In the last years placing of poems in public space has become popular in the Netherlands. The poems are to be found in the cities, mainly on the walls and in the pavements, as well as in the nature. They are specific form of poetry which was not described thoroughly so far. This thesis describes the phenomenon (for which the term wallpoems is used) from three different points of view: it is poetical object by itself, part of the city as a social space and part of literature. (1) The wallpoem is poetical object in which the interaction is very strong between the text and the medium. The interpretation of the poem is strongly influenced by used material (bricks, stone, glas, metal), typography and location (wall, pavement, nature). The location has own social cultural context that influences the perception. Thanks to the unusual placing outside of any book the poems can be seen by another public. Very important is for the reader the surprise and unexpectedness of such a meeting with poetry. (2) The wallpoem is part of the city space. The most poems are part of organised projects which also influences their perception. Some of them have common theme or background idea given by the initiators. These projects can represent particular aspects of the city or create an image of it. Such image is meant as...

L'image de la ville de Bénarès (Kāśī, Varanasi) est liée à son ensemble de ghāṭ – berges en forme de gradins – qui se déploie de façon monumentale sur la rive concave d'un méandre du Gange. L'aménagement de ce front d'eau s'inscrit dans un contexte culturel particulier qui nécessite un rapport de proximité avec l'eau du fleuve. La construction et le développement de ce front d'eau dans le temps et la manière composite dont les éléments architecturaux s'y sont intégrés, interrogent aujourd'hui cette grande unité urbaine qui forme un espace public de plus de 6 km de long. L'objectif de cette thèse est de comprendre les éléments qui ont concouru à la naissance et au développement de ce front. La forme architecturale et urbaine du ghāṭ est considérée comme un dispositif construit modulable adapté à un milieu fluvial, à une topographie et à des pratiques liées à la culture du lieu, qui facilite l'accès à l'eau quel que soit son niveau. M'appuyant sur des images anciennes, sur une série d'enquêtes de terrain et de relevés architecturaux, ainsi que sur des plans de travaux officiels, j'étudie les techniques de construction face aux contraintes de l'eau, j'observe et j'analyse le dialogue de cette forme de berge avec la géographie et le paysage urbain pour en mieux approcher son architecture et j'explique la matérialisation du ghāṭ par les pratiques diverses qui s'y déploient et les parcours symboliques qui y font référence. La relation toute particulière que la ville entretient avec son fleuve par l'architecture des ghāṭ explique son potentiel urbanistique inhérent à son développement dans le temps et le long de la berge / The image of Benares (Kāśī, Varanasi) is closely associated to the architecture of its riverfront composed of ghats – steps and terraces – that stretch out in a monumental way on the concave bank of a meander formed by the river Ganges. The expansion of this riverfront has to be understood in relation to a cultural tradition that demands a close proximity to the waters of the river. The construction and development of this riverfront in time and the various ways in which each architectural element is integrated with the river bank, calls into question its impressive urban unity that forms a public space extending more than 6 km. The aim of this thesis is to identify the elements that have contributed to the origin and the development of this front. The architectural and urban form of the ghat is considered as a constructed flexible device adapted to a specific river environment, a characteristic topography and to practices linked to the culture of the place, which allows for easy access to the varying levels of the river's water level. Based on pictorial archives, interviews, measure drawings done on site and on official planners' drawings, I examine the techniques of hydraulic constructions best adapted to counter the river's currents, I observe and analyze the relations between the riverbank, the geography and the urban landscape so as to better approach the ghats' architecture and I explain the materialization of the ghat through the diverse practices and the symbolic trajectories that surround it. The particular relation that the city entertains with its river, through the architecture of ghats, explains its urban potential inherent to its development in time and space i.e. along its river bank

In religious faith I am finding the similar principle to the placebo effect. Placebo effect is associated to human belief and it is so powerful phenomenon that if the new drug in medicine is tested it has to be done through double-blind studies to eliminate the effect of placebo. Without this elimination, even non-working medicaments are having positive impact. In medicine, a placebo is commonly used to cure physiological or psychological problem, to achieve the effect, result. But there are other ways where we can meet placebo and is not it so easily recognized. Placebo can be a message, political doctrine or religious belief. Placebo investigates a mysterious area of effect without apparent cause, it is merely a reflection of our state of mind. Religion wraps its doctrine in sparkly packaging, tinsel, so that it is easily consumable and friendly. But under the wrapping is nothing but a placebo pill, we are attracted to, and which we may or may not believe will work. The pill is nothing, has no content, it is empty. It is in some way false, fake and illusory. But the most interesting part is that works reliably for decades.

Primary objective of master's thesis named Media image of changes at Wenceslas Square in the context of urbanism and architectural quality is to analyse the media coverage of important architectural and urban changes of Wenceslas Square between 1997 and 2015. The two main topics chosen for the analysis are the Revitalisation of Wenceslas Square and the development of Euro Palace. The purpose of the analysis is to answer the following question: "Do readers of generally oriented periodicals have an access to objective information about architectural and urban projects?" I will apply a quantitative content analysis to answer this question and prove that media contents are unbiased. After that, we would be able to say in case of Prague the architectural topics are covered enough and readers have a chance to form their own opinions or not.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Jessica Canfield / As urban populations continue to grow, parks will become a critical component to creating and sustaining healthy cities. A review of literature related to landscape performance and 21st century parks reveals a paradigm shift in the ways we engage our built landscapes. No longer is it environmentally or fiscally responsible to implement and maintain resource consumptive city parks that are exclusively concerned with fulfilling social needs. To create environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial spaces, 21st century parks must include design elements and best management practices that ensure long-term sustainability. In Manhattan, Kansas, most of the city’s parks are recreation centric and primarily focused on fulfilling social needs. However, Fairmont Park has yet to be fully realized, and therefore presents the city an opportunity to implement its first sustainable park. Using the Sustainable Sites Initiative’s 2009 Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks as a guide, a series of sustainability evaluations were conducted on Fairmont Park’s existing conditions in order to reveal its current level of sustainability. To understand how the park was originally envisioned to perform, the same analysis was conducted on Fairmont Park’s 1998 Master Plan. Findings from this process revealed an opportunity to update the park’s current master plan, in order to achieve enhanced environmental, social, and economic benefits. Guided by 21st century park design, implementation, and management strategies, the redesign of Fairmont Park will not only help Riley County fulfill its goal of becoming a State leader in sustainable design, but it will provide the Manhattan community with a state-of-the-art productive park, which promotes environmental education and stewardship, physical activity, local food production and composting, and stormwater management practices.

Research often frames the relationship between sports and the city in terms of economics as researchers debate the costs and benefits of using public subsidies to build stadiums, retain professional teams and host mega-events. However, people assign symbolic or intangible values to their home sports teams that cannot be measured through economic frameworks. My research examined the ways in which urban residents create value around their home professional sports team that other researchers dismissed as hard to measure. Using the New Orleans Saints as a case study, this research incorporated interviews, questionnaires, content analysis and participant observation to provide greater access to the meanings people associate with the experience of being a Saints fan. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Saints fans used their team to build a narrative of renewal and deliver messages about city recovery. These meaningful local narratives reinforced a feeling of connectedness to the city and created collective identities among diverse urban residents. The Who Dat Nation created a sense of fandom that existed outside the confines of the publicly funded stadium on game day as people encountered indicators of Saints fandom through everyday lived experiences. Through shared experiences surrounding Saints football, fans fostered public sociability and meaningful relationships across social differences. In addition, the findings outline ways in which locals embraced NFL hype and the commodification of professional football while also engineering local cultural adaptations to the economic dimensions of sport. Through the story of the Saints in New Orleans, we can see sport spaces as a combination of symbolism and practice where sporting and urban affiliations are interrelated in complex ways through the construction of identity, culture, and commercialism. This dissertation presents spaces of sports fandom as places of empowerment to challenge, renegotiate, and rethink difference where sport spaces embody constructions of race, urban place, gender and identity. This study shows how spaces of sport fandom can be spaces to negotiate a sense of community identity and foster repetitive civil interactions. This provokes discussion on the extent to which sport fan activities influence changes in social interaction across race and gender differences.

The accessibility of leisure areas in growing cities is a question of equality. Women often feel unsafe and thereby limited in their usage of public spaces. The Nydala leisure area is a large urban green area placed in Umeå municipality where a new city district is being planned. This study explores how young women experience the Nydala leisure area, both in terms of usage and feelings of unsafety, using interviews and thematic analysis. Furthermore, the study explores how women’s movement is restricted by their feelings of unsafety. Two municipal planners in charge of the Nydala area were interviewed for information on planning and development. The study found the usage to be diverse albeit young women often feel restricted by the social power relations of gender transforming public spaces into a safety risk. Restrictions in movement were often due to fear of violence from hearing of assault cases, too few ‘eyes on the street’, a lack of management in public spaces and insufficient street lightning. The new city district along with the planners’ ideas could result in a higher social control and improvement in safety, however it might fall short on taking women’s experience of safety and usage into consideration. When planning leisure areas sustainably, young women’s feelings of safety and rights of movement should be considered and assessed along with functions, greenery, and the needs of nocturnal animals. Equal and democratic planning can be helped through safety walks with young women.

1 Abstract The topic of the presented thesis are issues related to public spaces. Public spaces are defined in the Municipalities Act and the Capital City of Prague Act and comprise all squares, streets, marketplaces, sidewalks, public green areas, parks and other areas accessible to anyone without restrictions, i.e. serving public use and irrespective of the ownership of the space. This is the only definition in the Czech legal system and several other norms refer to it. The main purpose of public spaces is their public use. Therefore, the relevant legal rules regulate also the limits of various activities in public spaces. The current legal regulation is rather brief and the topic has not been covered extensively in the legal doctrine as of yet. The aim of the thesis is to summarize the legal rules relevant to public spaces and the regulation of activities on them, as well as to identify issues and ambiguities stemming from the insufficient legal regulation. The first part of the work introduces the definition of public space and its history and illustrates the emergence and abolishment of public spaces. The legal definition characterizes public spaces using the listing of specific types of places and referring to a common characteristic, i.e. accessibility to public. It emphasizes that public spaces are...

La presente investigación busca marcar las pautas para el correcto diseño de un Centro Comunitario que contribuya a suplir el déficit de infraestructura de un sector del distrito de San Juan de Lurigancho. Se parte de las problemáticas sociales de la zona y de la investigación de la tipología para introducir funciones específicas según los requerimientos propios de la población de la zona. Así mismo, proyectos referenciales, tanto nacionales como extranjeros ayudan a darle forma a la propuesta. Se define y analiza el terreno elegido y sus alrededores, el tipo y cantidad de usuario, la frecuencia de uso y el radio de acción del proyecto, todo ello tomando especial consideración en el diseño integral del proyecto con su ciudad. De ahí que se enfatice en la integración de espacios exteriores e interiores para que así, el espacio público, el entorno y el peatón guíen el planteamiento formal y espacial de la propuesta. / The present investigation seeks to set the guidelines for the correct design of a Community Center that contributes to supply the infrastructure deficit of a sector of the district of San Juan de Lurigancho. It has started from the social problems of the area and the investigation of the typology to introduce specific functions according to the requirements of the population of the area. Likewise, reference projects, both national and foreign, help to shape the proposal. The chosen terrain and its surroundings are defined and analyzed, the type and quantity of the user, the frequency of use and the radius of action of the project, all taking special consideration in the integral design of the project with their city. Hence, emphasis is placed on the integration of exterior and interior spaces so that, public space, the environment and the pedestrian guide the formal and spatial approach of the proposal. / Tesis

O trabalho tem como objetivo analisar noções e teses fundamentais com as quais Benhabib constrói uma concepção de espaço público universalista capaz de superar a primazia do domínio legal, o excesso de racionalismo e a cegueira de gênero das teorias morais e políticas modernas, que segundo a autora ainda estão presentes na ética do discurso de seu interlocutor direto, Jurgen Habermas. Em nossa chave de leitura, este espaço público efetivamente democrático, capaz de responder às contribuições feministas, tem como pilar central as relações ético-políticas estabelecidas em regime conversacional, sob a égide do conceito de outro concreto, num continuum com o conceito de outro generalizado. Para cumprir este objetivo, procuramos mostrar que a participação dialógica no espaço público funciona como um procedimento de validação das regras de ação, ao mesmo tempo em que são vetores na transformação moral e política dos agentes. Em seguida, expomos como o conceito de outro concreto serve de plataforma para a superação das teorias éticas centradas no direito e na justiça, possibilitando a constituição de uma ética que considere as diferenças e a inclua questões de boa vida e felicidade em seu corpo teórico. Por fim, levando em consideração as críticas feministas sobre o déficit de gênero, bem como sobre a falta de concretude das teorias morais, sinalizamos a necessidade da construção de um novo modelo de espaço público que supere tais defasagens e, neste sentido, seja efetivamente democrático. / This work aims to analyze fundamental notions and theses with which Benhabib constructs a conception of universalistic public space capable of overcoming the primacy of the legal domain, the excess of rationalism and the blindness of gender in modern moral and political theories which are still present in the Discourse Ethics of hers direct interlocutor, Jürgen Habermas. In our interpretation, this effectively democratic public space, capable of responding to feminist contributions, is based on ethical-political relations established under a conversational regime, through the concept of \"concrete other\", in a continuum with the concept of \"generalized\" other. In order to fulfill this objective, we try to show that dialogic participation in public space functions as a validation procedure for the rules of action, while at the same time they are vectors in the moral and political transformation of the agents. Following, we explain how the concept of the \"concrete other\" serves as a platform for overcoming ethical theories centered on law and justice, enabling the constitution of an ethic that considers differences and includes questions of good life and happiness in its theoretical framework. Finally, taking into account the feminist critiques of gender deficit, as well as the lack of concreteness of moral theories, we signal the need to construct a new model of public space that overcomes such lags and, in this sense, be effectively democratic.