Houston's Fifth Ward neighborhood is one of the last remaining areas of the inner city to have not yet seen large-scale redevelopment. Situated just northeast of downtown, the neighborhood's population is predominantly low- to mid-income African Americans; demographics are similar today as they were during the neighborhood's prime, from the 1920s-60s, when the Fifth Ward was a cultural hub of Houston famous for its musical culture of zydeco and blues. The ward's rich history also has dark spots, however, specifically its longstanding reputation as a center of poverty and violent crime, and its physical vulnerability to damaging floods. Much of the neighborhood's built history is unpreserved and unprotected, at risk of being wiped off the map by both development interests and extreme weather events. By modernizing the city's approach to stormwater management and infrastructure and strengthening its historic preservation and emergency management practices, Houston could help preserve one of its oldest communities, while also decreasing flood volumes, improving air and water quality, saving money, and establishing a pattern of smart growth citywide. In addition, neighborhood level efforts to promote placemaking via preservation and sustainability efforts can help the Fifth Ward leverage the redevelopment process to change its reputation, ensuring a future for the community that respects its past. / text

Hello From Across the Past is a collection of poems written either while I was enrolled at the University of New Orleans MFA program or before, in Knoxville.

LEED(TM) for schools was introduced in response to research that showed the influence of classroom environment on energy savings and students’ performance. There is however a need to investigate the relationship between credits achieved by the LEED(TM) for schools rating system and its impact on building performance. This study quantifies and analyzes resource consumption and indoor comfort of two LEED(TM) certified elementary schools in Houston, Texas by comparing them to their conventional counterparts. Year-long metered data for 2015 was analyzed for resource consumption. Indoor comfort was analyzed by recording visual and thermal comfort metrics for a north and south oriented classroom in each school. Both LEED(TM) schools had greater energy savings and better visual comfort as compared to the non-LEED schools. However, the water consumption savings and thermal comfort varied by school. Also, the LEED(TM) Gold School didn’t exhibit higher energy and water consumption savings than the LEED(TM) Silver School. / 10000-01-01

Thesis. 1976. M.Arch.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch. / Bibliography: leaves 66-67. / by Simon Wiltz. / M.Arch.

Combining quantitative sociophonetic methods and a qualitative, ethnographic acpproach to the study of language and social relations, my current research program focuses on the role of language in competing hip hop cultures. This research draws on early scholarship in cultural studies (Hebdige 1979), as well as what some have termed post- subcultural studies (Muggleton & Weinzierl 2003). Central to my own work are two theoretical concerns shared by these currents of scholarship, including: (1) How sociohistorical forces (including institutionally-mediated social action) shape cultural frameworks for symbolically staking out a position in the social landscape (2) How prominent social positioning in local cultral hierarchies shapes popular ideas regarding such intersecting notions as authentcity and indigeneity Regarding the first of these concerns, I examine how popular hip hop artists reflexively bring into focus a repertoire of spatialized social practices by rapping about them in their music -- a discursive practice I term metastylistic discourse. By selectively rapping about social practices indexical of their experiences of place, not only communicate a particular take on the local (i.e. their own); they directly position social and indirectly position soicolinguistic practices centrally among stylistic practices distinguishing Houston aeshetically from the cultural forms associated with other scenes. Central here is the second concern I share with current approaches to cultural studies, particularly, the significance of where social actors (i.e. established artists) find themselves in local social hierarchies. Established artists shape and reshape ways of talking about local life partly through econtextualizing prior texts. It is through the circulation of such texts that a discursive framework emerges, the product of a trans-modal series of recontexutalizations which serve to communicate an experience of Houston, what it looks and sounds like. In short, my current project works to close the gap between sociolinguistic approaches to the formation and interrogation of stylistic norms and research in cultural studies along these same lines (Hodkinson 2003, Piano 2003). By examining these processes in the context of hip hop, my work illustrates how social actors shape cultural norms through performance

Uppsatsen undersöker diskurser om cannabis och hur bilden av ungdomar och vuxna som använder drogen presenteras i tidningarna Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet under år 2012. Studien är en kvalitativ diskursanalys efter Norman Faircoughs tredimensionella metod. Intresset uppkom i och med den diskussion som internationellt växt fram under året. Länder som kulturellt och politiskt stått förebild för svensk utveckling i många frågor rapporterades revidera och omformulera den egna problembilden av cannabis. För en grundläggande förståelse av hur rapporteringen om narkotika sett ut i svensk dagspress har Daniel Törnqvists avhandling “När man talar om knark” legat till grund för arbetets utformning. De medieteoriska utgångspunkterna har varit moralpanik och skiftet från socialpolitik till kriminalpolitik som skett i pressen. Under det analyserade året återkom teman för hur rapporteringen ser ut, beträffande ungdom och narkotika centraliserar samhällets rädsla för den första att komma i kontakt med den senare. Medias förhållningssätt i frågan har tydliga likheter med hur pressen internationellt förhöll sig till subkulturer decennier tillbaka. Den cannabisanvändande kvinnan belyses likaså, tillskrivs en tydlig offerroll och är ur ansvarssynpunkt överskuggad av relationer med män. Mannen är ansvarig för kvinnans missbruk och i förlängningen hennes förfall, en bild som av media presenterats under flera årtionden. Ur vårt material har vi tyckt oss främst finna två diskursiva drag, låt gå och hårdare tag, varandras motsatser.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes prospectus. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 307-316).

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: B, page: 1623. Adviser: Luisa Franzini. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-80).

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, page: 3501. Adviser: Kristy O. Murray. Includes bibliographical references.

A recent report by Terrapin Bright Green “Mid-century (Un) Modern” discusses the desperate condition of mid-century modern high-rises in Manhattan. The article argues that it would be beneficial both economically and environmentally to demolish these buildings and build new ones with an assumed increase in FAR. To re-build, repair or re-skin are the questions Mid-century Modern High-rises (MMH) face today. This study focuses on Houston, Texas, which is very different from New York City both climatically and from a planning stand point. It is dreaded for its hot and humid climate and notorious for its consistent refusal to adopt any zoning. These high-rises in Houston represent the economic success of the city immediately after WWII. These buildings were constructed as the city transformed from the Bayou City to the Space city. In this study I have mapped the status of these high-rises and the strategies that were used to renovate them. The questions I further wish to address are how preservation or energy efficiency are addressed while renovating these buildings. Even preservationists might agree that all buildings are not equal and a new look would benefit some. The real challenge lies in resolving the grey areas, where one is not talking about a Seagram or a Lever House, but a well designed environmentally sensitive building. / text