AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Matthew J. Highlander, for the Masters of Architecture degree in Architecture, presented on July 6, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: THE RURAL TOWN SQUARE AND ITS NEW IDENTITY MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Craig K. Anz This thesis investigates the current complex nature that is the American town square and its identity in rural heartland communities. Historically, the town square in this context becomes an image of civic pride in its community through the incorporation of essential civic buildings such as county courthouses, city halls, community centers, guest houses as well as functioning playhouses, gathering spaces such as a parks, gazebos, or green space for public use within the town square. However, through the advent of the automobile, one-stop shopping, and urban sprawl, rural town squares have become a shell or fossil of their former selves as citizens visit this district of town less frequently due to a lack of business and public activities. Hence, these spaces become subjugated to other forms of planning and thus become dens for poverty and areas for crime. However there are many present solutions that can facilitate a movement towards improvement in this area. One such solution is the redesign of surrounding square spaces in conjunction with the incorporation of mix-use facilities within the town square streetscape. Mix-use buildings offer a variety of options that can introduce daily use businesses such as coffee houses, bookstores, deli shops, etc..., have night hours, and do not require a large amount of space to operate business. Along with these businesses, mix-use facilities can also incorporate a variety of residential living quarters such as lofts, studios, and townhomes to foster life within these places. Again, as a result, there is a substantial increase in the amount of public activity within the towns square between residents, business proprietors, and shoppers. This activity alone can transform a once dim light of the community into a shining example of the image and identity that the community wishes to project to its participants. The mix-use building and square together also have the ability to co-operate as a self-sustaining entity of the community due to the type of businesses that it incorporates and its proximity to other businesses within the town square and the community as a whole.

Denna studie handlar om social hållbarhet och om hur fyra olika kommuner i den fysiska planeringen hanterar och metodiskt arbetar med detta ämne. Syftet är att undersöka vilken prioritet som frågor kring social hållbarhet har i den kommunala planeringsprocessen och hur man metodiskt arbetar med dessa frågor. Syftet är också att undersöka den sociala hållbarhetens potentiella koppling till blandstaden. Undersökningen har genomförts genom att studera kommunernas översiktsplaner, utvalda detaljplaner och de policydokument som planerna hänvisar till. Innehållet har sedan analyserats i relation till teorier kring social hållbarhet och blandstaden. Intervjuer med tjänstemän på samhällsbyggnadsenheterna på respektive kommun har också genomförts för att få en bild av hur man i planprocessen hanterar detta. Resultatet visar på att man i kommunernas översiktsplaner på liknande sätt avhandlar ämnet social hållbarhet och att man även har liknande målsättningar och visioner kring ämnet. I de studerade detaljplanerna skiljer sig dock i vilken utsträckning och på vilket sätt social hållbarhet behandlas i planbeskrivningarna. Större planer tenderar att ha större inslag av reflektioner kring planens inverkan på sociala hållbarhetsfrågor, medan många mindre planer inte alls avhandlar ämnet. Genom de intervjuer som genomfördes framkom att planering kring dessa frågor anses svårt och man många gånger inte anser sig ha specifika metoder som kan att påverka den fysiska planeringen. Alternativt anser man inte att kommunen som organisation använder de metoder som finns. De konkreta metoder som kommunerna använde var; markanvisning, medborgardialog och socialkonsekvensanalys. En tjänsteman nämnde att hen personligen använde Göteborgsmatrisen och en annan hade kontinuerliga möten med lokala mäklare för att följa flyttrender bland kommunens invånare. Samtliga tjänstemän talade om "blandstad", om än i varierande termer, som tätt sammankopplat med socialt hållbara städer och samhällen. De reflektioner som resultatet av denna undersökning slutligen genererat handlar om socialkonsekvensanalysens potentiella roll som konkret metod för kommuner att tillämpa men också om ett eventuellt behov av en lagstiftning liknande den som finns för upprättande av en miljökonsekvensbeskrivning. Båda dessa verktyg borde kunna användas på ett analyserande sätt för att värdera och bedöma eventuella åtgärders inverkan på sociala och ekologiska värden. / This bachelor thesis is about social sustainability, more specifically it is about how four different municipal areas handles issues about social sustainability in their spatial planning. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the priority of this topic and which methods that are used to deal with this subject. The purpose is also to investigate the possible connection between social sustainability and mixed use-city. The analysis has been made by studying comprehensive plans, detailed development plans and other documents connected to the plans. The content of these document has then been analyzed in relation to theories about social sustainability and mixed use-city. Municipal officials have been interviewed to get at more nuanced view on how social sustainability is incorporated into the process of planning. The result shows that the four comprehensive plans in a similar way talk about the aims of planning for social sustainability. In the detailed development plans the difference however is significant, varying to what extent and in what way social sustainability is described the planning specification. Bigger plans tend to include the subject in a more extensive way, whilst smaller many plans don't incorporate social sustainability at all. During the interviews many of the officials said that planning for social sustainability is difficult matter and called for more concrete methods, and for the municipality to use the methods available, to affect the spatial planning. The methods used were; land allocation, civil dialogue and social impact assessment. One official mentioned that he/she personally used the Gothenburg-matrix and another had regular meetings with local brokers. All officials talked about mixed use in connection to social sustainability. The conclusion that the result of this analysis finally led to is about the social impact assessment as a suitable method for planning for social sustainability, but also about the potential need for a legislation. Perhaps that could be the way to include social sustainability into the process of planning.

Transit Oriented Development theoretical and practical framework represents an important tool for municipalities, private actors and citizens to enhance quality of life in urban contexts. Planning cities that encourage sustainable mobility patterns can contribute to aim at diversifying land use and making cities more accessible, safer and attractive for people. Handen has developed as a car-dependant area that is planned to growth its population and build more than 9000 new housing units by 2030 (Haninge Kommun, 2016). The TOD standard 3.0 was applied in the area around Handen pendeltåg station, to practically assess the TODness level of the area and provide recommendations to take into a consideration for future and current developments. Using the TOD standard in Handen can contribute to aim at a more sustainable growth pattern for both current and expected new citizens on the area. After implementing the evaluation system, it was found out that the best ranked variables were Compactness and Cycling. In contrast the variables that received the lowest scores were Walk, Densify, Connect, and Shift. Overall, Handen scored a Bronze level of TODness. Therefore, there are several actions that could be implemented on the study area in order to improve the TODness level. Specifically, Handen needs to diversify its land use, enhance the pedestrian network, encourage land mix use, decrease the space destined to cars and increase pedestrian connectivity, among others.

The subject of proposal is a new dominant of the city of Brno. It is a building which will affect panorama of the city, a building which will be important part of a new South district and a new Brno Railway Station. The building will become orientation point in long-distance views as well as in the area. The proposal works with a building which is open and alive thanks to mix-use and public access on different height levels. Greenery forms the corner of the building and creates it’s identity. The base for architectural study became urban concept designed as a pre-diploma project. Important element of the concept is axis which draws the greenery from the river Svratka into the area and connects it with the new station. The Europoint – proposed building – becomes termination of the axis. The building is situated on a unique site which requires unique concept. The motive of the house is greenery and future vision of buildings which enrich surroundings in some ways. The basic volume is triangular and uses area of the site on maximum level with corner towards boulevard. This corner becomes the central element, especially from entry and view from the boulevard. I recreated the corner using vegetation into green and living. The green corner gives a new perspective on creating exposed corners, adds value to the urban area and creates identity of the building. The green motive intertwines with the building from entrance hall up to the bar at the highest floor. The volume of the building is defined by the inside usage and then form follows function. When choosing the functions I took into account needs of the area and took advantage of high-rise building. Commercial areas in the ground floor, administration centre of Czech Railways and conference rooms were created. The administrative use is added by co-working in the middle if the building, the upper part offers flats with view over Brno and in the crown is the highest placed bar in Brno.