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This study is an intensive examination of the role, position, and perceptions of women school board members in Texas as they perceive them. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions which women school board members have concerning their role, function, and relationships as they serve on school boards in Texas and to determine if sex prejudice does exist. There were eight basic questions to which the study sought answers. The findings indicate that the perceptions of women board members are not influenced by age, marital status, parental status, educational level, and years of experience. They also revealed that only a small minority of the Texas school board women responding had experienced instances of sex discrimination. Doubt was expressed through the responses of the women as to whether or not superintendents encourage the election of a man as board president. Size of the school district was found to have no effect on the number of women board members serving. It was found to be a factor in whether or not a woman was designated chairman of a board committee as only the larger districts were likely to have women serving in this capacity.

The aim of this thesis isto investigate the urban structure of two Italian towns based upon physicalstructure and social function. The towns are Bova and Bova Marina in theancient Greek part of Calabria, Area Grecanica. This is done by answering theresearch questions about how the urban structures are and what preconditionsthere are for public life and in extension social capital. This is alsocompared to the discourse in research about Calabria as a region lacking behindas well as the Greek cultural heritage. The thesis was conducted during onesemester spent in the area and based upon qualitative research in form ofobservations of the towns, mapping, textual analysis and interviews. Theresults showed that the urban form of the two towns differ from each otherbecause of their history and their localisation. Bova is an ancient town in themountains that is separated through topography, and therefore conserved withmany old structures but few inhabitants, suffering from out-migration. BovaMarina is placed on the coast of the Ionic Sea, south of Bova and connected tothe region by train and roads, while Bova is mainly connected to Bova Marina.Bova Marina was founded as a town in late 19th century and expanded a lotbecause of the railroad. It is a town with inconsistent walking network, a lotof traffic and houses in bad condition. Due to this the conclusion was that theurban form in both towns are seemingly bad for public life, but theobservations showed that there was intense social activity in public spacesnevertheless which generates social capital. Despite this the social capital isin research presented as bad in the Area Grecanica, something that might haveto do with a history of being neglected as well as lack of control over theirown area / Syftet med denna avhandlingär att undersöka stadsstrukturen i två italienska städer baserat på fysiskstruktur och social funktion. Städerna är Bova och Bova Marina i den antikagrekiska delen av Kalabrien, området Grecanica. Detta görs genom att svara påfrågorna om hur stadsstrukturerna är och vilka förutsättningar det finns fördet offentliga livet och i förlängningen social kapital. Detta jämförs också meddiskursen i forskning om Kalabrien som en region som avbefolkas och riskeraratt förlora det grekiska kulturarvet. Avhandlingen genomfördes under en termini området och är baserad på kvalitativ forskning i form av observationer avstäderna, kartläggning, textanalys och intervjuer. Resultaten visade att de tvåstädernas urbana form skiljer sig från varandra på grund av deras historia ochlokalisering. Bova är en gammal stad i bergen som separeras genom topografi ochkonserveras därför med många gamla strukturer men med få invånare på grund avutvandring. Bova Marina ligger på kusten av Joniska havet, söder om Bova ochansluten till regionen med tåg och vägar, medan Bova är huvudsakligen anslutentill Bova Marina. Bova Marina grundades som en stad i slutet av 1800-talet ochutökades mycket på grund av järnvägen. Det är en stad med inkonsekventgångnätverk, mycket trafik och byggnation i dåligt skick. På grund av detta varslutsatsen att stadsformen i båda städerna ur vissa aspekter är uppenbart dåligför det offentliga livet, men observationerna visade att det fanns intensivsocial aktivitet i offentliga utrymmen som emellertid genererar social kapital.Trots detta är det sociala kapitalet i forskning presenterad som dålig iområdet Grecanica, något som kan ha att göra med en historia av att försummassåväl som bristande kontroll över sitt eget område

This thesis examines how Afghan women from the professional social class have negotiated the patriarchy in that country and claimed their agency and public life during different political regimes. Resisting the Western representation of Afghan women as passive victims, it uses the life story method, based on interviews with a wide range of women in public life during the period of US-sponsored democracy and intervention, to analyse the complex factors involved in enabling women to access public life. From a historical sociological viewpoint it examines the shifts in the forms of patriarchy and their sustaining gender regimes from 19th century to the present, and draws on Walby’s six structures of patriarchy in order to understand how those shift affected the ability of women to access public life and employment. Those structures – culture, religion, education, employment, family – are explored through the experiences and life histories of my interviewees. The thesis also pays attention to the involvement of external, foreign actors in the affairs of Afghanistan and the impact of those interventions on the possibility for women’s agency and participation in professional and public life through different political regimes. It thus challenges a simplistic view 9/11 was a water-shed moment for women’s empowerment, and notes that the economic is-sues, an aid-dependent economy and political regimes, security and safety, poverty and psychological trauma, corruption and power struggles among different forces (local and foreign) in many ways undermined women’s prospects in public life. The finding of the research shows that the rights and position of women in Afghanistan have fluctuated over the last 100 years depending on the patriarchal cultural, political and religious ideology and practice of the political regimes, and in no small part due to the influence and interference of external actors in the country.

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In Loretta Lees's study of a new public library in Vancouver in the late 1990's, she began to explore the ideals of non-representational theories, or those everyday practices that provide evidence not just of what symbolic meaning one may assign to a space, but rather what that space does—how it is enacted through everyday practice. This exploration provided Lees with another way to think about the built environment, one that she believed could open up a new direction for architectural geographers. Lees, building on the work of Jon Goss and other contemporary scholars in the field, described this new direction as a move towards a critical geography of architecture. This dissertation explores the use of a non-representational framework to study everyday practices through a single case study in the Avenue of Fashion in Detroit, Michigan. This research considers the historical evolution of Detroit through bankruptcy to present day using two common narratives of the city, one of rise/rebirth and one of Two Detroits, to offer a critical lens through which to consider performances of everyday life in this recently redeveloped area of the city. Within a non-representational framework, this study pulls in direct observational methods such as counting, mapping/tracing, photo documentation, trace observation, and field notes derived primarily from public life studies to observe and consider how the built environment is shaped through these embodied practices. This study contributes both an example of alternative methods that may be used in non-representational research, as well as new way to think about spaces that complements findings from more representational research. The findings from this study inspire a curiosity about the unfolding of everyday life and contribute to the work of Lees and others in advancing a critical geography of architecture. / Doctor of Philosophy / Using methods from the field of public life studies, such as counting, mapping/tracing, photo documentation, trace observation, and field notes, this dissertation study everyday practices, the bodily performances of everyday life, through a single case study in the Avenue of Fashion in Detroit, Michigan. This research considers the historical evolution of Detroit through bankruptcy to present day using two common narratives of the city, one of rise/rebirth and one of Two Detroits, to offer a critical lens through which to consider performances of everyday life in this recently redeveloped area of the city.

Some public squares experience large amounts of human activity and some experience very little, even though external conditions between them create comparable opportunities for public life. The field of public life studies observes the human activity of public spaces and presents principles that predicts human public behaviour to gain a better understanding for what elements of space people are attracted to. The human staying activity at two central public square in Stockholm – Kungsträdgården and Sergels Torg – was studied with the methodology of public life studies as outlined in Gehl & Svarre (2013) How to Study Public Life. A stationary activity mapping was performed for the two squares where female, male, sitting and standing activity was registered. The result show that Kungsträdgården attracts more than twice the staying activity as Sergels Torg, and that the two squares are mirror images of each other in terms of gender and activity proportions, with Kungsträdgården being predominately female and sitting and Sergels Torg male and standing. The principles, theories, previous observations and hypotheses from a selection of the most seminal works within the public life studies field frame the seven themes used to analyse the human stationary activity at the two squares; Sitting, Standing, Thermal Comfort, Psychological Comfort, Sensory Comfort, Aesthetics and Human Interaction.

Essa pesquisa abordou a relação da boemia com a cidade, mais especificamente com trechos dos bairros Centro Histórico e Cidade Baixa em Porto Alegre. Valendo-se de um ferramental teórico-metodológico que defende que a experiência de pesquisa do urbanista se dê pelo cruzamento de diferentes saberes e, além disso, que defende também a importância da ida a campo, exploramos a relação da boemia com a cidade sob dois grandes eixos: (a) através do processo de construção de lugares e (b) enxergando a própria boemia tanto como uma forma de vida pública da noite relacionada à diversão das pessoas, quanto também como um imaginário construído. A partir de fragmentos colhidos na pesquisa de campo foram construídas narrativas a partir das quais evidenciamos como: (a) o processo de construção de lugares é intimamente ligado a experiências-vivências de sujeitos e coletividades que resultam em memórias e afetos; além disso, mostramos como em paralelo existem também processos de subjetivação e de valorização, todos eles ligados a materialidade dos espaços urbanos; (b) como o termo/imaginário/ideia de boemia se renova por um conjunto de práticas contemporâneas, misturados com sobrevivências de outros tempos e lugares em que a ideia de boemia se constituiu. Por fim, abordamos também questões ligadas ao próprio fazer dessa pesquisa, buscando compartilhar aprendizados obtidos e na defesa de um conhecimento fragmentário como um importante caminho para um urbanismo em que a sensibilidade possa entrar no jogo de análise espacial. / This research approached the relation of boemia with the city, more specifically with sections of the districts Centro Histórico and Cidade Baixa in Porto Alegre. Using a theoretical-methodological tool that advocates that the urbanist's research experience must be based on the cross-fertilization of different knowledge and, in addition, that also defends the importance of field research, we explore the relationship between bohemia and the city under two major axes: (a) through the process of building places and (b) seeing the bohemia itself as both a public form of public life at night related to the amusement of people, and also as a constructed imaginary. From the fragments collected in the field research were constructed narratives from which we show: (a) how the process of building places is intimately linked to the experiences of subjects and collectivities that result in memories and affections; In addition, we show how in parallel there are also processes of subjectivation and valorization, all linked to the materiality of urban spaces; (b) how the term / imaginary / idea of bohemia is renewed by a set of contemporary practices, mixed with survivors of other times and places in which the idea of bohemia was constituted. Finally, we also address issues related to the proper conduct of this research, seeking to share acquired learning and defending a fragmentary knowledge as an important pathway to an urbanism in which sensitivity can enter the spatial analysis game.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--McGill University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Canada's first Parliament Buildings, built in 1859--65 and destroyed by fire in 1916, were the nation's most prominent symbol of national identity and its most celebrated public space. Built into its fabric was an exclusively masculine definition of public persons, one which, at the end of the nineteenth century, women challenged in both subtle and overt ways. / This research examines the design of the Parliament Buildings as a multi-faceted building type, a complex mix of domestic, office and legislative design where both public and "private" spaces intersected. It overlays official documentation of the buildings with a rich variety of sources---archival photographs, newspaper articles and women's columns, letters, journals---to show how women transgressed the architectural prescription which placed them on the political periphery in the Ladies' Gallery, as observers and objects of observation. These sources show that, in fact, women altered and created spaces and initiated influential networks of their own both in and outside of the Parliament Buildings. By illuminating the primacy of the "political hostess," this research argues that women were not relegated to the sidelines, but appropriated---and practiced politics from within---the most privileged of spaces. / This methodology, by examining the interior organization and actual use of the Parliament Buildings, opens new possibilities for the study of legislative buildings and public buildings in general as dynamic systems of relationships rather than uni-dimensional building types. By showing how women challenged the spatial demarcations of gender and power and transformed the meanings associated with parliamentary and public spaces not initially intended for their use, we can draw a picture of the larger role women in Canada played as "public architects."