Analyze

I am interested in the Macro scale and the macro effects evident at a city-scale level. I remember visiting New Orleans in 2016 and vividly remember seeing several signs with a large 'No' symbol drawn and the text  "neighbors not tourists" printed on the sign. Recently, as part of my research into New Orleans, I stumbled on this piece by the Guardian on how short-term rentals through platforms such as Airbnb are leading to gentrification in New Orleans. Highlighted in the article is how several Airbnb hosts do not reside on the listed premises. I remember the place we stayed, as we were a large party, having a 617 prefix number.  The prefix stood out as I knew the code 617 represented Boston and was curious what someone with ties to Boston doing in New Orleans as a host. In a similar vein, the article also highlights the problem of absentee hosts, hosts who acquire property for the sole purpose of setting up the property as an Airbnb site.

To tackle the problem, one councilwoman passed a law that required any Airbnb hosts in residential zones to have a homestead exemption verifying they live on site. In this case, a city-wide measure was taken and passed into law affecting the micro. It is common to have one host having several properties in different residential areas in New Orleans. From a technical standpoint, it could be viewed that Airbnb as technology is developed and presented as a scalable product. With no limits to reproducibility. Meanwhile, real-life discontinuities exist in the form of such homestead laws. It is impossible to live in more than one homestead at the same time. In other words, the concept of the human is not scalable.
Likewise, neither is cultural heritage. The city of New Orleans positions its self as a city with great cultural heritage. It is through this heritage that they seek to draw more and more tourists. How do cities think of scaling up successful initiatives and how do they navigate the political, social, ecological, or economic entanglements. At what point is downscaling necessary? Is culture scalable?

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/13/new-orleans-airbnb-trem…

I am currently a Ph.D. student interested in exploring the entanglements of scale, especially in the context of environmental sensing.  My primary research seeks to engage in discourse around the value of scalability that is presented as inherent in computation. While the term scale-up is almost synonymous with computation, sustainability; on the other hand, is known as a problem of scale. Take for example, the discourse on climate change where the actions required to combat climate change requires interventions at different scales. In this context, demanding changes at individual scales while no corresponding changes happen at larger scales would not yield much.

In looking at New Orleans, I came across a video on IoT cameras developed by Cisco, the networking giant. What struck me other than the apparent rise of surveillance capitalism was the narrative of one of the police officers highlighted in the video. The officer mentions that it is not feasible for the city to place police officers on every corner. In the context of scale, the police officer is implying that cameras are useful as they extend the police officer's ability to surveil the city. In other words, cameras and the networks help scale up the police officer, making it possible for them to cover a larger scale than before.

One of the police officers, in the video, also mentions that New Orleans is a tourist and hospitable town. Which brings up the question at any given period, what scale of visitors can New Orleans support without stretching the city's resources? Several other cities in the world have made efforts to limit visitors, in order not stretch city resources. The recent crisis at Mount Everest is an excellent example of what happens when resources are stretched to accommodate the increasing number of local visitors. How could something of this nature similarly impact New Orleans?

At the communication center where the video feed is analyzed, the IT manager provides reasons as to why they chose Cisco as their vendor. One of the reasons he gives was that the system is easily expandable, allowing the ability to scale out/up the network.

Dr. Schmid supports her point of view by discussing the flaws in the current system, such as how responses tend to only cause reforms at an organizational level rather than internationally. She also discusses how incorporating civilian education can help ease fears and improve how civilians react to incidents. Finally, she mentions various agencies that could organize international nuclear response, supporting her argument that it is possible bring together more people that just those who are technically elite.

"The poor are the natural constituents of public health, and physicians, as Virchow argued, are the natural attorneys of the poor."

"Because of contact with patients, physicians readily appreciate that largescale social forces—racism, gender inequality, poverty, political violence and war, and sometimes the very policies that address them—often determine who falls ill and who has access to care."

"The term “structural violence” is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm's way"

Andrew Lakoff is an associate professor of anthropology, sociology, and communication at the University of Southern California, Berkeley. He expertise lies in the anthropology of science and medicine and the implications of biomedical innovations. He does not appear to be professionally situated in emergency response. He has only written on book on a macro scale titled, "Disaster and the Politics of Intervention," but he appears to have no further association or expertise in the field.

Stephen J. Collier is the chair of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School in New York City. He is an expert in economic regulation, social welfare, and emergency management in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, and in the United States. He is currently researching the emergence of vital systems security in disaster policy, homeland security, and infrastructure protection. In this manner, he is related with emergency response. He also has a number of publications listed on his CV in relation to disaster response.

They have produced a number of articles which can be found here: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/medical-research

A few of the recent highlights are articles that discuss the impacts of masss vaccination campaigns, how to care for victims of sexual violence, and what effect ready to use food can offer in a nutritional emergency.

This program receives its money from taxpayers in the State of New York. The College was allocated $15 million dollars for its formation by Governor Cuomo, and has been incorporated into SUNY Albany.

This report includes a glossary, a summary of the report and situation in Colombia, recommendations from HRW which address education, health needs, and the ability to return home, a section discussing the internal displacement in Colombia, registration and humanitarian assistance, a section discussing access to education, and a section which discusses access to public health services. The report concludes with a list of acknowledgements and a listing of other HRW reports on Colombia.

The Newark Resilience Action Plan (RAP) team comprises of the Ironbound Community Corporation, New Jersey Environment Justice, and Clean Water Action. 

By examining the bibliography, it appears that this report was produced after the author conducted a great deal of research including interviewing other experts in the field and reading many other texts on the subject. One could also gather that the author examined publications by agencies relevant to the topic such as theIAEA and the US NRC.