#OR to do exchange in Vienna Netherlands or Copenhagen

[aesthetiicly]

wanting to study abroad but also being terrified at the thought of being alone

[anniekoh]

Urban Land Rent: Singapore as a Property State by Anne Haila (2015)

The book is a comprehensive analysis of land, rent theory, and the modern city, using Singapore as a case study. It examines the question of land from a variety of perspectives: as a resource, ideologies, interventions in the land market, actors in the land market, the global scope of land markets, and investments in land. In doing so, it details the Asian development state model, historical and contemporary land regimes, public housing models, and the development industry for Singapore and several other cities, such as Hong Kong. The book also incorporates discussion of the modern real estate market, with reference to real estate investment trusts, sovereign wealth funds investing in real estate, and the fusion between sophisticated financial instruments and real estate. 

I saw Anne Haila present at AAG a few years back and was struck by my lack of knowledge on other housing systems. The homeownership model dominates the American economy and politics to such a degree that I nearly fell over at the statistics she shared.

Comparison with European cities (Data from 2000 Urban Audit) Social housing (SH) tenants %  /   Homeowners %  - Copenhagen 20% SH tenants / 16% homeowners  - Vienna 40% SH tenants / 18% homeowners  - Amsterdam 56% SH tenants / 12% homeowners - Singapore: 82% SH tenants /  90% homeowners

Review of Anne Haila’s Urban Land Rent: Singapore as a Property State by Andrew Purves, author of No Debt High Growth Low Tax 

This book is essential reading for all advocates for the implementation of Land Value Tax (LVT), as well as campaigners for social justice and a reduction of inequality who might follow more conventional solutions for wealth redistribution in Western style democracies. In the early chapters, Haila examines the theoretical and ideological basis for property ownership over the last 500 years and while critical of the status quo recognises the practical difficulties in removing prejudice and entrenched ideas. 

Haila examines the success of Singapore’s economic development since their independence in 1965. While on the surface, that development has followed the free market/private enterprise model which has delivered one of the highest levels of GDP per capita in the world, underlying its success has been a deliberate acquisition of land into public ownership, together with state ownership of public companies, albeit at arms length. 90% of land in Singapore is publicly owned, and made available through lease to private enterprise. Over 80% of the population live in public housing flats, yet at the same time own a lease on these flats. Temasek, a listed holding company 100% owned by the government of Singapore, in turn owns shares in companies that make up 50% of the value of listed companies on the Singapore Exchange. As she says: “finding a balance between state landownership and the free market economy, is a uniquely Singaporean pragmatist solution. It bypasses ideological debates about just property and focuses on consequences: economic growth, legitimacy of the government and public housing.” 

At the heart of this pragmatism applied in Singapore was the idea of finding the optimum “use value” for all land, often putting the public interest above ideologies of private ownership and control. In the process of acquiring land, previous owners were compensated at market values, but the development rights, and benefit of future growth in value transferred to the polity… 

Haila says: “This book will show how Singapore has used its scarce land resources to balance between maximising rent revenue and using its landed property for public good, to provide public housing for the majority of its population and public industrial space for the transnational companies locating in Singapore. The state land in Singapore is treated as a use value (public housing and industrial space), as an exchange value (leased for private developers) and as a source of public revenue (land leases and property tax). This triple way of using public land has caused Singapore’s economy to grow and, paradoxically, Singapore’s development companies to prosper.”

See also 2017 policy conference: “Social Housing: looking back, moving forward”

Housing Europe is the European Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing. Since 1988 it comprises a network of 44 national & regional federations representing 43,000 housing providers in 24 countries. Together they manage over 26 million homes, about 11% of existing dwellings in Europe.

Aedes is the national organisation promoting the interests of practically every social housing organisation in the Netherlands, on all possible fronts. Together, Aedes members manage 2.4 million dwellings, constituting 32 percent of the total housing stock. As a network organisation, knowledge centre and think tank, Aedes provides a platform for its 299 members to meet, exchange ideas and develop visions.

Image source: aggregate homeownership rates 2004

[walterteng-blog]

Ultimate (Exchange) Student Guide + Travel Tips! [University of Surrey x Nanyang Technological University EEE]

After more than 171 days away from home, I am finally back in time for the reunion dinner in homely Singapore which is nice! :) Back to the topic, this is a short guide that I decided to put together for the benefit of the students who are going to/ interested in going for an GEM exchange programme at University of Surrey(UoS).  Writing this also serves a good time for me to reflect all the experiences and lessons learnt from my time at University of Surrey. Before I begin, I would like to mention that one of such article have been written before by getsurrey.co.uk which you can refer to as well. Academic: In case you are wondering, I am a EEE/3 student specializing in infocommunications and I did my Y3S1 at UoS. The 4 modules I took are: EEE2045 ELECTRICAL SCIENCE II Lectured by Dr David Carey and Prof Ravi Silva aka EE3001 ENGINEERING MICROMAGNETICS (4AU) - 100% Lecture and 100% 2 hour Written Paper. EEE3008 DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING A Lectured by Prof Mark Plumbley aka EE3014 DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING - 20% Weekly Flipped Classroom Assignments which are basically group presentations for your self learning of the new topic before the lectures. 80% 2 hour Written Paper - More theory explanations and derivations than calculations as compared to the usual NTU teaching style. - I realise there is a different syllabus for DSP B offered in Sem 2 while studying for my finals. I am not sure about this. EEE3033 RF AND MICROWAVE FUNDAMENTALS Lectured by Dr Peter Aaen and Dr Tim Brown aka EE4151 RF AND MICROWAVE ENGINEERING (3AU) - 20% Lab (Advanced Design System) and 80% 2 hour Written Paper - Really skeptical about taking this mod at first since I am taking Electromagnetics mod concurrently. - Lab was a little hard to grasp at first since the overall learning curve was pretty steep for me. - Glad that I have plenty of help from my EPS project mates :)

EEE3035 ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL STUDIES Lectured by Dr David Carey and Supervised by Prof Klaus Moessner aka EE3080 DESIGN & INNOVATION PROJECT (DIP, 2AU) - Probably biggest takeaway mod; an eye opener - Project on creating a wearable tech for the medical field with a group of 6 - Lectures on various industry standards was very insightful. Topics like technological adoption life cycle, hype curves and sustainability management are a few of the many materials covered. - The UoS students have stronger hands-on skills like coming out with PCB designs and testing. Their 1 year placement/internship really gave them an edge that I am still hoping to catch up on my own. - Learnt some EAGLE basics and reinforced my knowlege of 3D design which I self learnt prior to this. - Efficient use of team management apps like Slack which was also new to me. University of Surrey EEE Faculty was highly regarded in the UK and it is a real privilege to do an exchange programme there. As mentioned, the teaching approach is very different as compared to NTU. It is very vocal with its flipped classroom teaching and there is a lot of self learning to do here. I have to refer to the textbooks a lot here. However, there is a need to memorize essential formulas for the finals which I am not used to, since the formula booklets for NTU papers are specific to the mods and comprehensive.

Play (Travel):  I went a 44 days pre-exchange trip with my friends from 8 August 2016 and we mainly covered the Scandinavian countries and Central Europe. I traveled on plenty of day trips around UK during the semester and explored the Eastern Europe during the winter vacation. I did a custom google maps to detail my travels and wrote about it a few times before. It can be overwhelming at first so it is easier to refer to the legend as a guide. Article and Legend WallEEExplore v17.01.21 Map

Helsinki, Finland (09 - 11 August 2016) Hameenlinna & Tampere (11 -12 August 2016) Turku, Finland (12-13 August 2016) Stockholm & Tyresta National Park, Sweden (14 - 17 August 2016) Norway Road Trip: Oslo Trolltunga Bergen Lysebotn Larvik, Norway (17 - 23 August 2016) Copenhagen, Denmark (24 - 27 August 2016) Aarhus, Denmark (27 -29 August 2016) Hamburg, Germany (29 Aug - 01 Sep 2016) Berlin, Germany (01 - 04 September 2016) Frankfurt, Germany (04 -07 September 2016) Luxembourg (07 - 09 September 2016) Brussels, Belgium (09 - 12 September 2016) Antwerp, Belgium (12 - 14 September 2016) Rotterdam, Netherlands (14 - 17 September 2016) The Hague, Netherlands (17 - 19 September 2016) Amsterdam, Netherlands (19 - 21 September 2016) London Day Trip (09 October 2016) Windsor Day Trip with Students’ Union (22 October 2016) Oxford Day Trip (23 October 2016) Woking Day Trip (02 November 2016) Bristol + Northern Ireland + Glastonbury & Wells (04 - 09 November 2016) Scotland(Glasgow & Edinburgh) Trip with Students’ Union (11 - 14 November 2016) Cambridge Day Trip (19 November 2016) Brighton Day Trip (26 November 2016) Paris + Disneyland (02 - 06 December 2016) Manchester + Lake District Road Trip (19 - 21 December 2016) Stonehenge + Bath Tour (23 December 2016) London (24 - 27, 30 - 31 December 2016) Prague, Czech Republic (01 - 04 January 2017) Salzburg + Hallstatt + Vienna, Austria (05 - 09 January 2017) Budapest, Hungary (10 - 12 January 2017)

It will take me a while or forever to ever write about the details of all the places I have been to, so if there is any particular places that you might want some tips or itinerary, do contact me directly. I don’t bite. :))

Here are some other custom maps I did during my researches for new places to go. These are mainly within the UK.

UK Top Places to Visit (Detailed)

Lake District Day Drive Trip

: This was meant for a day trip to the Lake District from Manchester during the winter when the daytime is short. Nonetheless, it is still recommended to spend more time there and go for a hike!

*** Tips for travelling around UK 1. Get a 16-25 Railway Card first! It cost  £30 and it’ll save you 1/3 on rail fares. You’ll cover back that  £30 in no time if you go for a lot of day trips. 2. Going for day trips with University of Surrey Students’ Union (SU) is a lot cheaper (even with a rail card). It is more worthwhile if they are able to get discounted admission tickets to castles etc. However, in my opinion, it is not recommended to go for a long trip with them though. You’re more restricted in terms of time and (super) long bus trips is tiring. :( 3. Generally, you can go for a day trip anywhere as long as the ride one way is about 3 hours or less. You’ll still have enough time to explore the city/town. Avoid going those that are far away during winter as you will have little day time. Unless you want to fork out more money to find accom. 4. Get advance tickets if you are able to plan about 2 weeks ahead. It can be very cheap. However, day trips tend to be impromptu, so super off-peak tickets bought on the day itself are your best bet. But still, try to plan ahead. 5. The best part of Guildford is that, London is just 40 - 60 mins away! A day travel zone tickets covers both your travel to and fro plus unlimited London tube travel! 6. Get an Oyster card if you travel to London a lot. Don’t forget to link it to 16-25 Rail card for 1/3 off. You have to go to any station and ask the station attendants to do that. Remember that daily fares caps are at about  £6 or  £ 6.45 and it costs nothing after that. UNLIMITED POWER~ 6. I prefer the National Rail app over Trainline cos it tends to be more detailed. But you will need trainline app if you want to buy tickets online.

Where to go in Guildford?: 1. Picinic / BBQ by the university lake 2. Short hikes / Picnics around town like The Mount, Pewley Downs, St Martha-on-the-hill, Guildford Castle 3. Tea Terrace  at the top floors of House of Fraser 4. Bike / Walk along River Wey to nearby towns like Godalming, Shalford or the Riverside Park. Refer to this route guide.

Giffgaff or Three: Personally, I used giffgaff when I know I am not travelling out of UK for the month and Three if I am going to travel. Yes, in the end, I kept 2 UK lines since my android phone support dual sim anyway. Here is why: Giffgaff: Good: More data tiering than Three. You can buy data for 1, 2, 4 GB and so on, depending on your usage. Three only has 1GB and 12GB packages. (who uses 1 GB anyway?!) Three: Good: You can use your data in many other European countries. No more trying to connect wifi on the streets to upload your latest snaps or instagram stories. UNLIMITED POWER~ x2 Santander Basic or Current: Basic. I think it will still be confusing even if I explain the differences between the two here so, you should listen closely when you are at bank then. Here is the why: 1. You will get used to transferring money between your bank card and debit card in no time. 2. No  £5/mo

BTW, remitting money from DBS to Santander is free and it offers the best exchange rate. It is almost instant during office hours (both UK and SG), but it can be a nightmare if you ran out of money and it is the weekend.

Food: There are food places like Young’s Kitchen, Hillside and some kebabs stalls nearby in school, but trust me, you will get used to cooking for every meal in the end. Deals varies from time to time in Tesco and Sainsburys’ but there are 2 things that are certain. 1.  £2.50 -  £3 B&J or Haagen Dazs is irresistible 2. Poundland for your snacks, chocolates and Haribos. 

Useful Apps (Android): 1. National Rail / Trainline: For your railway timings etc 2. Santander: Banking 3. Giffgaff / Three: Check your data usage 4. Tube Map London: London tube can be confusing and there is no reception once you are inside! 5. Moovit: Shows transport route options in many European cities when Google Maps fails 6. Flixbus: Mostly used this bus service in Europe like Germany. Track its prices religiously if you desperately need a cheap getaway from studies to Paris Disneyland 7. Skyview Free: Just cos you tend to see more stars wherever you are in Europe than Singapore 8. Maps.me: If you need an alternative to Google Maps. However, I used Google Maps extensively by starring important places. You can label them for easy identification when your maps get too crowded.

Tip: Use location history in Google Maps to review the places you go before, in case you want to research further on the place you been to when you are back.

Tell me your experiences! :  While I spent a rather fruitful time in UoS, I didn’t really join CCAs or had any sort of party life. Haha. I had plenty of the “chill in the kitchen/room” life though. Besides, my housemates kept telling Rubix, the school nightclub was always mediocre anyway. There are plenty of interesting CCAs in UoS like Equestrian Club, ABACUS, the Singaporeans Society or the SurreyEARS but I didn’t get myself to join in the end because: 1. You need Surrey Sports Park membership for sports CCA. 2. I want to travel around during my free time. Hope this guide have been useful so far and do share with me your exchange stories, I would love to listen to them! Go out there and create your own memories if you started your exchange!

PS. Pardon me for any major grammatical errors etc, I am writing this at 5am, Singapore time in the morning. Jetlag is hitting me pretty bad. Haiz.

[ Teng Kok Wai (Walter) - Nanyang Technological University x  University of Surrey, Email: teng0107@e.ntu.edu.sg EEE AY16/17 Y3S1]

[gigsoupmusic]

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead launch video for ‘Into The Godless Void’

Second single from forthcoming 10th studio album …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead bring fans another new song today with the release of “Into The Godless Void.”  Everything kicks into full pelt with this noisy and thrilling existential anthem that follows the news of the band’s first new album in six years, their upcoming 25th year anniversary and a European headline tour.  Just last month …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Deadannounced the January 17th release of X: The Godless Void and Other Stories along with their first new song and video for “Don’t Look Down” which Rolling Stonecalled “…a bustling rock track carried by rushing drums and fuzzy guitars….”  “Into The Godless Void” is a track that founding member Jason Reece says deals with “this existential woe that all humans tend to go through – feeling that weight that plagues the mind.”  Fellow founding member Conrad Keely adds, “Songs have a life of their own.  If you listen to them, they’ll tell you how they want to manifest.”  https://youtu.be/qwPvnMdAXyA As they enter their 25th year together, Trail of Dead is back to their core with Keely and Reece at the helm and basing themselves in Austin where Reece has been holding it down since the band’s early days.  Keely returned in 2018 after a five-year stint in Cambodia and earlier this year they took the band on the road for a 20th anniversary tour of 1999’s Madonna.  The new album will be released as a Limited CD Digipak, 180g vinyl + album on CD & as digital album, all featuring the iconic artwork of Conrad Keely. Pre-order now here: https://andyouwillknowusbythetrailofdead.lnk.to/XTGVAOS  X: The Godless Void and Other Stories was produced by …Trail’s own Conrad Keely alongside engineer Charles Godfrey (Sinkane, of Montreal, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Work on the new album began in earnest in 2018 after Keely returned home to Austin following five years in Cambodia, rejoining fellow founding member Jason Reece. As a result, the album sees Keely detailing “the sadness of moving away from a place that I loved,” while also taking inspiration from Steven Pressfield’s book The War Of Art to face his own demons regarding the creative process. “I feel like I’m writing pop music,” he says, “it’s just not Top 20 pop. It’s the pop music I wish was on the radio, the pop music I would’ve grown up with.” Reece agrees, citing Talk Talk, Killing Joke and Laurie Anderson as inspirations. “There’s definitely the idea of loss, leaving someone or something important in your life, but it’s more abstract,” he explains, adding that the track “Into The Godless Void” in particular deals with “this existential woe that all humans tend to go through – feeling that weight that plagues the mind.” X: The Godless Void and Other Stories comes as the duo enters their 25th year together as a band. After playing their first show together in 1995, they quickly became known for their powerful and cathartic live performances that often ended with them destroying their instruments on stage. They released their self-titled debut album in 1997 on King Coffey’s Trance Syndicate label and in 1999, sophomore LP Madonna followed on Merge Records. Three years later, seminal LP Source Tags & Codes would cement the band’s status in rock lore after it earned them a rare Pitchfork 10. The band subsequently released Worlds Apart (2005), So Divided (2006), The Century of Self (2009) and the triumphant Tao of the Dead (2011) which led to a live performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that had Questlove tweeting, “damn!!! @realtrailofdead came and kicked ass in 2 mins!!!” Critical acclaim continued with Lost Songs in 2012 which Rolling Stone wrote, “…explosive indie-prog is defined by the push and pull of Conrad Keely's epic mysticism and Jason Reece's primal punk surge.” 2014’s IX had NME calling it, “…their most focused and thrilling…,” Uncut added that the LP did a “…a good job of tethering grand ambition to signature intensity” and Billboard said the album recalled, “the ponderous grandeur of 2002’s seminal Source Tags & Codes.” After a steady flow of albums and touring, the six years between IX and X: The Godless Void and Other Stories made up their longest break and found both Reece and Keely working on other projects. “When Conrad moved to Cambodia, we both had time to live our lives and do different things,” Reece explains. “Coming back to the band, there was a new vigor to it. It all feels exciting still.” They’ve also reverted to the live format of their early years with Reece and Keely alternating between drums and frontman duties – a musical partnership that dates back to high school and feels fresh and familiar all at the same time. The band have also announced European headline shows in support of the new record, find the full list below: Sun 09 Feb 2020 Dunquerque, France, Les Quatre Ecluses  Mon 10 Feb 2020 Paris, France, Le Petit Bain  Wed 12 Feb 2020 Cologne, Germany, Stadtgarten  Thu 13 Feb 2020 Bielefeld, Germany, Forum  Fri 14 Feb 2020 Basel, Switzerland, Sommercasino  Sun 16 Feb 2020 Reutlingen, Germany, Franz.K  Mon 17 Feb 2020 Munich, Germany, Strom  Tue 18 Feb 2020 Vienna, Austria, Flex  Wed 19 Feb 2020 Berlin, Germany, Festsaal Kreuzberg  Fri 21 Feb 2020 Hamburg, Germany, The Stage Club  Sat 22 Feb 2020 Copenhagen, Denmark, Loppen  Sun 23 Feb 2020 Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm Nalen Klubb  Mon 24 Feb 2020 Oslo, Norway, Vulkan Arena   Wed 26 Feb 2020 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Melkweg  Thu 27 Feb 2020 Nijmegen, Netherlands, Doornroosje  Fri 28 Feb 2020 Brussels, Belgium, Botanique  Sat 29 Feb 2020 Brighton, Sussex, England, Patterns  Sun 01 Mar 2020 Bristol, England, The Exchange  Mon 02 Mar 2020 Nottingham, England, The Bodega Social Club  Tue 03 Mar 2020 Edinburgh, Scotland, The Mash House  Wed 04 Mar 2020 Manchester, England, Night & Day  Thu 05 Mar 2020 Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Riverside  Sat 07 Mar 2020 Leicester, England, The Cookie  Sun 08 Mar 2020 Huddersfield, England, The Parish  Tue 10 Mar 2020 London, England, The Dome  Wed 11 Mar 2020 St Albans, England, The Horn  The full track-listing for ‘X: The Godless Void and Other Stories’ is as follows: 1. The Opening Crescendo 2. All Who Wander 3. Something like This 4. Into the Godless Void 5. Don’t look down 6. Gone 7. Children of the Sky 8. Who Haunts the Haunter 9. Eyes of the Overworld 10. Gravity 11. Blade of Wind 12. Through the Sunlit Door  Read the full article