Using Math To Design Cities And Supercomputers 40
caek writes "If you've played Sim City you've wrestled with one of the problems faced by supercomputer designers. Unfortunately there's no GameFAQs.com for the technical staff at Japan's Earth Simulator or Srinidhi Varadarajan and colleagues at Virginia Tech. True enough, they won't have to deal with rising crime or Godzilla but, as hinted at in a recent paper in Journal of Physics A, the physical layout of a massively parallel supercomputer is fundamentally the same problem as minimizing the time commuters spent stuck in traffic jams. Read the rest of my kuro5hin article for a popular explanation."
Why not? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why not? (Score:2)
Excellent.. (Score:5, Funny)
Does this surprise anyone? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Does this surprise anyone? (Score:2)
Re:Does this surprise anyone? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Of course, I eat steak- but only that which my family raises ourselves- it's an entirely different experience when you know the name of the animal you're eating.
Likewise with lobster- if you're willing to go to sea and catch it yourself, why should we stop you?
But to spend public resources on private gain just because you believe you're better than everybody else- that's just stupid of society to fall for it.
Re:Does this surprise anyone? (Score:1)
Economy (Score:1, Offtopic)
Yes it doesn't allow equal distribution, however the key idea behind a capitalist free market IS the unequal distribution.
Capital and resources flow to those which generate more value. This creates a net increase in total value.
Re:Economy (Score:2)
Under Capitalism that's true- but we no longer have capitalism, we have corporatism, in which capital and resources flow to those who can lie the best about generating more value while actually generating less value.
Yes it doesn't allow equal distribution, however the key idea behind a capitalist free market IS the unequal distribution.
Which also causes problems because it isn't needs based- quite
Theory and Implementation (Score:2)
This is similar to democracy, a current problem is the uneducated electorate. If this problem was solved democracy might work a bit better.
If an entity can not create more value then it consumes it should die. This goes for both companies, ideas and people. Harsh, but that is the nature of the system. It is also the way of natural selection.
Re:Theory and Implementation (Score:3, Insightful)
That's kind of like saying that Microsoft allowing executable code in e-mail messages is an implementation issue, not a system issue. Idealy, the system should be engineered from the start to prevent parasites and viruses from arising to begin with. If it doesn't, then the system needs to be scraped and replaced with something better, just as many of us scrap Windows in favor of Linux.
If an entity can not c
Re:Theory and Implementation (Score:1)
>>consumes it should die. This goes for both
>>companies, ideas and people. Harsh, but that is the
>>nature of the system. It is also the way of natural
>>selection.
Isn't this precisely what happens when a company folds? It can't pay its bills because it can't generate any revenue.
Re:Theory and Implementation (Score:2)
Freedom (was Re:Economy) (Score:2)
Re:Freedom (was Re:Economy) (Score:2)
We have the same basic opportunities, it has just worked out that some people have been very successful.
Bill Gates, Arnold Schwarzenegger are just two examples of people that have really gone quite far just from the opportunities presented.
I understand the f
Re:Freedom (was Re:Economy) (Score:2)
Tell that to my bank- they haven't lowered my mortgage just because they're now using programmers in other countries. Sure their wages will increase- but yours and mine will decrease far more long before they get anyplace close to "EQUAL".
We have the same
Chicken-and-egg problem! ;-) (Score:4, Informative)
Paul B.
Re:Chicken-and-egg problem! ;-) (Score:4, Insightful)
Idea: remove the vehicle subsidy - which is killing trains, buses, and bicycles.
Then you get mass transit.
In the end - the real barrior to optimizing streets will be the arab oil cartells screaming about the loss of oil revenues to keep those compluters stuck in traffic burning up time, space, and O2.
AIK
The Important thing is Rail (Score:3, Insightful)
This will provide the contract builders need to build high density housing along high speed corridors - rather than randomly.
The key to getting commuters out of traffic - is only in part - optimizing their route.
The real key is getting them out of their damn cars.
(Electric Bicycle commuter speaking)
AIK
Re:The Important thing is Rail (Score:3, Interesting)
If you are encouraging building more NEW cities, then I have to totally disagree with you. We need to fix the ones we have somehow. You can't get people out of their cars unless you provide them with a humane way of alternate travel. Trains are good, provided they actually reach people (hard), and are not overcrowded like the subways in Toronto. I voluntarily worked an extr
We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:2)
I suggest to do this - we
1. Send everyone to europe for a 2 week manditory car cooling off period.
2. After they come back - they can vote on a central carfree zone in their city.
3. We have better technology now to bridge the gap between the limitation of mass transit (the last mile problem)
SOME IDEAS:
The city should lay down some serious linear transit routes - in order to encourage as much brownfield redevelopment, and density conversions as possible.
Low den
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know about a totally car free zone, trucks still need to be able to make deliveries for instance. But we definatly need more walking streets like in Europe. Driving downtown in most cities is futile anyways, and walking streets add so much character and class to a city.
The city should lay down some serious linear transit routes - in order to encourage as much brownfield redevelopment, and density conversions as po
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:4, Interesting)
I think you may have glossed over a point.
The City must establish LINEAR High speed transit corridors.
Because only LINEAR transit routes can achieve - Rapid - as in faster than an SUV - transportation (After you figure in the cost of waiting around)
Deliberate Haste doesn't mean kicking people out of their homes - it does mean allocating the region for change. - and insisting that any changes - result in higher density outcomes.
Those neighbourhoods are nice precisly *because* they have no high desnsity housing.
This is perception.
When I was in Egypt I stayed in a resort - it was very high density - but also a very nice neighborhood. We had gardens, pools, beaches - well you get the idea.
If cities would reward high density housing with resort grade amenities - they could reclaim their air.
Sure - only one row of houses can really have a nice view - but the theory of shared resources says its better that MORE PEOPLE have this view than fewer.
And housing does not HAVE TO completely ruin the natural beauty - there are aztec designs - and a variety of old world looks which have natural appeal.
The most important task is to alter public opinion - that living near railroad tracks in tenement buildings is sexy.
Making sexy trains, and sexy tenement grounds is the solution to clean air.
AIK
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:1)
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:3, Informative)
In Europe - Northern Germany (Oldenburg) to be exact - there are walking areas, and these rather samll delivery trucks come early in the morning.
I'm not sure if there's a sticker - a time - or a general understanding - but I didn't see unnecessary vehicles - and it is clear that thetruck are on pedestrian turf - not the ither way around - which drastically changes the way they are driven
AIK
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:2)
Yeah, this is what I was referring to as a walking street. I think most european cities have such streets.
But it wouldn't make sense to make, say, the entire downtown area of a city into a walking only area though. Some buildings like hospitals, banks, couriers, etc, need large deliveries throughout the day. So the walking areas would have to be chosen with thes
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:2)
What I don't understand is why we don't start building downwards.
I would be perfectly cool with living in hive like structure underground that could have some natural light piped in, etc.
Just sink a 150ft deep central galley and then run spokes off in 4 or 8 directions. At the end of each of these spokes would be a smaller shaft that went back to the surface. Off of each of these spokes build underground
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:1)
Except that many people have SAD (seasonal affective disorder). They need LOTS of light or get massivly depressed. This would be VERY bad for them. I highly doubt you could get enough natural light down there.
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:2)
It would need to include large areas, and probably small ajoining rooms which open into large atriums - with surface light. That construction is quite appealling, and is often rendered by hotels above ground.
I worry that underground construction is more expensive.
AIK
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:2)
What there is not - is plenty of education, energy, and air / water purification.
Underground saves you some energy - that's good.
Subways offer underground exchanges - which can include malls, food courts, and hotel lobbies - while at the same time reducing noise, air, and visual pollution.
Better that we should travel underground and eat crumpets with a view.
AIK
Re:We need to fix the ones we have somehow. (Score:1)
I don't know about a totally car free zone, trucks still need to be able to make deliveries for instance. But we definatly need more walking streets like in Europe.
The zone could be enforced based on the clock like in some European cities. For example, the road barriers go down around midnight and come up around five. This allows for freight delivery, refuse pickup, street sweepers, etc.
Re:The Important thing is Rail (Score:5, Interesting)
San Francisco added a nice touch to this with their BART system. In some places, they build the rapid transit right up the freeway median. When you're stuck in traffic on the freeway, and the train blows past you at 80 MPH, it tends to make you think, "I wish I was on that!"
Re:The Important thing is Rail (Score:3, Interesting)
Often without saying it - That MUST be the effect of shared transit.
This is the primary reason that buses suck.
Buses must have HOV lanes to be a considered alternative.
The other is the cost of parking - London has fees just for entering downtown.
Cities should NOT provide subsidised parking.
They should put that money instead into - as you say - Rapid Transit.
AIK
No computer design required, just brains. (Score:4, Informative)
Mod This Up (Score:2)
We need to insist that carfree options are explored on an equal footing with highway expansion proposals.
AIK
Yay!! (Score:2)
The real question is... How do we tack that concept on to already zoned and planned cities?
Christopher Alexander - "The Timeless Way..." (Score:3, Interesting)
There are important lessons in these books for both urban design and system design. Many architects and urban designers don't like Alexander because his approach is counter to the "power over" (top down) approach to urban design, but encourages supporting bottom up, "power with", design-while-building that is characteristic of vernacular architecture. The problem, as they see it, is that they can't start building until the design is complete - the support systems (as well as the permit process) require it. They're wrong in principle but right in practice, because that's how the support systems already in place work.
Even when designers try to emulate the style of a village, it is still not quite like the real thing that grew over decades or centuries. However, perhaps automation could empower a kind of collaboration and serendipity so that a naive group of 'users' could essentially grow a design.