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Urbanization in 20th century Brazil has been characterized by a large rural-urban migration. The reinforcement, throughout the national territory, of an urban life-style brought about by this growing urbanization has somehow decreased the cultural distance between the country's urban and rural environments. In spite of that, cultural differences between the two environments do exist, and it is not wrong to assume that a cultural change occurs along the rural-urban migration process. The present research deals with the issue of urbanization and cultural change in Brazil. It focuses specifically on informal urban housing, built by rural immigrants to the city. This was done through a case study of an unplanned settlement, in Natal RN, Northeast Brazil. The study points out the dwellings' physical references to both tradition, that is, to the rural world from where the dwellers have come, and to change due to the urban environment, where they now live. The study also analyzes the socio-cultural causes for tradition and change of the dwellings. Its main finding is that this whole process leads to the formation of a hybrid type of urban house.

This thesis is an architectural investigation of perception, depth and representation. It explores the changing historical relationship between "two-dimensional" representation and architecture in an effort to understand the effects of modern perspectival depth on the making of architecture. The non-perspectival, medieval representations studied in this paper, are not looked upon as primitive forerunners of renaissance perspective, but as being expressive of a completely different notion and location of depth. In an attempt to access this "other" depth, the move from nonperspectival to perspectival perception and representation is looked at in relation to the change in perceptual values, brought on by the move from the largely oral culture of the Middle Ages, to the increasing textual culture of Renaissance and Modern ages. Perhaps without the fixity, neutrality and disengagement inherent in both perspectival and textual perception, architectural depth might return to the active world of human experience.

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The appearance of the contemporary suburb is one of its most criticized and problematic features. Architects find themselves challenged by its increasing size and complicated planning issues. These challenges are compounded because traditional methods of control do not specifically confront these issues. A less comprehensive method of control, design codes, has recently emerged to address some of the limitations associated with traditional forms of control. This thesis is a survey of five design codes used in contemporary suburbs. Specific focus is given to examining the organization and objectives of design codes, and what architectural elements are regulated. The survey suggests that the most noticeable features of design codes is that they are specific to a project and site, address unique objectives of a particular community, and specifically address suburban design problems. This underlines the essential role design codes have in reshaping and ultimately improving the diminished appearance of the contemporary suburb.