The study explores the infill of public presence in an urban gap in Pretoria's CBD. Urban cultural diversity is used as a point of departure, to propose a public facility in the city centre to become part of a network of public spaces in the area and provide a backdrop for restorative action through the lived experience of the user. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

Rethinking Rinkeby transforms formalised and separated streets into productive natural spaces. Through engagement and observation on site, this strategy for public space proposes an urban architecture informed by bottoms-up initiatives. Rinkeby, a suburb located in Järva in the North-West of Stockholm, has typically been informed by top-down developments. Through alternative design processes, this degree project aims to improve the expression of identity in the public realm in a predominantly immigrant neighbourhood.

The project explores the possibilities for more sustainable urban development by studying the impact of construction sites on the living environment and public space. The project is focused on the area of Flemingsberg, which in the coming years will be in an extensive development period with a lot of planned new construction and infrastructure. The transformation is planned to last until at least 2050, and for residents and visitors to the area, this means a major intervention in the living environment. Where cranes, fences and excavated materials define the cityscape. To create a bridge through time, the project proposes built interventions for meeting places and focus on the existing needs in the area.The project thus surveys Flemingsberg in depth while trying to create architectural solutions that can be applied in similar situations where large building areas affect the living environment for a long time. All as part of a more socially sustainable urban development.

This project is about capturing the historical moments of a place by collecting and translating memories into experiences. Let me take you through the journey how I got here. Architecture, in particular, acts as a tangible link between the past, present, and future, anchoring itself as a significant point in the timeline of a location and culture. I believe, each of us perceives spaces in our own unique way, shaped by our individual previous experiences. Memories are strongly connected to sensory experiences because our senses play a fundamental role in how we perceive and recall the world around us. And I think visual as well as sensory aspects of memory is crucial to capture the essence of a place. Therefore, I decided to work in the south of Södermalm, an area rich of history, cultural events and memories. My experience of the area is much different so I chose to interview a few people who used to live or spend time in the area. I chose 3 people who have common experiences that shaped the area and I introduced their memories in my project. Their collective experiences became my driving force of the design.

Urban public spaces are constantly restructured with new meaning, reflecting their socio-cultural, political, historical, and technological influences. Over the last two decades, the rapid technological advancements and increasingly widespread use of mobile devices give people a chance to share their experiences of their immediate surroundings through various applications. As these platforms enable people to create and exchange various forms of User-Generated Content (UGC) has gained wide attention as an invaluable source of information on human-environment relationships including people's timely perception, emotion, preference, and sense of place in public space. This study employs quantitative content analysis to identify collective perceptions of urban public spaces and their characteristics as projected through a photo-sharing social media application, Instagram. A total of 1,200 users' photos and associated hashtags geo-referenced to three New York City urban public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. This study begins with a qualitative phase, employing manual categorization techniques to identify the concepts in visual and textual data. The second phase applied a statistical analysis method, a set of descriptive analytics, and chi-square tests to answer the research questions for this study. Findings indicate physical attributes of urban squares are the most dominant type of geo-referenced users' photographs through the visual social media platform. People's immediate perceptions vary with time and place, while the patterns of hashtag usage found in this study show no difference across the three urban squares. people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the square itself, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses adjacent to the square. While people rarely utilize hashtags as a method of emotional expression, findings show a clear connection between hashtags associated with users' photo content and the image of the city. / Doctor of Philosophy / The proliferation of mobile devices and social media platforms has given people new opportunities to document and exchange their experiences in urban public spaces. Publicly available content, which communicates timely opinions, perceptions, emotions, and preferences has a strong influence on the formation of the overall perception of urban public spaces in the digital environment. This study aims to explore how a sense of place—including emotional value, urban identity, distinctiveness, and seasonality—is built-in urban public spaces through one image-sharing application, Instagram. In addition, hashtags attached to the photographs are collected to help understand people's motivations for posting content in urban public places. The study compiles 1,200 photographs on Instagram taken at three New York City public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. The study finds that people tend to post content that focuses on the physical appearance of the squares. However, people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the squares themselves, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses around each square. One important function of Instagram in these spaces is for people to write information to document their experiences in the urban squares. There are also strong connections between the visitors' perceptions of urban public space as seen through their photographs and the image of the city.

In today's society, awash with digital media, the physical book should still be treated as a valuable object. It is a symbol of knowledge and, in the same way that the stones of historic buildings tell the story of their times, the physical book carries the truths of the past to each new generation, not only by the words it contains, but in how it is bound and set and worn. The library rises around the book, offering shelves that may be explored, allowing people to discover as they browse. The neighborhood library serves as an anchor for the community; without physical books, the library is gutted of its essential purpose, becoming merely a community gathering place. Members of the community must be given space to move through the books as they progress from the public realm of the street into the semi-public space of a library reading room, and perhaps beyond to their private places of study. Each stage of their journey should be a clearly defined 'place' with its own purpose and potential. At the same time, the spatial boundaries in this progression must be integrated in order to invite people to move from one to another, to discover the books and the knowledge contained within. My thesis project has explored and developed these theoretical ideas into a library and housing project for Washington, DC's West End neighborhood. / Master of Architecture

DC United is one of Major League Soccer's most decorated franchises, yet it still plays its home games within the crumbling confines of RFK Stadium. This structure and the surrounding parking lots sit vacant for most of the year, though they occupy a prime site along the Anacostia River. In this project, I am proposing to incorporate a new metro station, transit hub and commercial development into the design of a stadium for DC United along the northern portion of the site. By providing services and amenities that do not currently exist in this part of the city, this endeavor could be a viable year-round resource for the community. / Master of Architecture

Yes / This chapter deals with a range of issues related to the structure and appearance of Augmented Public Space in terms of framing. It also develops key theoretical perspectives concerning the ways that information and media content is superimposed onto the urban environment. In doing so, it analyses the importance of locality on the character of display and argues that in the long run it is the body that is central to the framing of content and so is crucial to our understanding of augmented public space. This is exemplified in the widespread adoption of urban screens in UK city centres which forms a case study, but is not exclusive in its application to urban screens. The issues dealt with are relevant to all forms of augmented public space and in any situation where the built environment coexists with layers of information and media content ¿ the ¿media layer¿.

The project explores the possibilities for more sustainable urban development by studying the impact of construction sites on the living environment and public space. The project is focused on the area of Flemingsberg, which in the coming years will be in an extensive development period with a lot of planned new construction and infrastructure. The transformation is planned to last until at least 2050, and for residents and visitors to the area, this means a major intervention in the living environment. Where cranes, fences and excavated materials define the cityscape. To create a bridge through time, the project proposes built interventions for meeting places and focus on the existing needs in the area.The project thus surveys Flemingsberg in depth while trying to create architectural solutions that can be applied in similar situations where large building areas affect the living environment for a long time. All as part of a more socially sustainable urban development.

Certain urban public spaces seem to embody the cities in which they are found, helping to make those cities the vibrant places they are. This project explores how urban public spaces can be created to reflect the vitality of the city by embracing the culture and the people who reside in it. Through literature review and case studies, a framework is developed focusing on the areas of identity and use in the design of public spaces. Identity is looked at in terms of place attachment, spatial identity, and how surrounding uses affect the identity of a space. Use is explored in terms of designing a public space to encourage a diversity of uses at different times. Identity and use are inevitably linked: much of a space's identity depends on the uses that take place there and whether or not the space meets the needs of its users. In the same way, a space will not be used unless potential users can identify with it and feel a connection to it. A design project is carried out in an urban neighborhood based on this framework to create a space that is connected to its users and its city. / Master of Landscape Architecture