Since the late 1980s, representations of Japanese national identity and Japanese old age have been deconstructed. Images of the resilience of traditional cultural and social institutions are shown to have over-emphasized social and cultural homogeneity, elided social differentiation and inequality and minimized the significance of historical transformation. Key institutions of the postwar modernization project, including the patriarchal seniority system and household structure, are being transformed through globalization and feminization. This thesis focuses on the problem of representing individual and collective ageing in Japan in the context of modernization. Research is focussed on the contradictions, within essentialist representations of Japanese collective and individual identity, between socially constructed policy forms of old age and collective identities. Contemporary trends towards individualization and diversification of identities, and discourses on the ageing/information society, indicate cultural distance between an instrumentally rational administration and the life world of old people. Research explores the concept of embodiment through its significance in debates on postmodernization of the lifecourse in accordance with the structural shifts towards a postindustrial structure. This study examines representations of old age in broader social and cultural processes. Images of the social and cultural trajectory of the lifecourse draw attention to the embodiment of individual identities and ultimately generational cultures in contemporary social and cultural spaces. This research is the result of analyses of old age, which have been informed by postmodern theory. It in turn informs sociological theorizations of cultural representations of old age in contemporary societies.

No description available.

Urban strategy of possible redevelopment of post-industrial area with partial soil contamination. The main subject of the solution is the extent of integration into the city structure of Šlapanice. The second part is an architectural study of the brewery building, which is located in the center of the site.

No description available.

No description available.

This project is centred around phytoremediation and is set in Glasgow. Phytoremediation is the engineered use of plants and associated microorganisms to decontaminate polluted soil and water. The goal of this thesis project is to re-integrate an abandoned post-industrial site that used to be a meat market and abattoir into Glasgow's urban fabric by decontaminating it through the use of phytoremediation. The project is centered around the application and design of this method on site.

Gasverket used to be a very important part of the city’s industrial and infrastructural history. Now it is under development just like other several old industrial areas in the city center while new industries are constantly pushed outside the city center limits.  Looking at Gasverket’s (The Gas Factory) history and importance for the city of Stockholm, this thesis questions how we can integrate abandoned infrastructures back into the urban texture while protecting not only the built structure but also the infrastructural character of the area and challenging the definition of what infrastructure can and should be in the 21st century. Inspired by the social working ideologies of churches and/or mosques as places for charity and community, Gasverket aims to create a secular people’s place that redefines the concept of charity by offering job opportunities and educational help to groups of people who are not always included in the labor market. The project contributes to creating inclusive economic growth and equal work opportunities to create sustainable societies. In doing so, it brings back the production of construction materials in the city by reusing several household wastes and creates spaces to strengthen the bonds between individuals and the community.The strategy for dealing with what is left after the old gas work activities is to bring back the dirtiness of the production industry in the city center while integrating it with the current social and economic situations to create a sustainable infrastructural model. As the title suggests, with this project the area will become a place for the “rebirth” of an individual’s role in society, a space for the rebirth of waste materials, a place for a metaphorical rebirth after death, and finally the rebirth of Gasverket.

No description available.

Nearly two decades after the cessation of hostilities, traces of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) are still present throughout the landscape. Ruins resulting both directly and indirectly from the military actions remain scattered throughout urban and rural landscapes. Above the city of Bugojno, stands the shell of a hospital that was never completed and never opened. It is a visceral image full of unfulfilled hope and promise, and a reminder of the catastrophic events of the Bosnian Conflict. With unused and derelict infrastructure of that magnitude, loaded with symbolic meaning, it begs the question, how can it come to be used for the benefit of the local residents? The purpose of this practicum is to effectively design a redevelopment plan for the site of this former regional hospital, producing community space that promotes peace and reconciliation between the ethnic groups affected by conflict utilizing landscape processes and a program of socially based activities such as community gardening and food production. It will explore alternative uses and understanding of ruined infrastructure through investigation of traditional and contemporary landscape design theory pertaining to the picturesque, the aesthetic understanding of ruins in the landscape and the aesthetics of decay.

The thesis is focused on the analysis of peripherals for the presence of post-industrial phenomena. We are mainly focusing on the outer periphery. The object is to reveal the main factors and barriers that affect peripheral development and help periphery overcome their positional disadvantage. Analysis of a survey conducted in the municipalities of Slavonice and Waidhofen an der Thaya indicated fundamental differences in relation to the post-modern values between these two geographically close locations. Structured interviews with community representatives bring out certain details on cooperation and the barriers to individual development. We can conclude from the results that the different social behaviour of peripherals caused by distinct historical and political development has not grown closer to the Austrian model even after 25 years of democracy in the Czechia. Key words: periphery, post-industrial period, development, cooperation