Edward Adams challenges a strong consensus in New Testament and Early Christian studies: that the early Christians met 'almost exclusively' in houses. This assumption has been foundational for research on the social formation of the early churches, the origins and early development of church architecture, and early Christian worship. Recent years have witnessed increased scholarly interest in the early 'house church'. Adams re-examines the New Testament and other literary data, as well as archaeological and comparative evidence, showing that explicit evidence for assembling in houses is not nearly as extensive as is usually thought. He also shows that there is literary and archaeological evidence for meeting in non-house settings. Adams makes the case that during the first two centuries, the alleged period of the 'house church', it is plausible to imagine the early Christians gathering in a range of venues rather than almost entirely in private houses. His thesis has wide-ranging implications.

Discusses the research and theory concerning the physical surroundings that affect people in offices and factories.

America is a target; the homeland is under threat. While Americans have been targets of terrorist attacks for quite some time, September 11, 2001, awoke the nation to the reality that we are vulnerable in our homes, our places of work and worship, and our means of public transportation. And yet, we must continue to function as best we can as the world's most vibrant economic and political community. The current threat environment requires greater engagement with the public, as the necessary eyes and ears of the nation's homeland security infrastructure. However, to be effective, the public must be equipped with the knowledge of where and why specific locations and activities may be a terrorist target, what is being done to protect those targets, and how they can help. This three-volume set answers that need. The chapters of each volume of Homeland Security revolve around a core of central questions. Are we safer today than we were pre-9/11? What steps have been taken in all these areas to protect ourselves? What are the threats we face, and what new threats have developed since 9/11? Are we staying one step ahead of those who wish to do us harm? In 2002, more than 400 million people, 122 million cars, 11 million trucks, 2.4 million freight cars, and 8 million containers entered the United States. Nearly 60,000 vessels entered the United States at its 301 ports of entry. Clearly the amount of activity this represents will require a long-term commitment to innovation, organizational learning, and public vigilance to complement an already overstretched network of government agencies and security professionals.

This book offers an original framework on how to investigate, understand and translate sense of place at a regional scale. The book explores contemporary sense of place theory and practice, drawing upon the Western District of Victoria, in Australia, being the "Country of the White Cockatoo". It offers a unique multi-temporal and thematical analytical approach towards comprehending and mapping the values that underpin and determine strengths of human relationships and nuances to this landscape. Included is a deep ethno-ecological and cross-cultural translation, that takes the reader through both the Western understanding of sense of place as well as the Australian Aboriginal understanding of Country. Both are different intellectual constructions of thoughts, values and ideologies, but which share numerous commonalities due to their archetypal meanings, feelings and values transmitted to humans.

Includes case studies of Massachusetts Ave. (Cambridge), Harvard Street (Brookline)and Elm Street (Somerville)

This book addresses the topic of playable cities, which use the ‘smartness’ of digital cities to offer their citizens playful events and activities. The contributions presented here examine various aspects of playable cities, including developments in pervasive and urban games, the use of urban data to design games and playful applications, architecture design and playability, and mischief and humor in playable cities. The smartness of digital cities can be found in the sensors and actuators that are embedded in their environment. This smartness allows them to monitor, anticipate and support our activities and increases the efficiency of the cities and our activities. These urban smart technologies can offer citizens playful interactions with streets, buildings, street furniture, traffic, public art and entertainment, large public displays and public events.

Superb! How refreshing to see a Handbook that eschews convention and explores the richness and diversity of the geographical imagination in such stimulating and challenging ways. - Peter Dicken, University of Manchester "Stands out as an innovative and exciting contribution that exceeds the genre." - Sallie A. Marston, University of Arizona "Captures wonderfully the richness and complexity of the worlds that human beings inhabit... This is a stand-out among handbooks!" - Lily Kong, National University of Singapore "This wonderfully unconventional book demonstrates human geography’s character and significance not by marching through traditional themes, but by presenting a set of geographical essays on basic ideas, practices, and concerns." - Alexander B. Murphy, University of Oregon "This SAGE Handbook stands out for its capacity to provoke the reader to think anew about human geography ... essays that offer some profoundly original insights into what it means to engage geographically with the world." - Eric Sheppard, UCLA Published in association with the journal Progress in Human Geography, edited and written by the principal scholars in the discipline, this Handbook demonstrates the difference that thinking about the world geographically makes. Each section considers how human geography shapes the world, interrogates it, and intervenes in it. It includes a major retrospective and prospective introductory essay, with three substantive sections on: Imagining Human Geographies Practising Human Geographies Living Human Geographies The Handbook also has an innovative multimedia component of conversations about key issues in human geography – as well as an overview of human geography from the Editors. A key reference for any scholar interested in questions about what difference it makes to think spatially or geographically about the world, this Handbook is a rich and textured statement about the geographical imagination.