specialcollections@tulane.edu / Communities situated in high-hazard fire-risk zones are experiencing larger fires even after decades of fire suppression techniques have been implemented. While fire suppression mitigates the dangers short-term, as the cost of suppression rises and fires become more uncontrollable long-term sustainability is lost. Suppression techniques have left more kindling in denser forests while allowing invasive species to take root causing native species suffer due to their dependence on fires. The invasive species feed flames at a faster rate than native species, increasing the likelihood of an uncontrollable fire. The solution: adapt to living in a fire environment. Architecture and controlled fires are tools to making peace with raging wildfires. If a forest is born to burn, let it, and design accordingly. Specifically, this thesis concentrates on design opportunities such as firebreaks, community engagement, technology, and fire festivals for humans to live with wildfire. These elements mitigate wildfires while also resulting in assets for the community. This thesis seeks to redesign a fire devastated community to demonstrate the potential of fire-safe strategies. / 1 / Jacqueline Esmay

This thesis started with a personal interest as to what informs architectural form, specifically the folded, smooth or continuous form so visible in contemporary architecture. I was interested in the relationship between the formal 'folds' of contemporary architecture and the spatial theory of 'folded space'. In order to understand where these forms are coming from and whether or not the idea of 'folded space' could bring value to the construct of architecture in the South African context I had to gather a comprehensive understanding of the state of architecture in the 21" century and of course that meant researching the failures and successes of what went before. I have learned that the obsession with folded form comes from contemporary architecture's preoccupation with connection and complexity in architecture. In short; Modernism sought to group, zone and separate different spatial programs which were often translated into pure geometric forms, Post-Modernism reacted against the monotony of Modernism by juxtaposing exaggerated oppositions in form and spaces. Today, in the transitional phase from the late 20th century to the beginnings of the 21" century, contemporary architecture still struggles with the theme of connection and complexity in architecture. The idea of 'folded space' where previously unrelated elements are smoothly integrated within a continuous, but heterogeneous mixture seems to provide contemporary architects with an alternative to the purity of Modernism and the vulgar oppositions of Post-modernism. So the question contemporary architecture is faced with today is: How can architecture formulate a continuous mixture which still allows for variety complexity? The theory investigation concluded that the relevance of the folded space in the South African context could be the realization that through the folding or blurring of the relationship between previously unrelated programs, spaces and the building and its urban context, new and interesting social interactions might arise. The corner of Strand and Adderley Street on the station site proved an appropriate site on which to test this theory of 'folded space' on both a social and a spatial level. Although the site is situated on the most important intersection in the city it is known for its clear separations and barriers. The three levels in the center of the city, the underground, the ground and the above ground I station roof are separated both spatially and socially. The design project strives to experiment with ways in which to 'fold' the distinct spaces that are imminent, but repressed on this corner site in the heart of Cape Town's city. Through folding or connecting these spaces and programs that were previously separated the architecture will aim to act as a platform for social encounters amongst its users.

Self-reliant communities allow for the stimulus of local economies, employment opportunity, and poverty alleviation. They also encourage the sustainable use of natural resources, energy harvesting and generation, and climate resilience. In order to ensure food sovereignty and environmental sustainability, society needs to move away from purely industrial agriculture and reintroduce agriculture to communities, allowing people the opportunity to engage directly with healthy, nutritious, locally produced food. There is an opportunity to investigate the potential for agriculture in the peri-urban environment to provide these solutions through the development of architecture and agriculture hand in hand. This project investigates the relationship between peri-urban agriculture and the urban environment and its potential to combat these issues through the design of an agricultural precinct hosting a dairy, deli, and resource centre. It aims to investigate the role of Architecture as a trans-disciplinary facilitator in the achievement of regenerative and self-reliant communities through sustainable urban, environmental and spatial design; and seeks to investigate the merging of three focal areas in order to successfully achieve a regenerative environment: human behaviour and community processes; natural processes, and technology. This project therefore proposes a break away from the design and developmental typologies of today's consumerist and disposable society by challenging the conventional farm and the conventional urban development by creating an intervention that acts as a social device, becoming a filter between the environment/farm and the city/community. / Mini Dissertation (MArch Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

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Since the beginning of Japan's post-war boom her major cities, notably Tokyo, have developed with remarkable speed but relatively little pre-planning and control. So the consequent economic benefits have been accompanied by a level of visual disorder. Public and governmental opinion has therefore recently begun seeking development-control guidelines for improving the visual quality of the urban scene. Some Japanese researchers, building partly on the work of their us colleagues, have responded by trying to identify the most aesthetically significant aspects of the urban visual landscape. This thesis contributes to this search a particularly quantitative approach. It begins with a review of urban-design aesthetic theory concentrating on more recent "psychometric" investigation. It then describes and discusses the main method of the thesis: representation of urban scenes through video stills, computergenerated images, or photographs and the exposure to these representation of groups of sample subjects, and statistical analysis of the subjects' questionnaires responses. Special attention is paid to the reliability with which the aesthetic qualities of a given urban configuration can be generalised from 2-d "perspective" views of it, and to the relationship in subject responses between physical elements like buildings and trees and abstract characteristics like "openness", "enclosure", "age", or "expectant space". These procedures are applied to questionnaires completed by Japanese subjects regarding representations of various Tokyo street scenes, and by largely British subjects regarding contrasting "old" and "new" landscapes in the Hampstead and Milton Keynes areas. Initial investigations suggest that the elements of predominant subjective significance include the proportion of visible sky, the abundance of foliage. This thesis ends by suggesting aesthetic guidelines drawn from these results, considering spatial elements and roles of foliage, and discussing aesthetic assessment for development-control purposes.

Landscape Architects should not create final products, but rather frameworks through which natural existing phenomenon can coexist, evolve and adapt; while bringing together an evolving final existence. The world is not static; the image which we design on paper will never exist exactly the way in which we imagined and there are certain aspects, which we cannot account for or control in the natural world. Given this belief, this practicum is not intended as a final design; but rather constructed as praxis; an exploration of a parametric modeling software and its use as an integral part of the natural design thinking process; a simulation tool rather than a representational conclusion. / February 2016

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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009. / Author also earned an Urban Design Certificate from the Program in Urban Design; a joint graduate program with the Dept. of Architecture and the Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 174-179). / As currently conceived, the contemporary city will not advance beyond its present level of achievement. This research frames the city within three root values upon which all decisions made in the city are based. The three root values are continuity, connection and openness. Under the present priorities of city making, the contemporary city is heavily biased toward continuity. A paradigm shift is required in the way cities are conceived and developed to rebalance the three root values with the intention of creating cities that are better places for humans to inhabit. This shift is a call for a more human city. This research investigates a collection of urban design principles that are intended to humanize the city and improve them as settings for human use and occupation. The research utilizes the festival as a temporal moment in the city of uniquely human-centered use. It is a moment in which the human becomes the dominant priority in the organization and occupation of space, while other systems of the city are temporarily interrupted. Through a series of six festival case studies a number of consistent adaptations of space emerge in which the festive events highlight strategies for humanizing space in the city. The urban design principles highlighted by this research include adapting spatial containment, restructuring movement, exposing meaning and commonality, attracting density of people, removing separation of uses, increasing overlapping activities, and spatially and temporally scripting and choreographing all of these strategies. / (cont.) These principles are then examined through a design test that shows their applicability in making humanizing adaptations of space and ultimately creating more human cities. / by Joshua Charles Fiala. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009. / Author also earned an Urban Design Certificate from the Program in Urban Design; a joint graduate program with the Dept. of Architecture and the Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Includes bibliographical references. / Modern streetcars are making a comeback in the United States after their disappearance in the mid twentieth century. They resemble their distant relative, also known as the trolley, in many ways but express a contemporary, provide modern conveniences, and act as a magnet for redevelopment within the city. Modern streetcars build on the theory behind the European tram systems and provide desirable transportation options to support a range of densities in urban living. Currently in the United States, Portland, OR and Seattle,WA operate one modern streetcar line and have plans to expand their singular line into a network. Using these two routes, the plans for system expansion, and the individual cities that support them as case studies, this thesis analyzes the potential for streetcars to return to Denver, CO.The analysis for the Mile High City was conducted using my knowledge of and research on Denver and the surrounding metropolitan region, its historical skeleton that developed around the streetcar, and the City's current trends in public transportation and planning processes. Based on a multifaceted analysis that includes studying the relationship of potential streetcar route length, multi-modal connections, major destinations, high bus ridership routes, projected residential density, projected employment density, and redevelopment potential based on use and zoning, Denver is in fact an appropriate city for the return of streetcars. / (cont.) Not only would one streetcar be successful, but an integrated system could serve the City and its surrounding urban neighborhoods well. Taking the analysis one step further, the research attempts to compare a potential modern streetcar system for Denver with the historic streetcar routes that operated until 1949. Many observations arise, including the obvious difference in the limited number of modern lines versus the vast number of historic routes. Modern streetcars typically occur on primarily mixed-use corridors rather than pass through strictly residential neighborhoods as they once did. It is also evident that modern streetcars in Denver would direct redevelopment within the city whereas historic streetcars directed development to the edge of the city.This ability to direct development and redevelopment within the city's boundaries in addition to providing transportation fit in line with Denver's goals for growth management, multi-modal transportation options, and neighborhood revitalization. / by Sarah E. Snider. / M.C.P.