Architecture Commons^™

Design For The Past, Zexi Wang

Masters Theses

The thesis project started off with an investigation of the Coal Gas Factory in Datong City, and an interview of a former factory employee. All relevent information is covered in the Report.

This thesis project proposes for an alternative factory design solution for the past (1980s), acknowledging its inevitable failure in its future (2000s).

The design acknowledges architecture’s nature of temporality, and is focused on making architecture transformative--creating space and environment for architecture to be transformed in order to accommodate updated programs and activities when its no longer able to serve its original purpose.

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city ...

Opportunities And Challenges Of Geospatial Analysis For Promoting Urban Livability In The Era Of Big Data And Machine Learning, Anna Kovacs-Györi, Alin Ristea, Clemens Havas, Michael Mehaffy, Hartwig H. Hochmair, Bernd Resch, Levente Juhasz, Arthur Lehner, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Thomas Blaschke

GIS Center

Urban systems involve a multitude of closely intertwined components, which are more measurable than before due to new sensors, data collection, and spatio-temporal analysis methods. Turning these data into knowledge to facilitate planning efforts in addressing current challenges of urban complex systems requires advanced interdisciplinary analysis methods, such as urban informatics or urban data science. Yet, by applying a purely data-driven approach, it is too easy to get lost in the ‘forest’ of data, and to miss the ‘trees’ of successful, livable cities that are the ultimate aim of urban planning. This paper assesses how geospatial data, and urban analysis ...

To Build A Space: A Reading Of Bodies, Temporality, And Urban Colonization, Delaney Tax

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

Historical and modern urban planning theory often focuses on an idealized body and subject, shaped by race, gender, and sexuality, that exists within the city. This passively and actively divides space into thresholds impenetrable by bodies othered by social and political ideologies. This project looks at the realities of colonial urban planning and the gendered, raced, and queered implications forced onto bodies and communities through the built environment. This investigation examines the frameworks present in colonial urban theory that engender meaning and knowledges onto bodies as they move through the cityscape. Exploring modes of in/access and power along ...

Sustainable Development And Regenerative Sustainability In The Legal Urban Framework Of The Republic Of North Macedonia – Challenge Or Utopia, Strahinja Trpevski, Zaklina Angelovska

UBT International Conference

We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong we may begin to use it with love and respect- is a deep thinking of Aldo Leopold. This promotes a regenerative shift in the sustainability concept, no longer only considering resources and energy, but also significant human-centric attributes and a space. This paper presents the context in which urban planners can contribute to raising the values of sustainability, attitudes and behavior in future regenerative societies, while critically analyzing 20 years of continuous profound change ...

“Urban Corridor”: Growing The Connective Tissue Of Nashville, Lindsey Brown

Architecture Thesis Prep

Nashville is undergoing mass-gentrification, and certain marginalized groups are disconnected by infrastructure or distance from basic needs and resources. Architecture can reconnect underserved communities in order to empower them to participate culturally and reclaim autonomy over their community. Through this thesis, architecture can connect the city through the development of infrastructure that (1) encourages tourist exploration out of the inner ring, (2) encourages more sustainable transportation by visitors and residents, (3) increases visitor and resident access to resources through the incorporation of program to make an “active infrastructure”, and (4) highlights the wide variety of cultures in Nashville.

Olympic Gardens After The Games, Kaylee O'Brien

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis begins with an intense study of landscape and the garden. In addition to research on the historical, theoretical, and contemporary conditions of the garden, the thesis investigates the architectural and landscape conditions of the Olympic Games. Specifically looking into issues including Olympic Legacy, Olympic Gardens, and urban interventions associated with Olympic Parks, the project aims to understand ways in which these subjects can be studied, analyzed, and reapplied in the context of a new architectural design. This combined research into gardens and the Olympic Games serves as a foundation for the thesis design project, providing strategies and ways ...

Rethinking Participatory Design: Tools For Modelling Community Potentials, Adam Liu, Stephen Marinelli

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis aims to provide an alternative method of community engagement through the process of participatory model-making. Rather than only seeking out community voices for surveys and data collection, this project’s goal is to empower a community’s sense of ownership through collective design.

The methods of this project will be tested and examined in collaboration with students from Dr. King Elementary School in Syracuse, New York. By designing a participatory method for model-making, the project will involve students in the early stages of urban design and make it more educationally and socially accessible.

Principles Of Urban Quality Of Life, Walaa Nour Associate Professor Of Architecture And Urban Design, Department Of Architecture Faculty Of Engineering,

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Quality of life is a notion that has been discussed by philosophers, social scientists, economists conceded with the question of how society should best allocate resources it has been widely used in a wide range of contexts , including the fields of international development, health care, political science, built environment, education, reaction and leisure time social belonging. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question of how can urban planning contributes to improving individual quality of life, introduce the nation of urban quality of life that refers to the urban planning features that could enhance the individual quality of ...

Co-Designing A Healthier Community:A Comprehensive Mobility Planfor Saida’S Waterfront, M Ohamad Tohme Research Assistant, Faculty Of Architecture-Design And Built Environment,, Hiba Mohsen Assistant Professor, Faculty Of Architecture-Design And Built Environment

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Designing and improving cycling and walking as a soft mobility mode of transport has both environmental and social benefits and is a key in promoting healthier communities. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in redeveloping a master plan of Saida city, the gate of southern Lebanon in order to enhance the public realm, but unfortunately, a clear vision to develop comprehensive plan is still lacking. Among all Lebanese cities, Saida is the only city banned from motorcycle use for 20 years ago due to security issues. Moreover, Saida has a flat terrain, therefore it has the potential ...

Urban Politics And Policy, Susanna F. Schaller

Open Educational Resources

This class will focus on urban politics and policies as they relate to the economic, social and spatial development of metropolitan areas. We we will ask why cities and place matter and explore patterns of urban spatial development in the US. We will investigate the politics and policies that have led to “urban sprawl” and uneven development, particularly in post World War II period. We will discuss the social, economic, political implications of this form of development, focusing especially on the politics of race and class. By inserting cities, especially NYC, into the global context, we will read about neoliberal ...

Change Of Plans: The Subversive Kit In The Planned Community, Hugo Caldwell

Masters Theses

My thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between the prescriptive forces of urban planning with architecture. Through extracting elements and characteristics from an existing context, I implement a subversive system/kit of parts that work together to challenge the ideas behind top-down planning while painting a new picture of Columbia, MD, and planned communities as a whole.

Give Us Back Our River's Edge: An Analysis Of Man Made Flood Controls Along The Mississippi River, Taylor Jacobsen

LSU Master's Theses

Settlement and engagement along a river’s edge can be seen throughout human history. The direct proximity to a water’s edge has both physical and mental benefits, as well as economic value. However, throughout the last century, cities and their citizens along the Mississippi River have become disconnected from their water’s edge; due to man-made interventions for increased flood control and advancements in the maritime industry. These interventions appeared to be prudent at the time and contributed to many cities' economies to growth, poor planning and placement of these interventions created barriers between citizens and their water’s ...

Sidewaze: Crowdsourced Sidewalk Condition Data For Your Neighbourhood, Matthew Reynolds

Creative Components

Sidewaze is an app designed to explore the feasibility of crowdsourced sidewalk condition data within the Region of Waterloo, Canada. Its design was informed by user research with primary sidewalk users, including parents with small children, wheelchair users, and those with mobility concerns. Competitive research showed several solutions in the space, but few which aimed to leverage crowdsourcing and none which attempted to capture the impact of poor sidewalk conditions at a personal level. Design and subsequent usability testing of a smartphone prototype application was conducted and it was shown to be quite effective on an individual level. Several key ...

Re-Imagining Nature In Dense, High Rise Urban Environment: The Present And Future Of Green Building Infrastructure In Singapore, Claire Yi

Pomona Senior Theses

From the futuristic Jewel at Changi Airport, the healing gardens at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Yishun to School of the Arts at Orchard Road, greenery has sprouted in buildings vertically and horizontally in Singapore, painting a growing green canopy for the dense, high rise city. This paper combines both analyses from first-hand site visits and case studies from external scholar studies to examine the performance of existing Green Building Infrastructures (BGIs) within Singapore’s unique urban context. The study reveals that the success of BGIs is highly dependent on the programming (i.e. thermal comfort design, accessibility, amenity facilities ...

The Living Community Challenge: An Uncase Study In Biophilic Master Planning, Jordan Grimaldi

Pomona Senior Theses

In a world that is quickly urbanizing with a climate that is rapidly changing, the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) Living Community Challenge (LCC) offers a whimsical yet highly relevant model for sustainable development—creating cities that are as connected and beautiful as forests. As no certified Living Community exists yet, this thesis serves as an “uncase study” of North Rainier, a neighborhood in Seattle that has registered for the Challenge. In an effort to assess the LCC’s perceived effectiveness as a model for sustainable development, this thesis first summarizes nearly 400 centuries of U.S. developmental history ...

Urban Contacts: Orientalist Urban Planning And Le Corbusier In French Colonial Algiers, Delaney Tax

Copley Library Undergraduate Research Awards

Algiers, the first French colony in Africa, was conquered in 1830 and gained independence in 1962. During this period, Algiers was constructed into an Orientalist acting ground that was shaped through political, social, economic formations in the built environment. The French colonial fascination with Algiers centered around the casbah, and thus the casbah became a laboratory for ethnographic and urban reflections. The French process of urban planning included military intervention, preservation motivated by exoticism and museology, and superstructure master plans dictated by the present benefit of indigenous communities to the colonial regime. Le Corbusier’s contact with Algiers further expresses ...

La Sostenibilidad De La Reconstrucción 2014-2019 Tras El Gran Incendio En Valparaíso: Una Mirada Desde La Habitabilidad, Resiliencia Y Preparación En La Gestión De Desastres, Dana Kulma

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The beautiful port city of Valparaíso, Chile is home to 42 colorful hills that overlook the Pacific Ocean. This unique city, however, is also home to multiple disasters, including urban and forest fires, tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes. This descriptive study explores the case of the 2014 “mega-fire” that destroyed 3,000 homes and affected the lives of 11,000 residents. Through five semi-structured interviews and the review of several academic and official documents, the present study analyzes the process of post-disaster reconstruction, seeking to understand the habitability and the resiliency of the reconstructed houses and neighborhoods. In order to understand ...

Environmentally Responsible Land Use, Spring/Summer 2010, Issue 22

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Urban Ecology, Spring/Summer 2003, Issue 8

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Changing Urban Form In A Shrinking City, Justin Hollander, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Rachel B. Drew

Michael P. Johnson

Webster Square Neighborhood Plan, Conor Mccormack

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

In this study, Webster Square is examined as a neighborhood and commercial node within the City of Worcester, MA. Using a variety of data sources and analyses, the study looks at the characteristics of the area to define the condition and context of Webster Square as it currently exists.Guided by current planning theory, contemporary practice, and key informant interviews, this study then suggests different directions for future development and growth in Webster Square. These visions for the future look to address key issues to help make the neighborhood a more vibrant, cohesive, and walkable community. More broadly, this study ...

“In Principle” Versus “In Reality”: Assessing The Potential Of Adaptive Urban Governance Toward Urban Flooding In Ho Chi Minh City’S District 7, Cindy Pham Nguyen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Flooding has become the new normal in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). During the rainy season, many areas of the city experience severe inundation that seriously impacts infrastructure, traffic, and economic transactions. As the effects of climate change unpredictably and rapidly manifest in Southern Vietnam, the frequency and impact of urban floods are projected to increase. In addition, within the last few decades, HCMC has rapidly developed and urbanized, transforming itself into the economic center of Southern Vietnam. However, previous studies and international experts have determined that rapid, poor development may be exacerbating urban flood issues.

In recent years, city ...

Feeling Green: The Benefits Of Green Space On Urbanites' Mental Health, Kathryn A. Hoagland

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

This investigation intends to determine the best methods for incorporating public green space into dense urban areas, for the betterment of residents' mental health. Data from studies showing differences in the prevalence of anxiety and depression in urban and rural areas are discussed alongside data from studies looking at the effect that certain types of green space might have on mental health. While there is no exact consensus on the extent to which nature has positive effects on mental health there is enough of a correlation to argue for the implementation of public green spaces in urban design, in order ...

How Autonomous Vehicles Will Reshape The Urban Landscape, Ian R. Mccarville

City and Regional Planning

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) will bring one of the largest revolutions to the nation’s transportation system, with major changes in planning policies and the urban environment. While AVs have already been introduced to our mobility network, they still require a human operator behind the wheel. In coming years, as AV technology becomes more sophisticated, it will begin to dominate the roadways due to the technologies ability to maneuver at a much high accuracy and predictability than human drivers. This transition into an AV oriented future will promote road safety, increase productivity, reduce travel and labor costs, and reinvent the urban ...

The Construction History Of Ancient Library Buildings, Sh. Abduraimov

Problems of Architecture and Construction

The history of construction and architectural design of the library in the center of Samarkand are described in the article. In the central part of Samarkand enormous building erected before the revolution is standing. It served as a urban public library for many years. The article depicts that the library building has been attracting many people with its construction work with high quality, compact size and perfect proportions of its parts.

Greenways For Climate Adaptation: Avoiding The ‘Green Paradox’ While Improving Urban Resiliency, Jacobien F. Kuiper, Elisabeth Hamin Infield

Proceedings of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning

Greenway planning and design is an important approach to climate adaptation in urban areas. In this paper we bring together literature on green gentrification, climate adaptation, and equity in an early exploration of equity issues specific to urban greenways for climate adaptation (‘adaptation-greenways’). Similar to environmental risks and green space access, impacts of climate change are distributed unevenly across urban space. Climate-vulnerable communities are often minority- and lower-income neighborhoods. Greenways can redress existing inequities (‘pre-equity issues’) by providing green space access and climate adaptation benefits in vulnerable communities. Recent projects demonstrate that greenways, while redressing existing inequities, can introduce new ...

Greenness Indicator For Spatial And Settlement Planning Based On Ndvi And Lai Indicators, Laszlo Kollányi, Klaudia Máté, Viola Prohászka, Edina D. Fóris, Ágnes Sallay

Proceedings of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning

In the international practice of green infrastructure research, many indicators have been developed to measure the social functions, naturalness, the role of the urban climate, interconnection, networking, multifunctionality, and ecosystem services. In 2007, an indicator of biological activity value (BA) was introduced into the Hungarian town planning practice and legislation, which shows the intensity of green areas in areas to be built and is the basis for counting land use changes of settlements. However, the actual biomass, which can be measured by remote sensing devices, has not yet been considered in determining the indicator values. The main purpose of this ...

From Maintenance To Stewardship: Green Stormwater Infrastructure Capacity In Vermont Towns & Design And Participatory Processes To Provide Cultural Ecosystem Services, Holly Lee Greenleaf

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The impervious surfaces of built landscapes create stormwater runoff that causes water quantity and quality problems downstream, upsetting natural hydrology and harming aquatic ecosystems. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) includes practices that reduce the amount of stormwater runoff and the pollutants it carries utilizing plants, soils, and other materials to capture, store, reuse, infiltrate, evapotranspire, and filter stormwater. GSI helps to restore developed landscapes, mimicking natural hydrologic processes and providing important water treatment functions as well as beneficial green spaces in urban areas. However, there are many challenges associated with the implementation and maintenance of GSI in our communities and cultures ...

Barriers To Implementing Urban Plans In Kenya, Rose Chelangat Kitur

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite a long history of urban planning, Kenyan towns are still characterized by informality, uncoordinated development, urban sprawl, and congestion. Government documents and reports acknowledge that, despite planning, no deliberate effort has been made to implement plans. Little is known about what impedes plan implementation in Kenya. This study sought to develop an in-depth understanding of the barriers to plan implementation from the perspectives of public officials responsible for planning. Using path dependency theory, forwarded by Pierson, and force field analysis, advanced by Lewin, the research questions focused on legal and institutional development, as well as on the nature of ...