Urban Architecture Past and Present

Urban architecture has included high rise buildings as far back as the Tower of Babel in the Bible’s book of Genesis. “Its top in the sky” is the phrase used to describe the tower and was an idiom for impressive height. Another account mentions that the Tower reached a height of 695 feet, which was taller than any structure built in history until the Eiffel Tower in 1889, which is 1,063 feet in height.

In classical architecture, the landmark was an object set apart by its height, mass and silhouette. High rise buildings often served as accents to highlight the city center or to serve as dominant urban structures. They created a new visual identity and shaped the skylines of the city.

Modern High Rise Condos

Modern high rise condos try to incorporate the topographic features into the buildings and to have a unique expression inherent to the particular cities in which they are located. When a contractor or developer creates tall buildings in cities with century’s worth of history, it may be a challenge, but the past, present, and future should be able to live alongside each other in harmony. Architecture can successfully blend into a location when it is sensitive to the surroundings and the background of the property.

The imperative is to consider the impact on the surrounding city, improved space utilization, environmental strategies, and other factors that serve to increase the value of the building while providing the preferred living characteristics sought by potential tenants.

New high rise construction makes use of the latest technological advances. The advances are also a part of the renewal of unattractive industrial areas for updated purposes. Old industrial areas whose purpose has become lost become a potential place to develop high rise construction.

Urban Living Becomes More Attractive

After approximately 60 years of a single family house in the suburbs being the preferred living arrangement, numerous factors have made those arrangements not as livable. The high maintenance, taxes, insurance, gasoline costs for commuting, as well as other expenses, can make homeowners think longingly of the benefits of urban living.

People are thinking long and hard about living in the smaller and yet efficient atmosphere of a condo in a beautiful high rise building, owning property that needs no landscaping maintenance; an area that is pedestrian friendly and offers mass transit instead of having to bear the high costs of a motor vehicle.

Added to the above are the social assets of having areas and activities in the buildings that bring residents together to easily make new friends and to enjoy a variety of events and hobbies that make for happier living. Additionally, many upscale high rise buildings include fitness centers, a pool, outdoor recreational areas and other desirable amenities.

Some studies predict that by 2050 the population will have reached nine billion and that six to seven billion will be living in cities. There will be a need to continue increasing urban density, and well-built and well-designed high rise buildings are central to achieving that.

Negotiating Debt Settlements

If you thought that debt consolidation is the only way to settle your debts, think again. There is another effective method by which you can pay off your creditors and it is debt settlement. Debt settlement, otherwise known as debt negotiation is a process where you or a qualified professional contacts your creditors and negotiates your debts to a subsidized affordable amount.

Negotiating debt settlement can be a very economical option to pay off your debts. You can hire the services of a professional debt arbitrator to handle the negotiating process on your behalf or you can even consider doing it yourself with the help of expert advice and tips. Usually debt settlement services offer resources that can help get the best settlement but it is crucial that you find an ethical agency to get the best quality services.

Debt settlement can effectively help save you money, but you need enough finances to make a lump sum payoff to your creditors. Before going for debt settlement, you need to determine your affordability to arrange for the money to pay off your debts. The most common ways to arrange the required money is through tax refunds, second mortgage, home equity loan and savings. If you are planning to apply for a loan, ensure you review your repayment abilities carefully or you may end up with more overwhelming debt.

If you have several debts to pay, it would be wise to pay off ones with the highest interest rates before the rest. Also when negotiating debt settlement, remember to arrange a deal where your creditors would not report the deficiency balance as this could impact your credit scores and your credit rating could suffer for several years.

Although most people hire professional help to negotiate debt settlement, it is possible to do it yourself. Here are some things to keep in mind if you decide to negotiate debt settlement yourself:

ASK FOR A CUTBACK: It is always wise to ask for a cutback on your debts even though your creditors may try to pressure you for the full amount.

DO NOT BE HASTY – Never rush through the negotiation or you may end up making a pricy mistake. It is crucial that you remain calm, thorough and focused throughout the meeting.

NEGOTIATE ON TERMS – It is very important that you negotiate on terms to settle the debt. It is not as difficult as it may look and is pretty simple to master the terms and conditions. There are several programs that can guide you in negotiating debt settlement to help reach your desired outcome.

Presenting Yourself With Confidence – How to Break Out of Your Shell

Imagine a royal court. You have the king, the dukes, the prince, the peasants and everyone in-between. Each of us has the equivalent to a royal court that resides in our heads. We populate the roles of the court with people we know and ourselves. Depending on our role and depending on the role of whomever it is we are interacting with, we act differently. Daily interactions always go through this thought process. If you’ve given yourself the role of peasant, you will always be expecting people to put you down. If, however, you’ve given yourself the role of a king, you don’t expect to ever be put down. The way one views oneself has been influenced by a myriad of factors, but most importantly by the people one surrounds oneself by. The trick to the whole game of life is figuring out which role you’ve given yourself and deciding if that’s the role you want to have. You can choose any role you want, but whatever role you choose becomes your reality.

When someone treats you in a way that isn’t congruent with your self-assigned role, your ego get’s shaken. You can physically feel the effects when that happens. That’s called “fight or flight.” I’m sure you’ve heard of it. I just find it amazing that the body reacts as if it is in physical danger when the ego is rattled.

The word “ego” has to be the most misused word in the English language. It’s been associated with “megalomania,” “vanity,” and a bunch of other negative concepts. According to Freud, it actually just represents the conscious, instead of the unconscious, mind. If a challenge to the conscious mind causes a physical reaction, it stands to reason that you can control the physical world through your conscious thoughts. I could take it a step further and posit that you must change your thoughts before you can change your physical reality. If we consider this as truth, then we aren’t reacting to our environments, we are creating them!

Once, I walked into a friend’s house that needed to be cleaned badly. His name is Charlie. I wouldn’t say he was up to hoarder status, but he definitely needed a hand. I realized that I could help change the situation in that house; and, without sounding condescending; I offered to hire Charlie a maid service. The thought of a maid service coming in to help clean up bothered Charlie to the point of physical agitation. Why would somebody with a dirty house be so against a paid maid service? I would have loved such a luxury.

The answer to that riddle lies in the internal role my friend has given himself… not exactly king. My offer to have a paid service come and clean things challenged his role, thereby challenging his ego, and causing him physical discomfort. Having a maid come in and clean would mean that the role he had given himself was false… that he wasn’t privileged enough to have a service like that. These are the types of life changing thought processes that need to be considered when attempting to unlock your inner swag. Have you given yourself the wrong role? Are you a peasant or are you upwardly mobile? If you’ve given yourself the wrong role, you need to change it and now.

If Charlie had already made the conscious decision to change the way he views himself in relation to his environment, he wouldn’t have resisted the notion of having a paid maid service come in and clean. He would have already been agitated at the sight of such a dirty house and would have been waiting for the opportunity to gather enough resources to get it fixed up. If he had done the internal work before the chance presented itself, he would have been able to benefit from it. If he previously visualized a clean house, it would have actualized at that moment. Daydreaming is, therefore, productive. Dream your reality into existence.

Some people just aren’t ready to view the world in a different way than they always have and they miss out on life because of it. Charlie could have challenged his own ego and upgraded his environment; but instead chose the lazy route and stayed in his comfort zone. It’s much better to step outside of the comfort zone, even if it means asking for help or thinking of oneself in a different light. To do it any other way is to cheat oneself. Do not wait around to be swallowed up by an environment you’ve created. That’s never a good look.

Ask yourself, “What role have I given myself?” You are not your role. You never were. You never will be. Your role is just a hat you wear, that’s all. Becoming the best person you can possibly be involves assessing your perspective. You can’t become the person you want to be if you don’t start with a basic understanding of who you are. Just like a general going to war against an enemy, you must assess the obstacles that stand in the way of you unlocking your personal potential. The first of those obstacles is your ego.

Everyone has doubts and insecurities about themselves… some are natural, but most are shaped by those around us. The art of finding yourself in all of that involves, oddly enough, finding yourself in those around you. People project their own insecurities onto you. You absorb those interactions and then they become a part of your personality. You really are the sum of the people around you. They help shape the way you view yourself and the way you view the world. You are the flesh and blood representation of all the thoughts, emotions, and views you have absorbed from those around you.

It’s important to be conscious about which notions you allow yourself to absorb and which you allow to “pass.” Once you allow a certain belief to enter your mind and become a fixture, you will begin to mirror that belief and your entire reality will bend in order to make room for it. Renovating your house of cards is just as time-consuming and uncomfortable as renovating your physical house. It hurts, but that’s the only way to truly grow.