Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-78). Also available on the World Wide Web.

It is a project of a complex consisting of an apartment building for the elderly, supplemented by a commercial area of the restaurant and the adjoining park area with sports areas for children's, multipurpose, workout and for seniors focused playgrounds. In the immediate vicinity are new family houses and recreational objects of a garden character. The area is a transition between the historic center and the free outpost of the village. The proposed buildings reflect their tradition of folk architecture, preserving the "genius loci" of the village and beyond the edict of the monumental institute.

This exploratory study aims to elucidate the mental processes of wayfinding in an outdoor area and the effects of map contour representations, map color, individual differences of users (gender, brain dominance, experience level, and cultural differences), and environmental cues using a field study in an established trail network in Jefferson National Forest. Six maps with three different contour representations (contour lines, shaded relief, and schematic) and two color codes (color and black-and-white) were tested for wayfinding performance. Thirty-six participants of different nationalities (Locals versus Internationals), experience in map usage (experienced versus novice), handedness, and gender took part in the study. Three out of ten junctions on the test route had directional signs while the rest had no sign. The participants performed wayfinding tasks in a national forest trail park, using the think aloud and retrospective protocols to obtain the information processes used by the participants during wayfinding. Subjective feedback was also obtained to find out users' map preferences and opinions on their experience during the experiment. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict the relationship of the predictor variables to wayfinding performance. It was found that cultural differences and signage presence were significant predictors of decision-making accuracy at trail junctions. The rest of the predictors were not significant in predicting total time of completion, time for decision-making at junction, accuracy of decision-making, and time deviated from route due to choosing a wrong path at junction. Cultural differences were also significant in the prediction of the time deviated from route. It was also found that the participants were using maps to derived route information for wayfinding. They utilized structural matching of the map with the terrain, by orientation principle, to continuously check the current position on the map. There was some evidence of participants gaining survey knowledge from the map during wayfinding but this could not be confirmed by the study. A set of design guidelines were given for map and trail design to improve the wayfinding performance of recreational users. / Master of Science

O problema central e foco desta pesquisa foi investigar de que forma a qualidade e localização das áreas verdes de lazer influenciam sobre o uso destes espaços. O que motivou a escolha deste tema foi o fato de que nas pesquisas sobre áreas verdes a abordagem geralmente é quantitativa, desconsiderando as condições locais. Entende-se que este tipo de análise é insuficiente, pois o uso e o sucesso das áreas verdes também estão vinculados ao fator de qualidade destes lugares. Geralmente o centro da cidade e bairros de classe alta possuem melhores espaços públicos de convívio, enquanto na periferia encontram-se degradados e insuficientes. A falta de equipamentos, manutenção e ambiência das áreas verdes fazem com que os moradores dos bairros se desloquem grandes distâncias para utilizar uma praça, muitos até dez vezes mais do que a distância ideal. O lócus empírico escolhido foi o município de Passo Fundo, cidade média da Região do Norte do estado, onde foram analisadas todas as áreas verdes de lazer públicas. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi estruturada através de coleta de dados e levantamento das áreas verdes existentes, análise da distribuição dentro do espaço urbano, aplicação de questionários in loco e análise dos aspectos de qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas influencia mais na utilização do espaço pelos usuários do que os fatores locacionais. Desta maneira a hipótese de que a qualidade dos espaços públicos é mais importante do que a localização destes espaços dentro do perímetro urbano foi validada. / The central problem and focus of this research was to investigate how the quality and the location of green recreational areas influence on their use. What motivated the choice of this theme was the fact that in research on green areas the approach is generally quantitative, disregarding local conditions. It is understood that this type of analysis is insufficient, because the use and success of green areas are also linked to the quality factor of these places. Usually the city center and upper-class neighborhoods have better public living spaces while the outskirts are degraded and inadequate. Lack of equipment, maintenance and ambience of green areas make residents of the neighborhoods travel great distances to use a square, many up to ten times more than the ideal distance. The chosen empirical locus was the city of Passo Fundo, average city in the Northern Region of the state, where all public recreational green areas were analyzed. The methodology used for this work was structured through data collection and survey of existing green areas, distribution analysis within the urban space, questionnaires and on-site analysis of the quality aspects of public recreational green areas. The results showed that the quality of public green recreational areas has more influence on space utilization by users than the location factors. Thus the hypothesis that the quality of public spaces is more important than their locations within the urban perimeter has been validated.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area encompasses more than 50,585 hectares (125,000 acres) of the Cumberland Plateau along the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. Highly dissected and steep terrain have made accessibility to much of the park limited, thus little work has been done to investigate the formation of these soils. Seven native soil profiles were selected for chemical and physical analysis representing Pennsylvanian-aged acidic sandstone and shale geology and landforms. The objectives of this study included the characterization of selected native profiles by physical and chemical analysis, as well as classification using US Soil Taxonomy, to determine baseline soil fertility through chemical analysis, to provide fertilizer recommendations for Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) to be grown as wildlife food plots. The parent materials and site- specific geology, including the Pennington Formation, were compared to the profiles in order to establish any relationships that might exist. The methods of chemical analysis included: total carbon analysis, cation exchange capacity, percent base saturation, pH, particle size analysis, KCl total acidity, total elemental analysis and Mehlich I extraction. From the data, soils examined from an upland summit have the lowest Mehlich I extractable phosphorus (M1P) ranging from 0.8-3.14 mg kg-1, and this soil was classified as a Typic Hapludult. Soils examined on backslopes and sideslopes had M1P values ranging from 0.3-11.53 mg kg-1 and these soils were classified as either Lithic Dystrudepts or Typic Dystrudepts. The footslope soils examined have M1P values ranging from 1.95-19.79 mg kg-1 and were classified as Typic Hapludults. Floodplain soils had M1P values from 7.69-56.85 mg kg-1 and were classified as Fluventic Dystrudepts. Landscape position and parent material play major roles in the formation of soils, and their degree of weathering controls the amount of plant available nutrients. Using geologic and topographic maps for comparison, it was concluded that the development of these soils was directly related to the underlying geology and the surrounding topography throughout various landscapes. This information can be used as a guide to aid in predicting the chemical and physical properties of native soils on the Cumberland Plateau.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area encompasses more than 50,585 hectares (125,000 acres) of the Cumberland Plateau along the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. Highly dissected and steep terrain have made accessibility to much of the park limited, thus little work has been done to investigate the formation of these soils. Seven native soil profiles were selected for chemical and physical analysis representing Pennsylvanian-aged acidic sandstone and shale geology and landforms. The objectives of this study included the characterization of selected native profiles by physical and chemical analysis, as well as classification using US Soil Taxonomy, to determine baseline soil fertility through chemical analysis, to provide fertilizer recommendations for Bicolor Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor) to be grown as wildlife food plots. The parent materials and site- specific geology, including the Pennington Formation, were compared to the profiles in order to establish any relationships that might exist. The methods of chemical analysis included: total carbon analysis, cation exchange capacity, percent base saturation, pH, particle size analysis, KCl total acidity, total elemental analysis and Mehlich I extraction. From the data, soils examined from an upland summit have the lowest Mehlich I extractable phosphorus (M1P) ranging from 0.8-3.14 mg kg-1, and this soil was classified as a Typic Hapludult. Soils examined on backslopes and sideslopes had M1P values ranging from 0.3-11.53 mg kg-1 and these soils were classified as either Lithic Dystrudepts or Typic Dystrudepts. The footslope soils examined have M1P values ranging from 1.95-19.79 mg kg-1 and were classified as Typic Hapludults. Floodplain soils had M1P values from 7.69-56.85 mg kg-1 and were classified as Fluventic Dystrudepts. Landscape position and parent material play major roles in the formation of soils, and their degree of weathering controls the amount of plant available nutrients. Using geologic and topographic maps for comparison, it was concluded that the development of these soils was directly related to the underlying geology and the surrounding topography throughout various landscapes. This information can be used as a guide to aid in predicting the chemical and physical properties of native soils on the Cumberland Plateau.

O problema central e foco desta pesquisa foi investigar de que forma a qualidade e localização das áreas verdes de lazer influenciam sobre o uso destes espaços. O que motivou a escolha deste tema foi o fato de que nas pesquisas sobre áreas verdes a abordagem geralmente é quantitativa, desconsiderando as condições locais. Entende-se que este tipo de análise é insuficiente, pois o uso e o sucesso das áreas verdes também estão vinculados ao fator de qualidade destes lugares. Geralmente o centro da cidade e bairros de classe alta possuem melhores espaços públicos de convívio, enquanto na periferia encontram-se degradados e insuficientes. A falta de equipamentos, manutenção e ambiência das áreas verdes fazem com que os moradores dos bairros se desloquem grandes distâncias para utilizar uma praça, muitos até dez vezes mais do que a distância ideal. O lócus empírico escolhido foi o município de Passo Fundo, cidade média da Região do Norte do estado, onde foram analisadas todas as áreas verdes de lazer públicas. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi estruturada através de coleta de dados e levantamento das áreas verdes existentes, análise da distribuição dentro do espaço urbano, aplicação de questionários in loco e análise dos aspectos de qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas influencia mais na utilização do espaço pelos usuários do que os fatores locacionais. Desta maneira a hipótese de que a qualidade dos espaços públicos é mais importante do que a localização destes espaços dentro do perímetro urbano foi validada. / The central problem and focus of this research was to investigate how the quality and the location of green recreational areas influence on their use. What motivated the choice of this theme was the fact that in research on green areas the approach is generally quantitative, disregarding local conditions. It is understood that this type of analysis is insufficient, because the use and success of green areas are also linked to the quality factor of these places. Usually the city center and upper-class neighborhoods have better public living spaces while the outskirts are degraded and inadequate. Lack of equipment, maintenance and ambience of green areas make residents of the neighborhoods travel great distances to use a square, many up to ten times more than the ideal distance. The chosen empirical locus was the city of Passo Fundo, average city in the Northern Region of the state, where all public recreational green areas were analyzed. The methodology used for this work was structured through data collection and survey of existing green areas, distribution analysis within the urban space, questionnaires and on-site analysis of the quality aspects of public recreational green areas. The results showed that the quality of public green recreational areas has more influence on space utilization by users than the location factors. Thus the hypothesis that the quality of public spaces is more important than their locations within the urban perimeter has been validated.

O problema central e foco desta pesquisa foi investigar de que forma a qualidade e localização das áreas verdes de lazer influenciam sobre o uso destes espaços. O que motivou a escolha deste tema foi o fato de que nas pesquisas sobre áreas verdes a abordagem geralmente é quantitativa, desconsiderando as condições locais. Entende-se que este tipo de análise é insuficiente, pois o uso e o sucesso das áreas verdes também estão vinculados ao fator de qualidade destes lugares. Geralmente o centro da cidade e bairros de classe alta possuem melhores espaços públicos de convívio, enquanto na periferia encontram-se degradados e insuficientes. A falta de equipamentos, manutenção e ambiência das áreas verdes fazem com que os moradores dos bairros se desloquem grandes distâncias para utilizar uma praça, muitos até dez vezes mais do que a distância ideal. O lócus empírico escolhido foi o município de Passo Fundo, cidade média da Região do Norte do estado, onde foram analisadas todas as áreas verdes de lazer públicas. A metodologia utilizada para este trabalho foi estruturada através de coleta de dados e levantamento das áreas verdes existentes, análise da distribuição dentro do espaço urbano, aplicação de questionários in loco e análise dos aspectos de qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das áreas verdes de lazer públicas influencia mais na utilização do espaço pelos usuários do que os fatores locacionais. Desta maneira a hipótese de que a qualidade dos espaços públicos é mais importante do que a localização destes espaços dentro do perímetro urbano foi validada. / The central problem and focus of this research was to investigate how the quality and the location of green recreational areas influence on their use. What motivated the choice of this theme was the fact that in research on green areas the approach is generally quantitative, disregarding local conditions. It is understood that this type of analysis is insufficient, because the use and success of green areas are also linked to the quality factor of these places. Usually the city center and upper-class neighborhoods have better public living spaces while the outskirts are degraded and inadequate. Lack of equipment, maintenance and ambience of green areas make residents of the neighborhoods travel great distances to use a square, many up to ten times more than the ideal distance. The chosen empirical locus was the city of Passo Fundo, average city in the Northern Region of the state, where all public recreational green areas were analyzed. The methodology used for this work was structured through data collection and survey of existing green areas, distribution analysis within the urban space, questionnaires and on-site analysis of the quality aspects of public recreational green areas. The results showed that the quality of public green recreational areas has more influence on space utilization by users than the location factors. Thus the hypothesis that the quality of public spaces is more important than their locations within the urban perimeter has been validated.

This diploma thesis deals with urban study of development area Brno-South. The design results in creation of the new urban district with 1800 - 2100 new residents. New jobs are created in proposed industrial areas, office buildings and public facilities. Result of the thesis was to show one possible way of development of this area.

This diploma thesis is a urban study proposal of development area Brno – South. The design creates a new urban district with 2200 – 2500 new inhabitants, also new jobs are created in proposed industrial areas, office buildings and public facilities. The result of the thesis is a definition of the possible directions of the area’s development.