Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1931. / Without thesis note. Bibliography: p. 245-247.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1931. / Without thesis note. Bibliography: p. 245-247.

The importance of public place in the United States of America as an environment for communication, the transmission of cultural values and for the enhancement of society and community, using a comprehensive notion of entertainment as a catalyst.creative projectThis project intends to develop a catalogue of design implications for the design of a public place that successfully serves the community enhancement and the cultural transmission. This catalogue of design implications will be the result of the extensive research on the American culture, on the elements of cultural expression with emphasis on the use of entertainment as a catalyst, on the elements of urban history and the urban environment as well as on the social and commercial success of public place.contextThe context of this research is the number of issues American urban environments are facing. Most of the problems in their combination are the source of numerous urban issues. Some of the key issues that have developed on this basis are e.g. the loss of human scale or e.g. the need for a collective vision, community and cultural identity. These issues are strongly interrelated with another.issueThese are some of the deficiencies that lead to the key issue of this project: the loss of community manifested by urban isolation and fragmentation and problems relating to the humane environments and settings. Nevertheless community and cultural enhancement can help to create a greater awareness for the prerequisites for a healthy living environment. Community and cultural enhancement help to stimulate greater self-sufficiency helping to address the previously mentioned issues at their sources. The premise is that community is an essential ingredient in cohesive urban and suburban neighborhoods and is part of the positive image of a well designed and maintained city fabric.positionThe focus of this work is the community, the public place and the cultural expression with emphasis on entertainment. In the same order they represent the issue, the place and the catalyst. This work claims that entertainment can be used to design an environment enhancing community and communication. The assumption related with entertainment is that social interaction and collective well being are essential parts of community structure and therefore activities related to entertainment help to foster a collective vision.methodThe first step to prove this position is to identify the issues concerning urban settlements in the United States of America. The urban context has to be defined. The second step is to define the cultural context and to analyze the notion of entertainment as a means of cultural expression and its potential to serve as a catalyst. The third step is to identify the elements of social and commercial success of a public environment using at least two models defining those elements. Each of the three steps concludes in a set of architectural values and design elements. The fourth step is to deduce a catalogue of design implications from the information collected. This last step proposes the practical application of this research. The anticipated results of this project should be regarded as a suggestion for the practical application of this research based on the observation of and reflections on the research results, hopefully resulting in the identification of additional questions for further research. / Department of Architecture

"Victorianism" is a highly controversial, sometimes ironic, term penned by historians throughout various works that has come to hold dramatic weight in both its meaning and its influence. Though the term is usually most closely associated with nineteenth century England, Victorianism was a highly influential movement in American culture simultaneously as well, specifically in the spheres of home, work, and play. Of those, "play," or leisure, is undoubtedly the least explored, especially before the latter decades of the twentieth century. Prior to this period, most literature about the Victorians, with the exception of a few works, only dealt with masculinity, religion, and the rigid dynamic of the nineteenth century household. Recently, historians like James Walvin, Pamela Horn, and Hugh Cunningham have attempted to draw attention to Victorian leisure with excellent works on pastimes and society during the nineteenth century, but they represent only a few. However, many works of this caliber focus on England, the "birthplace" of Victorianism. Thus, this work attempts to emphasize that the cultural phenomenon of Victorianism was just as present in the United States. Despite the recurring themes of the home and the workplace so often chosen by scholars, it is actually within the realm of leisure that the controversial issues of the Victorian period and its people can be best observed. Class, race, and gender were three major components of the Victorian culture that shaped the various forms of leisure and recreation, as well as the specific restrictions on those amusements. All of these factors had a shared, tremendous influence on the progress (or lack thereof) towards a more modern era and society that occurred at the turn of the twentieth century. iv In the pages to follow, the numerous contradictions and paradoxes of Victorian leisure in America will be examined, ultimately demonstrating how pastimes and recreation (and their outlets) in the mid to late nineteenth century were neither truly Victorian nor truly progressive, but indeed a combination of both. This creates further irony during this controversial period. However, before exploring these outlets, the term "Victorian" will be examined while placing it into the context of mid to late nineteenth century Americans who belonged to all classes of travelers. It will become apparent that American Victorians had much invested in their values, but were also willing to break the rules regarding certain amusements and pleasures. Moreover, the "democratization" of leisure will be highlighted as the upper and lower classes began to enjoy the same recreations. Marked innovations of the period will also be discussed, as to highlight their importance on Victorian leisure and its development, which will also be referred to throughout the chapters. These topics will be addressed before examining the specific Victorian leisure culture of two of America’s oldest seaside destinations: Cape May and Atlantic City, both in New Jersey. The guests, accommodations and transportation, and offerings at these resort towns will act as a mirror into mid to late nineteenth century culture. There, the contradictory ideals and rules of Victorianism are exhibited as the resorts rose to prominence. The decline of "elite-only" leisure and the rise of the "excursionist" will be examined throughout the progression of the towns’ growth and boom periods. Exploring the ironies of Victorian leisure through the proverbial lens of Cape May and Atlantic City proves effective, as the towns came to represent opposite ends of the "socially acceptable" spectrum after a short period, and were full of similar inconsistencies and paradoxes themselves. Additionally, their current fates remain a product of their polarized v Victorian heydays, further proving the influence of seaside resort culture, the late Victorian period, and its ideals on the broader field of American leisure history.