The challenge of this project is to turn a large residual empty space into a public place, a truly relational space. The site was decided upon first, and within its vastness the spirit of the surroundings arose which in turn gave birth to the development programme. At the stage where a site was chosen, no particular functional theme other than that of “adaptive reuse” existed. Located in the industrial sector of Pretoria West, the site was chosen for its ability to stun the visitor to silence with its scale and grandeur. Currently housing the Pretoria West Power Station, the visitor is confronted by structures which appear to be beyond the realm of human interaction. The dissertation explored the transformation of “urban void” to a public place where events can be held. This proposed events centre thrusts the landscape into the intervention, blurring the thresholds between inside and outside. The building itself has little regard for the boundaries imposed on it by the site. Purposely ignoring these limitations, the building extends its boundaries over the lake, creating space above untouched territory. The design aims to fragment the intervention into smaller experiences, which allows the visitor to engage more intimately with the intervention. This project addressed the issues of visual contact. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted

In the beginning of my research I focused on transformations of the urban leftover and void space found in between buildings, street networks, parks or other institutionalized public spaces into urban places of character. By studying the spatial qualities of different places and their relation to human activities in those places I came up with the main question of my thesis: Can a space be designed loose and/or can it be loosened by design? The concept of “heterotopia”, as described by Michel Foucault in his essay “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”, is a place functioning in nonhegemonic conditions, the place of “otherness” that has more layers of meaning than meet the eye. That concept proved to be the best description and the bounding frame of the design part of my research. / Master of Science / This Urban Design thesis explores questions of complexity and layering in the structure of the city. The places that lack social and structural richness are often perceived as dull and absent of character. My questions are mainly focused on how this character can be introduced and what makes space a place. The main body of this study is conceptual graphical research on how, when and where the imaginary place can approximate and meet reality creating a type of city very different from the traditional image. This concept was intended to explore how the city can be made radically different without being a utopia or dystopia in its essence.

The topic of the diploma thesis is commercial suburbanization and its relation to concept Edge city. The main objectives of the thesis are an analysis of development of commercial activities in Prague and its hinterland, evaulation of current development of commercial activities on area of Prague airport and prediction of future possibilities of development and comparison of Prague airport with a concept Edge city. First chapters deal with theoretical questions of the suburbanization and Edge city. Next chapter defines the locality of interest - Václav Havel Airport Prague. The tool used for this is development analysis of commercial activities of Prague metropolitan area. In the case study there are analyzed commercial activities at Prague airport and its hinterland and the premises for the future development. Based on this study the locality is compared with concept Edge city. For this purpose are used criteria according Joel Garreau and following concepts and sources. Although the chosen locality is not real Edge city, it is possible to find some similarities typical for its initial phase. Long-term development of Edge cities in the USA shows the possible threats and provides with learnings for the chosen locality like for instance rebuilding or conflict with residential suburbanization.

Suburban Centres were established in the Toronto region as the population dispersed beyond the city’s borders. Intended as a set of delivery points for municipal services and concentrations of commercial and social program serving local suburban residents, government policy and market forces are now encouraging these centres to accumulate a greater range of program, and absorb a significant share of population growth. They have a mandate to orient new residents toward improved public transit routes as a relief for overburdened road infrastructure, but their fundamental role as a suburban downtown requires continued accessibility by car. The structure of the suburbs is fixed, dominated by the car as the primary element of an extensive mobility system that has generated its own spatial protocols and building typologies. The morphology of older urban areas was developed in response to the parameters of streetcar service and human abilities, and also shows a resistance to change. The two mobility systems co-exist, each with their own associated territories, creating an intermodal metropolis. In suburban centres, the intensive urban mobility extends into the reach of the suburban territory, creating a threshold condition that requires a hybrid morphology to serve both. The design adopts Scarborough Centre as a test site, proposing a morphology that accommodates urban and suburban mobility by embracing the suburban planning paradigm that separates vehicle traffic from public space. The interaction between the two networks is managed to create variations in accessibility characteristics that determine programmatic distribution. The public realm is compartmentalized into differentiated spaces that support a highly permeable pedestrian network integrated with the central transit station. The proposal allows Scarborough Centre to expand its public space network without compromising its function as a highly accessible suburban downtown.

Suburban Centres were established in the Toronto region as the population dispersed beyond the city’s borders. Intended as a set of delivery points for municipal services and concentrations of commercial and social program serving local suburban residents, government policy and market forces are now encouraging these centres to accumulate a greater range of program, and absorb a significant share of population growth. They have a mandate to orient new residents toward improved public transit routes as a relief for overburdened road infrastructure, but their fundamental role as a suburban downtown requires continued accessibility by car. The structure of the suburbs is fixed, dominated by the car as the primary element of an extensive mobility system that has generated its own spatial protocols and building typologies. The morphology of older urban areas was developed in response to the parameters of streetcar service and human abilities, and also shows a resistance to change. The two mobility systems co-exist, each with their own associated territories, creating an intermodal metropolis. In suburban centres, the intensive urban mobility extends into the reach of the suburban territory, creating a threshold condition that requires a hybrid morphology to serve both. The design adopts Scarborough Centre as a test site, proposing a morphology that accommodates urban and suburban mobility by embracing the suburban planning paradigm that separates vehicle traffic from public space. The interaction between the two networks is managed to create variations in accessibility characteristics that determine programmatic distribution. The public realm is compartmentalized into differentiated spaces that support a highly permeable pedestrian network integrated with the central transit station. The proposal allows Scarborough Centre to expand its public space network without compromising its function as a highly accessible suburban downtown.

It is my intention through this thesis to investigate the structural condition of collage as a culturally relevant approach to understanding architectural meaning and designing architectural form within the context of the urban environment. Meaning in architecture, as it emerges both implicitly and explicitly within the framework of this condition, will be analyzed as it relates to contemporary cultural and historical conditions. In terms of process and product, collage is construed with meaning through juxtaposition and context. A collage does not convey an essential meaning, as its meaning arises through the deliberate techne - the act of its making, and not through reflection on any pre-existing qualities, as there are none. The whole of a collage does not merely encompass an accumulation of elements, but embraces a greater totality through a fragmentary synthesis. While synthesis denotes a constructive process, it also signifies a dialectic relation. The dialectic relation embodied in collage can be understood in terms of inclusivity and exclusivity of meaning. This thesis investigation originates from the premise that the architectural act can never be fully understood in terms of its architecture alone. To ignore the greater social, cultural, and historical framework that sustains both the maker and the made is to deny architecture its full depth of meaning, whether that meaning is ideological, transparent, or bound within a chain of signifiers. This is not to imply that the social deterministically constitutes architecture, as both undoubtedly reciprocate influence upon one another; the maker and the made leave their indelible impression upon the sphere of relations which surrounds them. However, it is ultimately within this sphere - this larger social context - that an architectural form embodies meaning. / Master of Architecture

Le commerce a connu à travers le temps de nombreuses évolutions, tant dans sa forme que dans son implantation, passant de grands magasins prestigieux dans le cœur des villes au début du XXe siècle à de grands centres commerciaux à la jonction d’autoroute dans les années 2000. Le lifestyle center est la forme commerciale la plus aboutie, concept américain existant depuis les années 80, il est apparu pour la première fois au Québec en 2006 à Brossard sur la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Ses caractéristiques hors du commun ; une surface de vente de près de 2 000 000 pi² faisant de lui un centre d’envergure supra régional, son agencement de boutiques en plein air regroupé autour d’une rue piétonne ainsi qu’un mix commercial extrêmement varié rompt avec les traditionnels centres commerciaux existants. Ainsi en s’implantant à Brossard le Quartier DIX30 est venu modifier profondément la structure commerciale de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un contre poids de taille par rapport à la domination du pôle des Promenades Saint-Bruno. Cependant, le Quartier DIX30 ne va pas seulement modifier cette structure commerciale, mais plus globalement la centralité urbaine de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un pôle central majeur. Le Quartier DIX30 grâce à sa mixité d’activité et son concept favorisant les interactions sociales est en train d’insuffler un mouvement de concentration d’activité commerciale et tertiaire. Ainsi aujourd’hui se développe au pourtour du Quartier DIX30 de nombreux locaux à bureaux. Cependant, cette nouvelle centralité créée par le Quartier DIX30 soulève des interrogations notamment vis-à-vis de la privatisation d’un espace s’imposant de plus en plus comme un des pôles principaux de croissance de la Rive-Sud. Ainsi, une question légitime se pose, ne sommes-nous pas en train d’assister à une privatisation d’un centre-ville en devenir ? / Over the time, trade has knew numerous changes in term of location and form, passing from prestigious department stores in the heart of cities in the early twentieth century to large shopping centers at the junction of highways in the years 2000. The lifestyle center is the most accomplished commercial form, the American concept exists since the years 1980 and it appeared for the first time in Quebec in 2006 in Brossard on the South Shore of Montreal. Its unusual features: a sales area of almost 2 000 000 square feet (making it a center of supra-regional scale), a mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street and numerous other activities, breaks with the traditional agencement of the existing shopping malls. Thus, by becoming established in Brossard, the Quartier DIX30 modifies profoundly the commercial structure of the South Shore of Montréal. The Quartier DIX30 imposes itself as a major commercial pole against the domination of the Promenades Saint Bruno. The Quartier DIX30 will not only change the commercial structure of the South Shore, but more generally the urban centrality of the South Shore established itself as a major center pole. Due to the variety of activities and its concept of mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street permitting social interaction, the Quartier DIX30 creates a commercial and office concentration. Thus, today develops around the Quartier DIX30 many building with offices. However, this new centrality created by the Quartier DIX30 raises interrogations in particular with respect to the privatization of a space imposing itself more and more like one of the principal poles of growth of the South Shore. Thus, a question legitimate is posed, does we aren't attending a privatization of a downtown area in becoming?

Le commerce a connu à travers le temps de nombreuses évolutions, tant dans sa forme que dans son implantation, passant de grands magasins prestigieux dans le cœur des villes au début du XXe siècle à de grands centres commerciaux à la jonction d’autoroute dans les années 2000. Le lifestyle center est la forme commerciale la plus aboutie, concept américain existant depuis les années 80, il est apparu pour la première fois au Québec en 2006 à Brossard sur la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Ses caractéristiques hors du commun ; une surface de vente de près de 2 000 000 pi² faisant de lui un centre d’envergure supra régional, son agencement de boutiques en plein air regroupé autour d’une rue piétonne ainsi qu’un mix commercial extrêmement varié rompt avec les traditionnels centres commerciaux existants. Ainsi en s’implantant à Brossard le Quartier DIX30 est venu modifier profondément la structure commerciale de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un contre poids de taille par rapport à la domination du pôle des Promenades Saint-Bruno. Cependant, le Quartier DIX30 ne va pas seulement modifier cette structure commerciale, mais plus globalement la centralité urbaine de la Rive-Sud en s’imposant comme un pôle central majeur. Le Quartier DIX30 grâce à sa mixité d’activité et son concept favorisant les interactions sociales est en train d’insuffler un mouvement de concentration d’activité commerciale et tertiaire. Ainsi aujourd’hui se développe au pourtour du Quartier DIX30 de nombreux locaux à bureaux. Cependant, cette nouvelle centralité créée par le Quartier DIX30 soulève des interrogations notamment vis-à-vis de la privatisation d’un espace s’imposant de plus en plus comme un des pôles principaux de croissance de la Rive-Sud. Ainsi, une question légitime se pose, ne sommes-nous pas en train d’assister à une privatisation d’un centre-ville en devenir ? / Over the time, trade has knew numerous changes in term of location and form, passing from prestigious department stores in the heart of cities in the early twentieth century to large shopping centers at the junction of highways in the years 2000. The lifestyle center is the most accomplished commercial form, the American concept exists since the years 1980 and it appeared for the first time in Quebec in 2006 in Brossard on the South Shore of Montreal. Its unusual features: a sales area of almost 2 000 000 square feet (making it a center of supra-regional scale), a mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street and numerous other activities, breaks with the traditional agencement of the existing shopping malls. Thus, by becoming established in Brossard, the Quartier DIX30 modifies profoundly the commercial structure of the South Shore of Montréal. The Quartier DIX30 imposes itself as a major commercial pole against the domination of the Promenades Saint Bruno. The Quartier DIX30 will not only change the commercial structure of the South Shore, but more generally the urban centrality of the South Shore established itself as a major center pole. Due to the variety of activities and its concept of mix of shops clustered around a pedestrian street permitting social interaction, the Quartier DIX30 creates a commercial and office concentration. Thus, today develops around the Quartier DIX30 many building with offices. However, this new centrality created by the Quartier DIX30 raises interrogations in particular with respect to the privatization of a space imposing itself more and more like one of the principal poles of growth of the South Shore. Thus, a question legitimate is posed, does we aren't attending a privatization of a downtown area in becoming?

In the last few decades, new centers have emerged at the edges of traditional cities and pre-World War II suburbs. As these evolve, do they converge towards the urban forms of traditional cities? This question is explored based on a study of urban areas in the Atlanta Metropolitan Region. Atlanta Downtown, Decatur and Marietta, are compared to the new centers in Buckhead, Cumberland and Perimeter. The evolution of the street network of Buckhead is examined in detail. The morphological history of a particular urban block in Buckheadâ "the Tower Place blockâ "is documented. Morphological analysis, focusing on street patterns, block shapes and sizes, property boundaries and building footprints, is complemented by Space Syntax, focusing on the structure of street networks and connectivity. It is shown that new urban centers tend to grow on very large blocks accessed through major transportation infrastructure, but situated in otherwise sparse and fragmentary street environments. As these centers grow and as the density of land use increases, a secondary private road system is created, to take advantage of development potential and provide access to major building investments. The effective fragmentation of the large blocks suggests a pattern of metric convergence towards an optimum block size. In traditional cities, however, the street network is stable over time and acts as the framework for changes in architecture and land use. In the new centers, the secondary road system serves to access particular private investments without regard to the creation of a public framework of connections. From a syntactic point of view, the new centers are spatially unintelligible, thus substantially diverging from traditional cities, even as they accommodate dense mixed use developments. The thesis points to the need of developing and using subdivision regulations and zoning classifications in order to better regulate the spatial structure of new urban centers in the future.

L’aéroport est un objet géographique protéiforme, caractérisé par son « obsolescence accélérée » (BANHAM, 1962). Depuis les années 1990, son ultime mutation s’articule autour d’un processus de diversification fonctionnelle engendré par l’injection d’activités nouvelles, parfois éloignées du transport aérien, dans l’objectif d’accroître les profits et la rentabilité de l’infrastructure dans un contexte de privatisation généralisée. Cette évolution concerne les plus grands hubs mondiaux, notamment Paris-CDG, quatrième aéroport du monde selon le trafic passagers international. Cette tendance, qui a donné naissance au concept opérationnel d’airport city, tel qu’il est désigné par les observateurs et opérateurs anglo-saxons, attise doublement la curiosité géographique. En premier lieu, parce qu’elle interroge la fonction première de l’infrastructure de transport qu’est l’aéroport, qui devient alors un objet spatial non identifié qu’il convient de redéfinir. En second lieu, parce que cette désignation d’airport city, traduite par les opérateurs francophones par ville aéroportuaire, interroge la ville et surtout ce qui fait la ville dans ses dimensions matérielle et idéelle, c’est-à-dire l’urbanité et la citadinité. Suffit-il d’injecter des fonctions urbaines dans un espace pour en faire de la ville ? La ville aéroportuaire n’est-elle qu’une ville fonctionnelle ? En s’efforçant d’évaluer la pertinence géographique de la notion d’airport city, cette thèse impose de faire de l’urbanité et de la citadinité des concepts opératoires afin de les confronter au terrain aéroportuaire. Elle s’efforce également de replacer l’aéroport au centre de l’étude géographique en proposant un ajustement de l’échelle d’observation à l’ensemble de la zone aéroportuaire, évitant ainsi la synecdoque particularisante réduisant l’aéroport au terminal. Dans l’évaluation de la citadinité, elle a également pour objectif de saisir les spatialités de l’ensemble de la société aéroportuaire (passagers, employés, accompagnants, SDF, etc.). / Airports are protean geographical objects characterized by their « accelerated obsolescence » (BANHAM, 1962). Since the 1990s, their final transformation has been structured around a process of functional diversification engendered by new activities, which are sometimes very different from air transport, in order to increase the infrastructures’ profits and profitability in a context of widespread privatization. The world’s largest hub airports are concerned by this evolution, especially the Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the world’s fourth busiest airport by international passenger traffic. This trend, which has given birth to the operational concept of airport city, as the Anglo-Saxon operators and observers call it, stirs up the geographical curiosity in two ways. Firstly, it questions the primary function of airports, which become unidentified spatial objects that need to be redefined. Secondly, the concept of airport city questions the city itself. Indeed, what makes a city a city on a material (urbanity) and conceptual (“citadinity”) level? Can a space with urban functions be considered as a city? Is the airport city only a functional city? By assessing the geographical relevance of the concept of airport city, this thesis aims at making the concepts of urbanity and “citadinity” operational concepts, so as to compare them with the airport ground. By adjusting the observation scale to the whole airport area, it also replaces the airport at the centre of the geographical study. Thus, the airport is not simply viewed as a terminal. Finally, this thesis aims at understanding the whole airport society’s spatiality (passengers, employees, accompanying people, homeless people…) by assessing the concept of “citadinity".