Architecture Commons^™

Crazy Rich Karachi — Where The Streets Are Paved With Gold, Murtaza Irfan Ali

MSJ Capstone Projects

Karachi happens to be Pakistan’s economic powerhouse but the irony is it never received its fair share of development. Which is why, to this day, I have no clue where to park, when I visit the southern district of the city. The random and sporadic parking has costed me with a hundred scratches and 2 pairs of side-view mirrors during the course of a year. So to find exactly where I could safely and “legally” park, I set out to find some answers.

Effective Design Features For The Management Of Behavioral Health Patients In General Emergency Departments Of Hospitals, Rheena Ware Luchansky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated nursing staff members perspectives of their existing Emergency Department (ED) and their ability to care appropriately for behavioral health patients within the environment. The study involved three rural hospitals in eastern Texas that may not always have the proper resources to care effectively for this vulnerable patient population. The researcher administered a paper-based survey utilizing a Likert-scale response system to nursing staff across all facilities and received participation from 56 respondents. Survey questions were designed to investigate the current ED environment and identify design features available to assist with caring for behavioral health patients. Data gathered revealed …

The Effects Of Urban Development And The Incidence Of Flooding And Discharge Changes From 1956-2016: A Case Study From Juan Diaz Township, Republic Of Panama, Virgilio De Jesus Quintero Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increase in flood occurrences in the Township of Juan Diaz has affected thousands of families and hundreds of businesses and has negatively impacted the lives of thousands of residents, who expect the worse every time there is a prolonged period of rain. Some of the residents lose their appliances, cars, furniture and houses every year. This study examines the relationship between urban development and flooding. Also, it addresses the influences of topography, green cover, population changes, runoff changes, and social dynamics on this relationship. This study implemented the use of thematic cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), personal interviews and …

The Design Of Tiny Homes And Their Significance To Simplistic Living, Monica Garcia-Guzman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines the design of tiny homes and the importance they play in the lives of those that would usually have not been able to afford a house. The research will also focus on designing a tiny home with the use of design software to fully understand the extent of the characteristics of a tiny home. The design of these small dwellings, usually about 400-500 square feet, allows for a minimalist lifestyle that can be very low cost. The same materials that are used in traditional constructed homes are used for tiny homes because it makes them more durable …

Suitability Assessment For Integrated Urban Development In Makkah City Of Saudi Arabia, Mislat Alotaibi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Makkah – the third most populated city in Saudi Arabia with a population of 1,684,408 according to the 2010 demographic survey conducted by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics – is experiencing urban sprawl, which can be defined as an unplanned urban expansion that might degrade the environment and diminish the aesthetic view. This is a persisting problem in Makkah driven by multitude of processes involving the random expansion in its undeveloped land and the removal of its historic mountains surrounding Al-Masjid Al-Haram (the Holy Mosque) in an attempt to push the city limit of urban capacity within its administrative …

The Museum Of Experiential Living Art: Strategic Plan, Danielle D. Delia

Museum Studies Projects

How can a museum support the new work of artists? Can a Tri-fold business plan offer a sustainable way to support an artists in residency program? Will the local community welcome a new museum into their town? What will be the benefit to the local economy? This capstone project presenting a strategic plan proposes the development of a new art museum located in Buffalo New York called, the Museum of Experiential Living Art (MoELA). The purpose of MoELA is to support practicing artists through an artist in residency program; by providing dedicated time, space, tools, materials, housing and nourishment while …

The Genesis And Development Of Deathscapes In America -- A Story Of How Chicago And Louisville Cemeteries Demonstrate The Shifting Rationale Of Cemetery Placement During The 19th And 20th Centuries., Thomas D. Cleven

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, most construction projects require a systematic site qualification based on a suitability analysis utilizing parameters such as slope, soil type, elevation, distance to open water, and distance to transportation. The proper siting determines the success of a project in terms of project stability and longevity. However, has this suitability analysis exist for one of the most significant phases of humanity – death. Historically dead bodies seem to have been placed without suitable qualification being many cemeteries have created environmental problems for the living. Hence, with which placement rationale has been used comes to mind. With a varied array of …

Seventeenth-Century Spanish Colonial Identity In New Mexico: A Study Of Identity Practices Through Material Culture, Caroline M. Gabe

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation explores how seventeenth-century Spanish colonial households expressed their group identity at a regional level in New Mexico. Through the material remains of daily practice and repetitive actions, identity markers tied to adornment, technological traditions, and culinary practices are compared between 14 assemblages to test four identity models. Seventeenth-century colonists were eating a combination of Old World domesticates and wild game on colonoware and majolica serving vessels, cooking using Indigenous pottery, grinding with Puebloan style tools, and conducting household scale production and prospecting. While assemblages are consistent in basic composition, variations are present tied to socioeconomic status. This blending …

Comparative Analysis Of Sox Emission Control Technologies For Container Ships, Tongxu Zhang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leap Of Faith Megaprojects: The Effect Of Civic Dialogue On Megaproject Legacies In The St. Louis Region, Nathan Theus

Theses

Megaprojects are unique capital improvements that are defined by their large-scale development plans and construction budgets. Industrial Belt cities, like St. Louis, are no stranger to these projects, and both government actors and private developers have walked hand in hand in planning and constructing megaprojects, while assuring the general public that the benefits would always outweigh the costs. Though there has been considerable quantitative research analyzing the statistical economic effects of various megaprojects, there has been relatively little discussion on other, specifically, qualitative means of analysis. This paper will examine the role civic dialogue has on the perceived and real …

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing At The Local Level : A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Practices In Louisville, Kentucky., Steven P. Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research project is an immersion into the beliefs, ideas, meanings, values, and feelings of actors engaged in shaping local housing policies. The dissertation examines how discourse constitutes and shapes the knowledge of policy actors engaged in fair housing policies and practices in Louisville, Kentucky. I argue that policy discourse is the site where social problems become framed, bounded, and transformed into action. Therefore, if the objective of the Fair Housing Act’s mandate for HUD and its recipients is to operate programs in a manner that “affirmatively furthers fair housing” (AFFH), it is essential to understand the discursive acts …

Have You Seen The Poop Fairy?, Sergio Lozoya

Architecture and Planning ETDs

This research seeks to understand the effectiveness of the There is no Poop Fairy campaign through a public survey of dog owners. The There Is No Poop Fairy campaign was initiated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014, with the goal of getting dog owners to pick up and properly dispose of their dogs’ waste. The Rio Grande is contaminated with E. coli bacteria that originates in part from dog waste, which is carried to the river through storm water. Levels of E. coli in the Rio Grande have decreased dramatically within the past few years, coincident with the campaign. The …

Rebuilding Karachi-Bulldozing One Livelihood At A Time, Haddiqua Siddiqui

MSJ Capstone Projects

The story revolves around Pakistan’s powerful mafias who illegally occupy state and private property, mostly in urban areas and unclaimed land. They are backed by the police, bureaucracy and politicians. This is a norm in countries where these encroachers occupy a piece of land for as long as they want without any legal right or documents. These encroachers occupy the property for weeks, months or even years before voluntarily leaving it for a better spot or being forcefully evicted by city authorities. Saddar, the city’s center; is considered a safe haven for these land grabbers. For decades the heart of …

The Water Tanker Mafia, Yousuf Sajjad

MSJ Capstone Projects

This is a thesis about the Water Tanker Mafia in Karachi. The citizens of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi suffer from an acute lack of water for drinking and domestic use. To cover for this lack of water, there is a network of tankers, run illegally but also with a large degree of connivance with parts of the state in Karachi, that provides water to the citizens of this city. This paper seeks to explain this network, its history, organization and the infrastructure in Karachi that it supports or in many cases, supersedes. This paper places the Karachi water tanker mafia …

Gilgit-Baltistan At The Cross Road Of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (Cpec), Zulfiqar Ali Khan

MSJ Capstone Projects

This capstone project focused on the in-depth analysis of the role and impact of this multi-billion-dollar project on the politically deprived region of Gilgit-Baltistan. This region is the gateway to CPEC as it is the only region of Pakistan that shares border with China. The geographical ties, tributary and trade relationship and even family relationships between Gilgit-Baltistan and the Xinjiang region of China dates back centuries before the creation of Pakistan and the post revolution China.

The project has been designed and implemented in a way that GB’s role is to provide the services of road and some other services …

Campus Design: Assessing Outdoor Spaces At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo To Improve Student Experience, Meha Patel

City and Regional Planning

The outdoor space of university campuses is an aspect of design which still remains, to a certain degree, uncharted. There are merely not enough relevant case studies and research in creating foundational principles which adhere to the design of a functional outdoor space on university campuses.

The success of the student body for a college, academically and socially, is dependent on creating a welcoming and holistic learning environment for students to thrive. Social spaces bridge the gap between the built and natural environment, therefore, providing proper physical components in an outdoor space becomes vital in creating a desired environment which …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Public Space: Zoning, Urban Design, And Use Value. A Case Study Of Downtown San Francisco, Joaquin Cabello Silva

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper seeks to understand how zoning, urban design, and use value control the dynamics of a city and the public space, from the way they are shaped, to the way they are built, and finally to the way they are used. In this research the first step is to recognize that the strategies of zoning in a city are a way of governing and guiding the development of the space, followed by the urban design—which is a more tangible way of interpreting the different rules because it is the actual form zoning takes—to then see how they generate an …

Alternative Futures For Dalton Wells, Mary Oliver

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Visitation to the Moab region has increased significantly in recent years, causing campgrounds near town to be consistently full. The Dalton Wells area, a recreation area off Highway 191 just north of Moab, has become an especially popular place for dispersed camping, as it is free and in close proximity to town. Dalton Wells does not have the infrastructure or management necessary to support the current number of visitors, straining the site’s fragile desert ecosystem. The site also hosts a dinosaur quarry and the foundations of a historic CCC camp. These resources are unmaintained and at risk of pillaging and …

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 highlights …

Cultural Heritage Preservation In The Context Of Climate Change Adaptation Or Relocation: Barbuda As A Case Study, Martha B. Lerski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This case study introduces an arts camp methodology of engaging communities in identifying their key cultural heritage features, thus serving as a meta study. It presents original research based on field studies on the climate-vulnerable Caribbean island of Barbuda during 2017 and 2018. Its Valued Cultural Elements survey, enabling precise identification of key tangible and intangible art forms and biocultural practices, may serve as a basis for further studies. Such approaches may facilitate future research or planning as climate-vulnerable communities harness Local or Indigenous Knowledge for purposes of biocultural heritage preservation, or towards adaptation or relocation. I report on findings …

Đổi Mới Diy: Tactical Ruralism And Tangible Modeling In The Mekong Delta, Phillip Fernberg

LSU Master's Theses

In recent years, the integrity of the Mekong Delta has been put at risk by a combination of environmental and institutional factors. Understanding that the degradation of the Delta would have far-reaching socioeconomic implications for both Vietnam and the Indochinese Peninsula, The World Bank has responded to the situation by implementing initiatives for climate-smart planning tools and improved water management practices throughout the lower Mekong basin. Seeing the potential for tangible modeling as a participatory planning tool, the Bank has hired a team of consultants from Louisiana State University to introduce a methodology called Tangible Landscape to its climate resilience …

Domestic Space In The Times Of Change: The Collapse Of The Ussr, 1985-2000s, Kateryna L. Malaia

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways urban domestic spaces transformed under the pressure of social upheaval related to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The collapse of the Soviet Union has been examined from a standpoint of spatial changes, but existing studies are limited to public spaces and city-scale transformations. In other words, the collapse of the USSR remains a virtually uninvestigated event from the perspective of ordinary places integral for the study of social change in everyday life, such as apartment homes, courtyards, and residential streets. Between the late 1980s and 2000s, an unprecedented remodeling and home improvement boom …

A Framework For Cooperative Housing In Portland, Me: Lessons From 13 Existing Cooperative Houses In The U.S., Cyndi Gacosta

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Cooperative housing may be a viable and financially-sound alternative for individuals and families of low to moderate income, as Portland, Maine’s downtown area becomes gentrified raising property values to unaffordable heights. Of the 13,546 family households in Portland, 8.7% earn below $25,000, which for an average family of four $24, 250¹ is considered to be in poverty, and 18.4% earn between $25,000 and $50,000. Meanwhile, 13.2% of the 16, 561 non-family households are below the poverty line, and 27.5% earn between $25,000 and $50,000 (US Census Bureau, 2014).

As it becomes increasingly difficult for low to moderate income earners …

Airport Infrastructure In The Shrinking City: Planning For Smart Decline In Cleveland’S Regional Airport System And Its Role In A Dynamic Urban Future, Garret Forst

Senior Theses and Projects

Cleveland, while having experienced some growth and regeneration in the 21st Century, still experiences some of the salient characteristics of the "shrinking city." It continues to slowly lose population. Metropolitan-level economic growth remains elusive. Its status as a shrinking city and metropolitan region has consequences for its systems of infrastructure, especially its regional system of airports. This study illustrates how shrinking cities theory applies to Cleveland's airport system. Namely, the airport system has experienced challenges associated with maintaining substantial levels of flight operations in addition to having experienced certain financial challenges since 2000. This study then theorizes how a plan …

Robert Moses And The Real Estate City: A Reexamination Of The Legacy Of New York's Master Builder, Jack Fascitelli

Senior Theses and Projects

The history of New York City would not look the same without Robert Moses. For over three decades, the city's "master builder" reshaped its urban landscape during an era of unprecedented top-down planning and mega-projects. The ideas of this era, once reviled, have seen a revival in the modern day, particularly in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. This essay seeks to reconcile this revival with the ongoing legacy of Robert Moses and to present an argument that such a reconciliation argues for a reconsideration of his career and his ideas.

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 …

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

Examining Cultural Humility And Intersectionality In Mental Health Treatment, Sandra Y. Herrera-Spinelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cultural awareness is an ethical standard in the social work profession and, as the diversity in the United States continues to grow, it is a social work practice problem when cultural awareness is not implemented in mental health settings. The National Association of Social Workers revised the cultural awareness standards to include cultural humility and intersectionality as practice indicators. The purpose of this action research study was to examine how clinical social workers demonstrated cultural humility and intersectionality in mental health settings. Person-centered theory guided this study and a total of 17 clinical social workers in New Mexico participated in …

Exploring Transit-Based Environmental Injustices In San Gabriel Valley And Greater Los Angeles, Bailey Lai

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to disentangle the multilayered interactions between Greater Los Angeles’s history, its built environment, and its inequitable treatment of different peoples, focusing on how transportation in surrounding suburban communities like San Gabriel Valley has developed in relation to the inner city of Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains a long, winding trajectory of transit-based environmental injustices, from the indigenous societies being overtaken by the Spanish missions, to the railroads and streetcars boosting the farmlands and urban growth of Los Angeles, leading into the decline of transit and rise of automobile-oriented suburbia. Within the San Gabriel Valley, the suburban …

A Hundred Houses: Pauline Leader And The Spatial Poetics Of Disability, Carl Robert Nelson

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College.