Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / Rapid urbanization has profoundly reshaped societies, economies, and the natural environment. Urban populations currently sit around 80% and 40% for developed and developing countries respectively with cities accounting for nearly all future population growth. The impacts of urbanization are vast lending to low density areas, traffic congestion, automobile reliance, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Sustainable development is essential to maintaining the integrity of the world with current and future anticipated levels of urbanization. Mixed-use developments or those which combine three or more integrated revenue producing uses are a form of sustainable development which can help mitigate the negative effects of urbanization. Benefits of mixed-use include pedestrian and bicycle friendly areas, place-making, increased revenue, and reduced automobile reliance and pollution. This research attempts to determine the most successful form of mixed-use development in downtown Tucson, Arizona. This study boundary was chosen because downtown Tucson is in a state of revitalization and it is important to analyze how developers and the City of Tucson are making use of land. For the purpose of this research a case study analysis was performed on three mixed-use developments, the Cadence at Congress Street and 4th Avenue, One East Broadway at Broadway Boulevard and Stone Avenue, and the Mercado San Agustin at Congress Avenue and Avenida del Convento. Each development was examined and rated based on economic, social, and environmental success. All three developments scored fairly similarly but the Cadence scored the highest with low operating costs, the creation of a high volume jobs, and a location near transit and pedestrian and bicycle friendly areas.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / This capstone aims to study what types of sustainable renovation improvements would work best on older commercial buildings in Tucson. The issue being, what different types of upgrades are compatible with the types of buildings and environment in the Tucson area? This was determined with researching and comparing the data from three older buildings, which have undergone renovations and also received LEED certification. The results were significant in that the buildings studied had many similar improvements such as, installing high efficiency HVAC, upgrading insulation, using natural lighting to reduce artificial along with the usage of LED and or CFL bulbs. Low flow water fixtures were also used in all buildings to reduce water usage. The differences were the building in Phoenix also installed solar panels, along with a solar chimney for cooling, as the other two did not due to their locations in Illinois and Michigan. When these renovations were analyzed, many could be utilized in the Tucson environment. However, depending on the type of structure being renovated, the installation of HVAC, and the need for insulation could vary, due to some older buildings being brick or adobe.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / The era of Urban Sprawl created a wave of single family residences moving farther and farther away from city centers. This also caused a series of unintended problems that affect our own health and the health of our natural environment. This paper seeks to find the most effective methods of implementing sustainable, mixed use development in our existing communities, as well as any mistakes that should be avoided in the process. This paper will examine successes and failures of previously implemented designs in order to inform and make recommendations for future designs and developments. The aim of this study is to identify factors that contribute to the success of a mixed use development and also encompass all aspects of sustainability.

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The spatial legacy in South Africa has resulted in fragmented urban environments and development in peri-urban areas, such as Mamelodi, is often implemented with a top-down approach. The focus of development tends to be on connecting these hinterlands to the cities with affordable transportation and trying to satisfy needs for basic services and amenities as quickly as possible. This has resulted in the implementation of solutions that are not place specific but instead tend to be generic models implemented on a large scale. The danger therein lies that projects implemented might not be appropriate to communities and could become dysfunctional and underutilised. Part of the process of developing a solution should be the acknowledgement of the everyday in a specific community; the way in which space is produced, appropriated and the everyday rituals. The intention of this dissertation is to re-conceptualise what an art centre could be in the context of Mamelodi West, the historic centre of Mamelodi. Through an understanding of the everyday, what is generally considered a mono-functional program is re-imagined as a diverse intervention integrated into everyday life and ritual. The dissertation proposes one possible means of connecting isolated communities using the commonality of the need for both individual and collective expression of identity to cultivate gemeinschaft; address misconceptions of the value of the Arts and propose a way in which the spatial legacy can be redressed. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

This thesis has been pursued in the primary interest of exploring the relationship between planning and architecture specific to the mixed-use planning and development process. More acutely, this research has been conducted to investigate how the relationships and communication socially construct architectural technology. Through a constructivist lens, and reaching back to historic themes of human placemaking, this work reveals, that, history has, but yet again, to repeat itself. As people make choices about the built environment, those choices gain momentum, both socially and materially. Mixed-use development is one typological choice that is making a noticeable re-emergence. Amidst a suburban hegemony, will mixed-use development regain “typological momentum?” / text

The built landscape of the United States began to change dramatically after World War II. Federal Housing Administration guaranteed loans, the rise in automobile use, and Euclidian zoning all coincided to encourage growth further from the cities at a rapid rate. After fifty years the problems associated with this sprawl pattern of development have forced municipalities to examine more sustainable development patterns. Greyfield properties are considered the declining, underperforming and vacant shopping centers, big-box properties and malls. They are symbols of an unsustainable urban pattern of development that has continued to leapfrog to less expensive greenfield sites. However, as cities begin to focus on becoming more sustainable these greyfield sites can be opportunities in disguise. Greyfield sites can be redeveloped into mixed-use communities that not only allow cities to direct growth back into the center but also achieve numerous Smart Growth goals. The case studies in this report, Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Florida and Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado, are examples of the value of greyfield redevelopment as a growth management tool. / text

The work summarized in this book was undertaken for a course at the School of Community and Regional Planning at UBC. The course was entitled Theory and Methods of Urban Design and it covered the fundamentals of urban design by inviting students to apply theory to neighbourhood design. The course surveyed major historical and contemporary trends in urban design theory and practice, and introduced contemporary theories on the future forces affecting the development and functioning of urban regions. Students discussed cities at multiple scales and applied their evolving understanding to neighbourhood scale development in the Marine Drive Station Area in Marpole, Vancouver. This book presents the weekly progression of designs with summaries of the design interventions and critiques. The final outcome represents weeks of deliberation, discussion, and incremental growth towards a neighbourhood that is responsive to the anticipated challenges of climate change, peak oil, increased and aging population, and the need for complete healthy walkable communities.

Mixed-use development is a growing trend that is transforming the real estate landscape and is defined as a real estate project with planned integration of some combination of retail, office, residential, hotel, recreation or other functions that are pedestrian-oriented, limit urban sprawl and have architectural expression. Without a tested framework to predict and mitigate risk in a development, it is difficult for investors and property developers to make accurate business decisions. The aim of the research was to explore the risks associated with a prominent mixed-use development and how these risks may be mitigated from a business perspective. From the existing literature, a framework was constructed of elements that would impact on the risk profile of a mixed-use development. Due to the limited amount of available literature, a qualitative and exploratory research design was employed. Due to its prominence and distinctiveness, Melrose Arch in Johannesburg was selected as a case study. A process of triangulation was used between observations, documentation and in-depth, open-ended interviews with the key role players in the development of Melrose Arch. The research indicates that Melrose Arch is riskier than traditional property development. Mixed-use development is an ongoing concern that requires ongoing strategic alignment and general management expertise. Findings from the research contributed to construct a comprehensive framework for risk mitigation in the mixed-use development process. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Urban renewal and rampant suburbanization, like in many North American cities, has led to the decline of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. This thesis proposes a small-scale, child-oriented in?ll project as an alternate mode of development that retains historic fabric and repairs the urban ethos. A narrow, T-shaped, vacant lot in the heart of downtown provides the testing grounds for this intervention. Dynamic program combinations, and playful architectural propositions are presented as strategies to reintegrate children as active participants within the downtown area.