Civil Engineers

"Why have our efforts, the countless billions of pounds and dollars spent all over the world, the many treaties enacted and initiatives taken, not stopped the destruction of our environment, nor effectively addressed a myriad of social issues? Is it possible that our attentions and efforts are misdirected? Or are the challenges and issues facing our world today being fueled by an even deeper systematic problem? The short answer to this last question is yes."

"When we think about money, we tend to take for granted its basic characteristics, which have remained unchanged for centuries. We are not likely to visit the hidden assumptions embedded in our familiar money system, and we are even less likely to re-examine them in search of solutions."

"Dealing with the Eurozone Crisis... Another Way? As we go to press, the Greek electorate – after two years of drastic austerity measures – has voted clearly against the cuts, the bailout and the political mainstream. Chaos in the eurozone seems one step closer. So we take this opportunity to outline how just one of the proposals from this book can be applied now, in Greece, Spain or any other country facing this kind of crisis. It’s a solution that mainstream financiers and media avoid discussing, but it’s elegant and simple. It would work, and the necessary (Open Source) software is available now. Current monetary orthodoxy says that 100% of the Greek (or any other) economy must be either ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the eurozone. Everybody knows that either option will entail even higher unemployment and yet more misery. But it doesn’t have to be that way! The core principle of complementary currencies, as set out here, is that they run alongside the main currency, increasing resilience and flexibility for the entire socio-economic system."

"Money is created when banks lend it into existence. When a bank provides you with a $100,000 mortgage, it creates only the principal, which you spend and which then circulates in the economy. The bank expects you to pay back $200,000 over the next 20 years, but it doesn't create the second $100,000 - the interest. Instead, the bank sends you out into the tough world to battle against everybody else to bring back the second $100,000."

"Money is like an iron ring we've put through our noses. We've forgotten that we designed it, and it's now leading us around. I think it's time to figure out where we want to go--in my opinion toward sustainability and community--and then design a money system that gets us there."

"In this new Millennium, we are being challenged by four megatrends that are converging upon us over the next twenty years, namely:"

"Economic injustice is one of the most intractable problems that humanity has had because, actually economic justice has never really existed in most societies... in a long history of mankind, 5,000 years. There have been a couple of exceptions where I believe it has happened... and we can see why they were exceptions. That's what's going to get interesting. So here's my plan, first i'm going to give you the context..."

"Your money's value is determined by a global casino of unprecedented proportions: $2 trillion are traded per day in foreign exchange markets, 100 times more than the trading volume of all the stockmarkets of the world combined. Only 2% of these foreign exchange transactions relate to the "real" economy reflecting movements of real goods and services in the world, and 98% are purely speculative. This global casino is triggering the foreign exchange crises which shook Mexico in 1994-5, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998. These emergencies are the dislocation symptoms of the old Industrial Age money system."

"In addition, any Greek city/region wanting to participate can issue its own local currency (generically called ‘Civics’ in the case study in chapter VIII). Civics are used to pay for important local, social and environmental programs. In our example, 1 Civic is issued to anyone who completes 1 hour of approved service to the community. Projects for which Civics are paid should be decided democratically and locally."

"In his book The Future of Money, Lietaer points out - as the government did yesterday - that in situations like ours everything grinds to a halt for want of money. But he also explains that there is no reason why this money should take the form of sterling or be issued by the banks. Money consists only of "an agreement within a community to use something as a medium of exchange." The medium of exchange could be anything, as long as everyone who uses it trusts that everyone else will recognize its value. During the Great Depression, businesses in the United States issued rabbit tails, seashells and wooden discs as currency, as well as all manner of papers and metal tokens. In 1971, Jaime Lerner, the mayor of Curitiba in Brazil, kick-started the economy of the city and solved two major social problems by issuing currency in the form of bus tokens. People earned them by picking and sorting litter: thus cleaning the streets and acquiring the means to commute to work. Schemes like this helped Curitiba become one of the most prosperous cities in Brazil."

"This is not a book on economics or economic theory. I am not an economist. My expertise lies in international finance and money systems. This is why I have adopted here a whole systems approach to money. Whole systems take into account a broader, more comprehensive arena than economics does; it integrates not only economic interactions but also their most important side effects. This includes specifically in our case the effects of different money systems on the quality of human interactions, on society at large, and on ecological systems. In essence, money is a lifeblood flowing through ourselves, our society, our global human community, and should be acknowledged and treated consciously."

"Here’s our systemic solution in a nutshell:"

"Part One brings our hidden assumptions about money to the surface. In doing so, it also brings to light new potentials for our interactions with money. It is not about how to make, invest or spend money. There are already plenty of books about all of that. It is about the concept of money, and how different money systems shape different societies."

"There are three reasons why I believe the current, ongoing monetary initiatives have a better chance of success than ever before: First and foremost, these money innovations are not attacking the official money system. What they do instead is complement the conventional money system, providing new tools that can operate in parallel with it, without replacing it. That is why I call them 'complementary currencies', and not, 'alternative' ones."

"One of my missions was to raise the voice of women like me, raise the voice of migrant women and women of colour so it could be part of the political system."

"We have to put more focus on them (younger members of MCA to run the party), because I know the next change of government might only happen after 10 years."

"As Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun M (Mahathir Mohamad) has left an indelible mark on the nation’s political landscape. While we may differ in our political views and approaches, his long-standing role in public service and national governance remains a significant part of Malaysia’s political history."

"In Malaysia, you cannot misrepresent yourself as an accountant unless you are a member of MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants)."

"I can’t understand how people can say they [Maduro's Venezuela] are practising democracy — that’s not democracy."

"This shows a different Argentina. There is a new generation in politics that wants to be part of the 21st century."

"I promised to tell people the truth. I don’t believe in messianic leaderships but in teamwork."

"Things cannot change in just seven months, but every day we improve a little bit more."

"We want to be part of the world, part of the future, part of the solution."

"My concern is making things work. It is what my people need."

"It is not so easy to [rebalance] an economy after a decade of lies. They were taking Argentina towards the same kind of problems that Venezuela is facing now."

"I understand that many of the decisions I have taken are not so easy for many people."

"If there were any alternative to increasing tariffs, I would have taken it, but there is not."

"Isler’s form-finding method of the reversed hanging cloth was discovered serendipitously in the summer of 1955. On a building site he saw a piece of wet burlap draped over a mesh of steel bars. He noticed that within one square opening, the burlap hung in a domelike shape under its own weight. Isler concluded that the cloth carried itself in pure tension, so that when it was reversed it would become a form in pure compression. ...the three-dimensional version of Hooke’s discovery; a piece of cloth that is hung from several fixed points will create an ideal form that is completely in tension. If the shape is “frozen” and flipped, the resulting shell should be in complete compression, which is convenient for concrete structures since concrete performs well in compression but poorly in tension. The main difference between the work of Gaudí and Isler is that the Spanish architect found his form through a network of two-dimensional catenary shapes while the Swiss engineer only used one hanging element (a piece of fabric) to determine the ideal form of his structure."

"Heinz Isler strongly believes that the work of the architect and the engineer cannot be separated in shell design because of its inherent integration of aesthetics and statics. [An] ideal architect-engineer relationship is epitomized by the collaboration of Heinz Isler and Michael Balz... Isler taught Balz various form-finding methods, and consequently the architect began to design his own creative shells by exploring hanging membranes and inflated forms. Although Isler and Balz only worked on a few projects together in Germany, the resulting shells (including the , the Stetten Theater, and the Balz House) are some of the most elegant works that Isler produced in his career."

"Isler’s methods were completely based on physical modeling and experiments. In fact, he rarely used general mathematical theories when designing his shells."

"The majority of Isler's shells are specifically designed to remain in compression under all load conditions, but in the case of the hyperbolic paraboloid [Heilig Geist Kirche (Holy Spirit Church), ] both tension and compression stresses normally occur. To overcome the adverse effects of the tension stresses Isler applied a pre-stress through the shell surface by post-tensioning using eight cables between the wall tops... This he simulated in the workshop model... as usual for Isler's experimental technique, the roof loads were applied by means of small wooden discs distributed evenly over the surface to simulate uniformly distributed load. In turn these were connected to a hanging network of timber spreader bars and strings in such a way that the distributed load could be applied with a single weight or hydraulic jack. The pre-stressing force was applied by small hydraulic jacks. This arrangement allowed vertical, horizontal and pre-stressing loads to be applied in appropriate combinations, simulating the shell self-weight, full snow load, partial snow, etc. Uplift loads induced by the wind were assessed by appropriate factoring and reversing the stresses (derived from electrical strain gauges attached to the model surface) resulting from downward loads."

"Heinz Isler’s innovative methods for determining the shape of reinforced concrete shells first became widely known through his presentation of a paper entitled ‘New Shapes for Shells’... At that time reinforced concrete shells were a very popular form of construction worldwide. However, their forms were almost entirely those which could be described easily by geometrical and mathematical formulae e.g. barrel vaults, spherical domes, conoids, and constructed using relatively simple formwork as in the case of the straight boards used for hyperbolic paraboloid surfaces. ...[A] rounded mound of soil encircled by a trench and captioned “Form for a shell in concrete”; a stepped swimming pool of organic shape dug into the ground, labelled “Plastic shell as swimming pool”; and some rectangular ‘bubble’ shell roofs... illustrate the two of the three form-finding methods..."

"Heinz Isler's involvement in the development of the design for the "Steinkirche" ... could not be more different from that of the church at Lommiswil. ...[A] competition... [was] won by Werner Schmidt... Isler was consulted as an expert in shell design and construction. To understand the structural behaviour... and, in particular, the effect of these glazed openings, Isler returned to his tried and tested methods using physical models. ...To transfer forces across the openings in the shells, the sides of the cut were to be linked by steel bars, whilst the glazing was installed in the plane of the cut surfaces of the removed wedges. ...Isler made plaster casts and Styrofoam models... From these he cast thin latex rubber shells complete with the cut-out openings and with flexible cords linking the two sides... These rods were disposed in a diagonal "zig-zag" configuration similar to that of the lacing on a traditional leather football or shoelaces... When the rubber surface was loaded it was easy to see how the flexible cords behaved. ...compression near the top of the ovoid forms and in tension towards the base. In the final scheme the forces are carried by hightensile bars... To enable the same anchorage detail to be used in all locations, Isler developed a "brush anchor"... Heinz Isler's... method for determining the shape of his shells was to accurately measure a plaster cast of the form."

"is a reinforced concrete shell with the shell thickness varying from 9 cm to 12 cm [3.5 to 4.7 in.]... Since the structure is in compression, instability is an issue, particularly at the edges and supports of the shell. Isler does not use any stiffening edge beams in the Naturtheater Grötzingen; instead, he upturns the edges (which corresponds to the overhanging fabric in the hanging model) so that the double curvature required for increased stiffness is achieved without any increase in shell thickness... However, to reduce the stresses in the supports, Isler simply tapered the legs so that they were thicker than the rest of the shell."

"[Architects and engineers] must be willing to subordinate themselves to the emerging logic of the shell’s form as it evolves through experimentation."

"...I do not say any form which you construct this way is a good form, or must lead to a good solution; but there are forms which can lead to good solutions, and of course that is only the first link in a whole chain of investigations, and the other links in the investigation, model tests, measuring of the first structure, or a model test in scale 1:1 as we have it out here, these are of primary importance. So the engineer[‘s] problem is remaining all the same, but it is the first link, here, the shaping which has been lacking up to now, and this method can lead to a very nice solution."

"Among others there are three methods for shaping shells: the freely shaped hill, the membrane under pressure and the hanging cloth reversed."

"[T]heoretical considerations and derivations … are always based on severe simplifications of the assumptions."

"In spite of strength of my conviction, I have certain great regard for your fine abilities and love for the country and that shall be unabated whether I have the good fortune to secure your cooperation or face your honest opposition....I see that we hold perhaps diametrically opposite views. My conviction based upon extensive experiences of village life is that in India at any rate for generations to come, we shall not be able to make much use of mechanical power for solving the problem of the ever growing poverty of the masses."

"Industrialize or Perish"

"He is an engineer of integrity, character and broad national outlook who could take an unbiased view, resist local pressures and whose views would be respected and accepted by all."

"It is better to work out than rust out."

"I walked my way to good health"

"The development of this system, the [Block System] is due entirely to the genius of Mr Vishvesharaya, certainly one of the ablest officers, European or Indian, of the Public Works Department, with whom it has been my pleasure and honour to work"

"He wrote in his letter addressed to Jawahar Lal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India when the Bharat Ratna title was conferred on him, as quoted in"

"If you feel that by giving this title, I will praise your government, you will be disappointed. I am a fact finding man."

"These facts and figures must serve as an eye-opener to the people of Mysore. I refer to them here not because I have any hopes of our reaching the levels of prosperity of the two Colonies, but because it will do us good to know what organization and human endeavour are capable of achieving under favourable conditions. / The nationality of our people rests on a religious and fatalistic basis, not on an economic basis, as in the West. There are still people among us who believe that the golden age was in the past, the world is on the down-grade and the old-word conditions might yet be reproduced some day. The Hindu ideal of life is that this world is a preparation for the next and not a place to stay in and make ourselves comfortable. We are devoted to past ideals, although, out of necessity or from prospect of personal gain, we have partly taken to Western methods of work and business. There is a yearning for the old ideals and a half-hearted acquiescence in the new and, on the whole, the genius of the people is for standing still. / If we are to follow in the wake of other countries in the pursuit of material prosperity, we must give up aimless activities and bring our ideals into line with the standards of the West, namely, to spread education in all grades, multiply occupations and increase production and wealth. All other activities should conform themselves to the economic idea. [148-149]"

"As sound as what one might expect from the distinguished engineer who drew them up. He has shown the way to turn dire misfortune into a positive blessing. The proposals are without blemish. I strongly advocate carrying out the scheme."

"You are for developing village industries and I favour both heavy industries and village industries. To the extent that you propose to advance village industries, I am at once with you. I can never persuade myself to take up a hostile attitude towards any constructive work, from any quarter, least of all towards work attempted by one with your brilliant historic achievements in public life....I am in favour of heavy industries because heavy industries will save the money that is going out of the country in large sums every year; heavy industries are required to provide the local manufactures of machinery and equipment required by our railways and for defence forces and heavy industries are required also for supplying machinery and tools for the village industries themselves. I recommend more extended use of mechanical power because it produces results for the country much more rapidly than human power. The object is to get food and commodities required by our people for a decent standard of living as speedily as possible."

"The Indian mind needs to be familarised with the principles of modern progress, a universal impulse for enquiry and enterprise awakened, and earnest thinking and effort promoted. A new type of Indian citizenship purposeful, progressive and self-respecting should be created, and self-reliant nationhood developed."