Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Waqf In Transition: Tracing Local Institutional Change During The British Mandate In Palestine, Zachary Murray

Theses and Dissertations

The British Mandate’s actions of state-building in Palestine were informed by a Zionist-Western modernist envisioned past of Palestine. This state-building ideology was embedded within much of the bureaucracy of the Mandate’s system and infringed on numerous Palestinian institutions such as Waqf. Waqf was disenfranchised in particular through the implementation of urban development programs, like town planning and archaeological regimes, which sought to support the British-Zionist recasting of Palestine.

This thesis aims to show how the British’s ideology of Palestine informed the Mandate’s internal polices and actions which infringed on the rights of waqf. This was done through two axes of …

Norm And The People, Jacqueline N. Wade

Theses and Dissertations

Norm and the People is a 90-minute hybrid film about the Minister and activist Norman Eddy and the work he and other activists did in Spanish Harlem from the 1940s through his death in 2013. The film is told through interviews, archival photos and videos, reenactments, and puppets.

Metamosque – Envisioning The Mosque As A Virtual Public Space, Alaa Albarazy

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the mosque was not only a space for a communal prayer but also a place for building a community. Today, however, with conflicts and diseases fragmenting society, people are less able to gather physically in large spaces. Out of necessity, people rely on technology to get together and interact virtually. In this context, my research challenges the notion of the mosque as a physical space, proposing, instead, its extension into virtual space. Recent global events pose the question: Can the metaverse offer an opportunity for the mosque to reassert itself as a public space. I propose that a MetaMosque …

Ordering Spaces, Making Places: Women’S Uses Of Non-Domestic Spaces In Tokyo, Japan, 1868–1937, Yuko Nakamura

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores Japanese women’s uses of non-domestic spaces in the modern period (1868–1945), focusing on the transformations that were occurring in the new capital city of Tokyo. After the 1868 Meiji Restoration, a modern government took over in place of the Tokugawa shogunate, the feudal military government that had ruled Japan for nearly three centuries, based on a hereditary status-based system. The fall of Tokugawa social order liberated Japanese people from the principle that John W. Hall famously called “rule by status.” Yet, it also complicated the ways in which the society was organized. Because the status system had …

Sheltering Opportunity: City Planning And Housing In Chicago, 1909-1941, Kari Renae Smith

Theses and Dissertations

City planning in the United States has undergone continuous evolution; the profession has struggled to produce solutions that match the caliber of its ambitions while keeping up with the ever-changing city. Furthermore, at times special interests have co-opted city planning, utilizing and constraining the profession to meet those interests – often focused on increasing property values while neglecting other social needs, not least of which is the provision of adequate housing. This dissertation aims to contribute to a better understanding of how the definition and scope of city planning changes to include or exclude social issues by examining the relationship …

Squatters, Shanties, And Technocratic Professionals: Urban Migration And Housing Shortages In Twentieth-Century Chile, Nathan C. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the struggles of squatters and slum dwellers for housing prior to the 1973 coup in Santiago de Chile, Valparaíso, and surrounding areas, with a focus on the Frei era of the late 1960s. The work argues that severe urban overcrowding generated advocacy for housing during the rise of progressive and leftist politics in Chile. It also explores the dynamics of efforts to promote housing through the lens of the work of professionals in the fields of architecture and urban planning. It argues that Chilean professionals adopted modernist principals in the fields of architecture and planning when promoting …

Freeway Removal In Milwaukee: Three Case Studies, Alex Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

A growing number of cities are choosing to remove parts of their urban freeway network to make room for alternative land uses. This study examines the history of two freeway spurs in Milwaukee—the Park East Freeway and Interstate 794—which were both targeted for demolition. Park East was demolished in 2002, but Interstate 794, which was considered for partial demolition on two separate occasions, was eventually rebuilt. This study asks what the cases of Park East and I-794 can tell us about the attributes of a successful freeway teardown project. This study traces the history of both freeways from the 1950s …

Dispersal: A Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Plant Life, Alexandra E. Arzt

Theses and Dissertations

Using plants as a basis for exploring the interstices between the human and nonhuman, this thesis investigates ideas of awareness, intelligence, deep time, animism, and the fluctuating human perception of the agency of Nature. It outlines environmental art practices since the 1950s involving vegetal life. In addition, the paper provides a critical analysis of plant perception of Jakob von Uexküll’s work and theories of vital materialism and “critical plant studies” while noting recent studies in plant neurobiology. In my work, plants become active participants via their movement, seeding, and smell. This study takes the form of imitation, purposeful symbiosis, anthropomorphism, …

Creating Neighborhood In Postwar Buffalo, New York: Transformations Of The West Side, 1950-1980, Caitlin Boyle Moriarty

Theses and Dissertations

This project reconsiders post-World War II neighborhood change by examining how various groups in Buffalo, New York conceptualized, experienced and produced the West Side as a cultural and economic artifact between 1950 and 1980. This approach offers an alternative to conceptualizing neighborhoods as bounded, natural entities and it encourages narratives that complicate the prevailing metaphor of decline in rust belt cities by illuminating other components of postwar neighborhood change than population loss and economic disinvestment. This project uses neighborhood retail as a lens through which to examine how city planners, the West Side Business Men's Club, the Federation of Italian …

The Elliniko Airport: Contested Politics And The Production Of Urban Space In Athens, 1938-2014, George Papakis

Theses and Dissertations

This study traces the historical forces that conditioned the dearth of public spaces in Athens, Greece, and through the case study of the city's first civil airport, examines the current redevelopment plans of Athens' largest remaining open space as part of a wider process of urban transformation. After serving the city for sixty years, the airport closed its doors in 2001, and since then the site has remained vacant. The government aims at attracting investments in upscale tourism and real estate, hoping to reposition this sector of the city as a thriving business center and entertainment destination. Yet, given the …

New Urbanism As Redevelopment Scheme: New Urbanism's Role In Revitalization Of Downtown Milwaukee, Leila Saboori

Theses and Dissertations

By the turn of the twentieth century persisting decay of many large American urban centers signaled the failure of redevelopment efforts to solve inner city problems and to stop destructive patterns of suburban sprawl. This serious concern persuaded many urban specialists to study the history of urban redevelopment in the United States in order to examine the urban problems and to discuss alternative solutions to the demise of U.S. cities. The past two decades have seen a growing turn toward New Urbanism in the revitalization of urban neighborhoods; as an alternative to conventional suburban development and social and environmental problems. …

Prophets, Planning, And Politics: Utah's Planning Heritage And Its Significance Today And Tomorrow, Janna K. Bushman

Theses and Dissertations

Utah's planning heritage includes both physical and social elements. In 1833 Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, designed the Plat for the City of Zion. Associated with his plan were the principles of communitarianism and a demo-theocratic form of government. As the Mormons journeyed across the Midwest to the Great Basin, they applied these planning beliefs in various ways. Throughout Utah today, large city blocks, wide roads, and grid iron layouts remain as testaments to the state's early physical planning tenets. Other factors, though, have led Mormons to abandon the social aspects of the plan and to embrace the …