Historically, community gardens have served to provide food during wartime or periods of economic depression. Today, in addition to fresh and healthy produce, community gardens provide many other economical, social and environmental benefits. Many industrial cities have suffered severe damage to their economic base and lost at least 20 percent of their residents since half a century ago. Shrinking cities have become an issue that challenges the conventional planning orthodoxies assuming a constant-growth reality that no longer existed. There is a general understanding of how urban agriculture can benefit participants, neighborhoods, and communities. However, there are not many studies that particularly focus on urban agriculture and its association with stabilizing and revitalizing neighborhoods in shrinking cities. The purpose of this article is to understand the motivations and justifications of establishing urban agriculture in shrinking cities and how urban agriculture is perceived as economic and social tools for revitalizing the neighborhoods and reshaping the cityscapes through comparative case studies of Detroit and Cleveland. / text

Planning theory and practice in the United States has been dominated by a paradigm of growth; however, since the 1980s, many cities have faced prolonged population decline, prompting questions about how shrinkage is engaged as planners attempt to provide for health, safety, and welfare. This investigation surveys and compares lines of thought being used to make decisions regarding these properties, with particular emphasis on planners located within cities having dissimilar experiences of “shrinking.” Principally, it is focused on vacant and abandoned lots, which are the most immediately visible symptom of population decline and offer the greatest opportunity to reimagine urban form-and-function relationships. The investigation begins with a literature review of the causes and effects of shrinking as well as an investigation into historical research and contemporary thought on vacant land in the United States. Current reasoning supporting decisions about vacant and abandoned lots is identified through a national survey of planning professionals in fifteen cities with either stable-to-growing or shrinking populations. These are augmented by selected follow-up interviews. Both stratified sampling and matching were used to achieve a range of city characteristics and control for them across growth orientation. This approach is new in that while case studies of one or two shrinking cities have been undertaken, there has not been a national survey focused on shrinking cities and vacancy. The goal is to understand regional trends, tools, and obstacles to progress. The results indicate a range in which methods and techniques predicated on the dominant and normative growth paradigm have been both adopted or adapted for use in shrinking cities. Results suggest that concepts regarding quality of life, intentions for the future, and community goals have been reprioritized and redefined in shrinking cities. Finally, results indicate ways in which ideas regarding the built environment and the discontinuities of the urban fabric are being reconceptualized in the face of massive economic and demographic upheaval. / text

Organizations in the Ugandan civil society sector have faced legal and extra-legal restrictions on their operations, a phenomenon referred to as the ‘shrinking civic space’ which has been on the rise globally. The Ugandan government has taken several measures towards controlling the operational space of, especially organizations working on issues of human rights, anti-corruption, electoral democracy, and social justice and accountability issues in the oil and gas sector. This thesis presents a within-case comparison over time, by analyzing the shrinking civic space of non-governmental organizations working in the oil and gas sector in Uganda between years 2012-2018. The aim is to review the changes of the national legal framework that took place in 2013, 2016 and 2017, and compare the extra-legal and legal restrictions that oil and gas NGOs have faced before and after the alterations. This study finds that while the legal restrictions imposed in 2013-2017 went further than the laws previously in place, the NGOs in the oil and gas sector already faced similar restrictions before – implying that the implementation of the new laws was part of formalizing restrictions of the civic space which were already practiced.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:02:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Benedito Leandro Neto.pdf: 688417 bytes, checksum: c1ac127d257e0a8d59d30de577413351 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-02 / In this work, we started with an historical study of Ricci Solitons showing that they, often, arise as a auto-similar solution for the Ricci flow. It was demonstrated, then, some basic concepts of Riemannian Geometry and a formal definition of a Ricci Solitons. To conclude the work, it was presented a study analysis of the [6] article, establishing , among other results, two theorems: the first one, an estimation for the potential function of a Gradient Shrinking Ricci Solitons, complete non-compact, and, the second one, an estimation for the volume of a Gradient Shrinking Ricci Solitons, complete non-compact. / Nesse trabalho, nós começamos com um levantamento histórico sobre os Ricci Sólitons, mostrando que, muitas vezes, eles surgem como solução auto-similar do fluxo de Ricci. Em seguida, introduzimos alguns conceitos básicos de geometria Riemanniana e definimos formalmente um Rici Sóliton. Concluimos o trabalho com um estudo aprofundado do artigo [6], do qual mostramos, dentre outros resultados, dois teoremas: uma estimativa para a função potencial de um Ricci Sóliton Gradiente Shrinking, completo e não-compacto e uma estimativa superior para o volume de um Ricci Sóliton Gradiente Shrinking, completo e não-compacto.

Much attention is paid to the increasing number of people living in cities while a relatively understudied but related phenomenon is silently gaining strength: that of “shrinking cities.” In the context of massive economic restructuring and increasing globalization, a growing number of cities in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada are experiencing a population decline. The usual approach of planners in shrinking cities is either to do nothing or to focus on “growing” their cities to previous population levels. To date, both approaches have been largely unsuccessful. This leads to the question I ask in this thesis: What are other possible approaches to planning besides a population and economic growth orientation that might be successfully implemented in shrinking cities? A small but growing number of shrinking cities researchers are encouraging planners in shrinking cities neither to focus on growth nor to ignore decline but to focus on planning to meet the needs of the remaining population. While improving the quality of life of existing residents should be the goal of planners in all cities – growing or declining – what is different about this approach in the context of shrinkage is the belief that shrinking cities can offer a high quality of life. In this thesis, I use four general principles of “good planning” in shrinking cities, collected from the literature, as a point of departure for comparing the recent planning exercises in two shrinking cities: Youngstown, Ohio (which has begun to tackle the issues of population decline in a way that is ostensibly resembles the principles of good planning) and Sudbury, Ontario (which has opted for the traditional “growth is the only option” approach). Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, I find that the principles of “good planning” for shrinking cities are in practice difficult to achieve. Whether or not planners in shrinking cities will decide to adopt these principles is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence or absence of young, innovative leadership, levels of devolution and autonomy, current fiscal structures, local economic structure, and political dynamics.

Much attention is paid to the increasing number of people living in cities while a relatively understudied but related phenomenon is silently gaining strength: that of “shrinking cities.” In the context of massive economic restructuring and increasing globalization, a growing number of cities in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada are experiencing a population decline. The usual approach of planners in shrinking cities is either to do nothing or to focus on “growing” their cities to previous population levels. To date, both approaches have been largely unsuccessful. This leads to the question I ask in this thesis: What are other possible approaches to planning besides a population and economic growth orientation that might be successfully implemented in shrinking cities? A small but growing number of shrinking cities researchers are encouraging planners in shrinking cities neither to focus on growth nor to ignore decline but to focus on planning to meet the needs of the remaining population. While improving the quality of life of existing residents should be the goal of planners in all cities – growing or declining – what is different about this approach in the context of shrinkage is the belief that shrinking cities can offer a high quality of life. In this thesis, I use four general principles of “good planning” in shrinking cities, collected from the literature, as a point of departure for comparing the recent planning exercises in two shrinking cities: Youngstown, Ohio (which has begun to tackle the issues of population decline in a way that is ostensibly resembles the principles of good planning) and Sudbury, Ontario (which has opted for the traditional “growth is the only option” approach). Based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, I find that the principles of “good planning” for shrinking cities are in practice difficult to achieve. Whether or not planners in shrinking cities will decide to adopt these principles is influenced by a number of factors, including the presence or absence of young, innovative leadership, levels of devolution and autonomy, current fiscal structures, local economic structure, and political dynamics.

This work explored the viability of two solid adsorbents, limestone and cement powder, for use in a flow-through packed-bed column for HCl and HF gas neutralization following refrigerant destruction. Neutralization tests performed at 408 K using 5% HCl in N2 and 5% HF in N2, showed that limestone had a significantly higher adsorption capacity for both HF & HCl, future tests therefore utilized limestone only. The results showed that ~49% of the fed HCl and between 7.8% - 16.2% of the fed HF gases were adsorbed by 0.007 kg of limestone for a 6.67×10-6 m3/s (STP) flow rate over 30 – 180 minutes. Applying the shrinking core model, effective diffusivities (De) of HCl & HF into the limestone particles were 1.5×10-9 & 2.2×10-9 m2/s respectively. Under these conditions, complete particle conversion times were 227 hours for HCl–limestone and 154 hours for HF–limestone. Estimating De values at plasma-reactor temperatures gave 5.61x10-9 m2/s & 8.24x10-9 m2/s for HCl–limestone and HF–limestone respectively. Correspondingly, particle consumption times were reduced to 61 and 41 hours for HCl–limestone and HF–limestone. Considering the conversion times for the 1 mm particle sizes, shorter conversion times would require micron-scale particle sizes, suitable for entrained flow but not for a packed-bed arrangement.

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Both in practice and theory, the focus in architecture is often largely about growth. Architecture is, therefore, a tool that we largely use to accommodate growth. However, whilst many cities are experiencing growth, many are facing population decline. Latvia’s capital Riga is one example of this. So while architecture often fixates on growth, the discourse on decline does not normally involve architecture. With this project, I sought to investigate the question: ‘How can we use architecture as a tool to accommodate decline?’ Through the study of an empty site in Riga, in an area which has lost 60% of its resident population since 2000, the project envisages a building designed to slowly consolidate the functions of a shrinking city over an extended time span.  The proposal, a ‘House of Everything’ (Latvian: Viskautkā Māja) is developed in two main ways. First, through a strategy for the site, delineating the rules and parameters for the anticipated building and its functions. Second, with a detailed test, using the strategy to develop a completed building.