The aim of this thesis is to investigate the importance of public space and to explore the concept of public living. The concept behind this thesis exploration is to look at the Soweto yard called a `jarata` and to look at various configurations of a Soweto yard. The reason behind choosing a Soweto yard is to conceptualise a public space which has the essence of the sociality of a Soweto yard. The investigation will begin by exploring the concept of social space and to gain an understanding of what a `social space` is in comparison to a physical place. Over the years people have defined and redefined spaces around them. In shared spaces people have used traditions and cultures to dictate the manner in which they use these spaces and have therefore created unwritten rules in these spaces. As people redefine these spaces from their designed or intended use, they essentially create social spaces. These social spaces are not the physical spaces but they happen in the physical spaces, and are driven by events which are part of people’s social and cultural patterns. So therefore the architecture of a place is defined by the social spaces which are the events, activities and the happenings in the place, which are centred on social patterns. Place is the visible space, and space is the hidden place. The architectural response is a public space where public living can be embraced more especially for the residents of Soweto and more specifically to the residents of Mofolo Central where my site is based. The space will be an enabling space which should allow the users the freedom to carry out their traditions and social patterns. The space is also an event space which allows for a variety of recreational activities from musical events, celebrations, ceremonies and play. The design of the space also incorporates an existing old cinema and seeks to revive the cinema and develop it as a cinema and theatre. The purpose of reviving the cin- ema is to bring back a cinema-going culture to the area of Mofolo and Soweto at large. The exterior space will be an extension of the cinema and will function as an open-air cinema among other uses mentioned above. In addition there will be office spaces, trade spaces both formal and informal and recreational facilities. The design plays on the social patterns of public life in Soweto.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / This research report intends to illuminate the effect of how we can slow down, clear our minds and come to a complete standstill in extremely fast cities. To apprehend these effects the investigation focuses contextually, around the eastern edge of Newtown Johannesburg. This site is juxtaposed within the intensity of major transport nodes. We are living in a world that is accelerating at a frightening pace, and people are not keeping up - there is very little time in one’s day to escape the rapidity, acquire peace of mind and absorb the present moment. This research report acts as a precedent for how future utopian cities can host a space that encourages a meditative-lifestyle of slowing down. I unfold three theories to help support my investigation; Lieven de Cauter’s theory on capsularisation tells us how man has turned to ‘hyper-individualisation’, closing himself off from the world and creating social barriers. The second theory I look at is non-places by Marc Augé who talks about the in between places we pass through such as petrol stations, bus stops, terminals, etcetera, and how these transient spaces have become more meaningful because one is spending more time in them due to technological advancement. I label these as delayed spaces in my thesis which is the third theory I look at by Fardjadi and Mostafavi. I engage with these last two theories by doing an evaluation on them; these include multi-faith spaces, petrol stations, bus stops, terminals and launderettes. I do so because these are spaces where people slow down and pass through within an ordinary day. I suggest how these activities, that are normally considered mundane, can be transcended through different opportunities to slow down through a meditative life-style. Within each evaluation particular lessons are acquired that are integrated in the overall building design. At one point in the research report I take a time-out from the design process to question the value of slow architecture. Much of the working world as well as universities have an uncomfortable urgency when it comes to design. There is no time to reflect on mistakes made or gain perspective on the process which leads to quick decisions without much thought, and often lack in creative depth or meaning. I touch on my own design process and thinking as an example to explain why it is important to slow down and review what has been done to be able to move forward with clear direction. In terms of the architecture for my research report, two specific concepts are unravelled; the first one is movement - how one approaches the building as well as the circulation within it. I used the labyrinth and the notion of time-frames to support this idea of slowing down from speed to stillness which determined my program. The second concept is the ‘consciousness capsules’ which host the main meditative spaces and activities in the building. These activities make up the program and they include a multi-functional gathering space, a communal library to learn about meditation and its philosophy, hand-craft workshops (such as painting, quilting and basket weaving), meditation rooms, collective yoga, a dormitory, and finally a public garden terrace at the very top accompanied by a walking labyrinth. The whole journey through the building portrays a ‘stairway to heaven’ and provides an overview of the city that allows for one to escape the bustle and re-collect ones’ thoughts and immerse in the present moment - as nothing is more urgent today than slowing down. / GR2017

Nesta tese, investigam-se os centros urbanos e o fenômeno das centralidades na atualidade, tendo Palmas, capital do Tocantins, como objeto empírico. Palmas foi estabelecida a partir de um plano urbanístico, de 1989, para uma população ainda inexistente. Seus preceitos de racionalidade projetual são transgredidos já em seus primeiros anos, quando adentra efetivamente na lógica capitalista de produção do espaço urbano, tendo a gestão pública como participante fundamental desse processo. Como decorrência, desencadeia o fenômeno da multicentralidade prematuramente. Seus centros urbanos surgem deflagrando as contradições sociais e estampam os conflitos de seu processo de urbanização. Enquanto seu centro principal evoca simbolicamente o poder e está alinhado aos interesses hegemônicos, seus subcentros populares revelam uma construção coletiva do espaço e ricas apropriações de seus espaços livres públicos, abrindo maiores possibilidades para a vivência urbana e contribuindo para a formação da cidadania. / In this thesis, the urban centers and the phenomena of centralities are investigated today, with Palmas, the capital of Tocantins, as an empirical object. Palmas was established from an urban plan, from 1989, for a still non-existent population. Its precepts of design rationality are already transgressed in its early years, when it effectively penetrates into the capitalist logic of urban space production, with public management as a fundamental participant in this process. As a result, it triggers the phenomenon of multicentrality prematurely. Its urban centers emerge deflagrating the social contradictions and stamping the conflicts of its process of urbanization. While its main center symbolically evokes power and is aligned with hegemonic interests, its popular subcentres reveal a collective construction of space and rich appropriations of its public spaces, opening up greater possibilities for urban living and contributing to the formation of citizenship.

Esta dissertação de mestrado versa sobre os Espaços Públicos Abertos e o conceito de Infra-Estrutura Verde para a cidade de Sorocaba, localizada a 100 km da metrópole de São Paulo, na região sudoeste do Estado de São Paulo. Lida com as questões dos recursos naturais do suporte biofísico da região, a configuração de seus Espaços Públicos Abertos, a morfologia urbana, as áreas a serem preservadas, o planejamento ambiental para uma cidade grande que polarizou na última década recursos financeiros expressivos e populações em uma região que comparada ao restante do Estado de São Paulo, com taxas de urbanização e de riqueza baixas. Cita como exemplo o Parque Vitória Régia, localizado numa área de várzea do Rio Sorocaba, para a utilização do conceito de Infra-Estrutura Verde utilizando o planejamento, o projeto e ações de implementação que podem ser aplicados em varias escalas, como conceito e como processo. / This paper is about the Open Public Spaces and Green Infrastructure concept for the city of Sorocaba, located about 60 miles from the São Paulo City, in the southwest part of São Paulo State. Natural resources, the fisiography of the region, the public open spaces evolution, urban morphology, the green areas to be preserved, flooding areas, the landscape planning possible, are studied about a great city (more than 500 mil inhabitants) which drew an expressive amount of financial resources and other population to this particular region, still one of those less developed and less rich of Sao Paulo State. Talks about The Vitoria Régia Park, a citys public space installed in an open area of Sorocaba River, which received an intervation to stop its environemental pollution, and to use the approach of Green Infrastructure, using the project, planning and management which can be used as a concept and as a process to preserve the open lands still full of life.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar como a compensação ambiental contribui para atenuar o déficit de espaços livres públicos na cidade de São Paulo. Para tal, contextualiza o mecanismo em relação a outros existentes no país e traça a evolução histórica da legislação compensatória desde o início de sua aplicação no município, em 1998. Abordam-se também os diferentes papéis desempenhados pela arborização urbana e pelos espaços livres públicos como formas de compensação aos danos causados ao meio ambiente. Por fim, é realizado o mapeamento das ações compensatórias que resultaram na produção de espaços livres públicos e uma análise dos aspectos deficitários e positivos do mecanismo, visando seu aperfeiçoamento. / This academic essay focuses in the analysis of how the environmental compensation contributes to the attenuation of public open spaces deficit in the city of São Paulo. To achieve this goal, it is made a contextualization of this mechanism respecting the other ones in Brazil and an outlining of the historical evolution of the compensatory legislation from the beginning of its application in the city in 1998. It also broaches the different roles performed by the urban forestry and the public open spaces as compensations for the environmental damage. This essay also makes a mapping of the actions that resulted in the production of public open spaces and the evaluation of the positive aspects of the mechanism and the ones to be improved, aiming its betterment.

Episodes of aggression and violence continue to beset our public spaces. This thesis explores how well we understand the transition to violence—and how aggression and violence in public spaces can be managed or controlled. We begin by arguing that established social psychological approaches to aggression and violence are inadequate for the task. Existing models explain violence through the failure of individuals to inhibit their own impulses or control their own emotions sufficiently. At best the models allow for the importance of dyadic interactions as individuals provoke each other as part of an escalation cycle. We argue that public space aggression and violence involves multiple parties and more complex sets of social dynamics. We suggest that, at the very least, the roles of third-parties and social categories need to be at the heart of theorising about violence in public spaces. To support our arguments, we examined violence directly through detailed behavioural microanalyses of real-life aggressive incidents captured on CCTV footage. We also built agent-based models (ABM) to explore different theoretical approaches to the impact of groups and third-parties on aggression and violence. The thesis contains seven studies. We begin with a CCTV behavioural microanalysis (Study 1) that showed collective group self-regulation of aggressive and violent behaviour in both within- and between-group conflicts. This study demonstrated an ‘intergroup hostility bias’, showing a greater likelihood of aggressive, escalatory acts towards outgroup members in intergroup conflicts than towards ingroup members in intragroup conflicts. Furthermore, this study demonstrated an ‘intragroup de-escalatory bias’, showing a greater likelihood of peace-making, de-escalatory behaviours towards ingroup members in intragroup conflicts than towards outgroup members in intergroup conflicts. Overall, we found that the majority of coded actions were acts of de-escalation performed by third-parties. With evidence stressing the importance of social dynamics, we compared dyadic models of aggression against an alternative social model (which allowed normative influence of others) in a dynamic agent-based modelling environment. We modelled the dynamics of metacontrast group formation (Studies 2 and 3), and found that group processes can produce both escalation of violence and inhibition of violence (Study 4). We found greater polarisation of violent positions in intergroup interactions than in intragroup interactions (Studies 5a and 5b). However, an emergent intergroup hostility bias did not emerge from this polarisation process. In Study 6, we re-examined the intergroup hostility bias present in our CCTV footage. We found an intergroup hostility bias for non-physical escalatory acts but not for physical escalatory acts. We examined the standardised number of actions contributed by third-parties and assessed the relationship between specific third-party conflict management strategies (policers and pacifiers) and conflict violence severity (Study 7). Overall, our results showed that third-parties and groups are integral features of the dynamics of violence. Third-parties largely attempt to de-escalate conflict, and the conflict management strategy they employ has a direct relationship to the violent outcome. Groups have a tendency to de-escalate their own members, and self-policing and collective inhibition take place. These findings have importance for current models of aggression and violence and also for evidence-based violence reduction initiatives.

Propomos um enfoque sobre a requalificação da Praça Roosevelt na perspectiva da produção do espaço relacionando os campos da dominação e o da apropriação. As transformações nos usos e funções dos lugares revelam o movimento do capital reestruturando a cidade a sua imagem. Propomos uma análise do espaço público enfocando como o mesmo é absorvido pelos diferentes ciclos do capital. Neste sentido, a Praça Roosevelt pode ser entendida como metonímia dos ciclos de modernização que configuraram a própria metrópole. Entre o campo da dominação política e da acumulação do capital temos que o espaço público caminha no sentido do controle e da privatização, perdendo seu caráter de efetividade social. No embate entre propriedade e apropriação emergem os conflitos no espaço público. Embora a tendência seja uma limitação do uso de forma cada vez mais recrudescedora, enquanto possibilidade, a vida social pode se insurgir reclamando seu lugar no espaço público. / We propose a focus upon the recovery of Roosevelt Square within the prospect of producing space within the contexts of possession and appropriation. The transformations in the uses and functions of these spaces reveal the movement of capital, restructuring the city in its fashion. We propose an analysis of public spaces focusing on how they are absorbed within different cycles of capital investment. In this sense Roosevelt Square may be understood as a synecdoche of the cycles of modernization that have shaped the metropolis. Between the fields of political power and that of accumulation of capital we would have to say that public spaces are moving in the direction of control and privatization, losing their character in terms of social importance. In the battle between property acquisition and public appropriation conflicts emerge within public spaces. Although the trend is for ever more persistent limitation of their possible uses, social activities may take place there, reclaiming their place in public spaces.

O presente estudo preocupa-se em compreender a importância do Sistema de Espaços Livres Públicos SELP na estruturação do ambiente urbano e seu potencial para valorização do sentido público. Centra sua análise em área de urbanização consolidada e tem como objetivo caracterizar as principais atribuições do sistema a serem consideradas no processo de elaboração de políticas públicas e de sua contribuição ao planejamento urbano local; simultaneamente salienta a pertinência de convergir as preocupações ambientais com as políticas de valorização do espaço livre. Importante elemento de análise é a forma de estruturação do SELP no contexto do desenvolvimento urbano do Município de São Paulo e a legislação urbanística pertinente, para verificar como o Plano Diretor Estratégico do Município, aprovado em 2002, avança nessas questões. O estudo de caso a Subprefeitura de Vila Maria / Vila Guilherme na região nordeste do Município - busca estruturar um processo de análise que possa ser reproduzido em outros territórios buscando destacar conflitos e potencialidades sugeridos pela análise do SELP e compreender como a interação entre plano e gestão tem ocorrido no período recente. / The present work focuses in the importance of the Public Open Space System (or SELP Sistema de Espaços Livres Públicos) on structuring the urban environment and its potential on valuating the public sense. Based on a consolidated area, the analysis objective is to characterize the main attributions of the system in order to develop urban public politics, and contribute to the local planning. Therefore, it emphasizes the importance of environmental issues combined to urban politics that valuate the open spaces. The Public Open Space System structuring is an important element for the analysis of the urban development of São Paulo city, besides its legislation, to verify how the Strategic Urban Plan approved in 2002 deals with these issues. The study case is Vila Maria/ Vila Guilherme administrative unit, located at the northeast portion of São Paulo - its process analysis intends to create a method to be applied in order portions of the territory, emphasizing conflicts and potentials suggested by the SELP analysis, and comprehending how the urban plan and public management interact in recent time.

Cette thèse étudie les évolutions de pratiques et de savoirs au sein des services de la Ville de Paris, en entrant par un grand projet d’espaces publics parisien : « Réinventons nos places ». En s’appuyant plus particulièrement sur trois réaménagements de places publiques (Place des Fêtes, Place de la Nation et Place de la Bastille), elle a souhaité observer des situations de travail au sein de ce projet. Elle vise ainsi à analyser l’adaptation des professionnels à divers défis posés par la Mairie de Paris dans ce cadre (intégration du genre dans un projet d’espace public, objets numériques, nouvelles temporalités dans les processus de projet et de gestion des espaces...). L’étude de cette adaptation des services « en situation de travail » conduit à décrire, pour partie, des processus de productions de connaissances théoriques et/ou pratiques dans un contexte situé. In fine, la Mairie de Paris à travers des modifications apportées progressivement au travail, aux schémas d’acteurs et aux objectifs du projet, semble vouloir construire un «nouveau modèle» d’aménagement des espaces publics. Nous étudions une première étape de cette construction, au cours de laquelle les ingénieurs et les architectes de la Ville s’adaptent et participent à travers, notamment, la construction et la traduction de ces objets encore inconnus à un territoire spécifique et à un contexte qu’ils connaissent : les espaces publics à Paris. / The aim of this thesis is to observe the evolution of the specific knowledge and practices of the City of Paris’ technical services and this, through the example of an ambitious Parisian urban development project called “Réinventons nos places”. The study focuses on the professional activities performed in the development of three public squares (Place des Fêtes, Place de la Nation, and Place de la Bastille), with the purpose to see how the specialists adapted themselves to the various challenges offered by the City council (for instance, to take into account : the Gender in the development of a public space, digital objects, innovation in project management and in the way of managing space)... To examine this process “in a work situation” will lead us, for example, to describe the way these specialists will assimilate new knowledge and know-how in this particular context. Ultimately, the City Council, when progressively adapting the work and the work organization of the various actors, as well as the project goawls themselves, seems to be aiming at the creation of a “new model”, a new way of developing public spaces. We are going to examine the first step within this new way, in which engineers and architects have to reconsider their habits in order to meet new demands – they do this, notably, by making still unknown objects and by fitting them into both a specific area and a background they know well : Paris’ public spaces

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-11-10T15:45:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Naiara Bettiato Pasquale da Silva.pdf_.pdf: 17599148 bytes, checksum: e06e94c1f188ec158cd8325aa2beddff (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-10T15:45:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Naiara Bettiato Pasquale da Silva.pdf_.pdf: 17599148 bytes, checksum: e06e94c1f188ec158cd8325aa2beddff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-11 / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Esta pesquisa tem como tema a análise dos elementos que compõem os espaços públicos da cidade, tais como calçadas, áreas verdes e edificações, dentre outros, sob o ponto de vista da percepção espacial tanto visual quanto dos demais sentidos -sensibilidade- das pessoas que circulam por estes espaços. O objetivo é propor um instrumento de análise qualitativo capaz de avaliar os espaços públicos afim de reconhecer e elencar os principais elementos que influenciam a inter-relação das pessoas e a qualidade dos espaços públicos. Nesse aspecto, variáveis perceptivas são analisadas na pesquisa, vinculadas a interação socioespacial, tecnologia e informação, cultura e formas da paisagem, para que assim seja possível a aplicação de um mapa perceptivo a partir de imagens locais, avaliadas pelos usuários em segmentos de vias em torno da Rua dos Andradas, Av. Independência e Rua 24 de Outubro na cidade de Porto Alegre (RS), tomada como estudo de caso. Através da coleta de dados, foi possível identificar um conjunto de atributos – conforto, diversidade de usos, (in)segurança, movimento de pessoas e disposição de áreas verdes – que atraem diferentes grupos de pessoas. Os resultados obtidos reforçam a importância desses espaços públicos como uma via de passagens e permanências que, qualificados, resgatam o convívio e a inclusão de todas as pessoas, além de estimular o seu deslocamento e bem-estar, como forma de melhorar a estrutura dos espaços públicos para, então, (re)descobrir a cidade. / This research has as its theme the analysis of the elements that compose the public spaces of the city, such as sidewalks, green areas and buildings, among others, from the point of view of the visual perception as much of the other senses - sensibility - of the people who circulate by these spaces. The objective is to propose a qualitative analysis instrument capable of evaluating public spaces in order to recognize and list the main elements that influence the interrelationship of people and the quality of public spaces. In this aspect, perceptual variables are analyzed in the research, linked to socio-spatial interaction, technology and information, culture and landscape forms, so that it is possible to apply a perceptual map from local images, evaluated by users in segments of around the Rua dos Andradas, Av. Independência and Rua 24 de Outubro in the city of Porto Alegre (RS), taken as a case study. Through data collection, it was possible to identify a set of attributes - comfort, diversity of uses, (in) safety, movement of people and arrangement of green areas - that attract different groups of people. The results obtained reinforce the importance of these public spaces as a way of passages and stays that, qualified, rescue the living and the inclusion of all the people, besides stimulating their displacement and well-being, as a way to improve the structure of spaces Public, then (re) discover the city.