La thèse interroge le sens de l'expérience de quatre grands aéroports internationaux : Paris Roissy-Charles-De­Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, Francfort-sur-le-Main et Dubaï International. Elle fait l'hypothèse que ces quatre hubs ou plateformes de correspondance, loin de constituer des non-lieux, sont au contraire des lieux de pouvoir et des laboratoires privilégiés d'observation de nouveaux rapports au lieu et au territoire dans la mobilité. Pôles d'échange ou lieux-mouvements de grande complexité, ces commutateurs sont analysés au regard des espaces publics non idéalisés et des relations entre de multiples acteurs qu'ils concentrent, dans une approche comparative des quatre terrains. L'investigation de ces espaces publics permet de voir en quoi ils constituent de puissants opérateurs de visibilité, d'intelligibilité, de classement et de performance d'un très large spectre de mobilités, comme les mobilités touristiques, de travail ou migratoires. La thèse questionne les savoir-faire et les catégorisations de la mobilité mobilisées par les acteurs institutionnels dans l'aménagement et le fonctionnement de ces microcosmes à destination de populations mobiles très contrastées et les confronte aux pratiques effectives des passagers aériens à large et à micro­échelle. Elle montre combien les catégorisations et les expériences de ces lieux mondiaux par excellence prennent sens à bien plus large échelle que celle de ces espaces eux-mêmes. Elle souligne ainsi le rôle majeur des lieux de mobilité dans l'affirmation de formes puissantes d'identification individuelles et collectives et de ségrégation. Au cœur des processus de mondialisation et de métropolisation, elle précise ainsi les contours des territorialités en réseau construites par et dans la mobilité dont les aéroports sont les révélateurs. / This PhD questions the meaning of the experience of four main international airports: Paris Charles-De-Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfort am Main and Dubai International. The main hypothesis is that these four hubs, far from being non-places, are on the contrary places of power and privileged laboratories to observe new relationships to place and to territory in mobility. These very complex places of interchange are analyzed through the lens of the non­idealized public spaces and through the actors at the heart of their day-to-day operations, in a comparative approach of the four field works. Airport public spaces prove to be powerful operators of visibility, intelligibility, performance and categorization of a very large spectrum of mobilities, such as touristic, business or transnational mobilities. Studying the design and the practice of these global places par excellence on a micro-scale, the PhD shows how much the experiences and the heterogeneous categorizations of mobilities are put to the test in these microcosms and make sense at a far larger scale than the one of these spaces themselves. This work stresses therefore the major role mobility places in the expression of powerful forms of individual and collective affirmation and segregation on the move. At the heart of globalization and metropolisation processes, airports turn out be revelators of the territorialities in network in construction through and in mobility.

Este estudo tem como tema os movimentos sociais contemporâneos, em especial aqueles que utilizam a ocupação dos espaços públicos como estratégia de resistência. A partir de 2011, novas formas de insurgência tomaram as ruas em diferentes países e continentes. Guardadas as diferenças locais que marcaram estes encontros populares, tem-se a estratégia de ocupação do espaço público como linha que transversaliza essas expressões. A ocupação, nestes moldes, toma visibilidade e importância diferenciadas, configurando-se como uma expressão própria deste tempo. No acompanhamento de coletivos que se organizam pela ocupação do espaço público na cidade de Porto Alegre, foram mapeados as formas de subjetivação que estão envolvidas nesta nova modalidade de articulação política. Ao perguntar-me se este é um modo de resistência às formas subjetivantes hegemônicas, atento para as práticas que dão um caráter singular a estes fenômenos urbanos, analisando quais potências de invenção estão em jogo nestes processos. A noção de “ética do cuidado de si”, proposta por Michel Foucault, é um interessante articulador do pensamento para pensar sobre estas possibilidades éticas e políticas. No campo dos movimentos sociais e da atitude crítica coletiva torna-se pertinente a problematização do poder e da liberdade, temas sobre os quais Foucault também olha de maneira muito especial. Tomo como ponto de partida uma contextualização dos movimentos de ocupação dos espaços públicos e suas condições de possibilidade, em âmbito internacional e na cidade de Porto Alegre, para apresentar as duas linhas que, ao enredarem-se, compõem os modos de politizar-se que pretendo colocar em análise: a linha da ocupação do público e os modos de ocupação de si. A experiência de pesquisar se deu a partir do lugar de militante e, a partir dela, foram mapeados alguns efeitos destes novos encontros, na cidade e para os sujeitos que ocupam, atentando para as possibilidades de constituir uma militância ligada a modos de fazer éticos. / The present study is about the contemporary social movements; mainly, the ones that take the occupation of public spaces as a strategy of resistance. Since 2011, new ways of insurgency have taken the streets in different countries and continents. Taking apart the local differences, a typical characteristic of these popular meetings, the occupation of public spaces arises as a tendency that cuts across these expressions. The occupation, by these means, takes different visibility and importance, becoming a singular expression of our period. Following the works of collectives that support the idea of the occupation of public spaces in the city of Porto Alegre, were established the ways of subjectification related to this new way of political articulation. Wondering if this is a way of resistance against the subjecting hegemonic ways, I attend to the practices that give a singular aspect to these urban phenomenons, analysing its possibilities of invention. The idea of an ethics of the care of the self, proposed by Michel Foucault, is an interesting tool to promote the investigation about these ethical and political possibilities. In the present field – the social movements and the collective and critical attitude – it is important to analyse the institutions of power and freedom, subjects specially examined by Foucault. As a starting point, the investigation of the occupation movements for public spaces; later on, its conditions of possibility, internationally and in Porto Alegre, to present two lines that, by merging, compose the ways of politicization that are here put in analysis. These are: the occupation of something public and the ways of occupying the self. This experience of research is produced from a militant position. Also by this position, were established some outcomes of these new ways of meeting, in the aspects of the city and the subjects that occupy, thinking about the possibilities of creating a militancy linked to ethical ways of acting.

Nos últimos anos, a literatura sobre sustentabilidade converge para a conclusão de que pensar a cidade do futuro numa visão mais sustentável, que atenda aos requisitos de desempenho da nova agenda urbana, demanda promover a integração entre os sistemas urbanos e os processos ecológicos. Isso abre espaço para uma abordagem interdisciplinar que permita a conexão das dimensões humanas e ambientais nos estudos urbanos. A presente pesquisa procura contribuir para esse esforço, estabelecendo um diálogo entre dois campos teóricos, a Ecologia Urbana e o Desenho Urbano, pensando em assentamentos humanos de pequeno porte, especificamente seus espaços públicos, por se entender que exercem funções vitais para o funcionamento do sistema urbano. O objetivo da dissertação é identificar quais padrões de desenho urbano do espaço público possibilitam conciliar condições para o pleno desenvolvimento humano, em equilíbrio ecológico, para o desenvolvimento de comunidades mais sustentáveis. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se esta pesquisa em duas etapas: a exploração teórica e o estudo empírico de espaços públicos na cidade de Feliz (região metropolitana de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul). Na primeira etapa, revisaram-se os principais eixos que compõem a temática da pesquisa: sustentabilidade urbana e espaços públicos. Nesse sentido, produziu-se uma perspectiva histórica dos padrões dos espaços urbanos no período mais recente (cidade tradicional, no período pós revolução industrial, cidade moderna e as reações às ideias modernistas), culminando na abordagem emergente do urbanismo sustentável. A revisão permitiu identificar as visões dicotômicas de planejamento sobre a expansão urbana nos dois campos teóricos – a sustentabilidade espacial e a sustentabilidade ambiental - e as abordagens teóricas e práticas com ênfase nas dimensões humana e ecológica. Após identificar os temas recorrentes, propuseram-se três layers de leitura e análise do espaço público: (i) mobilidade sustentável, (ii) biodiversidade, vegetação urbana e produção de alimentos, (iii) água e drenagem urbana. Em cada layer, por sua vez, buscou-se conjugar os padrões espaciais e ecológicos das abordagens revisadas, seguindo o formato padrão-problema/contextorecomendação, baseado em Alexander et al (2013). Ao todo, foram sistematizados 144 padrões urbanos, estruturados em quatro níveis de leitura do espaço público (comunidade, espaço aberto/estar urbano, rua como espaço público e interface do ambiente construído). A segunda etapa consistiu no estudo gráfico da área urbana do município de Feliz, tendo em vista a aplicabilidade das layers propostas anteriormente a uma situação prática. Assim, procedeu-se a análise gráfica dos espaços públicos, de forma comparativa e associativa com os padrões identificados nas layers, formando o diagnóstico. Na sequência, foram sintetizados os desafios e potenciais dos espaços públicos segundo as layers, sendo sugeridas estratégias para o desenvolvimento mais sustentável numa visão de futuro. Como conclusão, verificou-se que o resultado da parte empírica da pesquisa corroborou as layers desenvolvidas na etapa teórica. Além disso, desenvolveu-se um roteiro metodológico, que engloba diagnóstico e estratégias para o processo de planejamento urbano. / Recently, the literature on sustainability concludes that thinking of the city of the future in a more sustainable approach (i.e., that meets the performance requirements of the new urban agenda) demands to promote the integration between urban systems and ecological processes. This makes room for an interdisciplinary approach that allows the connection between the human and environmental dimensions in urban studies. The present research aims to contribute to this effort by establishing a dialogue between two theoretical fields, the Urban Ecology and Urban Design, applying it to small human settlements, specifically public spaces, on the grounds that they perform vital functions for the operation of the urban system. The purpose of this work is to identify which urban design patterns of public space allow to consent conditions for full human development, in ecological balance, in order to the development of more sustainable communities. This research was conducted in two steps: a theoretical discussion and an empirical study of public spaces in the city of Feliz (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). First of all, we have revised the two main axes that compose the research´s theme: urban sustainability and public spaces. In this sense, we produce a historical perspective of the patterns of urban spaces (from the traditional town, the city in the aftermath of the industrial revolution, to the modern city, and the reactions to the modernist ideas of urbanism), culminating in the emerging approach to sustainable urban development. The review of the literature identified the dichotomous views of planning on urban expansion in both theoretical fields (spatial sustainability and environmental sustainability) and the theoretical and practical approaches with emphasis on human and ecological dimensions. After having identified the recurring themes in the literature, we have proposed three analysis layers for the public space: (i) sustainable mobility, (ii) biodiversity, urban vegetation and domestic food production, (iii) water and urban drainage. In each layer, the aim was to combine the spatial and ecological patterns, following the pattern-problem/ contextrecommendation format, based on Alexander et al (2013). Altogether, 144 urban patterns were organized, and structured in four levels of reading of the public space (community, open/living urban space, street as public space, and built environment interface). The second stage consisted of the graphic study of the urban area of the county of Feliz (RS-BR), in order to test the applicability of layers previously proposed in a practical situation. Thus, we conducted a graphical analysis of public spaces, in a comparative and associative form with the identified patterns in layers, reaching the diagnosis. In the sequence, the challenges and potential of public spaces were synthesized according to the layers, what resulted in suggested strategies for a more sustainable development in a future approach. As a conclusion, it was found that the result of the empirical research corroborated with the layers developed in the theoretical stage. In addition, we developed a methodological guide, which includes diagnosis and strategies for urban planning process.

A degree submitted for the requirements of Masters of Arts in Geography School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies / Mary Fitzgerald Square is an iconic public space in Newtown, Johannesburg. In spite of its iconic status, prolific social history and commercial role in the city, there is very little that is known about it and its users. In 2009 and 2010 I undertook an ethnographic exploration of the public space using Henri Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) conceptual spatial triad, the Right to the City and Elements of Rhythmanalysis frameworks. Through informal interviews, unstructured participant observation and exploration of archived newspaper articles, public space governance by-laws, published urban literature and research, I managed to situate this public space in urban geographical discourse as contested public space. By means of conceptual analysis, this research found Mary Fitzgerald Square to be an important public space that is dominated by neoliberal politics that create struggle for inhabitants to use it meaningfully in the context of everyday life. The proliferation of neoliberal relations of urban governance have led to a situation whereby the public space is subjected to private management practices that encourage its elitist uses and thus prioritizing its commercial exchange-value over its use-value. This process as the research uncovered, undermines the public space’s use-value and consequently leads to a subliminal marginalization of ordinary inhabitants who require and desire it for their varied practices in the context of everyday life. Urban management strategies like human surveillance, Public Open Space by-Laws, architecture and planning design, public-private partnerships, and the removal of the television monitor, discourage creative African youths, skateboarders, the urban poor and elderly in the city from appropriating Mary Fitzgerald Square. Inhabitants using Mary Fitzgerald Square manage to do so by overriding and transgressing existing spatial prohibitions by conducting their social practices in the contested space outside official policing times. Other inhabitants, through play and creative expression, have devised alternative means to challenge their marginalization in and uses of the public space in spite of existing by-laws, changing architecture, and visible human surveillance including law-enforcement that are conceived in an effort to deter their social uses of it. This research proposes a return to Mary Fitzgerald Square that warrants a critical discourse analysis of the public space in an effort to gain a better and deeper understanding of inhabitants’ everyday life experiences and their political situation in the current city through the public space. This should enable a sound critique of the production of Mary Fitzgerald Square in the African metropolis where the abstract struggle between private interests and public need for the public space materializes. Key words: Mary Fitzgerald Square, Henri Lefebvre, Johannesburg, Geography, South Africa.

Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar a atuação pública do pernambucano Miguel do Sacramento Lopes Gama (1793-1852), monge beneditino que se secularizou aos 40 anos de idade, jornalista de sucesso, seis vezes deputado provincial, duas vezes deputado geral e diretor de diversas instituições educacionais em Pernambuco. Analisar-se-á sua atuação em dois pilares que estruturaram o processo de construção do Estado nacional brasileiro, a imprensa e as assembleias legislativas. Tem-se como hipótese que esse indivíduo foi um agente construtor desses espaços públicos. Tendo em vista que qualquer projeto político para ter sucesso no Brasil da primeira metade do século XIX necessitava do apoio de jornais e da articulação de bancadas legislativas, pretende-se analisar os projetos os quais Lopes Gama elaborou para a nação dentro desses espaços de discussão política. / These thesis aims to analyze the public performance of Miguel do Sacramento Lopes Gama (1793-1852). He was a Benedictine monk born in Pernambuco who became secular at the age of 40 and acted as a successful journalist, six times provincial legislator, twice general legislator and director or several educational institutions in Pernambuco. His performance on two pillars which structures the Brazilian national State construction process will be reviewed: the press and the legislatives assemblies. The hypothesis is that this person was a building agent of those public spaces. Bearing in mind that the success of any political project in the first half of the XIX century in Brazil had to count with the support of the newspapers and with the articulation of the legislatives benches, we intend to analyze the Lopes Gamas projects for the nation, which were elaborated inside those political discussion public spaces.

Although Portland, Oregon is widely regarded as a "bike friendly" city, its bike equity remains in question. This thesis explores the barriers to biking that women and people of color face in Portland. This research uses feminist geography scholarship to understand how cycling spaces are unequal for marginalized cyclists. Using data from 28 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with infrequent and marginalized cyclists, I found that gender and race inequalities shape their barriers to biking. A hegemonic white, elite, and masculine bike culture controls the domination of cycling spaces. Women's gendered spatial inequalities are shaped by their childrearing demands, geography of fear, and street harassment. Cyclists of color experience a fear of public space due to racial profiling and police violence, and racial spatial inequalities are shaped by Portland's historic and racist city planning that gentrifies and displaces residents of color. Furthermore, intersectional inequalities of gender, race, and class, emerge and illustrate how cycling spaces are built to be unequal. These findings suggest that spatial inequalities in the urban landscape are pervasive in multiple spaces such as bike lanes, and that more research and policy is needed to increase ridership among women and people of color.

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

Public space is a fundamental component of the urban condition. Throughout the history of settlement planning, its inclusion has represented the role and identity of the citizen in society. By definition, it encapsulates concepts of freedom, justice and social inclusion. The apartheid spatial experience however, has woven persistent spatial distortions into the urban landscape. Public space was imbued with apartheid ideology, promoting sinister nationalist agendas whilst defining spatial experience by race. It is the premise of this paper that South African public space must be re‐conceptualized in order to embody the aspirations of a new democracy and to maintain its relevance in a post‐apartheid landscape. The Durban City Hall Precinct should represent the symbolic heart of the city. The City Hall and its primary public square, Francis Farewell Square, should capture both the city’s history and the direction of its developmental potential. As the most central and prominent public space, its re‐conceptualisation has the capacity to re‐inspire civic identity and turn the tide of a thirty year decline of the inner city. The process used to achieve such aspirations requires an approach broader than a single built environment discipline. Contemporary approaches to complex urban challenges call for greater integration between disciplines, in particular, the fields of town planning, urban design and architecture. The modernist paradigm has seen the divergence of interests and agendas between built environment disciplines at the ultimate expense of place making and identity. As cities grow, we are faced with the expanding monotony of an urban landscape which surrenders the upliftment of the human spirit for infrastructural demand. This study serves to highlight the potential of the City Hall Precinct and the process and depth of approach required to inform relevant public space. The study explores integrative approaches to planning challenges and the role of design in the redevelopment of public space in city centres. Using the City Hall precinct as a case study, the study pursues this holistic approach as a replicable methodology which should underpin the development of all public space initiatives. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Heritage and culture are invaluable assets whereby human beings can define themselves. Through the careful preservation of past and heritage, people have a reference point in which to define their belonging; a lineage that traces their being. However, heritage and the elements that make up a place's identity are often not preserved. The question posed in this dissertation asks what becomes of a space when it's particular heritage and history falls into a state of decay? Why is it necessary to try to preserve the elements that define the very foundations of a place? Furthermore, it is asked what can be done, in terms of an architectural intervention, to rectify this issue. Architecture has a role far beyond the necessity of basic shelter. It defines a framework in which human activity occurs. It encompasses something greater than the functional and its vast impact on the physical, emotional and psychological aspects of its users should not be overlooked; especially when the architecture has a way of harking back to a past memory and time. This dissertation looks into an appropriate response to architectural design that merges the significance of the past, the inherent culture of a collective society, the defining characteristics of place, setting and climatic elements and built form that captures the essence in an architectural celebration. The research culminates in an analysis of a revival and rejuvenation approach to architecture in the local context of KwaZulu-Natal. Conclusions are drawn from the research carried out through conducting interviews, a review of literature and analysis of case studies and precedent studies. The outcome of this dissertation is a set of recommendations, principles and an understanding of the criteria necessary to inform the design of A Proposed New Museum in Port Shepstone. There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage - Ecclesiastes 3:22 / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

In today’s globalised world, countries including South Africa, are pursuing neoliberal economic policies which have many negative effects on ordinary citizens. One such effect is the privatisation of public space which is an important resource for all citizens. This thesis sets out to examine the privatisation of public space along the Durban coast and the subsequent loss of fishing sites for local subsistence fishers. The thesis draws on literature that is critical of contemporary processes of neoliberal governance. The research approach is a qualitative approach where data collection is predominantly through oral evidence. In-depth interviews were conducted with fishers and other stakeholders. Participatory observation was also used to gather data through the attendance of meetings, protests and workshops that pertain to the fishers. The thesis shows how these fishers are being excluded from using public resources along the coast and thereby prevented from making a living. Most of the spaces that have been privatised are being transformed into upmarket developments or used to further trade through the expansion of the Durban Harbour. In addition, the thesis reveals that the fishers are losing a way of life, and experiencing a loss of identity and a communal subsistence economy. The fishers have become ‘invisible’ to the state, and to the authorities. Current marine legislation does not recognise this group of fishers as subsistence fishers. In response, the fishers have established the KwaZulu-Natal Subsistence Fishermen’s Forum in order to mobilise against the broader processes of exclusion and marginalisation resulting from neoliberal pro-growth development policies. Their strategies include protest, deliberation with the state, and striking alliances with other social movements in a broader process of anti-globalisation struggle. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.