This dissertation critically analyzes home and community gardens within Metro-Orlando by considering the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts residents' garden participation and access to green public spaces. The study utilizes an ethnographic approach to produce informed understandings of participants' experiences within local gardens, alternative food networks, and community supported agriculture analyzed using Marxian theoretical frameworks. Findings are primarily grounded in qualitative information derived from interviews, participant observation, and photovoice. Data were collected both prior to the global COVID-19 outbreak and over subsequent months of lockdown and public health mitigation measures. Primarily focusing on local community garden organizers, community garden members, and home gardeners, this dissertation documents many of the emotional, dietary, and physiological benefits of Metro-Orlando's local gardens through analysis of food and garden access factors that serve to constrain or enhance local garden participation: (1) seasonality; (2) effective garden maintenance; (3) garden's management and social organization, and (4) transportation and resource costs. These considerations are significant as most respondents report their gardens function as supplemental food security resources, serve as a locus of self-care, and provide respite from daily stressors. Lack of convenience remains the most widely reported access challenge among my study participants while cost is the least reported challenge. Findings also demonstrate the ways local gardens foster resilience through support networks and mutual aid, promote resistance and survival through community food security, and provide escape from pandemic-related stressors.

‘The Body on the Threshold: Histories of Rape in Colonial North India’ analyzes political, judicial, and diplomatic records of sexual violence in the modern Indian provinces of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh from roughly 1820 onward. I explore these colonial archives to reappraise the problem of rape in modern India and how it has come to be conceived and misconceived spatially. With the colonial emergence of India’s contemporary legal and penal system, I argue, a new criminal law of rape transformed public space—local roads, forests, village fields and pastures, railway carriages, and town streets—into constitutively dangerous and exclusionary space, about which a perverse cultural and political consensus prevailed that nothing could be done except that women and girls fear and avoid such space when possible. This notorious and longstanding exclusionary injunction upon mobilities and freedoms in modern Indian social life is a gendered common-sense, and structuring of the commons, that I aim to defamiliarize. As a new, ostensibly ‘decolonized’ criminal code with a restructured rape law comes into force in India this year, I offer a cautionary obituary for the law it replaced, and the past India seeks to leave behind.Bringing a combination of spatial, socio-legal, and micro-historical approaches to bear upon colonial judicial archives, I work tangentially to their central object: the criminal court proceeding. To explore how the jurispathic incentives of colonial criminal law engendered unsafe public environments, I work to pull the concept of rape out of the silo imposed by these court proceedings, which reflect the epistemic distortions of a regime that narrowly prioritized punishing only brutally violent rape upon victims below the age of consent—setting evidentiary precedents that affected the governing of rape in much of the British Empire. Employing sources such as crime reports, police handbooks, diplomatic letters, and native newspapers, I focus on instances of what might be referred to today as ‘stranger rape’: rape committed in ‘public’, often brazenly, at the margins of political conflicts over sovereign power and direct rule, such as border wars, princely revolts, and cattle-smuggling feuds. I recruit histories of short-distance migration and the public/private circulation of women within the marriage system, among others, to counter assumptions about South Asian women’s inherent immobility and seclusion. I also index emerging procedural and forensic technologies of the colonized Indian body politic—which reinforced an understanding of rape survivors as unreliable, and of most rape accusations as fabricated—to local ideas about public safety and state responsibility, which were often premised on caste-differentiated and retributive ethics of justice. I trace how pre-colonial practices of social exclusion, scapegoating, and outcasting—and the complex dispute-resolution systems that mandated such punishments—were absorbed into an ecology of colonial violence and territorial occupation, attempting to emplace the evolving meaning of rape within broader transformations in politics and social life under colonialism. I argue that the authority to sanction rape—to both punish and prescribe—became foundational to jurisdictional and territorial conflicts between propertied castes, local power-holders, and functionaries of the British Indian colonial state.

The final qualifying work is devoted to the study of the concept of smart public spaces with an emphasis on the use of smart technologies in Russian cities and abroad, with a specific example of the city of Zlatoust. The main purpose of the research is to develop an innovative approach to creating public spaces that provide a high level of comfort and safety for residents. The work includes a historical and sociological analysis of the development of public spaces, an analysis of regulatory documentation, a study of engineering and technical equipment, as well as an urban planning analysis of the city of Zlatoust. Based on the data obtained, the concept of an open public space in the city of Zlatoust using advanced smart technologies was proposed. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization of domestic and foreign experience in the application of smart technologies in public spaces and the development of a unique concept for a particular city. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the proposed concept for the design and implementation of smart public spaces in other Russian cities, which contributes to improving the quality of the urban environment and the standard of living of the population. / Выпускная квалификационная работа посвящена исследованию концепции умных общественных пространств с акцентом на применение смарт-технологий в городах России и за рубежом, с конкретным примером города Златоуст. Основной целью исследования является разработка инновационного подхода к созданию общественных пространств, обеспечивающих высокий уровень комфорта и безопасности для жителей. Работа включает историко-социологический анализ развития общественных пространств, анализ нормативной документации, исследование инженерно-технического оснащения, а также градостроительный анализ города Златоуст. На основе полученных данных была предложена концепция открытого общественного пространства в городе Златоуст с использованием передовых смарт-технологий. Научная новизна работы заключается в систематизации отечественного и зарубежного опыта применения смарт-технологий в общественных пространствах и разработке уникальной концепции для конкретного города. Практическая значимость исследования состоит в возможности использования предложенной концепции для проектирования и реализации умных общественных пространств в других российских городах, что способствует повышению качества городской среды и уровня жизни населения.

In 2003 the Rotary Club of Lethbridge, Alberta proposed a revitalization of Galt Gardens, a small historic park in Lethbridge‘s downtown which was perceived to be the focus of particular kinds of “negative use.” Over the course of the revitalization the park changed significantly – public washrooms and a water feature were installed, and private security guards were introduced. According to the local newspaper, developments have transformed the park into an “idyllic scene of children splashing and playing, families picnicking and people strolling” (Gauthier, 2008). This thesis explores the revitalization of Galt Gardens through a consideration of various texts and practices that (re)produce, not only the park, but also the “public” (and “non-public”). My analysis focuses on the ways in which a revitalized Galt Gardens is discursively represented and materially practiced to include and exclude particular users and uses, with potential consequences for the construction of public social space. / vii, 168 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

This research involves understanding the civic learning that emerged from the ways individuals in two civic action groups, Greenhill Historical Society (GHS) in Bonnybridge, a deindustrialised location, and Cumbernauld Village Action for the Community (CVAC) in Cumbernauld Village, a Conservation Area, enacted their citizenship through the spatial (geographical) and temporal (historical) characteristics of their place. I use a citizenship-as-practice conceptualisation, where citizenship is not a status ‘given’ to individuals who have successfully displayed pre-requisite outcomes, but is a continuous and indeterminate practice through exposure to real challenges. To understand the learning occurring for, from and through their practices, I used Biesta’s theory of civic learning (Biesta, 2011). It involves a socialisation conception of civic learning as the adoption of existing civic identities, where individuals adapt to a given political order, and a subjectification conception which focuses on how political agency is achieved. The theory connects learning and action together, where Biesta argues socialisation involves the individual requiring to learn something in order to carry out the ‘correct’ actions in the future; however, subjectification involves action preceding learning, where learning comes second, if at all. I used a case study design and a psychogeographic mapping methodology involving secondary data analysis, psychogeographic mapping interviews and observations. Civic action emerged as a more central component than civic learning through my empirical analysis. The civic actions of GHS emerged as a case of reconsideration (redefining, re-meaning their location through interventions in public), and CVAC of reconfiguration (actions physically altering the landscape). These actions concerning space and time involved spatial shifts from mapreading to mapmaking, and temporal shifts from histories ‘of’ and ‘for’ the public, towards histories ‘by’ the public. Respondents became ‘curators’ of their places: from spectators to participants in making and representing spaces and histories that opened their locations to interruptions of the continuities of time. Attending to practices of citizens with space and time contains possibilities for public pedagogies that work ‘with’ context rather than just ‘in’, towards opening up opportunities for citizens to ‘become public’ as practices that trouble pre-existing arrangements and configurations.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / The fact that parks and urban green spaces have value is no longer disputed. The literature is awash with evidence attesting to this fact. The City Parks Department of the City of Cape Town is responsible for the provision and maintenance of in excess of six thousand green public open spaces across the Metropolitan area but is currently challenged in terms of ensuring that the service it provides is recognized and that it is adequately resourced from City coffers. This research was undertaken to find a mechanism that the Department can utilize to establish the value of the service it provides within a language that people generally understand and appreciate, the language of money and economics. Using the economic theoretical frameworks and paradigms as context, the key considerations and challenges facing the City Parks Department was considered in terms of competition for adequate land, definitions and the various values which can be attached to public open spaces. Considering the data and information contained in the literature, case studies and established economic valuation approaches and methods, a Valuation Framework was devised for the City Parks Department. The Valuation Framework is meant to be used as a mechanism for establishing the economic value of the public open spaces for which the Department is responsible. It consists of four sections namely a Site Selection Matrix, Site Valuation Components, Valuation Approaches and Methods and a Seven-Step Methodology. The Framework is devised for application at site level but with the understanding that the accumulation of outcomes can be integrated to draw conclusions and inferences about the total economic value which is created directly or indirectly by the Parks Department through its service offering.

published_or_final_version / Geography and Geology / Master / Master of Philosophy

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

I denna studie behandlas ämnet offentliga rum, en diffus definition av allmänna platser som denna uppsats syftar till att råda bot på. Studiens ämne baseras på antaganden om en tilltagande privatisering av offentliga rum som pågår runt om i Sverige och världen, som skapar offentliga rum präglade av handel och service. Forskning och teori i denna studie fokuserar på att finna karaktären av ett offentligt rum och undersöka de konsekvenser som kommer av privatisering. För att besvara de frågor som ställts kommer två fallstudier från Malmö stads två torg Stortorget och Lilla torg redovisas, där forskarnas egna antagande och observationer kompletteras med intervjuer från användare som beskriver sin syn och upplevelse av rummen. I uppsatsen kommer det gå att läsa om de olika fallens bakgrund, hur de uppfattas av besökare, hur de kan ses som motpoler till varandra och vilka konsekvenser offentlighet, eller bristen på det, har på olika grupper. Studien är en del av kandidatprogrammet Fysisk planering vid Blekinge tekniska högskola i Karlskrona. Ämnet, privatisering av offentliga rum, har valts då det är ett intressant ämne att diskutera inom fysisk planering, då gränsen mellan vad fysisk planering kan, och inte kan, påverka är tunn och svår att hantera. Vid ytterligare frågor eller funderingar kring innehållet i uppsatsen eller ämnet, vänligen kontakta författarna på respektive mail: Linnéa Håkansson: linnea-hakansson@hotmail.com Jasmine Dogertz: jasminedogertz@gmail.com / This study concerns the subject public spaces, a vague definition of public places that this study will disentangle. The study is based on assumptions about an increasing privatisation of public spaces that is happening all over Sweden and around the world, that creates public spaces characterized by commerce and service. Science and the theory in this study focuses on to find characterizing trades of a public space and to investigate the consequences that privatization create. To answer questions that has been asked shall two case studies, that has been made on two squares in Malmö called Stortorget and Lilla torg be accounted for, where scientists own assumptions and observations supplemented with interviews from users who describes their view and experience on the subject. In this study will you be able to read about the two cases background, how they are perceived by the users, how they can be seen as opposites and which consequences publicness, or the lack of it, has on different groups. The study is a part of the bachelor program at Fysisk planering (Spatial planning) at Blekinge tekniska högskola (Blekinge technical university) in Karlskrona. The subject, privatization of public spaces, has been chosen because it is an interesting subject to discuss, especially within spatial planning because the borders concerning what spatial planning is able to or not able to do is narrow and hard to equipoise. Further questions or thoughts concerning the content of this study or the subject, please contact the authors on their respective email: Linnéa Håkansson: linnea-hakansson@hotmail.com Jasmine Dogertz: jasminedogertz@gmail.com

Ce mémoire analyse deux cartes postales de la ville d’Alger qui représentent des espaces publics. Ces espaces publics montrent des gens de communautés mixtes. Les cartes ont été produites à Alger entre 1890 et 1914 environ, une période qui fait coïncider l’essor de ce médium avec celui de la colonisation européenne en Algérie. Le corpus a été choisi parce qu’il diffère de la production générale de cartes postales algériennes ainsi que de l’ensemble des images représentant l’Algérie, en peinture, en lithographie et en photographie. Cette spécificité de notre corpus nous permet de soutenir l’existence d’une consommation locale de cartes postales à Alger, de la part de la communauté européenne. Pour appuyer notre argument, nous faisons une étude comparative avec Cagayous, un feuilleton très populaire parmi les Européens à Alger. Les chercheurs considèrent ce feuilleton représentatif de cette population et du contexte local. Nous montrons que, même si ces cartes postales semblent plus réalistes que les images orientalistes typiques, elles ne sont pas dépourvues de stratégies visuelles et idéologiques rattachées au système colonial. Ces stratégies sont détaillées et analysées au cours de cette étude. / This thesis analyzes two postcards of the city of Algiers, which represent public space. The public spaces show people from mixed communities. These cards were produced in Algiers between about 1890 and 1914, a period which brings together the heyday of the postcard medium and the summit of European colonisation in Algeria. The corpus was chosen because it differs from the general production of Algerian postcards and from the body of images representing Algeria in painting, lithography, and in photography. This specificity of our corpus allows us to argue for the existence of a local consumption of these postcards of Algiers, by the European community. To support this claim, we conduct a comparative study with Cagayous, an extremely popular serial for the Europeans of Algiers. Scholars consider the serial to be representative of this population and the local context. We show that, even if these postcards seem more realistic than typical Orientalist images, they are not devoid of visual strategies and ideologies related to the colonial system. These strategies are detailed and analyzed in this thesis.