This thesis explores the interplay between practices of activism and planning through a focus on place. By developing an understanding of place as a multi-situated and multi-scalar concept, I show how a theoretical approach based on a revision of the concept of place can bridge and contribute to both the fields of anthropology of planning and of social movements. Providing a series of insights into the Milanese urban periferia (outskirts) this research argues that activism and planning are continuously engaged in redefining the field of political action. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, archival and historical research, my work shows the empirical interplay between planning and politics as a central arena for the shaping of broader historical and geographical tensions. A number of controversies and episodes of protest are examined to illustrate the experiences of activists and citizens involved across different periods of contemporary Milanese history. I approached these events as elements of place-making; processes where different subjectivities, practices and ideas come together as transformative, ever-changing instances. The neighbourhood of Quarto Oggiaro in the extreme outskirts of the city has provided a setting for fieldwork research to address the idea of the anthropological places as the result of a mutual constitution between myself as the researcher and the people I encountered in the field who were engaged in defining their environment. This approach resulted central to producing collaborative processes and for unfolding a relational interpretation of places. By engaging with these experiences this thesis demonstrates the need for examining the categories and practices of political and planning imagination and the multiple practices of world-making to make a significant contribution to understanding the human and social contexts of modern urban realities.

L’émergence, dès la seconde moitié des années 1950, de deux milieux de la critique architecturale à Berlin-est et à Berlin-ouest, révèle, malgré les contraintes politiques qui pèsent sur ses acteurs, une volonté partagée de réflexion sur l’identité urbaine de la ville divisée. En effet, la Reconstruction des villes allemandes après la Seconde Guerre mondiale désigne un vaste projet de remise en service des infrastructures matérielles, mais aussi, de redéfinition d’un champ culturel et intellectuel profondément marqué par le nazisme. Adoptant une perspective d’histoire culturelle et des intellectuels, cette thèse explore les carrières, écrits et réseaux d’Ulrich Conrads, Günther Kühne, Julius Posener, Wolf Jobst Siedler, Klaus Duntze, Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm et Nikolaus Kuhnert à Berlin-ouest, et de Kurt Liebknecht, Richard Paulick, Hermann Henselmann, Kurt Junghanns, Bruno Flierl et Wolfgang Kil à Berlin-est. Architectes ou historiens de l’art de formation, auteurs dans la presse spécialisée, et journalistes dans la presse généraliste écrite et radiophonique, mais aussi, parfois, éditeurs et professeurs dans les universités et écoles d’art, ces critiques d’architecture et de la ville s’engagèrent, entre les années 1950 et 1980, pour la reconnaissance d’une culture architecturale [Baukultur] berlinoise au XX ͤ siècle. Ils furent aussi, à bien des égards, les initiateurs d’une redéfinition des enjeux de la critique architecturale et urbaine dans l’Allemagne d’après 1945. / Both in East and West Berlin, as soon as the mid-fifties, architecture critics have come to the fore and shown that in spite of political pressures imposed on them, they shared a will to reflect upon the urban identity of the divided city. Indeed, the Reconstruction of German towns after WWII refers to a vast project of restoration of the material infrastructures but also the redefinition of a cultural and intellectual landscape bearing the heavy mark of Nazi ideology. Choosing a perspective of cultural and intellectual history, this thesis explores the careers, writings and networks of Ulrich Conrads, Günther Kühne, Julius Posener, Wolf Jobst Siedler, Klaus Duntze, Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm and Nikolaus Kunhert in West-Berlin and of Kurt Liebknecht, Richard Paulick, Hermann Henselmann, Kurt Junghanns, Bruno Flierl and Wolfgang Kil in East-Berlin. Whether architects or history of art specialists, writers in the specialist press, journalists in the general press but also sometimes publishers and teachers in universities and art schools, those critics committed themselves to making the Berlin architectural culture [Baukultur] known in the XXth century. To a large extent they initiated a redefining of the stakes of architectural and urban criticism in post 1945 Germany.

Architecture’s Red Tape is a critical study of the relation between public architecture and public administration in the 1960s and 1970s. The thesis focuses on the work of the Swedish National Board of Public Building, KBS, which was a government agency in charge of providing premises for the Swedish state at that time. KBS expanded its construction of new buildings during the 1960s and did extensive research and development work to find new rational and efficient working methods and building systems. The development of KBS culminated in the implementation of an official architectural philosophy in 1968, called the “structure philosophy.” The architectural ideas were drafted parallel to new administrative systems that were in turn based on rational choice theories. The thesis studies the developments of KBS’ architecture, both as processes of building production (architecture practice) and as the built result of these processes (buildings), through the analysis of four different instruments. These instruments – Program Budgeting, KBS’ Structure Philosophy, Incentive Contract, and System Building – were important means in KBS’ efforts to rationalize building production and make operations more efficient. KBS highlighted new features in the practices of architecture – emphasizing process, the user, functionality, performance, evaluations, results, etc. – that could be reviewed as a redefinition of the architectural project. This review is explicit on two different levels: firstly, as a redefinition of the architectural object most clearly found in KBS’ publicly announced shift from building construction to “premises production.” Secondly, there is a redefinition of architectural practice that relocates the interest of design, making it more about programming with a heightened interest in the processes of defining the scope and problems of design. / <p>QC 20170825</p>

Urban spatial expansion resulting from urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is growing and will not stabilize in the near future. Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban growth rate is climbing faster than developing economies. Efforts should be concentrated on accommodating this phenomenon through the promotion of sustainable urban planning and development. Relying on secondary data, this research examines models of indigenous Sub-Saharan African urban forms and residential architecture vernacular to understand these forms and their characteristics, and how these models and associated management, design, and planning principles can be adopted in a contemporary context. Also, studies of established indigenous building materials and technology, which can be adapted to suit a low-cost and sustainable economy, are explored.

Design/Build education in architecture schools is growing in popularity across North America. I have researched the development of this movement, particularly as it has influenced educational programs. This paper begins with a review of the history of design/build at the University level. These historical precedents chart the course of several major benchmarks that have influenced design/build in the United States over the past 100 years. The second part of the study features a matrix highlighting seven current academic programs with long-term success in design/build. Then, I highlight my own design/build experiences within this format. After determining successful design/build programming, I used this information to develop a new curriculum. To test this new system, I led the development and realization of a local design/build project involving a Five College undergraduate team. This small-scale project was chosen in January and the physical build occurred in March, 2015. Completion of this project allowed for a critical analysis of this new method. This paper compares my results with the initial definition of program successes in an attempt to determine best practices for design/build curriculum moving forward.

The increasing awareness of the opportunities and possibilities of digitization in research and industry brings increased demands on graduates. The fact that digital resources are now cumulatively playing a role in the humanities and social sciences also necessitates the networking of various specialist disciplines. Cross-disciplinary project work, however, has its own challenges due to different subject cultures, perspectives and working methods. In order to adequately prepare students for these hurdles, the TU Dresden and the HTW Dresden (University of Applied Sciences) carried out a joint teaching project called “Dresdner Stadtgeschichte 3D”. Potentials and challenges were collected and analysed in a mixed method procedure in order to subsequently formulate didactic-conceptual implications.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis argues that an architectural surveying methodology via newspaper sampling offers new insight historic preservationists can use to more efficiently predict demolitions. Using data collected from the “Home Builder’s Department” section of the Indianapolis Star, this study compiles architectural information on 425 structures, mostly single-family and duplex residences, built between 1909 and 1926. Engaging with the historiographical themes of public history and architectural history as well as methodological components of historic preservation and digital humanities, the data-centric model relies on a collection of sampled newspaper articles, which were analyzed for specific information, compiled into a data repository with supplemental research, and then incorporated into the ArcGIS program for interpretation. The project provides a synopsis on early twentieth century building trends in Indianapolis and offers implications regarding the role that factors such as building type, geographic location, federal and municipal historic district protections, architectural style, and exterior building material or cladding play in predicting demolitions. Beyond these predictive results, this study also suggests a city-wide surveying methodology for organizing and analyzing large quantities of historic architecture for preservation planning initiatives.

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, a new aesthetic in the domestic architecture of middle-class America emerged. A new style of house, the bungalow, was introduced soon after the turn of the century, and within a very few years, became the most popular building style among Americans who were buying moderately-priced homes. The bungalow was a low, horizontal style of house with deep overhanging eaves and large porches, usually built of natural, textured materials. Its floor plan was notable for opening interior space. The research problem addressed in this study was to determine what factors popularized the new bungalow, a departure from its late Victorian predecessors.

Zoning map for Johnson City, Tennessee created November 6, 2013 by Johnson City GIS. The guide to zoning districts can be found in a box on the lower left corner. The color coded key and additional information is included along the bottom. Arterial and collector streets are also denoted using empty versus solid circles. Physical copy resides with Johnson City, Geographic Information Systems Division. Scale - 1" = 2000' / https://dc.etsu.edu/rare-maps/1059/thumbnail.jpg

Landscape design media comprise those graphic and spatial models used to generate imagined landscapes and to represent finished designs. But many of these traditional devices are insufficient for their purposes and/or inappropriately used, limiting conceptualization, understanding, and communication. This thesis critiques the uses of traditional representational media and proposes alternatives, relying on insights from architectural and landscape criticism, environmental psychology, cognitive science, and art history. Collage is one proposed new medium tested here for representing landscape to communicate design intent to the non-expert. Expert and non-expert comparative understanding of collage, orthographic drawing, and plan was assessed by questionnaire. Experimental results of this pilot study suggest that collage is appropriate for use by professional landscape architects to communicate type of place, user, activity and experiential aspects of design to non-experts, in conjunction with labeled orthographic drawings that show spatial information, structures, and activity locations. Collage and orthographic illustrations are best understood when viewed together, either as two separate illustrations or as a hybrid form. Further studies are needed to test the efficacy of collage for communicating user and activity aspects of design to non-experts across culture, age, and gender. Studies of paired illustrations (collage + architectural drawing) and hybrid variations are needed. In addition, studies are needed to test the efficacy of collage for communicating other aspects of contemporary landscape design, such as temporality, dynamism, and process, as well as acoustic, tactile, cognitive, and intuitive qualities of landscape.