlines are folding, being bought out, or merging Jet Blue is continuing to grow. It is no wonder since they offer outstanding customer service as only part of their strategy and it is one of their many features that puts them heads above the competition. Some of their other features that ranks them high with their customers is the fact that they offer 36 tv channels, XM/Sirius radio, and unlimited snacks and beverages to all passengers at no cost. Kudos to a company for keeping its employees (all non-union) and customers happy.