Over the course of the last several decades, an increase in the level of concern surrounding the various health and environmental consequences of current, popular waste disposal methods, including landfilling and incineration, have resulted in an increase in municipal recycling efforts. These efforts take place primarily at the residential and commercial levels, while the availability of recycling in public spaces like sidewalks, transit stops, parks and other areas is not something that is often encountered in cities around the United States. This thesis studies the implications and opportunities for public space recycling through the action research process during which I conducted case study research of existing public space recycling programs in Portland, Oregon, and New York, New York, alongside the planning and implementation of a pilot program for transit stop recycling in Austin, Texas. The aim of this thesis is to examine and establish various goals and common strategies for the implementation of public space recycling programs and ultimately make a case for this arguably invaluable, yet often overlooked, recycling initiative. Working under the theoretical framework of the urban metabolism and Karl Marx’s theory of the metabolic rift, the reimagining of waste disposal practices to include widespread materials recycling is one avenue for the restructuring of the relationship between the city and the natural environment. The expansion of recycling practices into public spaces forwards the overall mission to make recycling an integral part of daily life. If implemented properly, the widespread implementation of recycling programs like public space recycling could begin to heal the fragmented urban metabolism and ensure the longevity of the ever-evolving urban and natural environments. The conclusions of this research revolve around the importance of context for public space (and other) recycling practices. This research shows that for public space recycling to succeed as a strategy for the mainstreaming of recycling practices and the reparation of the metabolic rift, the unique characteristics of each individual public space must be taken into consideration upon the implementation of a public space recycling program. / text

Worldwide, dense urban spaces have been organized and transformed by cultural values. However, in many cases, changes in economic and social conditions have resulted in fragmentation of neighborhood typologies, in terms of their physical characteristics and uses. Such spaces are a manifestation of development, expansion, dislocation and marginalization; a condition that can be improved through an architectural and urban strategy which inscribes emerging forces into the neglected zones of marginal territories. The contemporary context calls for a re-evaluation of public space. To fully engage the people, it is a necessary function of public space to blur landscape, architecture and infrastructure, as these three elements are rarely used in isolation. Public space can no longer be conceived as layers of these components of the built environment superimposed, but rather as an integrated network. As an investigation of the environmental potential of existing urban areas, this thesis attempts to use an integrated network approach to create a local, social and cultural identity in a Detroit neighborhood. By focusing on the important role the public realm plays within the urban landscape, the project creates a dialogue between the natural and built components of the urban realm by taking advantage of the potential of existing infrastructure, social factors and context. The main focus of this thesis creates a design strategy that gives character and identity to an area of the city that has been fragmented as a result of recent changes in economic and social factors. The project achieves this by weaving nature into the urban fabric. The research in this thesis culminates in a project which identifies a marginal area in Detroit and suggests alternative uses for the surrounding spaces, giving emphasis to the natural component of the urban landscape as a tool to critique the re-appropriation of spaces that outlived their original vitality. The concepts and findings from this thesis could be applied in any city towards the ecological reconditioning of marginal areas.

What the future brings for Hong Kong and its residents had been urgently debated in local and global conversations during the period leading to the 'handover,' or, Hong Kong’s 'return' to China in 1997. My dissertation examines differing attempts by theatre practitioners to respond to these questions in the 1990's, and to inscribe new 'local-ethnographies' through performance life to rearticulate what could be said about the body and how it dwells in the city that is called, 'home.' "Changes: A City in Circulation," the first chapter, considers many differing conceptions of 'time' and 'space' which have affected how dwellers experience, and imagine Hong Kong as their "house" and "home." The second chapter, "His(her)stories: Ethnographies of the House and Body," discusses the excavating and editing of perceptions, experiences and memories for performative projects, and how difficult it has been to create 'local-ethnographies' of what it means to be a dweller in Hong Kong through any single historical interpretation. The third chapter, "Stretching the Limits: Between Bodies and Language" analyzes the instrumentality of the body and voice of performers, and how the body and voice have been key to stories that are told through performance life. "Traces of the Familiar: Between the Public and Private," the fourth chapter, looks at the interrelationship between 'self' and the 'body social,' and explores through what is staged, whether what is 'familiar' as well as 'unfamiliar' have been made 'sharable' as part of the personal stories, use of found objects, and the inhabitation of urban space that are relived and exhibited through performative projects. "Working with Human Material through Performative Work," the fifth chapter, examines the challenges to art being perceived as work, and how what is worked upon through performative laboring has been affected by, but in turn, has the potential to shape the relations of production of its times. As performance life continues to bring together those from disparate parts of the city together at least for a brief moment in time, the sixth chapter, "Dwelling Places: Somewhere Between the 'Outside' and 'Inside,'" is concerned with how my own participating, observing, researching, and writing could also be points of contact, as 'stranger' and 'friend,' 'outsider' and 'insider,' to those met through the borrowed spaces of theatre. My hope is that what is written is not an ending, but a beginning too to more entrances that could be shared, and further conversations that could be held. / Anthropology

European modernist architectural design and urban planning for suburbs have often been theorized as dystopic creation myths. These narratives focus on the unfulfilled promises of activist designers to deliver equality, overscaled and generic neighborhoods, and contemporary social exclusion. Södertälje offers another view. This dissertation combines history, ethnography, and formal analysis to examine how architects, urban planners, and immigrant residents conflict and collaborate in the production of the city. The Swedish town of Södertälje serves as a lens through which to view these processes: it is both a nexus of high modernist spatial and social planning and the ostensible capital of the diasporic Syriac Christians, who now comprise approximately 26% of the local population. Postwar Swedish designers sought to reduce class differences through home standardization and a blurred public-private divide; this happened just as the country received numerous refugees, including Syriacs, who had left difficult conditions in Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon and quickly concentrated in Södertälje. There, they became active designers of a new urban landscape, first claiming welfare state public spaces but then slightly altering their uses. This suggests that “generic” modernist urbanism was more successful at accommodating difference than has typically been argued. More recently, Syriacs have built a state-of-the-art soccer stadium and colossal churches that – while sited in industrial zones in Södertälje – function as monuments and pilgrimage sites for the diaspora. In new, Syriac-dominated neighborhoods of custom-designed, single-family houses, Syriac participation has exceeded the “voice” that planners typically allocate to immigrants; their architectural displays of difference and affluent forms of segregation generate anxieties for planners trained in the welfare state’s traditions, which have long linked spatial uniformity to social equality. In aggregate, the Syriacs’ discrete projects have changed the way that the city functions, both in space and in the practices of the town’s expert designers, a development that I label “urban design from below.” This justifies a call for new orientations toward modernism, segregation, and participation in space making and suggests future trends for other European peripheries, where immigrants are also using and reconstructing postwar housing projects.

Freedom of movement is a matter of individual freedom rather than only a tool for addressing global distributive injustice. Freedom of movement has normative value whether or not it concerns interstate borders. Migration, in the sense of interstate relocation, is a subcategory of movement, which can involve travel, temporary relocation or permanent relocation--a brief walk, or a move halfway around the world. My argument about freedom of movement has two essential elements: first, that freedom of movement has noninstrumental value, not only instrumental value, and that it deserves more weight and attention than liberals usually give it; and second, I justify this and its implications by emphasizing the cross-scalar connections between local and global movement and showing that the difference between internal and interstate movement is not as significant as is usually assumed to be. Freedom of movement is proposed as a unit of concern and a matter of degree, with principles and restrictions functioning in parallel at both levels. The cohesive account of liberal freedom of movement offers the chance to think about people moving and staying as one overarching category. This challenges the characterization of migration as anomalous and captures the chance to treat like cases alike. Chapter Two makes an argument for freedom of movement as a noninstrumental liberal value to which the normative weight of the instrumental value of freedom of movement is added. Chapter Three explores small-scale movement in the countryside and the city and proposes a stronger valuation of freedom of movement particularly vis-à-vis private property rights. Chapter Four considers theoretical and legal arguments involving intrafederal movement in the United States and Germany and compares intrafederal exit to exit from the state. Chapter Five considers several free movement regimes in Europe to draw out the similarities between interstate, intrafederal, and local movement. Throughout these chapters I show that there are many legitimate ways in which freedom of movement can and should be restricted at the internal level, but this is not sufficient to conclude that interstate movement can be arbitrarily restricted. / Government

This thesis notes that there is a lack of systematic research investigating segregation patterns based on how public space is used and frequented by citizens. In order for understanding of urban segregation to reach beyond residential segregation, the extent to which public space facilitates co-presence between social groups is a key issue. The main concern in this thesis is to arrive at a deeper understanding of the critical role urban form plays in terms of co-presence in public space and in extension for social segregation. The argument builds on knowledge from other fields, arguing that co-presence is of utmost importance for societal processes: by sharing space and being co-present with others, which does not necessarily imply focused interaction, we gain information and knowledge from our fellow citizens and participate in processes that negotiate social structures, acceptable behaviours and identities. The sharing of space thus becomes a central part of ‘being in society’. It is furthermore through public space that material urban resources are accessible, an access that is dependent on both the location of the amenities in space but also the distribution of space, as structured and shaped by urban form, which creates the actual experience of access through space. Segregation is primarily defined as a social problem. However, in this thesis, it is made clear that it is also a spatial problem. While also broadening the conceptualisation of segregation, the main focus has been upon the role of the built environment. The socio-spatial link builds on social theories. However, these theories are weak when it comes to explaining where co-presence occurs. Addressing the spatial side of the problem, the thesis primarily builds on the architectural theory of space syntax that exactly aims to study the space-society relationship from the viewpoint of space and provides empirical evidence for the correspondence between urban form – as it is shaped by urban design and architecture – and the creation of co-presence as well as variations in its intensity and its constitution. In addition, key questions such as what people may have access to ‘just around the corner’ in terms of human resources or other urban amenities are elaborated. The distinct variations found between neighbourhoods are argued both to enrich the discussion on social exclusion and unequal living conditions and inform future urban planning and design. The thesis demonstrates that specific configurational properties have great impact on the pattern of co-presence. More specifically, it is found that a segregation of public space, a limited spatial reach and an uneven distribution of spatial centrality appears not to favour an exchange between neighbourhoods or access to urban resources across the city – findings that are highly critical for the urban segregation issue. Detailed configurational analysis of Stockholm reveals the performative aspects of different urban layouts related not only to local circumstances and character but, more importantly, to the further context of such layouts. Increased knowledge of how spatial configuration relates to social practices offers new insight into how different neighbourhoods and urban layouts perform socially and increases understanding of the social implications of spatial configuration. The findings of this study are argued to open up theoretical developments that address the social and political dimension of urban design with greater precision. Not least, this knowledge can influence public debate. The knowledge produced can furthermore be used in urban design practice and anti-segregation initiatives, identifying whether spatial interventions can make a contribution and if so, what physical interventions respond to the social ends in question, where the ultimate aim is an urban design that not only builds cities but societies too. / <p>QC 20131108</p>

The purpose with this thesis is to explore the urban landscape in post-apartheid Johannesburg, investigate the concept of the growing numbers of various types of urban villages and moreover look into the open urban village of Parkhurst. The main questions that are addressed in the thesis are: How would the urban landscape in post-apartheid Johannesburg be described and which types of urban villages can be identified? What would the residents in Parkhurst explain to be the reasons for living in an open urban village and what are their opinions on safety, public space and closed urban villages? Qualitative methods were used as in observation studies and inductive in-depth interviews during the field study in Parkhurst, Johannesburg. The study shows that the concept of urban villages can create both a negative spatial situation and a positive spatial situation – depending on the type of urban village. The thesis also shows that it is possible to feel safe living in a open urban village in a city with high crime and that thoughtful design and effective management of spaces in the city are essential factors that can prevent places from becoming ‘hot spots’ for crime.

This thesis considers the potential of the suburban periphery to become an ecologically, socially and culturally productive site which supports local and regional public programs. It explores ways of creating connectivity across the hard boundaries of a suburban development, an expressway and an agricultural area in order to stimulate biological and cultural diversity in this typically neglected, “leftover” environment. The site is the Ninth Line Corridor at the suburban edge of Mississauga, Ontario. The investigation of boundary occurs at the urban, building and experiential scales, and considers how the intersection of landscape, ecology, architecture and program can generate activities and events which foster engagement with the site and within a community.

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This thesis examines the impact of outdoor advertising on public space, by situating outdoor advertising within arguments about global corporate domination. I argue that the implosion of commercial messages into ever-increasing amounts of public space has repercussions for our ability to relate to each other as anything other than commercial beings. Outdoor advertising necessitates the use of stereotypes to communicate with its audience. The regulatory mechanisms for advertising sanction this use of stereotypes, which puts commercial needs and rights to free speech before the public's right to distance itself from commercial messages and values. The discourses of advertising and its progenitors reinforce hegemonic conceptions of gender, class and ethnicity thereby imbuing space with values which do not encourage diversity but promote narrow and limiting options for the self. By carefully examining the 'entrepreneurial adexec' and 'public interest' discourses that surround outdoor advertising, I argue that its global privatising power has been able to continue without challenge, as potential criticisms are silenced before they are even articulated. It will be shown how the various regulatory mechanisms operating under discourses of 'public accountability' actually serve commercial interests rather than public interests by supporting private-public partnerships and focussing narrowly on the implicit meaning in ads. Particularly problematic representations of gender, class and ethnicity in outdoor ads will be analysed to discern the various ways these impose certain values on public spaces in Christchurch through the process of commercialisation. Finally, graffiti and billboard liberation as forms of cultural resistance to this commercialisation will be examined.