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A number of books and articles have been written on the social movement to reimagine Southern California’s past in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While many of the pageants, parades, and public displays that defined this regional movement now reside in the pages of history, some architectural examples from this period are still visible today. In many cities, these examples are scattered throughout the community; while in others like Santa Barbara, they represent the centerpiece of the city’s architectural distinctiveness. Santa Barbara’s architecture challenges urban scholars to successfully garner an accurate sense of the past. More importantly, such historic spaces divert attention away from the social efforts that led to their inception. This thesis charts the history of Santa Barbara’s architectural reinvention and how the stylistic proliferation influenced the way various generations would think about the city’s past. The renaissance in a uniform Spanish style not only inspired local beautification efforts but also historic preservation, which ultimately resulted in the creation of the El Pueblo Viejo Landmark District in 1960. Additionally, this narrative critically examines the area’s history prior to the district’s establishment to show how economic profitability guided city planning, beautification, tourism, and preservation toward the ultimate solidification of the town’s Spanish image.

Disasters are happening all around the world on multiple scales and intensities. Some countries are more vulnerable than others and they are forced to be resilient in this scenario. Nowadays, it has been proven the importance of digital tools for risk prevention. BIM and GIS are digital tools that have been used for diverse purposes. The aim of this research is to understand how BIM and GIS can be integrated for disaster-prone environment prevention and post-earthquake reconstruction. Earthquakes are natural disasters that can be deadly, with BIM and GIS integration it is possible to prevent disaster-prone scenarios and assure urban reconstruction post-earthquake. Mexico City was chosen as the case study. Besides being considered one of the most seismic cities in the world, it has experienced throughout decades fatal post-earthquake destruction. Within the BIM and GIS integration, it is possible to comprehend the territory during an earthquake for prevention of disaster-prone environments and post-earthquake reconstruction. The Special Program for Urban Regeneration and Inclusive Housing in Mexico City is the starting point to analyze the feasibility of this integration in a real-life case scenario. Through the literature review results, it was possible to develop two frameworks based on the aim of this research. In the discussion the frameworks were evaluated by two Mexican specialists to validate the research results. The conclusion focuses on the research final outputs which demonstrates how BIM and GIS can be integrated for urban reconstruction purposes in Mexico City.

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Urban settlements located in subarctic regions have particular characteristics due to their climate. Climate and weather conditions influence people’s attendance in public spaces, their travel habits and recreational activities. In the subarctic regions, this influence is more visible due to greater seasonal differences. Urban design that deals with the generation and change of urban form can influence the impact of climate factors. Such interventions can be especially influential in the subarctic regions.This thesis focuses on addressing climate factors in urban design and transportation in the subarctic regions of Sweden. On one hand, it focuses on problems of incorporating climate factors into urban design, and on the other hand, it investigates travel patterns in relation to subarctic climate. The problems of urban design in subarctic regions were investigated by conducting a literature review and interviews with the planners from some of the Swedish northern municipalities. To study travel patterns in relation to cold climate, two travel surveys were conducted in Kiruna, a town located in the Northern Sweden. These issues are analysed and discussed in a covering essay and three attached papers. The interviews with planners show that climate considerations have a low impact on urban planning practices in these regions. The absence of a positive attitude towards cold climate, lack of knowledge and analytical techniques to be used in design, and weak relation between knowledge of climate factors and urban design practice are some of the major problems. Further, the interviews highlighted that dealing with snow in urban spaces (snow removal, better use of snow) is a crucial issue for these municipalities. The travel surveys in Kiruna demonstrated that car trips made a large proportion of all trips made in Kiruna while a very small part of trips were made by bicycle and public transport. The proportions of trips made by different transport modes (modal share) did not vary significantly in accordance to seasonal change, except in the share of bicycle trips, which dropped sharply during winter. Slipperiness, very low temperature, and wind have been the most negatively perceived climate factors when walking and cycling. Sunlight has been perceived positively. The distance travelled was shown to be correlated with the distance to the work place, but independent of the distance of the neighbourhood to the centre of Kiruna. Based on the analyses, improvements are suggested in three areas: institutions, design, and research. Institutional issues focus on how climate factors are handled in the municipal planning system. There is need for attitude shift, legitimacy and defining clearer goals in comprehensive plans. Design calls for active using of climate analysis and considering winter maintenance in developing design schemes. Research refers to collaborations between urban designers and experts from other fields, e.g. urban climatology, to develop knowledge applicable in planning and design.The potential of urban form in improving conditions for walking and cycling is significant. However, urban form seems to have limited potential for reducing the number of car trips in Kiruna with respect to long severe winters and current work distribution. The limitations of physical measures in affecting travel patterns can be partly improved by soft policy measures.

Manifested in form is an investigation of the current states of both the product and the processes of digital design in architecture. This licentiate thesis is a part of an ongoing PhD research study started in December 2009.The subject of this licentiate thesis is in the field of experimental digital design and production of architecture. As this field has grown and matured, architectural discipline has been confronted with radical shifts in the processes of formation and the appearance of products. The formal aspects of architecture have been pushed to incorporate utilitarian aspects. This research highlights and investigates the tension between processes and formal appearance, utility and the aesthetic. It states that intensification of these relationships is not due solely to the advent of digital technology: it has also originated from ontological shifts within the discourses of form and formation. It identifies which changes in these relationships result from the shift caused by advances in technology and which are due to ontological shifts. Within this field, it identifies certain ontological shifts which are aligned with digital techniques and describes the methods of design.The investigation uses ornament as an agent of the formal aspect, structure and construction as agents of utilitarian aspects and prototype as an agent of processes and product. This research unveils the ornament of the twenty-first century as a result of either methods of formal response to utility and/or methods of the digital construction of form. Thus, the ornament of the twenty-first century is an important part of the process rather than a non-essential element applied to a building. Ornament is manifested as a by-product of the processes.