This thesis is an exploration into the modern meaning of the minimum dwelling. It discusses how this meaning gradually became disengaged from the minimum house. It proposes a new definition of the minimum dwelling based on the minimum social unit, that is, the individual. At the beginning of the 20th century, the term Existenzminimum dwelling proposed a new way of living. This modernist definition of the minimum dwelling was based on a reproducible expendable minimum house. This thesis argues that this definition is no longer valid; yet, any present definition of the minimum dwelling is still informed by it. The reconfiguration of the minimum house as an expendable object disempowered the house as a tool for the experience of the home. This dissociation of the house and the home is a condition that has gradually diminished the role of the house in everyday life and redefined the experience of the home. The meaning of the home is now invested in a multiplicity of locations, experiences and objects. This thesis defines the minimum home as a core of personally meaningful possessions, the spatial configurations they create and recreate and the information they carry. This thesis’s definition of the minimum dwelling is based on this minimum home. This argument is pursued through two modes of inquiry. On the one hand with a critical analysis of texts, buildings, architectural projects and works of art. On the other hand by the development of a series of projects. These two investigations are parallel and overlapping. In this document, they are organised in a linear way. This structure assists the progress of the argument and reveals the gradual development of this thesis from an interest to develop a truly individual minimum house to the realisation that the minimum dwelling is a personal project.

This thesis describes how Green Infrastructure has been incorporated into the syllabi of vocational-professional courses within the planning occupation. Within this it examines the competing authorities that seek to determine how this is accomplished. what form this new knowledge takes and how it should be taught. Key drivers for change in syllabi are widely recognised: 'the market', universities as centres for innovation, professional associations as owners of a discrete body of knowledge, government as paymaster, and students as 'clients' or 'customers'. However, the relationship between these, as well as the relative power to determine authority, are undeveloped points within this understanding. Various methods were adopted, but a central part of the work is case studies on four universities teaching planning courses. These are identified as Quality University. Balance University, Process University and Industry University. Despite each having a different philosophy of approach towards the nature and provision of higher education, each is found to provide teaching forms within the same paradigm. However, students within each university interpret their learning needs separately. and there is a fissure in the understanding of teaching and learning between student and university. The research suggests that individuals are key drivers for change to syllabi. and proposes a number of ideal types: the Green Champion, the Green Infrastructure Champion, the Green Maverick, the Green Infrastructure Maverick. the Green Technocrat, the Green Antagonist. and the Green Ignorant. Champions are found to be a key driver in establishing new forms of knowledge and incorporating these into syllabi. Intellectual deviancy by individuals, identified as Mavericks, also introduces new forms of knowledge generally and Green Infrastructure specifically. However. quite where Green Infrastructure originates from is less clear. Professions also have a key role, despite their claims to be removed from the process of creating courses, but there is far less evidence on corporate university structures or the government generating change. One useful social theory to contextualise these ideas is Anthony Giddens' view of High Modernity, in which all knowledge is contingent and there is no determinant authority; rather, competing and transient authorities vie for control.

No description available.