published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Puerto Rico, the smallest island of the Great Antilles , has an area of 3,400 square miles. Its major language is Spanish and it is a Commonwealth of the United States of America. The population is approximately 3.6 millions and historically had an agricultural-based economy. However, today, because of its geographic location and tropical environment , the major economic industry is tourism. Thousands of people visit the island annually to enjoy the natural scenery and experience the rich cultural heritage that it offers.Studies have shown that the majority of tourists stay in the northern part of the island where the main attractions are Old San Juan, El Yunque National Rain Forest, and the Luquillo Beach. There has been limited tourism in the southern region, where a different climatic environment prevails. As a result, a different variety of natural scenery and ecological systems exists. The most popular tourist attractions in the south are: Ponce, the second largest city; San German, the second oldest town; and, the Phosphorescent Bay in Guanica. These towns are located in close proximity to each other and, thus, a need exists to spread tourism to the rest of the southern coast.One strategy to attract tourists to this area is to rehabilitate sugar plantations that are within the region. It is on the southern coast where most of the sugar industry was established, including the two largest ones. Although this industry is presently suffering a recession, at one time it was the country's leading export. This rehabilitation will allow tourists, as well as islanders, the opportunity to experience how the sugar industry used to be. As a paradox, I am proposing a new economic boom via tourism that focuses -on a "once major income producer."Central Aguirre, in the town of Salinas, will be used as a case study for this rehabilitation plan. It is located five miles southwest of the town of Guayama, a district under consideration for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This center of sugar production used to be the second largest in the country. The complex itself is a miniature town,built in approximately ninety-five acres. It serves as one of the best examples of the physical and social hierarchy established between the owners and the laborers. The factory closed abruptly operations in January 1991. The proposed rehabilitation intend to offers the visitor an interpretation of the way this community used to be. It will provide lodging facilities by the rehabilitation of existing cottages and laborers housing, and hotels. The historic railroad system, which the government is committed to restore, will serve as the major transportation system to the interior of Central Aguirre.The author believes that a country's heritage must be used to promote tourism. But there must be a comprehensive plan that establishes tourist trade as a vehicle for enhancing restoration and protection of historic sites and monuments. This project proposes such a plan. / Department of Architecture

The purpose of this creative project was to develop a conceptual landscape plan for integrating residential development on an historically significant property, located at North Bend, Ohio, known as "Aston." The plan, designating areas suitable for residential development, was designed so that most of the features and elements of the property that defined its historic character were not destroyed or, at least, not unreasonably compromised. Priority was also placed on protecting the aesthetic and environmental qualities of the site. An inventory of the existing physical attributes (soil and bedrock geology, surface hydrology, topography, structures and other built features, etc.) of the property was conducted focusing on identification of historically significant elements. Additionally, written and photographic documentation established the general historic character and appearance of the property and identified important features that were no longer present in the current landscape. The documentation of the history of the property and its historic features was presented in narrative form (supported by historic and current photographs) in this study. It is probable that further documentation of this significant property is unlikely to occur since it is presently owned by a development company. The two areas of the property that were found to contain concentrations of historic resources (structures, drives, vegetation, walls, ponds, etc.) were designated as "Historic Core Areas" for preservation. Another area where the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had discovered a population of an endangered plant species was also withdrawn for preservation. Based on the implications of the physical attributes of the property, further areas were designated as unsuitable for development and will function as open "greenspaces" for the proposed community. The remaining acreage of the property constituted the areas designated as suitable for residential development. In these areas, the suggested road layout, lot sizes, siting of condominiums or housing structures, and pedestrian trails were designed. Finally, recommendations for guiding the more detailed design of the architectural and landscape architectural elements of the proposed residential development were presented. This completed creative project presents a suggestion for how modem residential development may be accommodated without substantially destroying the documented historic, environmental and aesthetic values of this significant property. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Due to their unique expertise, military officers have always held a special position within Western society. Yet, while individuals who have demonstrated knowledge of warfare and prowess in battle have long been held in high regard by society and the members of their profession, it is those who have also demonstrated the ideals of citizenship and chivalry who serve as the icons for thoughtful military officers. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the evolution of the citizen-officer ideal- through a close study of historical and literary case studies. By establishing a common theme or values among completely separate exemplars of this ideal, a continuum joining Odysseus, Cincinnatus, Beowulf, and Gawain to Washington, Chamberlain, and Marshall might eventually be carried forward to the present and the modern military officer. Specific focus is given to the roles that classical notions of citizenship and the Code of Chivalry have played in shaping the ethos of the American officer. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Fort Clatsop National Memorial is a unit of the National Park Service in Clatsop County, Oregon. The memorial was established by an Act of Congress in 1958 to commemorate the culmination and 1805-1806 winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The memorial centers around a replicated fort structure. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the process of preserving historic sites under the National Park Service (NPS) by examining the history of Fort Clatsop National Memorial. Through this examination it is possible to understand the realities of the national preservation system and the ideals fostered by those involved in the system. The Fort Clatsop site became the subject of folk history in Clatsop County, which culminated in a community movement for national recognition. During the community sponsored l 50th anniversary celebration of the Expedition, local civic groups built the existing fort replica. The management needs of the replica caused the site owner, the Oregon Historical Society (OHS), to actively pursue national recognition. To achieve the creation of a national memorial, OHS and community members enlisted the help of Senator Richard L. Neuberger. Senator Neuberger drafted and successfully sponsored legislation for the creation of the memorial. Since the memorial's creation in '1958, the site has been under the management of the National Park Service (NPS). As a historical, commemorative unit, the NPS is responsible under the 193 5 Historic Sites Act for presenting the history of the Expedition to the public. Such historic interpretation includes the use of costumed demonstrations, exhibits, and other interpretive media. Fort Clatsop also represents the ideals of education and inspiration in NPS interpretive policies. In conclusion, the examination of Fort Clatsop illustrates factors involved in the creation of historic sites within the NPS and how private individuals and Congress affect the selection of historic sites for preservation. While illustrating how the private sector and Congress can decide what historic sites are preserved under the park system, this examination also illustrates how the park system handles those sites placed under its management and how NPS management helps shape public memory.

Today, tourists seek authentic experiences from places they visit. For countries where the historic environment is a key component of tourism, the concept of maintaining authenticity is vital to encourage potential visitors. Historic buildings, such as castles, were built in a time when accessibility for people with disabilities was not a major concern. Today, the number of people living with a disability is increasing and is expected to continue to grow as a result of the aging population and longer life expectancy. While all people may have a desire to participate in tourism, and a similar growing interest in an authentic experience, a historic site is enjoyed by all interested visitors only when it is accessible to all. How does a service provider enhance accessibility while continuing to preserve authenticity of the historic site? A service provider of a historic site is faced with the extra challenge of juggling both disability and heritage policy requirements. Satisfying the needs of both can be difficult and may, at times, feel like accessibility at a historic site is an impossible goal. Researching the interaction between these two types of policy and the influence they have on accessibility and disability at historic sites assists in the discovery of policy areas that interfere with a service provider’s ability to enhance accessibility. This may increase knowledge of how to increase accessibility, and how policy currently influences the perpetuation of accessibility and disability at these tourist sites. The purpose of this case study is to explore Glamis Castle in Scotland to illuminate accessibility at the confluence of three power contexts: the economics of tourism, the preservation of historic buildings, and the inclusion of people with disabilities. Stories uncovering the confluence of the three power contexts and its influence on Glamis Castle were created. Using narrative case study methodology and Roe’s (1994) approach to narrative policy analysis, stories about accessibility and disability at Glamis Castle were created through visual and textual data, and a review of policy and other related documentation. The stories reveal the current state of disability and heritage policy and its effect on Glamis Castle, the current perpetuation of disability and accessibility at the site, and current challenges that service providers may face at historic sites. The stories reveal the need for service providers, staff, and the public to be provided with more educational opportunities to help enhance accessibility at historic sites and encourage inclusion; specifically, they provide insight into the influence choice has on enhancing accessibility at the macro, organizational and individual levels.

This dissertation examines the process of using oral history and digital video to revise interpretation and represent more inclusive histories at three rural Texas historic sites—-Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, the Lyndon Baines Johnson State Park, and Varner-Hogg Plantation—-21st century sites that, to varying degrees, have persisted to interpret a Texas master narrative that is no longer socially tolerable in its silencing of marginalized Texas voices. In particular, the dissertation focuses on complicated and rarely discussed ethical issues that surfaced during my work from 2001 to 2006 shooting, editing, and situating interpretive documentary videos at the each of the three sites. Historic sites in Texas, like others across the United States and worldwide, have been receiving increasing pressure from scholars and community groups to represent women, racial minorities, and other marginalized groups more prominently in the narratives they interpret. Oral history and digital media have played key roles in this ongoing movement. Oral history has widely been touted as a tool to democratize history, and advocates of digital video interpretation cite its affordability, relative ease of use, and its ability to “say so much in so little time.” These factors are all the more compelling for local, regional, and state-wide historic sites that are chronically under-funded, under-staffed, and that must often interpret multiple, complicated narratives with very little time or space in which to present them. However, little has been done to explore the unique and complicated ethical issues that arise from using oral history and digital video at historic sites. This dissertation takes a case study approach and uses as its intellectual framework ideas of reflective practice, part of the contemporary discourse among public history practitioners. Each case study introduces the site through a critical analysis of the images and texts produced by the site; presents the central historical silence at each site; describes the solution that oral history and digital video interpretation was expected to provide; and then uses the project’s process-generated video footage and records to examine key situations that led me to raise ethical questions about the individual projects and the overall enterprise. / text

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The dissertation is a design of a Pondo Resource Forum for the Mpondo ethnic group at Emfundisweni in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape. This is driven by a social commitment to investigate the forces that were influential to the cultural modification of Amapondo. Also important is to celebrate Pondo heritage, the indigenous social interventions that define the identity of Amapondo, as well as contemporary culture and the influence of technological development input on the traditional Pondo social structures.

The Lower Mainland of British Columbia is growing rapidly resulting in a dramatic alteration of the landscape. Associated with this growth is the loss of community heritage structures and properties. This destruction is occurring at a rapid rate even though conservation mechanisms, tools and strategies exist. This thesis examines the practice of heritage conservation and identifies the heritage conservation tools that are presently being utilized by a number of selected Lower Mainland municipalities. It then outlines the necessary conditions that a community must possess for existing conservation tools to be effective. A literature review of existing heritage conservation statutes was conducted to identify the statutory tools available for conservation purposes. The primary method of investigation involved interviewing 13 prominent heritage professionals from the Provincial Government, selected Municipal Governments, and the private planning sector. The survey allowed the author to generate a ‘tools chest’ of mechanisms available for conservation purposes. In total 23 conservation tools were identified from both the literature review and survey. Research indicated that the perceived responsibility for heritage conservation in British Columbia rested with local governments. To date these governments have had limited success in ensuring long term management and protection of heritage properties within their jurisdictions. Conservation tools presently being applied to manage these community resources are limited in scope and applicable only under specific ownership conditions. In general, local governments are under utilizing the conservation tools available to them. Reasons for this may include the lack of political and public support, in addition to, monetary and time restraints directed for this purpose. This study concludes with recommendations for local governments and the planning profession regarding the direction which these groups should embark on with future conservation activities.

Protected heritage area management is challenged by conflicting priorities perpetuated by the real and perceived dichotomy between cultural and natural resource management, their practitioners, their disciplines, and their values. Current guidelines promote integrating cultural and natural resource management to ensure holistic management of all values within a protected heritage area. This paper uses the management of the Cave and Basin National Historic Site to illustrate challenges in protecting both historic and natural resources. A qualitative inductive study included analysis of interview and focus group data for the site and similar protected heritage areas. The gap between integrative policies and the tendency for uni-disciplinary approaches to the practice of managing protected heritage areas is investigated. Five barriers to integration, such as lack of awareness, and five methods for progress, including facilitated inclusion, are examined. The author proposes collaborative, sustainable, values-based practices for the successful integration of cultural and natural resource management.