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This thesis concerns the revitalization of the Roanoke City Market Building, an historic structure in the heart of downtown Roanoke, Virginia. Generated in two parts, this thesis first explains the rationale for saving the building and the strategy developed to that end. Secondly, the building design is presented, showing in physical terms, the possibilities of the Roanoke New Market, a building adapted for re-use. / Master of Architecture

Urban catalysts are new redevelopment strategies comprised of a series of projects that drive and guide urban development. Redevelopment efforts in the past, such as urban renewal and large-scale redevelopment projects, have often jeopardized the vitality of downtowns. The difference between the urban catalyst and these redevelopment strategies is that catalytic redevelopment is a holistic approach, not a clean-slate approach, to revitalizing the urban fabric. Many cities have considered urban catalysts as a means for revitalization. Among the most noted catalytic projects are sports stadiums and arenas: however not all catalytic projects have to be designed at such a grand scale, nor do all cities possess a threshold of support to successfully sustain such developments. This thesis design project examines the significance of the urban catalyst as a means of urban revitalization. The urban catalyst theory says design can be linked to place through the study of contextual factors in urban design. These factors include: morphological, social, functional, perceptual, visual, and temporal. For the urban catalyst to respond to its setting it also must possess a strong sense of place and authenticity. Each component of my research supports my position that each city has unique attributes that can serve as basic models or seeds for urban redevelopment. These components are used as a basis for developing a design framework that is applied to two sites in Memphis, Tennessee. This position is tested through the contextual analysis and design of two projects that are of major significance to Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The first demonstrates the role that Court Square plays as a critical social and spatial element in the revitalization of the center city. The second is the revitalization of the South Side Neighborhood, an area full of history and character. / Master of Landscape Architecture

San Felipe de Neri, a neighborhood located in the Historic District of Panama, is the object of physical, economic and social transformations that are affecting its residents' daily lives. Revitalization and gentrification drive these transformations as wealthy Panamanians invest in the neighborhood, and affluent foreigners flock to it since it became a World Heritage Site in 1997. This dissertation addresses perceptions and reactions residents have because of these physical, economic and social challenges. This study poses four main questions: 1. What physical, economic, and social (quality of life) changes have taken place in the Historic District of San Felipe from the early twentieth century to the present? To what extent are these changes the result of global processes, local processes, or both? 2. How do residents perceive these changes? Is there any significant difference in opinions and attitudes among residents regarding changes that revitalization and gentrification impose on the neighborhood? If so, how and why are they different? 3. To what extent have residents participated in these transformations? and 4. How do residents who have been relocated perceive these changes? My research analyzes Smith's five characteristics of a third wave of gentrification: first, the transformed role of the state; second, the penetration by global finance; third, changing levels of political opposition; fourth, geographical dispersal; and fifth, the sectoral generalization of gentrification and its relevance for my case study of San Felipe. This methodology enlists quantitative and qualitative methods to address these research questions to gain insight about residents' perspectives regarding these transformations. Findings indicate that both residents and ex-residents of San Felipe view the outcomes of revitalization and gentrification in mixed ways. Both groups mostly agree that the improvement of the physical conditions of the neighborhood is a positive outcome for preserving the material heritage, and for encouraging international and national tourism benefiting the country. Regardless of their economic and social status, residents claim that the place where they have lived for a long time is no longer theirs, except in their memories. They face the threat of eviction and an uncertain future. Former residents—those who have been displaced—have mixed views as well. On the one hand, they have improved their living standards because they now have better housing infrastructures. On the other hand, their new locations are scattered about the city and are often in dangerous areas that lack the amenities of San Felipe. Others feel that in the process they have lost a home; a place filled with meaningful memories and to which one day they dream of returning. A diverse residential population is the only way to save historic centers from becoming museums that present a pastiche and a 'façadism' catered to the international consumer. Preserving the human and physical patrimony is the most viable way to achieve sustainability and development in historic areas. Associations had no permanent places to meet with residents. This eroded the desire of residents to participate, and encouraged them to accept whatever owners wanted to give them to move out of the neighborhood. In the end, they became disenfranchised. A lack of both leadership and strong social movements, and the dissemblance of grass-root organizations through co-optation, clientelism, and even deception became the norm in the neighborhood. / Ph. D. / This dissertation explains the transformations of San Felipe de Neri, a neighborhood (<i>barrio</i>) that is part of the Historic District of Panama. The barrio is challenged by revitalization and gentrification. I study the physical, economic and social changes that have confronted this neighborhood since 1997, the year it was declared a World Heritage Site. The study period continues until 2008 and enlists qualitative and quantitative approaches. Beyond the transformations of the neighborhood, I analyze how residents and ex-residents of this neighborhood perceive these changes and how, in turn, those have affected their lives. This research posited these key questions: What physical, economic, and social changes have residents and ex-residents observed in this neighborhood? Are these changes part of global processes, local processes or both? How do they perceive these changes? Are there differences in their opinions? Both residents and ex-residents perceive revitalization and gentrification with mixed results. On one hand, they consider the improvement of selected parts of the built environment and tourism promotion as positive outcomes. On the other hand, residents and ex-residents believe strongly that revitalization and gentrification create eviction and displacement and threaten neighborhood diversity. The urban social movement of resisting gentrification was unsuccessful because of an inability to garner sufficient political and economic resources despite the strong feeling of place attachment among those who remained and those who left the barrio.

This study examines the relationship between tonal phonetics, tonal reduction and orthographic patterns produced by Me'phaa Vátháá speaking teachers. It discusses these patterns in the context of Indigenous education in Mexico and of the language ideologies held by the teachers, which have parallels to those held by speakers of Spanish and practitioners of language revitalization. Its main finding is that tones undergo phonetic changes which reduce their relative psychoacoustic distances, and this combines with the writing practices of the teachers (in which they repeat the words to themselves at varying speeds) to produce hesitation when writing the tonal markers. This is framed in an ideological process of privileging writing as the ideal form of language revitalization, and of rejection of variants and spelling 'mistakes', which results in further linguistic insecurity by the teachers. This has repercussions for the revitalization of the language, in that teachers sometimes choose not to write in Me'phaa Vátháá, particularly in contexts involving technology such as social media, out of fear of making 'mistakes'. In studying these phenomena, this study also describes the processes of tonal reduction in Me'phaa Vátháá and describes its similarities and differences with the reduction described for other tonal languages such as Mandarin, Thai and Triqui. Tonal reduction processes in Me'phaa Vátháá are not an exact match to any of these languages, which suggests that, while reduction is universal, it has language-specific expressions, which suggest that reduction typologies should be further studied. In addition to this, the study offers a report on the process of tonal spelling learning by adults who didn't receive this training as children. This is relevant to both educational and language planners, as well as to practitioners of language revitalization.