Stadsutvecklingsprojekt är ofta stora, komplexa och sker under lång tid. Vid utvecklingen av nya stadsdelar sker byggnationen ofta i etapper vilket kan resultera i ytor som saknar ett aktivt syfte. Vissa aktörer har däremot valt att tillfälligt använda dessa ytor i syfte att åstadkomma ett sorts värdeskapande, parallellt med stadsutvecklingen. Genom att tillfälligt upprätta allmänna attribut, och att i vissa fall även arbeta med placemaking, vill aktörerna skapa attraktiva platser som tillför värde för både boende och besökare i stadsdelen. Tidigare studier har inte undersökt tillfälliga attribut och deras effekter vid utvecklingen av nya stadsdelar. Eftersom tillfälliga attribut anläggs parallellt med stadsutvecklingen är det av intresse att undersöka motiven och effekterna dessa attribut har på området i dess helhet. Syftet med studiens är därmed att utveckla en förståelse för varför allmänna attribut tillfälligt anläggs i nya stadsdelar. Studien syftar även till att kartlägga hur utvalda aktörer arbetar med tillfälligt anlagda attribut samt vilka värden aktörerna vill skapa med hjälp av dessa. Studiens resultat baseras på intervjuer med tolv branschrepresentanter. Resultaten visar på att både kommuner och byggaktörer tillfälligt anlägger olika allmänna attribut i nya stadsdelar, däremot i en varierande omfattning. Författarna presenterar idéen att allmänna attribut kan delas in i två kategorier utifrån hur viktiga och vanligt förekommande de är i nya stadsdelar. I arbetet klassificeras dessa kategorier som nödvändiga attribut samt bonus-attribut. Motiven till att anlägga tillfälliga attribut är för att det vid tidpunkten ej går att anlägga dem permanent. Samtidigt behöver både kommuner och byggaktörer tillgodose boendes behov av allmänna platser redan från första inflytt och göra stadsdelen både levande och trygg. Tidigare studier visar på att det i befintliga stadsdelar finns en betalningsvilja för att från sin bostad ha närhet till permanenta allmänna attribut. Resultaten i den här studien visar på att både byggaktörer och kommuner anser att detta även gäller i nya stadsdelar, oavsett om attributen är permanenta eller tillfälliga. Slutligen lyfts placemaking fram som en användbar metod för att möjliggöra att ytterligare värde skapas från de anlagda attributen. Genom att skapa mer värde blir stadsdelen attraktivare och efterfrågan på bostäder i stadsdelen kan öka ytterligare. / Urban development projects are often large, complex and takes a long time to be completed. In these large development projects, the project is often divided into different stages, which can result in unused spaces. Some actors have begun using these unused spaces in order to parallel with the development create value. By building temporary amenities, and in some cases working with placemaking, the actors aim to create attractive places that bring value for the inhabitants and visitors in the city district. Earlier studies have not looked at how temporary amenities impact and affect urban development projects. It is therefore interesting to research the motives and effect of these amenities in the city district. The aim for this study is to create a better understanding of why these temporary amenities are being built in urban development projects, and what value they are deemed to bring to the project and the actors who build them. The study also reaches out to some selected actors and maps what kind of temporary amenities, if any, they have worked with and what values these amenities create. The results of the study are based on interviews with twelve industry representatives. The result indicates that both construction clients and municipalities both use temporary amenities in large urban development projects, but to a varying degree. The authors claim the amenities can be categorized into two types, necessary-amenities and bonus-amenities, based on how important and commonly occurring they are. The motive to build temporary amenities is that it is simply not possible to build the amenities in a permanent manner at the time. But even though it is not possible to build permanent amenities the municipality and construction clients still need to accommodate early inhabitants and create good conditions for a safe and vibrant living environment. Earlier studies have concluded that permanent amenities raise the willingness to pay resulting in a higher price. This study also acknowledges that construction clients and municipalities also deem this true in new development projects, whether the amenities are permanent or temporary. Lastly, placemaking is recognized as a method to further create value of the built amenities in the city district, and that this can further increase the value amenities create and make the amenities even more desired for potential customers, and thus increase the demand on housing in the urban development project even further.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Laurence A. Clement / Contemporary design of the urban environment focuses increasingly upon the quality of space found within the public right-of-way. Landscape architects and urban planners are beginning to ask new questions that deviate from the conventional streetscape designs of the latter half of the 20th century. Under the mantra “complete the streets,” communities all across America are calling for a paradigm shift towards multimodal, pedestrian-scaled urban rights-of-way. At the same time, existing stormwater and combined sewer infrastructure is nearing the end of its productive lifespan in cities all across the country and world. The direct costs associated with repairing this infrastructure combined with the indirect costs of poor water quality and a greater frequency and intensity of flooding events downstream present a strong argument for developing new, innovative ideas about how to best design the stormwater infrastructure of tomorrow. The reintegration of ecological processes into the urban fabric will act as a catalyst for the appreciation of genius loci (spirit of the place) and user meaning while mitigating downstream flooding, increasing water quality, and extending the lifespan of existing stormwater infrastructure. By studying the hierarchical categorization of urban rights-of-way according to increased levels of user orientation, this research project aims to clearly articulate a new theoretical framework for expanding upon the current discourse surrounding “complete streets” and “green streets” theory. In the long-term, it is both economically and socially profitable for cities to use ecological processes to reclaim auto-oriented, urban rights-of-way as valuable public space for the health, safety, and welfare of all their users.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / Placemaking for Socially Resilient Site Design is a project focused on clarifying and characterizing social resilience. This project used ethnographic methods to answer the question: what qualities of place affect the downtown community’s desires for a temporary landscape in Wichita, Kansas? Through literature review this project further defined what social resilience meant at the site scale. Social resilience was operationalized as social systems ability to maintain function while promoting social trust, reciprocity, collaboration, and character between networks of varying scales (Putnam 1995). Literature review provided the foundational knowledge on creative placemaking, a design strategy used to improve community prosperity through a sense of place and imageability (Artscape 2014). Place is determined by a user’s surroundings, and more importantly the memory of social engagement on site (Fleming 2007). Creative placemaking design strategies are valuable and specific to location. Therefore, it was imperative I incorporated ethnographic research methods to answer my focus question. Ethnographic research investigates cultural patterns and themes expressed or observed by a community (LeCompte et al. 1991). This form of research is unconventional for the typical site design process in landscape architecture. However, it proved to be effective in determining the most successful site use and organization. The ethnographic research allowed me to inventory and document user’s most desirable site needs and programming through the stakeholder design charrette and individual interviews. In November 2014 the Wichita Downtown Development Cooperation requested our team as a partner in developing a temporary landscape for downtown Wichita, Kansas. The site was already selected with the intention of becoming Douglas Avenue Pop-Up Park. Funding for this project was awarded to the WDDC in the form of a $146,025 grant from the Knight Foundation. Using an iterative community feedback process with five ethnographic interviews, I reevaluated the WDDC’s initial Pop-Up Park plan resulting from a community charrette. Recurring themes from interviews were identity crisis of downtown, outdoor preference, lack of residential amenities, negative perception of active and public transit, downtown lifestyle, Wichita as a place for families, and lack of nighttime activation. Using the recurring interview themes, I proposed a plan conducive to social resilience.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / The purpose of this study is to investigate and design public light art installations. The investigation consisted of evaluating select examples of public light installations in order to develop a typology, and designing two site-specific light art installations: one in Wichita, Kansas, and the other, in Denver, Colorado. Though public light art is found in most cities, its potential is often lost or unrecognized. In certain cases, public light art can be ‘plop art,’ which is plopped senselessly without much regard to context or experiential qualities. This project seeks to explore the different types of public light art and to find what approach or qualities should be considered when designing public light art. My approach can be described as artistic research. The methods include an apprenticeship to an artist, a precedent study, development of a light typology, an analysis of site and context, establishing a design matrix for two design projects, and an iterative process of making. Each of these methods were undertaken in order to effectively address my research question: What type of public light art is most appropriate for a specific site and how does it relate to creative placemaking? This project overlaps with a collective project group entitled Creative Place-Making, which is comprised of other fifth-year master of landscape architecture students with an underlying interest in art and design as place-making tools. Each student in the group addressed the site in Wichita, Kansas in a unique way. I addressed this site as a temporary landscape, creating an interactive light installation intended to be in place up to five years. In contrast, I addressed the Denver, Colorado site as a long term landscape, and designed a sculptural illuminating gateway. Each of these light art installations were informed by a particular set of characteristics that make each design site-specific.

Master of Science / Department of Architecture / David R. Seamon / This thesis presents a redesign of Kansas City’s downtown Government District, making use of the conceptual approach provided by Responsive Environments (1985), a manual for urban design written by architects Ian Bentley and Alan Alcock, urban designers Sue McGlynn and Graham Smith, and landscape architect Paul Murrain. “Responsive environments” are those urban places, the physical settings of which maximize usability and social value by offering a wide range of day-to-day user choices within close proximity. The authors of Responsive Environments identify seven hierarchical qualities—permeability, variety, legibility, robustness, visual appropriateness, richness, and personalization—that are said to be vital in creating responsive environments within the city. Through a literature review and critique, chapters 1 and 2 of the thesis overview Responsive Environments in terms of several major theorists of urban place making, including urban theorist Bill Hillier (1984), urban critic Jane Jacobs (1961), and urban designer William Whyte (1980). In turn, chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 investigate the practicability of Responsive Environments as an urban design approach by applying its three larger-scale qualities of permeability, variety, and legibility to the Government District, an existing urban area in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, presently underdeveloped in terms of environmental responsiveness and a strong sense of urban place. As a means to identify strengths and weaknesses of Responsive Environments, the last chapter of the thesis critiques the resulting Government District design. The thesis concludes that Responsive Environments is a valuable design approach that offers much for strengthening the quality of urban life and urban sustainability.

This practicum project examines the long-standing association between the domestic realm and gendered space as well as issues that have emerged in urban areas, such as poor access to healthy food options. Drawing on utopian concepts that have challenged conventional forms of residential development and the organization of domestic functions and spaces, it proposes the adaptive reuse of the Royal Albert Arms Hotel in Winnipeg. Concerned with the design of a model of housing that features a communal kitchen and dining facility, among other shared spaces, this project investigates the potential of such common rooms as a means to foster a sense of community within the building. In doing so, it explores how interior design can reimagine domestic space in a more proactive and socially conscious manner, improving the quality of life for inhabitants in the context of their homes, and more broadly, the city. / May 2017

The phenomenon of place has always been a key issue of inquiry throughout theoretical discourse in relation to architecture and urban planning. To comprehend such a phenomenon, one must begin to understand how to concretize the factors that can be used to create such a meaningful environment. With respect to such a topic, what becomes of interest are the four primary elements that come together to illustrate how the structure and spirit of place are defined. Space, character, orientation, and identification are the elements that begin to provide such a definition. Ever since the end of the Second World War, American development patterns have been unaccommodating in an effort to cultivate place within our society. The trends in mainstream suburban retail and residential development along with unorganized zoning practices have all but ceased this phenomenon from occurring. Such behavior has taken the once genuine, collective, unifying concept of the main-street, and has splintered it into independent development patterns which are disorganized and disjointed. In light of this plaguing issue, suburban communities in today's society lack elements that foster identity and character, therefore stifling place from being created. This thesis will begin by exploring the place theory according to Christian Norberg-Schulz, providing an understanding of how the primary elements of place culminate to define its spirit and structure, and the study of the types of neighborhoods that possess and lack a sense of place and the means by which they do so. These efforts will ultimately work to establish a framework on how a sense of place can be reintroduced within today's society. The findings of this thesis will ultimately culminate in a project which will bring together prominent, fragmented developments that currently sit in a disorganized and disoriented portion of Tampa. Such developments have been burdened by isolation rather than be welcomed through integration. The vehicle used to unify these fragments will be a communal and shared place of transition, also known as an integrated district center, designed to accommodate those who reside, commute, and visit. This center will also work to illustrate the area as a defined place. It is only by means of coming in contact with methods that define and curtail place to seek the way in which it needs to be restored. In doing so, society shall grant a person pride to reside, reason to commute, and interest to visit.

Place is not a static backdrop for social relationships; rather, it is a dynamic product of the interactions among the people, practices, objects, and representations contained within it. Often, street-involved people who use drugs are excluded from interactions that would otherwise allow them to participate in community dynamics. In Vancouver, British Columbia, peer-based outreach groups redress these barriers by providing low-threshold positions to individuals living with active or past addiction. The overall question of this thesis is: what is the role of place in the health of an individual and of a community? Objectives include: (1) applying existing models of social exclusion to outline barriers preventing Peer Members from engaging in placemaking; (2) mapping the ideological positionality of the Peer Members and the rest of the community with regard to citizenship; and (3) exploring how Peer Members utilize their biosocial role as outreach workers to establish social capital and situate themselves as participants in a healthy community. By providing a platform where various social identities can interact with one another, ties of familiarity are established between these groups, thus enabling the transfer of resources, knowledge, and shared norms of respect. The first half of the discussion focuses on how social and geographic displacement legitimizes the process of social abandonment. Consequently, this relegated the Peer Members and their peers into the role of anti-citizen, rationalized their marginalization, and reinforced the wider community’s stigma toward people who use drugs. The latter half of the discussion illustrates how the Peer Members utilize their biosocial role of outreach and support workers to navigate boundaries and establish social connections to circulate knowledge and information within and among different social fields. This enabled the expression of mutual reciprocity, thereby negotiating the place of people who use drugs and harm reduction among the wider community. Place is therefore a concept that shapes, and is shaped by, the social networks that determine social legitimacy or illegitimacy. Although marginality and oppression cannot be transformed immediately, creating a social environment where Peer Members can be supported and support one another helps mitigate the marginalization that characterizes their lives.

Some streets tend to lack a social sense of place. Since the invention of the automotive assembly line and post World War II development, street designs have shifted from centering around people and social situations to vehicular traffi c solutions. Streets are typically not thought of as social places, but rather as a means to effi ciently move automotive traffi c. The environment of these unlivable streets discourages social interaction. The majority of buildings are disconnected from the street with often nothing more than a parking lot. A new model of streets is necessary, one that transforms streets into places that encourages social liveliness. Establishing the street as a social place through walkable conditions will regain lively interaction that is currently absent. This thesis will begin to explore the conditions of the unlivable street and establish theories to transform them into socially interactive public places. The goal is to hierarchically re-orient the street in order create a sense of place that fosters social interaction. Research by means of case studies and observation will examine the ways in which people interact within their built environment. Ideas will be derived from research and incorporated into the scheme in a way that is unique to Tampa. Ultimately, this thesis will conclude in a project that illustrates the potential of a street as a lively public place that is centered toward pedestrians rather than automobiles.

Contemporary theory on human interaction with the built environment focuses on the creation of place (“placemaking”). A place is defined as a given section of the environment to which humans have assigned appropriate feelings and behaviors. Using the Roman civic feast as a test case, this paper applies the model of placemaking proposed by Amos Rapoport to the built environment of Ancient Rome with the civic feast as a test case. I look to epigraphic, literary, visual, and archaeological evidence for the set of appropriate behaviors assigned to places of civic feasting (“Feasting Places”). This investigation involves laying out the theoretical framework, the physical circumstances of the Feasting Place, behaviors of Romans within it, and evidence for Romans distinguishing Feasting Places from other places. In conclusion, Romans do in fact distinguish between places by means of environmental cues, as evidenced by the case of the civic feast. / text