This thesis is set in St. Catharines Ontario, a mid-sized city of 132,000 people, situated in the heart of the Niagara Region. Once a thriving manufacturing centre, St. Catharines has experienced two decades of traumatic economic contraction due to the collapse of the local automotive industry. Like other cities that have experienced the loss of their predominant industry, St. Catharines is struggling not only with unemployment, economic uncertainty and environmental degradation, but also with issues concerning the city’s very identity. As industrial activity played a critical role in shaping the form and character of the city, its steady disappearance has left both a functional and symbolic void in the community. The challenges associated with deindustrialization and decentralized urbanization have had a devastating impact on St. Catharines. The city’s historic core has not only lost its role as the symbolic centre of the community, unrelenting suburban expansion has also led to the destruction of some of Canada’s most productive agricultural terrain in the surrounding vicinity. This thesis argues that the current economic crisis offers a unique opportunity to radically reconsider St. Catharines’ urban environment. The thesis looks to the earth – the terroir – as the basis for the development of a robust vision to transform the city’s underappreciated historic core into a hub for the Niagara Region’s expanding wine industry. Essential to this vision is the extensive cultivation of urban vineyards and the planning of key pieces of urban armature around which future development will occur. The design aims to improve the overall quality-of-life offered in St. Catharines, and build a broader sense of community by enhancing the unique experience of the place and engaging citizens in the local wine enterprise.

This thesis is based on two observations. First, that conventional buildings cause two major losses that involve non-human nature – the loss of native biodiversity and the loss of non-human nature experience for the buildings’ human inhabitants – and that these losses both contribute to a perceived separation between humans and the rest of nature. Second, that there appears to be a growing interest in connecting buildings with nature but there is little agreement on what it actually means to ‘design with nature’. As such, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to describe the meaning of ‘designing with nature’ in current architectural practice and provide a working definition of nature-based design, and (2) to explore how this can be interpreted to encourage human connectedness with non-human nature, while addressing the two major losses mentioned above. It is thus an attempt to reframe the role of building as one that provides for all inhabitants of a site, both human and non. A framework was developed that captures and summarizes the dominant ways in which design draws on nature. The framework emphasizes the importance of using ecosystems not only as models, but foremost as context. The core concepts of the framework can thus be discussed from the perspective of buildings that act like an ecosystem and that interact with their ecosystem, and are described as: ecological sense of place, regenerative ability, ecosystem health, mutually beneficial relationships, context, appropriate management, functions, ecosystem principles, values, patterns, conditions, and adaptations. Although the concepts presented in the framework are themselves not new, the way in which they are organized does contribute a new perspective on the field of nature-based design. In addition to providing a graphic model that summarizes the essence of an evolving field, the research highlights the role of scale and place in linking building design, native biodiversity, nature experience and connectedness with nature. It thus acts as a backdrop on which to bring a discussion of ecological citizenship into the architectural dialogue.

The nurturance of creative capacity and cultural awareness have been identified as important 21st century concerns, given the ways that globalisation has challenged cultural diversity. This thesis explores the share that the art classroom, as a formative place, has in supporting such concerns. It specifically examines artmaking strategies that visual arts teachers may use to help adolescent students to develop and negotiate their senses of self, place and community. Held within this goal is the assumption that both student and teacher perspectives are important to this endeavor. This thesis, accordingly, draws upon empirical work undertaken with lower secondary school level visual art students in Christchurch, New Zealand and teacher-trainees in Kingston, Jamaica to explore this potential in multi-dimensional ways. The research employs a qualitative, arts-based methodology, centred on the transformative capacity of ‘visual knowing’ to render this potential visible. A/r/tography as a particular strand of arts-based methodology, served to also implicate my artist-researcher-teacher roles in the study to facilitate both reflection and reflexivity and to capture the complexity and dynamics of the study. Multiple case studies provided the contexts to furnish these possibilities, and to theorize the intrinsic qualities of each case, as well as the complementary aspects of the inquiry in depth. The conceptual framework that underpins this study draws widely on scholarship relating to contemporary artmaking practices, visual culture, culturally responsive and place-conscious pedagogical practices. The research findings reveal that when the artmaking experience is framed around the personal and cultural experiences of the participants, both students and teachers participate in the enterprise meaningfully as co-constructors of knowledge. In this process, students develop the confidence to bring their unique feelings, experiences and understandings to the artmaking process, and develop a sense of ‘insideness’ that leads to strong senses of self, place and community. This also creates a space where the authentic interpretation of artmaking activities goes beyond the creation of borders around cultural differences, and instead generates multiple entry points for students to engage with information. The findings also indicate that while the nature of artmaking is improvisatory and emergent, structure is an integral element in the facilitation of habits toward perception and meaning making. Accordingly, emphases on structured, open-ended artmaking experiences, framed aesthetically, as well as exposure to both the products and processes of contemporary art serve this endeavor. Artmaking boundaries and enabling structures also help to supplement this process. Though this research is limited in scope (in terms of the community engagement), there exists evidence that collaboration with community resource persons enlarges students’ conceptions of artmaking. It presents the potential to address broad issues of local and global import, which also have relevance for the ways students understand their relationships with the world. For researchers outside of the school and community culture however, this process requires close working relations with school personnel to ensure its effectiveness and to facilitate those school-community bridges. The undertaking is also best realized when participants have their own senses of its value, and, as such, are more inclined to participate. A/r/tography, as an arts-based methodology presents much potential for examining the complexities of the artmaking experience. As a form of active inquiry it helps those who employ its features to be more attuned toward enquiry, their ways of being in the world, the ways the personal may be negotiated in a community of belonging, and the development of practices that address difference. This contributes to evolving and alternative research possibilities that value visual forms of ‘knowing’. Finally, this thesis addresses the paucity of research on visual arts education at the secondary level, especially in the Jamaican context. A significant feature of this research is the evidence of its effectiveness with both lower secondary school students and teachers across geographical contexts. It therefore presents the potential for similar studies to be undertaken internationally. Given that the results are site specific however, it is recommended that the adaptation of the framework of this study for future purposes also respond to the specific realities of those contexts.

Small businesses and small business networks have become increasingly important over the past two decades. However, limited empirical research has been carried out on the interactions of these small businesses, specifically within supportive networks. This research focuses on the interaction of firms and organizations within a successful small business innovation network, and how innovative business practices are developed. Innovation network theory was used as a lens to view the dynamics within an innovation network comprised entirely of small businesses and organizations. For this research, a qualitative case study was undertaken, with an emergent wine region in Southern California targeted as an ideal case in which to study a small business innovation network. This research showed that in this instance of a small business innovation network, a hub firm, as defined by innovation network theory does not exist to orchestrate and manage the interactions within the network. Thereby, an adapted model for small business innovation networks is proposed and the results from this qualitative case study are mapped using this adapted theory. The results show a constellation of firms and organizations at the core of the network composition, undertaking deliberate and emergent strategies that affect the outcome and success of all members of the small business innovation network. The research identified a significant sense of place embedded in the regional culture and the importance of effective regional planning in positively impacting the success of the small business innovation network.

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This thesis is based on two observations. First, that conventional buildings cause two major losses that involve non-human nature – the loss of native biodiversity and the loss of non-human nature experience for the buildings’ human inhabitants – and that these losses both contribute to a perceived separation between humans and the rest of nature. Second, that there appears to be a growing interest in connecting buildings with nature but there is little agreement on what it actually means to ‘design with nature’. As such, the purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) to describe the meaning of ‘designing with nature’ in current architectural practice and provide a working definition of nature-based design, and (2) to explore how this can be interpreted to encourage human connectedness with non-human nature, while addressing the two major losses mentioned above. It is thus an attempt to reframe the role of building as one that provides for all inhabitants of a site, both human and non. A framework was developed that captures and summarizes the dominant ways in which design draws on nature. The framework emphasizes the importance of using ecosystems not only as models, but foremost as context. The core concepts of the framework can thus be discussed from the perspective of buildings that act like an ecosystem and that interact with their ecosystem, and are described as: ecological sense of place, regenerative ability, ecosystem health, mutually beneficial relationships, context, appropriate management, functions, ecosystem principles, values, patterns, conditions, and adaptations. Although the concepts presented in the framework are themselves not new, the way in which they are organized does contribute a new perspective on the field of nature-based design. In addition to providing a graphic model that summarizes the essence of an evolving field, the research highlights the role of scale and place in linking building design, native biodiversity, nature experience and connectedness with nature. It thus acts as a backdrop on which to bring a discussion of ecological citizenship into the architectural dialogue. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Abstract The region of New England has played a strong role in the formation and development of the United States on both physical and ideological levels, and the image of the small New England town is highly evocative at both a regional and national level. It is an image shaped by an awareness of the past and the needs of the time. Alice Hoffman is a popular writer who often writes about people living in small New England towns. This thesis is a study of how Hoffman’s fictional small New England towns are created in six of her Massachusetts novels, Practical Magic (1995), The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003), Blackbird House (2004) and The Red Garden (2011). To provide a framework for this study, concepts developed by cultural geographers such as sense of place and landscape are combined with imagological, sociological and historical ideas of collective memory and narrative identity. Phenomenology is at the root of the epistemological stance and concepts that are central to this study of the creation of place. Concepts of place, time and identity from across disciplines are combined in an extension of the horizons of imagology that shifts focus from national images to a broader range of images producing a cultural imagological study of the creation of Hoffman country. This study works with various levels of engagement and interaction with community in the fictional towns of the novels. The major sub-communities in The River King are used to amplify the workings of a sense of place and nostalgia in relation to rootedness. The town community as a whole is studied through Blackbird House and The Red Garden to explore how history and memory merge to create the mythology central to the identity of a town. Changing interactions with community at an individual level are scrutinized through a topobiographical study of the reconstruction of narrative identity in the novels Practical Magic and Blue Diary. The Probable Future figures around the interaction of a family with the rest of the community and this changing interaction is examined through the processes and functions of memorialization. All six novelistic towns are then examined in terms of landscape and imagined communities. Through the study, a mapping of Hoffman Country emerges and the formation of Hoffman’s imagined small New England towns is explicated. / Tiivistelmä Uuden-Englannin alue on ollut merkittävä Yhdysvaltojen alueellisessa ja ideologisessa muodostumisessa. Mielikuvat pienistä uusienglantilaisista kaupungeista miljöinä ovat voimakkaita, ja usein niihin liittyy tietoa paikkojen historiasta. Alice Hoffmann on suosittu nykykirjailija, jonka useissa teoksissa henkilöhahmot asuvat Uuden-Englannin pikkukaupungeissa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tarkastella, miten Hoffman rakentaa fiktiivisiä kaupunkeja kuudessa Massachusettsiin sijoittuvassa teoksessaan. Tutkimusaineistona ovat teokset Practical Magic (1995, suom. Noitasisaret), The River King (2000), Blue Diary (2001), The Probable Future (2003), Blackbird House (2004) ja The Red Garden (2011, suom. Punainen puutarha). Tässä tutkimuksessa kulttuurimaantieteellisiä käsitteitä, kuten paikkatunne (sense of place) ja maisema, on yhdistetty imagologian, sosiologian ja historian käsitteisiin kollektiivisesta muistista ja narratiivisesta identiteetistä. Näin kulttuuri-imagologia yhdistää imagologian tutkimuksen kansallisuuteen liittyvät mielikuvat mielikuviin tietystä paikasta, ajasta ja identiteetistä. Tätä teoreettista kehystä käytetään analysoitaessa Hoffmannin fiktiivisiä pienkaupunkiyhteisöjä. Tutkimuksen tietoteoreettisena perustana on fenomenologinen näkemys ja käsitteistö. Kulttuuri-imagologian kautta tarkastellaan Hoffmannin romaaneissaan rakentamia yhteisöjä ja miljöitä. Olennaisimmat yhteisöt romaanissa The River King vahvistavat paikan ymmärryksen ja nostalgisuuden merkityksen henkilöhahmojen kokemalle juurettomuudelle. Kaupunkiyhteisöjä on tarkasteltu novellikokoelmien Blackbird House ja The Red Garden avulla osoittamaan, miten historia ja muisti toimivat rakentaen mytologista paikan identiteettiä. Yksilöiden toisistaan erottuva yhteisöllinen vuorovaikutus analysoidaan topobiografisella tavalla rekonstruoitaessa narratiivista identiteettiä romaaneissa Practical Magic ja Blue Diary. The Probable Future -teoksen hahmojen vuorovaikutus perheen sisällä ja muun yhteisön kanssa ilmentää muistelmallisuuden prosessia. Kaikkia kuutta fiktiivistä kaupunkia tarkastellaan maiseman ja fiktiivisen yhteisöllisyyden näkökulmista. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa Alice Hoffmanin uusienglantilaisiin pikkukaupunkeihin sijoittuvien teosten analyysin avulla, miten kirjailijat voivat käyttää ja muokata teoksissaan mielikuvia paikoista luodessaan tunnesiteitä yksilöiden, yhteisöjen ja miljöiden välille.

Denna rapport presenterar en studie som gjorts i samarbete med Södra Skogsägarna. Syftet med studien var att skapa en förståelse för vilka pragmatiska och hedoniska aspekter som påverkar hur skogsägare känner närhet till sin skog och hur dessa aspekter skulle kunna implementeras/realiseras vid utvecklandet av en digital karta över skogen. Genom en kvalitativ studie utifrån en fenomenologisk metodansats kunde en holistisk bild skapas över skogsägare och hur de upplevde känsla av närhet till sin skog. Datainsamlingen bestod av både enkät, intervjuer och fältobservationer som sedan analyserades genom bottom-up och top-down tekniken med hjälp av affinitetsdiagram. Resultatet visar exempelvis att en känsla av närhet är starkt förknippad med att känna ansvar och att kunna påverka kartan utifrån varje enskild skogsägares behov. Studien visar även att en känsla av närhet är nära sammankopplat med egennamn och generation då egennamnen ofta härstammar från tidigare generationer. Skogen används också till rekreation eftersom skogsägare och andra människor mår bra av att vistas i skog och natur. Välmående bidrar då till en ökad känsla av närhet till skogen. Resultatet av studien kommer ligga till grund för kommande utvecklingsprojekt hos Södra Skogsägarna där den digitala kartan i Södras app kommer att ses över. Studien presenterar även UX-mål som bör beaktas vid skapandet av en digital karta för att frambringa känsla av närhet till skogen hos skogsägare. Slutsatsen av studien visar att det är både de pragmatiska och hedoniska aspekterna som tillsammans skapar en helhetsupplevelse av skogen för skogsägare. Denna studie bidrar även med en djupare förståelse och utveckling av begreppet känsla av närhet, för vad och hur skogsägare upplever känsla av närhet till sin skog. Med tanke på dagens snabba teknikutveckling borde framtida forskning fokusera på i vilken utsträckning visualiseringar av skogen kan bidra till ökad känsla av närhet till skogen för skogsägare och om det hos skogsägare finns skillnader mellan genus i hur känsla av närhet till skogen skapas. / This report presents a study done in collaboration with Södra Skogsägarna. The aim of the study was to create an understanding of the pragmatic and hedonic aspects that affect how forest owners feel proximity to their forest and how these aspects could be implemented / realized when developing a digital map of the forest. Through a qualitative study based on a phenomenological method approach, a holistic picture could be created of forest owners and how they experienced sense of place to their forest. The data collection consisted of survey, interviews and field observations, which then were analyzed by bottom-up and top-down technology using affinity diagrams. The result shows, for example, that a sense of place is strongly associated with feeling responsibility and being able to influence the map based on the needs of each individual forest owner. The study also shows that a sense of place is closely associated with proper names and generation, since the proper names often originate from previous generations. The forest is also used for recreation because forest owners and other people feel good about staying in the forest and nature. Well-being then contributes to an increased sense of place to the forest. The results of the study will form the basis for future development projects at Södra Skogsägarna, where the digital map in Södra's app will be reviewed. The study also presents UX goals that should be taken into account when creating a digital map to create a sense of place to the forest among forest owners. The conclusion of the study shows that it is both the pragmatic and hedonic aspects that together create a holistic experience of the forest for forest owners. This study also contributes to a deeper understanding and development of the concept of sense of place, for what and how forest owners experience a sense of place to their forest. Given today's rapid technological development, future research should focus on the extent to which visualizations of the forest can contribute to increased sense of place to the forest for forest owners and whether there are differences between genders in how forest owners create a sense of place to the forest.

This research investigates two neighbourhoods around the train and S-train Ny Ellebjerg in South of Valby, which is a part of Copenhagen. The area, which is a post-industrial area, includes several old factory buildings renovated as office- and workspaces. The research aims to investigate the identity transformation in the area and the influence of the recent development plans in the identity. Therefore, the research questions are: How has the place identity of Ny Ellebjerg changed from being industrial to a densely built neighbourhood and what do the plans indicate for the future? How has the development plans and local plans contributed to the place identity transformation of the Ny Ellebjerg area? The thesis will answer these questions with a triangulation between a content analysis on the involved development plans, local plans and municipal plans, and expert interviews as well as walk-along interviews with residents from the area. The findings of the thesis showed that identity of Ny Ellebjerg has changed from being mainly industrial into a city environment inspired by the forms of the industrial constructions, but with a lot of the buildings perceived as very similar to other areas standardized architecture. The plans for the future indicate that it is necessary to plan with more focus on the residents living in the area. The findings of this thesis showed connections between the wish to preserve the area and turn it into a post-modern, post-industrial area with close ties to its past. The aims of the local plan were not realised fully, since the Følager development was only half built and much of the green areas shown in the illustrations was also found to have not been made, due to it not being directly stated in units in the plans.

No description available.