Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / In the 2009-2010 academic year at the Kansas City Design Center, four students undertook a design project seeking to transform an underutilized traffic median into a usable urban public space. The space, known as “Triangle Park,” is located at Avenida Cesar E. Chavez (West 23rd Street), West Pennsylvania Avenue, and Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri. This report describes the existing site conditions and challenges to creating an inviting public space. The report explains how the students arrived at the finalized design using precedent studies, multiple design iterations, and community input from the Westside and Crossroads neighborhood stakeholders. The finalized design focuses on providing connectivity between people, the site, and the city as a whole. Opportunities for connection are offered by improved pedestrian circulation and a comfortable, well-defined outdoor space. Three major structural interventions are proposed: an illuminated overhead canopy beneath the Interstate-35 overpass provides shelter for pedestrians; a raised walking path enhances an already prominent pedestrian route; and a wooden deck provides opportunities for sitting and lingering. The ability of the design to meet the community’s stated needs and to serve as a social public space is evaluated to determine the likelihood of positive and worthwhile project outcomes.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Laurence A. Clement / Street musicians and performers attract people to public spaces. These performers, or ‘buskers’ as they are commonly referred, typically congregate along specific streets, parks, plazas, and transit stops in a city. The term pitch describes the place buskers perform. Pedestrian flow, visibility, and acoustics are just some of the factors that street performers consider when selecting a pitch. While performers resourcefully adapt to the challenges of different pitches, public spaces often do little to accommodate performers and their audiences. William Whyte observed how street performances facilitate social interactions between strangers and give character to cities and neighborhoods. Relative Pitch explores where performances occur and how they benefit public places. Case studies of popular busking locations establish a typology of squares, streets, and transit stops. Video clip analysis of street performances demonstrates the spatial relations between performer and audience. Dimensions and observations from these case studies provided insight and information for the application of the typology to proposed sites in Wichita, Kansas. Buskers adapt pitches relative to their physical environment. Point, linear, planar, and volumetric elements define and articulate temporary stages, audience space, and circulation paths during performances. Design proposals for the typology sites in Wichita illustrate how flexible performance spaces can be incorporated in squares, streets, and transit stops. This project looks at ways to activate public spaces by encouraging street performance.

Magistro studijų baigiamajame darbe projektuojama mediateka Vilniaus senamiestyje, tarp Odminių, L. Stuokos-Gucevičiaus, Šventaragio gatvių ir Gedimino prospekto. Darbe surinkta ir išanalizuota medžiaga, susijusi su mediatekų projektavimo ypatumais, jų koncepcijomis ir įgyvendinimo rezultatais, atlikta vietos sąlygų analizė, sukurti konceptualiai skirtingi eskiziniai projekto variantai, parengtas mediatekos projektas. Pastato architekrtūrinėje išraiškoje integruojama viešoji miesto erdvė, informacija, perduodama naujosiomis medijomis ir istorinis teritorijos kontekstas. Kuriama atvira visuomenei, skirtingiems individų ir grupių interesams pritaikyta viešoji informacijos erdvė. Baigiamąjį darbą sudaro: įvadas, analitinė dalis, projektinė dalis, bendrosios išvados. Taip pat pateikiami du maketai ir grafinė medžiaga planšetuose. / The final project of master studies is the design of mediatheque buiding in Vilnius Old Town between Odminių, L. Stuokos-Gucevičiaus, Šventaragio streets and Gedimino avenue. The specific features and concepts of mediatheques design and their realizations is being analysed. After the site analysis conceptually different variations are created and the final mediatheque project is designed. The public city space, new media and historical context is integrated in the architectural expression of the building. Open for society and different individual interests public space of information is created. The final work consist of preface, analitic part, project part, conclusion. Also two models of the building and the graphic material.

Magistro baigiamojo darbo tyrimo objektas yra didžiųjų Lietuvos prekybos centrų viešųjų erdvių estetika. Darbe tiriami šį objektą formuojantys veiksniai, vertinimo ir analizės kriterijai, istorinės, sociokultūrinės ir politinės aplinkybės, filosofinis, psichologinis ir menotyrinis jo vertinimas, santykis su šiandieninės globalios vaizdų kultūros tendencijomis. Didžiausias dėmesys darbe skiriamas septyniems didžiausiems Lietuvos prekybos centrams, kuriuos analizuojant išskiriami Lietuvos didžiųjų prekybos centrų viešosioms erdvėms būdingi estetiniai dėsningumai ir savybės. Estetikos tyrimo metodas paremtas trimis pagrindiniais erdvės vaizdinio elementais: prasme, struktūra ir identitetu. Prasminis kontekstas darbe akcentuojamas pirmajame skyriuje, perteikiant viešųjų erdvių prasmės pasikeitimą istoriniame raidos kontekste. Daroma išvada, jog prekybos centras – tai ekonominės galios estetinės reprezentacijos laukas. Antrame skyriuje nagrinėjama erdvės struktūra. Keliant hipotezę, jog prekybos centro viešosios erdvės imituoja miesto viešųjų erdvių struktūrinius modelius, taikomas miesto ir prekybos centrų viešųjų erdvių struktūrų palyginimo metodas. Išskiriami pagrindiniai prekybos centrams būdingi miesto viešųjų erdvių elementai, paaiškinamos jų transformacijos bei ryšys su formuojamu vartotojiškumo imperatyvu. Trečiajame skyriuje nagrinėjamas identitetas. Jis analizuojamas tiriant prekybos centruose naudojamas interjero dizaino temas ir motyvus, taip pat lyginant su... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of master thesis’ research is the aesthetics of public space in shopping malls in Lithuanian cities. The paper researches the object-forming factors, evaluation criteria and analysis, historical, socio-cultural and political context, philosophical, psychological and art research findings, the ratio of the global image culture. The thesis of the paper analyses seven major shopping malls in Lithuania, rendering the most common aesthetic patterns and inherent aesthetic qualities, that are peculiar in Lithuanian largest shopping centres. The method of research is based on three key elements of visual space: meaning, structure and identity. The context of meaning is presented in the first chapter, overviewing historical development of the concept of public space. Its conclusion is that a shopping mall is a field for aesthetic representations of economic power. The second chapter examines the structure of space. It is suggested that shopping malls are simulating urban public spaces for the consumer-oriented reasons. Therefore, the method of comparison between urban and shopping mall spaces is applied. As a result, the most specific elements and their transformations common both to the shopping mall and urban public spaces are distinguished and analysed. The third chapter examines identity. It analyzes themes and motives of interior design, also comparing aesthetics of shopping malls with the global image culture. It is concluded that the shopping mall is an inherent... [to full text]

Miestas - tai teritorija, suskaidyta į funkcines erdves: gyvenamuosius, pramoninius, paslaugų rajonus, senamiesčius ir naujamiesčius. Planuojant miestus reikia atsižvelgti ne tik į erdvę, kaip vietą, bet ir į specifinę, kiekvieną žmogų supančią individualią erdvę. Miestas – yra jo gyventojų „namai”, o miesto centras - branduolys, tai tarytum „svetainė”, reprezentatyviausia namų erdvė, erdvė, kurioje renkasi svečiai, rengiami susiėjimai, susitikimai su draugais. Šiame darbe kalbama apie miesto branduolį, kuris yra įsitvirtinęs pačioje seniausioje miesto dalyje, susidaręs per daugelį metų, turintis savo vystymosi raidos istoriją, užstatytas įvairių epochų statiniais. Kaip miesto branduolys, centrinis miesto taškas įvardijama - pagrindinė miesto aikštė, nuo kurios ir užsimezga miesto raida. Marijampolė, vienas jauniausių, gana sudėtingos praeities, šiuo metu besiplečiantis ir modernėjantis Lietuvos miestas, turintis savo raidos istoriją, bei jau susiformavusį miesto branduolį, su savo privalumais ir trūkumais išryškėjusiais per daugelį metų. Čia mes susipažinsime su miestų branduolių formavimosi tendencijomis, išsiaiškinsime priežastis darančias įtaką miestų raidai. Pirmoje darbo dalyje aptariama miesto branduolio sąvoka, jo reikšmė miestui, taip pat apžvelgiama miestų centrų raida, bei projektavimo kriterijai nuo antikos laikų iki šių dienų Lietuvoje ir užsienio šalyse. Antrojoje darbo dalyje atliekama užsienio šalių branduolių regeneracijos pavyzdžių paieška, bei analizė... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / A town is a territory, divided into functional spaces occupied by living, industry, and service, old and new parts of town. Specific, individual space surrounding each person must be taken into account when planning a city as well as the space itself. The city is home for the local citizenry, and the center of city is the space which can be compared to the sitting-room of the home where various celebrations are held and guests invited. The core of a town is the main topic of the master thesis. The core was built up during a long period of time, has its own development history (therefore buildings associated with different periods of architecture can be found here) and is located in the oldest part of the town. The town square which is the beginning of the development of the city is considered to be the core of the town. Marijampolė is a town of complex past nevertheless it is one of the youngest and currently developing compared to other similar towns in Lithuania. It has its own development history, a core with its advantages and disadvantages, and the core is formed during the years. We are going to get acquainted with the trends of formation of town cores and find out the reasons making influence to the development of towns. The first part of the master thesis is dedicated for the analysis of the term 'core of the town'. Also, the influence a core is making to the town is depicted as well as history of centers of towns, design criteria beginning from the antiquity and... [to full text]

The research aim of this study is to explore how locally anchored women with interest for feminist questions perceive and reflect upon the production and reproduction of gender dichotomies in public space in Husby. Moreover, space is flexible and part of a socio-spatial-dialectic which is both produced and reproduced through social interaction which contain power hierarchies. These dialectic notions and gender contracts have been utilized in this study in order to explore perceptions regarding production and reproduction of gender dichotomies. This is a qualitative study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with locally anchored women in Husby with interest in feminist questions. The results revealed that patriarchal orders and fear of male violence, the city planning, habits, traditional gender contracts, lack of jobs and apartments, and intersectional tendencies were perceived by the interviewees as factors which influence production and reproduction of gender dichotomies in Husby.

This thesis explores the practices, motivations, and sensorial experiences of Montreal’s metro buskers. By examining the lived experiences of ‘street’ performers in the stations and connecting passageways of Montreal’s underground transit system, I consider what it ‘means’ to be a metro busker from the perspective of the performers. Informed by my ethnographic fieldwork among metro buskers, I detail their performance practices, ‘staging’ strategies, uses of technology, bodily dispositions, and subjective perceptions in relation to the public, each other and the spaces of performance. In the process, I make visible—and audible—the variable and improvisational nature of busking practices, and how these are constituted in relation to the physical features of the performance sites. More broadly, I explore the co-productive relations between body and space, the sensorial experiences and spatial practices of everyday urban life, and the potential for moments of micro-social encounter and appropriations of spaces that are not designed to foster conviviality and creative engagement. I locate ‘the busker’ within these questions not as a fixed identity or subject-position but as an embodied assemblage-act that is socially and materially situated and subjectively enacted through highly variable practices, perceptions and experiences. In detailing the moments of social encounter precipitated by metro buskers, I propose understanding busking as a form of Gift-performance that finds certain parallels in sensory ethnographic videography. I show how the influences of diverse participants—human and material—on the filming, editing, and distribution processes changed the course of the audio-visual production in this research. Finally, I introduce a notion of ‘expanded trajectory’ that links performer and space, researcher and participant, and may enable new acts of encounter and exchange, new processes of social and material circulation, new forms of Gift. / Graduate / 2018-05-15 / 0326 / nick.wees@gmail.com

This practicum is an exploration of the role of the “visionary community designer” described by Randolph Hester in his recommended participatory design process “a refrain with a view.” The question of this practicum is simply this: what lessons can be learned about how to function as Hester’s visionary community designer while conducting a participatory design process as a service learning project? This practicum is both pragmatic and transformative in philosophy. It uses a subjectivist research strategy in which research outcomes are qualitative and the knowledge generated is subjective. This practicum includes a case study comparison of seminal approaches to the participatory design of public spaces in the United States; records a brief participatory design process conducted as a service learning research project in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia; and culminates with lessons learned during the participatory design process with regard to acting as Hester’s visionary community designer. / May 2017

City streets are the most widely distributed and heavily trafficked urban public spaces. As cities strive to improve livability in the built environment, it is important for planners and designers to have a concise understanding of what contributes to quality streetscapes. The proportions and scale of buildings and trees, which define the three-dimensional extents of streetscapes, provide enduring, foundational skeletons. This thesis investigates how characteristics of such streetscape skeletons can be quantified and tested for appeal among human users. The first of two journal-style papers identifies a concise set of skeleton variables that urban design theorists have described as influential to streetscape appeal. It offers an automated GIS-based method for identifying and cataloging these skeleton variables, which are practical to measure using widely available spatial data. Such an approach allows measurement of tens of thousands of street segments precisely and efficiently, a dramatically larger sample than can be feasibly collected using the existing auditing techniques of planners and researchers. Further, this paper examines clustering patterns among skeleton variables for street segments throughout Boston, New York, and Baltimore, identifying four streetscape skeleton types that describe a ranking of enclosure from surrounding buildings--upright, compact, porous, and open. The types are identifiable in all three cities, demonstrating regional consistency in streetscape design. Moreover, the types are poorly associated with roadway functional classifications--arterial, collector, and local--indicating that streetscapes are a distinct component of street design and must receive separate planning and design attention. The second paper assesses relationships between skeleton variables and crowdsourced judgments of streetscape visual appeal throughout New York City. Regression modeling indicates that streetscapes with greater tree canopy coverage, lined by a greater number of buildings, and with more upright cross-sections, are more visually appealing. Building and tree canopy geometry accounts for more than 40% of variability in perceived safety, which is used as an indicator of appeal. While unmeasured design details undoubtedly influence overall streetscape appeal, basic skeletal geometry may contribute important baseline conditions for appealing streetscapes that are enduring and can meet a broad variety of needs.

Public space in the city. Social aspect and design for functional urban planning on the example of Prague The theme of this thesis is the formulation and revision of the general criteria of the functionality of urban public space in particular voluntary activities with the emphasis on user experience. The work as a whole combines theoretical and empirical approach to examining this issue, as these two views are complementary and mutually enriching. In the theoretical part, the theme of public space is imbedded in a broader sociological context. From the theoretical approach it is gradually moved to empiricism, which includes mainly the coverage of the concept of observable and measurable functionality indicators. In the empirical part, the formulated criteria are applied in practice within the observation of selected areas of Prague and also within their qualitative evaluation by the space visitors themselves. The universality and portability of these aspects in a different environment has been reviewed by comparing the theoretical aspects of functionality with the empirical evaluation of the observers. The work in its final section gives suggestions for the functional urban planning, based on newly uncovered contexts and dimensions. Key word: city, urban public space, functional urban planning