When Life as we know it erupts into Scale, Manufacturing and Transit

Productivity is a measure of how efficiently production inputs are being used within the economy to produce output. Growth in productivity is a key determinant in improving a nation’s long-term material standard of living. —Statistics NZ ….[yawn]

Since March 2006, Statistics NZ has produced a yearly release of official measures of annual productivity for the measured sector. These measures are vital to better understanding improvements in New Zealand’s living standards, economic performance, and international competitiveness over the long term. Productivity is often defined as a ratio between economic output and the inputs, such as labour and capital, which go into producing that output.

Productivity Statistics – information releases ….[ZzzZzzzz…………..]

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Viddsee Published on May 18, 2016
Changing Batteries – A Robot “Son” Couldn’t Replace The Emptiness In Her Heart // Viddsee.com
‘Changing Batteries’ is a final year animation production made in Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. The story tells of an old lady who lives alone and receives a robot one day. Based on the theme ‘Change’, our story tells about their relationship development with one another through time.

Viddsee Published on Feb 23, 2016
Alarm – Relatable Animation For The Mornings // Viddsee.com
The story is about a salaryman living in a single apartment. But he has a problem getting up early in the morning. He would rather die than wake up early. He decides to set many alarm clocks everywhere in his apartment so he can get to work on time. The next morning, after struggling with his alarm clocks, he barely finishes preparing for work.

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WIRED UK Published on Jul 5, 2016
Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Full Documentary) | Future Cities | WIRED
Future Cities, a full-length documentary strand from WIRED Video, takes us inside the bustling Chinese city of Shenzhen. We examine the unique manufacturing ecosystem that has emerged, gaining access to the world’s leading hardware-prototyping culture whilst challenging misconceptions from the west. The film looks at how the evolution of “Shanzhai” – or copycat manufacturing – has transformed traditional models of business, distribution and innovation, and asks what the rest of the world can learn from this so-called “Silicon Valley of hardware”. Directed by: Jim Demuth

Future Cities is part of a new flagship documentary strand from WIRED Video that explores the technologies, trends and ideas that are changing our world.

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BBC aired the documentary in November, with the following descriptor:

Best Documentary 2016 Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware gives us an insider’s perspective on a system of creative collaboration that ultimately informs all of our lives.

The centre of the technology world may not lie in California’s Silicon Valley, but in the bustling marketplace of Huaqiangbei, a subdistrict of Shenzhen in China. This is where curious consumers and industry insiders gather to feast their eyes and wallets on the latest software, hardware, gadgetry, and assorted electronic goods. At the very start the film sets the scene to this fascinating technology mecca. A city populated by 20 million people, Shenzhen is the setting where advancement is most likely to originate at speeds that can’t be replicated in the States. The city’s vibrant and inventive tech work force takes over when the innovations of Silicon Valley become stagnant. The revolution may have started in the States, but its evolution is occurring in China. Working in collaboration, Shenzhen labourers craft unique upgrades and modifications to everything from laptops to cell phones. Their efforts then immigrate and influence the adoption of new products in other regions of the world. The infrastructure by which this is made possible is known as the ‘Maker movement’. In developer conferences and Maker exhibition fairs, tech geeks are encouraged to share their ideas freely with colleagues in the hopes that more open collaborations will form grander innovations. The film highlights how these attitudes stand in sharp contrast to the Western world where communications are secretive, monopolies are the norm and proprietorship is sacred. However, there are challenges faced by Shenzhen in maintaining their edge in the industry. While widely acknowledged as pioneers, Shenzhen’s prominence has faltered as the remainder of China has proven successful in their attempts to catch up. Adding to the frustrations, the government has interceded and moved manufacturing bases outside of the city. Meanwhile, figures from the world of investment financing have moved into the equation, and threatened to stifle creativity by imposing a more closed and impenetrable mode of operations.

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### dailymail.co.uk 30 Oct 2013
Ever wondered how everything you buy from China gets here? Welcome to the port of Shanghai – the size of 470 football pitches
By Daily Mail Reporter
Whether it’s the car you drove to work in, the computer at your desk or your children’s toys strewn across their bedroom floor, there’s a very good chance they have come from here. This is the world’s busiest trading port which handles a staggering 32million containers a year carrying 736million tonnes of goods to far-flung places around the globe. Stretching as far as the eye can see, rows upon rows of containers lie stacked up at the Port of Shanghai waiting to be shipped abroad and bringing in trillions of pounds to the Chinese economy in the process. It’s this fearsome capacity that has helped China become the world’s largest trading nation when it leapfrogged the United States last year.
The port has an area of 3.94 square kilometres – the equivalent of 470 football pitches. China’s breakneck growth rate in recent years has been driven by exports and manufacturing as well as government spending on infrastructure. In the last eight years alone, capacity at the Port of Shanghai has ballooned from 14million TEUs (a unit which is roughly the volume of a 20ft-long container) in 2004 to more than 32million last year. The rapid expansion was largely thanks to the construction of the Yangshan Deepwater Port, which opened in 2005 and can handle the world’s largest container vessels. That port alone can now shift around 12million containers a year.
Shanghai’s location at the mouth of the Yangtze River made it a key area of development for coastal trade during the Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1912. In 1842, Shanghai became a treaty port, which opened it up to foreign trade, and by the early 20th Century it became the largest in the Far East. Trade became stifled after 1949, however, when the economic policies of the People’s Republic crippled infrastructure and development. But after economic reforms in 1991, the port was able to expand exponentially.
Read more

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David Carrier Published on Jan 13, 2017
World’s Biggest and Busiest Port Ever Made – Full Documentary
The Yangshan Deepwater Port is connected to the mainland by the Donghai Bridge, the world’s longest sea bridge.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: (from top) Shanghai Map – topchinatravel.com, Donghai Bridge – topchinatravel.com, Yangshan Deepwater Port – meretmarine.com, embed.ly, reddit-com

Pollution in Chinese cities

City pollution [ddmcdn.com]

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:20, March 7 2015
Film highlighting pollution woes vanishes from China’s Internet
By Dian Zhang
A 104-minute film lecture that outlines the serious pollution in China has been removed from the nation’s internet, after receiving millions of views and raising hopes that the country’s leadership might tackle China’s widespread smog problem. The film – by Chai Jing, one of the best-known journalists in China and a well-known former state television reporter – was released right before China’s two most important political events, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Before the movie was censored, a story from Xinhua News Agency, China’s official press agency, praising the film was deleted online the same night the article was posted, offering a hint of the government’s real attitude.

Released last Saturday, Under the Dome had received 42.9 million views on Youku, a video-sharing website like YouTube, by 5 pm Thursday (local time). It prompted 530,460 posts on Weibo.

In the film, Chai gives a speech and shows data and interviews with government officials and environmental experts from China and abroad. The film shows striking images of the extent of air pollution in a number of Chinese cities, as well as rivers fouled by chemicals and littered with flotsam and dead fish. Chai also travelled to Los Angeles and London to gauge their experiences dealing with smog.
Read more

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█ Chai Jing’s documentary is well worth watching. Preamble via CNN.

CNN Published on Mar 3, 2015
China smog documentary goes viral
Director of China Environment Forum Jennifer Turner discusses a new documentary titled “Under the Dome” that discusses pollution in China.

Linghein Ho Published on Mar 1, 2015
Chai Jing’s review: Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Smog 柴静雾霾调查：穹顶之下 (full translation)
ENGLISH SUBTITLES ARE FULLY TRANSLATED
For more information: http://www.linghein.me/tr_u/
English Subtitles: FULLY UPDATED | Japanese Subtitles: update to 09:25 | French Subtitles: update to 31:06
Former celebrity TV anchor Chai Jing quit her job after her baby daughter was born with a lung tumor, and after a year of rigorous investigation, launched this 1 hour 40 minute documentary about China’s smog: what is smog? Where does it come from? What do we do from here? It is very powerful in many ways. English subtitles are now completely finished, and other languages are being added.
Music: “Brotherhood” by John Dreamer (Google Play • iTunes)

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[click to enlarge]
3 photo comparatives (*gif) taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite via gizmodo.com

Related Post and Comments:
23.3.13 Chongqing, Southwest China

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mayor Cull’s reflections on Edinburgh #SisterCity #Junkets

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Received from Cr Lee Vandervis
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 at 11:36 p.m.

Message: I thought it might be of interest that there has been no response from the Mayor, or from anyone else regarding my criticism of the latest round of Sister City tourism as below.

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:10:12 +1200
To: Dave Cull, Sue Bidrose, Sandy Graham, Andrew Noone, Andrew Whiley, Chris Staynes, Doug Hall, Hilary Calvert, John Bezett, Jinty MacTavish, Kate Wilson, Lee Vandervis, Mayor Cull, Mike Lord, Neville Peat, Richard Thomson, David Benson-Pope, Aaron Hawkins
Cc: Tony Avery, Grant McKenzie
Conversation: File – reflections on Edinburgh visit.docx
Subject: Re: File – reflections on Edinburgh visit.docx

Dear Dave,

Thank you sending us your preliminary reflections on visiting Edinburgh, which I know from personal experience to be especially pleasant at this time of year.
Since being elected in 2004 I have read many similar reflections on Sister City visits all of them similarly generic.
I note that your statement “So most of our time in Edinburgh was devoted to meetings with Edinburgh arts and cultural organizations, people or institutions.” is a fair definition of tourism, unless you are heavily into sports which might not necessarily be caught by the words ‘cultural organizations’.
Your claim that you went to “reinvigorate the sister city relationship” is untenable since there never has been any vigour in the relationship, as anyone who has done years on the Edinburgh Sister City Committee will confirm. The previously overused but safer ‘breath new life into the relationship’ would also fail as it is not possible to breathe new life into a corpse.
Ditto Otaru.
I take it that Dunedin will now be hosting some official reciprocal Scottish tourists by return when the Scottish winter bites.

At least Harland pretended to come back with a viable Scottish wind power design.

Kind regards,
Lee

On 6/08/14 4:26 AM, “Quickoffice” wrote:

Hi Colleagues, Attached a preliminary report on the Edinburgh experience. Dave

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Colleagues,
The following is a preliminary report/reflection on our recently completed trip to Edinburgh while it is still fresh. There is considerable detail and learnings yet to be brought together from our various meetings.

This Sister City visit to Edinburgh was timed to coincide with the opening of the NZ in Edinburgh Programme. That included a national kapa haka group being a central part of the tattoo, an exhibition by Commonwealth artists partly curated by Aaron Kriesler of DPAG and many more performances/exhibits. NZ was the country of honor at the umbrella Edinburgh Festival. Our Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae was a guest of honor with the 2nd Lord of the Admiralty at the Tattoo opening night.
Dunedin received invitations to Edinburgh from the the Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, Creative Scotland and the British Council.
The visit was timed to coincide because one of the objectives of going was to reinvigorate the sister city relationship, potentially through the medium of arts and culture. This was timely as Dunedin is currently developing an Arts and Culture Strategy, our Economic Development Strategy recognises the important potential of the whole creative sector and we are awaiting confirmation of UNESCO City of Literature status. The two cities obviously already have many cultural connections, going back to Dunedin’s founding and naming by Scots.
So most of our time in Edinburgh was devoted to meetings with Edinburgh arts and cultural organizations, people or institutions. They include Creative Scotland (equivalent of Creative NZ), Edinburgh University (2 depts), Councillor convener of arts and future committee, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh City of Literature, British Council, Institute of Scottish Studies, and Centre for the Book Edinburgh Napier University. We also met with the Lord Provost, attended the Tattoo and the opening of Aaron’s exhibition.
We are still processing what we learned, but a number of things made us very positive about the potential opportunity Edinburgh, and our relationship with her, could offer Dundin. First everyone, without exception, has been welcoming and has gone out of their way to engage, spend time with us and provide any information we asked for. Several organizations have express a desire to collaborate with Dunedin. One or two came to meetings with specific proposals! We have even had an approach from the Edinburgh suburb Corstorphine asking about partnering with Corstorphine, Dunedin. The bigger picture is that Edinburgh has essentially reinvented itself as a cultural/festival city. Certainly after World War II Edinburgh’s economy diminished drastically. Edinburgh was the first UNESCO City of Literature. Now festivals of various cultural complexions bring hundreds of millions of pounds into the city. Edinburgh views and defines itself as a creative, literary artistic city. So if nothing else Dunedin can learn an
enormous amount from Edinburgh’s experience across a range of initiatives. In addition there is considerable potential for collaboration and exchange between Dunedin and Edinburgh institutions, to their mutual benefit. There was emphatic interest in Dunedin performers performing in both Edinburgh and Glasgow at major events. Indeed Neville and Cara saw the Chills in Glasgow on Saturday night.
So while we have yet to fully de-brief and weigh up what we learned, it is clear that there is huge potential culturally, economically and academically for Dunedin in refreshing and developing our relationship with Edinburgh specifically and Scotland in general.

Related Post and Comments:
8.4.14 Cinderella Shanghai + 75 ugly sisters

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: thathideousman.blogspot.com – Edinburgh, Scotland

Cinderella Shanghai + 75 ugly sisters

Agencies such as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise already did a ”fantastic” job in China. –John Christie, Otago Chamber

Dunedin was ”in the top 10” of Shanghai’s 75 sister-city relationships as a result of its relationship-building, and that provided a ”platform” to Dunedin businesses. –Cr Chris Staynes

### ODT Online Tue, 8 Apr 2014
Shanghai ‘Dunedin office’ idea debated
By Chris Morris
Dunedin could soon have a permanent presence in Shanghai as part of efforts to ramp up economic links with China, it has been suggested. The concept of a ”Dunedin office”, which already had support from the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office, would aim to promote Dunedin’s education, tourism and business interests in Shanghai.

Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie, the head of Project Shanghai, hoped funding could be shared between the council and those who would benefit.

The idea was discussed at yesterday’s Dunedin City Council economic development committee meeting, as councillors received a report from Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie on the latest trip by a Dunedin delegation to Shanghai.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: idealshanghai.com

D Scene – train building, buses and forest products

### D Scene 5-4-10
City to take case to KiwiRail (page 5)
By Mike Houlahan
Today a Dunedin delegation, headed by Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie, meets KiwiRail to put the case for the firm’s Hillside Workshops to be part of a bid to build new carriages and engines for Auckland’s rail system.

Christie said the meeting was proceeding despite [Transport Minister Steve] Joyce and [KiwiRail chief executive Jim] Quinn’s comments, and that he did not regard the exercise as a fool’s errand.

{continues} #bookmark

Passengers lose out in timetable decision (page 6)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Industry players say they have missed the bus and passengers have been short changed because of an Otago Regional Council u-turn on a planned improved timetable for its southern routes to Green Island and beyond. Informed sources – who would not be named – said the council should have re-tendered the routes and consulted on them again because of massive eleventh hour changes it allowed in awarding the contract.
{continues} #bookmark

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 9)
Your say: Letters to the editor
South Dunedin not doing that bad by Elaine Cole, Caversham
Incorrect conclusions by Keith Harris, Dunedin
#bookmark

NZ on show at World Expo (page 13)
When World Expo 2010 opened in Shanghai on Saturday, New Zealand showed itself to the world, but just what does it take to represent contemporary Aotearoa? Sarah Catheral finds out. Fairfax
{continues} #bookmark

Biz: Crunching the numbers
More than just logging: Very much an NZ company (pages 20-21)
For many Dunedinites the smoke from the Mount Allan fire earlier this year was the first time Wenita Forest Products impacted on our lives. However, the timber firm has closer ties with the local community than that.
Mike Houlahan reports.

Wenita owns and manages about 30,000ha of forest in the Clutha and Dunedin districts.

Around 60% of Wenita’s annual harvest is exported – mainly to China, but it also sells to Korea, India and occasionally Vietnam. The remainder is sold to customers from Canterbury to Southland.

All forests are managed on a sustainable basis, with 1400-1500ha of trees planted annually to replace that year’s crop. Trees generally remain in the ground between 27 and 30 years before being felled.

{continues} #bookmark

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Otago leaders to World Expo in Shanghai

UPDATED

There just has to be a better camera angle, please please find it…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/international/3650066/Little-Kiwi-at-worlds-biggest-expo

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### ODT Online Mon, 3 May 2010
Otago to have presence at World Expo
By Chris Morris
A delegation of Otago leaders will later this month attempt to make their mark on 70 million visitors to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. The 22-strong delegation, headed by Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes and Clutha Mayor Juno Hayes, will travel to the Chinese city later this month for several days to take part in the six-month Expo, which opened with a blaze of fireworks on Saturday.

The New Zealand pavilion featured an indoor-outdoor design complete with rooftop garden, a 12m-high steel and rubber pohutukawa tree and a 10m-long waka being carved from a giant kauri tree. It also enjoyed a prime location near China’s pavilion and was expected to attract up to 40,000 visitors each day.

Read more

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### idealog.co.nz March-April 2010
Architecture: Pure propaganda
By Tony Laloli, about a month ago
Originally published in Idealog #26, page 122
The World Expo should showcase Kiwi ideas—but Shanghai 2010 is a missed opportunity.

This year, from May 1 to October 31, Shanghai will host the latest world expo. There are expected to be 200 countries exhibiting and around 70 million visitors. The theme ‘Better city, better life’ is the inspiration for the event.

The theme should give us some pause as to what a post-colonial 21st-century New Zealand city could be…

A reliance on indigenous performers and clichéd images of landscape, sails and happy families is a 1950s vision of New Zealand. Those images could be presented via a website and virtual space. Why do they need to be set along an ascending ramp through a dark space in Shanghai?

Read more

Tony Laloli is the pen name of an urbanist, creative technologist and architectural designer working in Auckland.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC concerned by Hide’s call for transparency if it means producing more reports

From the can you believe it file…

### ODT Online Fri, 16 Apr 2010
Hide’s call for transparency baffles council
By Chris Morris
A plan by Minister for Local Government Rodney Hide to force councils across New Zealand to open their books in new ways has been questioned by Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin. Mr Hide used part of his address to yesterday’s Sister Cities New Zealand Conference in Dunedin to outline plans for a new financial reporting system for local authorities. Under the new regime, council staff would be required to prepare pre-election financial reports every three years, providing ratepayers with simplified explanations of expenditure over the previous term and plans for the next term.

The move aimed to encourage greater understanding of council finances by ratepayers, who would then be in a better position to “put hard questions” to their elected representatives, Mr Hide said.

Read more

Related ODT story:
Sister cities’ link lauded

Post by Elizabeth Kerr