Bronx - address substitution (reconstruction house of correction) The graduation thesis deals with an architectural study of a new utilization of the top security prison building and its sorrounding in „the Bronx“ of Brno. The prison with the chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin from the 18th century is a significant building of about one city block large. The project includes the modification of the original prison building and its extension, the removal of the unsuitable parts of the building and building of new objects connected to the prison and public places. The group of buildings has been designed with the regard to the alternative culture and forms of living places, which would lead to healing of the Roman ghetto. New arrangement and size of objects form two new squares. It reveals the prison in its original shape at the same time. On the south site there is a tall building designed as a dominating feature of the area.

Thesis (B. Arch.)--Roger Williams University, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb.19, 2010) Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Freiburg (Breisgau), Universiẗat, Diss., 2001.

The diploma project is the architectural-urbanistic study of the old prison reuse as new centrum of social deprived city part of Brno called „Bronx of the Brno“ because of its appropriate location, urbanistic land configuration and present of specific „genius loci“. This work is following the theoretical study made as diploma preparation, which set the main direction of the work. The aim of this project is the coplex of buildings mostly used for alternative culture, alternative forms of living not only for the comunity of social deprived city part but also for complete land recovery, grow of attractivity and raise of the land price. The main idea is to change the wrong address of the bad reputation quarter.

By 1800 the idea of pleasure driving, traveling through the landscape in a vehicle to appreciate nature and scenery, became not only popular, but also practical. What began in Britain as a recreational pastime for the upper classes soon found its way to the public parks of America and became the "Sunday Drive" of the early automobile era. This thesis demonstrates that a critical convergence of science and theory at the end of the eighteenth century propelled the development of the first roads constructed for no purpose other than driving for pleasure. Leading this movement was the renowned landscape gardener Humphry Repton. This thesis will examine the convergence of theory and science, using Repton as the central historical figure. By tracing the dissemination of his writings on roads, it will demonstrate his influence on the design of pleasure roads in nineteenth century America and, by extension, the automobile parkways of the early twentieth century. To do so, it will focus on the transatlantic conversations of four men: John Claudius Loudon, Andrew Jackson Downing, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, during a period which saw the ascendency of the profession of landscape architecture in America with the development of the rural cemetery and New York's Central Park. Beginning with Brooklyn's Prospect Park it will establish the physical and philosophical origins of the first "park-­‐ways" created to address metropolitan growth and pleasure driving, and assess the impact of the public health movement, through river reclamation, in defining the serpentine alignment that would come to distinguish the parkway form. Lastly, it will trace the legacy of these influences as American landscape architects designed a new class of pleasure roads expressly for the motorcar-culminating in 1925 with the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester County, New York-the first automobile parkway in the world.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 8).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, / "28 April, 2008". Includes bibliographical references (p. 105).

This thesis presents architectural-urban study using an old jail facility - a major object of the 18th century. Three variants are processed, the first two keep the shape of the old building blocks and give it a new functions with different scenarios. The third variant is more detailed. The proposal consists of the jail original shape - ie. it reveals the square-shaped building with two courtyards. There are two outbuildings demolished and into the resulting space are installed three new buildings, which complement with the existing buildings and completes public space. Two new high-rise buildings, built on the south side, acts as a new landmark and a new building in the north serves to supplement the services appropriate to the locality. Buildings and spaces are linked to the main pedestrian routes, creating a cascade of continuous space - the urban interior.

Aux États-Unis, les villes connaissent une crise urbaine qui se manifeste par l’existence de quartiers centraux détériorés, concentrant les minorités pauvres. Les quartiers de Jefferson-Mack (Detroit) et Hunts Point (South Bronx, New York) en sont des archétypes. Ils sont pourtant animés par d’importantes mobilisations civiques, se focalisant sur des questions environnementales et alimentaires. Le but de ce travail est d’évaluer le potentiel d’initiatives environnementales et alimentaires à améliorer les conditions de vie des habitants des inner cities. La première partie, en mobilisant un corpus d’études urbaines, présente ces quartiers comme les produits d’une crise urbaine structurelle. Nous mettons en évidence que les habitants y subissent une « crise urbaine de l’habiter », dans laquelle les nuisances, les pollutions et le manque d’accessibilité aux ressources environnementales et alimentaires, sont déterminants pour comprendre l’essor des mobilisations. La deuxième partie explique le rôle des mobilisations civiques environnementales et alimentaires dans ces quartiers. En nous appuyant sur les corpus de la justice environnementale et alimentaire, nous démontrons que l’hybridation des questions environnementales, alimentaires, sociales et spatiales a reconfiguré l’action collective. La troisième partie analyse les enjeux de la réappropriation du territoire, à partir du corpus des commons studies. À travers le cas de l’agriculture urbaine et d’autres pratiques établies sur des espaces vacants, nous montrons que la réappropriationdu territoire procure de multiples bénéfices. Loin d’être cantonnée aux domaines environnementaux et alimentaires, elle permet d’améliorer partiellement – mais non sans heurts – les conditions de l’habiter. / American cities are still affected by the urban crisis, patent through the existence of low-income inner city neighborhoods, concentrating the urban poor and ethnic minorities. The neighborhoods of Jefferson-Mack (Detroit) and Hunts Point (South Bronx, New York) are both considered icons of the urban crisis. Yet they witness substantial environmental and food justice activism. The purpose of this thesis is to understand how grassroots environmental and food practices can be used to improve living conditions for inner city communities. The first section analyzes how these two blighted neighborhoods are products of a structural urban crisis. By using a corpus of urban studies on urban decline, we demonstrate how the daily lives of residents reveal a “crisis of urban living” in which noxious uses and pollution as well as limited environmental and food access are key factors triggering grassroots activism. The second section is grounded in a corpus of studies on environmental and food justice, in order to explore the role of environmental and food justice activism in these neighborhoods. We defend that the hybridity between environmental, food, social and spatial issues reconfigured grassroots activism. The third section mobilizes a corpus of commons studies to analyze the challenges of reclaiming urban space. By studying the rise of urban agriculture and other environmental amenities occurring on vacant land, we explore the multiple benefits of community urban space reclamation. Beyond environmental and food benefits, and despitesome conflicting issues, reclaiming urban space allows transformative processes to noticeably yet incompletely improve living conditions.

The purpose of this report is to explore the ways in which Asian American men participate in hip hop culture, and what this participation says about their politics and representation in United States media and popular culture. This is done through an analysis of Freestyle Friday All Star, MC Jin, a Chinese American emcee from Queens, New York, as well as DJ Soko, a Korean American DJ from Detroit, Michigan. I argue that their participation is a desire for political power and creative visibility rendered on their own terms. / text