Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

River Machine: A Balcony For The City, Nicole Anne Drelich

Masters Theses

The city of Knoxville, as it is today, lacks a certain level of connection with the Tennessee River. The goal of this thesis project is to identify the source of development away from the river, and to design a waterfront intervention, which will reflect community goals, as well as pay respect to the factors that have driven the development of Knoxville in the past.

Through the study of Knoxville’s history, one can see a clear change in the geographical and social condition of the Tennessee River in Knoxville. Through the innovation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the riverbanks were inherently …

Breaking The Eviction Cycle: Rethinking Design In An Urban Homeless Campsite, Lauren R. Dunn

Masters Theses

In Knoxville, TN, in an area of decaying rail-based industry close to a cluster of homeless services, people experiencing homelessness, who cannot or will not use the shelter system, generate outdoor campsites. Every 6 or 8 months, local authorities evict the campers due to complaints of trash accumulation or disturbances. The homeless campers then move to new locations, and the cycle begins anew. Homeless service providers and policy makers discuss what to do about the perceived problem, but they do not condone the urban campsites or ask the campers what they need to improve their situations.

This is a “wicked …

Reconnect: A New Identity For Suburban Commercial Space, Robert Michael Thew

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I address a critical situation found today within the American suburbs. Many suburban developments lack human scale and places for community interaction traditionally found in the downtown model of the city. The places of interaction, or forums, are inherent in the downtown model and are built into the block structure, and close to where people live. They promote multiple uses and the healthy interaction of the residents of the community. In the suburban model, the places of interaction are separated from neighborhoods and residences, they are highly insular and geared towards a single purpose, usually shopping.

This …

The Life And Death Of An American Block: A Dialogue With Entropy, Micah Daniel Antanaitis

Masters Theses

My goal in this thesis is to frame, through design, an existing environment in a manner that fosters the witness and embrace of the reality and beauty of decay—which acts as a marker of the passage of time. My intent is to engage in a careful renewal of a neglected, and largely forgotten, urban landscape, which does not ignore its temporal context. My hope is to explore the full potential of the life cycle of buildings and discover the lesson of mortality in modern American ruins.

Things fall apart. This is a simple truth about the physical world that humanity …