Increasingly, it is understood that in order to realize healthy cities the urban environment must include viable and accessible open space. In order for urban planning and development agencies to ensure the presence of open space within cities, it is necessary to understand what constitutes ‘quality’ open space and the impediments to its creation. The focus of this thesis is to further understand the issues surrounding planning and management of open space in the Msunduzi Municipality in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A case study of the Camps Drift Waterfront Project, a local open space area that is currently being developed, is investigated through both key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders and through a comprehensive survey of written information. The thesis reveals a further understanding of how open space is planned locally, the issues surrounding creating quality and accessible open space and the key areas for further research. Finally, this thesis highlights how the case study of Msunduzi can broaden the debates and concepts in open space theory and planning. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-29 16:19:29.922

Critical writing on public art in the late 20th century in the UK and USA either legitimized public art as an extension of studio art intended to widen its public, or implied a new relation to public space - as demonstrated in texts by Cork (1995) and Phillips (1988) respectively. This suggests a polarization of art's aesthetic and social dimensions. A deeper understanding of the relation between these dimensions is found in the work of Marcuse, Bloch and Adorno. Marcuse, in his early work, sees art as serving the needs of bourgeois society by displacing ideas of a better world to an independent aesthetic realm; Bloch sees art as giving form to hope, shaping a recurrent aspiration for a better world; Adorno sees the tension between the aesthetic and social dimensions of art as unresolvable, and, like Marcuse in his later work, sees art's autonomy as a space of criticality. But, as Bloch argues, conditions for change are noncontemporaneous, fostering culture which is both progressive and regressive. In this respect, Gablik's appropriations of other cultures may be seen as regressive, whilst Lippard's concern for locality offers art a basis for progressive intervention. The introduction of the local, as a point of reference alongside the aesthetic and social, leads to consideration of three cases of art practice: Common Ground's Parish Maps (1986-96), the Visions of Utopia Festival coordinated by the Artists Agency (1996-8), and 90% Crude (1996--), a project by PLATFORM in London. The originality of the thesis is in its investigation of these cases; and equally in making connections between them and the elements of art criticism and critical theory noted above.

We have too much parking. The automobile-oriented utopia promised by optimistic modern architects like Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright did not come to pass. Personal motor vehicles have indeed become ubiquitous, but the effect in urban environments, at least has been more tyranny than democracy. Cars have taken over the city. Huge areas of urban land are dedicated almost exclusively to cars, and narrow-minded engineer-driven planning continues to widen streets, raise speed limits, and increase parking space, to the detriment of alternate (and by most metrics superior) methods of transportation, or any other potential use of urban space. Additionally, with technological advances allowing car-sharing and the projected explosion of self-driving cars, parking garages are likely soon to become obsolete. We don't have enough housing. As more people move to cities, vulnerable established communities are displaced, property taxes soar, and city footprints balloon. Increased residential density, through both n construction and infill, can assuage these problems while decreasing the necessity of automobile travel. I will begin my research by analyzing the typology of the American parking garage and its relationship to the urban fabric. This analysis will yield a taxonomy of the formal and material components of parking structures. Many components will be challenges to human habitation; a few will be benefits; all will present opportunities for a symbolically and actively revolutionary form of urban housing. From this taxonomy, I will develop a catalog of strategies for responding to these challenges at least to address them and ideally to reframe them as assets. I will test these strategies by applying them to a local parking garage, adapting it as a multifamily housing complex and alternate transportation hub. These strategies could later be enacted city- and nation-wide to transform a mainstay of stubborn car culture into an urban asset. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

The scope of this piece of work is to reflect upon a series of past and recent publications as well as those in progress referring to innovations in architectural education which has already led and/or might lead to major shifts in future practices. This is an opportunity for the author to reflect on concepts and ideas for the future of architecture which is currently undergoing innovative developments by embracing new theories and enduring professional formation according to contemporary trends. This reflective work has been based on publication of research, including ongoing editorial work related to this topic. The author’s ideas and philosophy on human-oriented design and fractal patterns of social life has embraced dynamics of urban developments in modern and future cities. She has succeeded in considering, uniquely interpreting and further developing ideas and theories of established authors, such as Christopher Alexander’s concepts on patterns and principles of design and Nikos Salingaros’ thermodynamic models of the built environment. The author was inspired by teachers and renowned scholars in history, philosophy and practices of architecture; her own teachers’ experiences and their teaching had offered a singular momentum in her personal career path. This long process started when her teachers succeeded in placing urbanism and architecture side by side inside the Faculty of Architecture of Florence back in the 1970s. Hence the author reflects not only on recent publications, but also on others that have been published in the last decade or so. In this report it is evident that materials produced during these years have been essential and invaluable for her later endeavours in learning, teaching and the training of designers and architects in Great Britain and beyond.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:27:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao juliano sociologia.pdf: 781675 bytes, checksum: f555f57cc549c165e22f7bcc4aaecf5e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-08 / In this dissertation we themed the urban policy in the country through the changes restored since the 1988 Constitution and the adoption of the Statute of the City in 2001, with main focus on the strengthening of the municipal level. We understand the urban policy as a social construction able to comprehend a set of social, economic, political and cultural dynamics in the city, therefore directly linked of socio-space organization of cities, such as Goiania. The adopted approach was especially based on theoretical and conceptual propositions of Henri Lefebvre, which think the social problems of the city at the center of the determinations of urban policy and the social production of space. For this conception we articulate the understanding derived of Pierre Bourdieu s concepts, who had taken the city as a symbolic sphere of production, which the coexistence of speeches, interests, conflicts and consensuses answer for the elaboration of instruments of planning and urban management. The study focused on empirical analysis, based at the confluence of urban reform with the development of the Managing Plan of Goiania, approved in 2007. Through this appreciation we could understand the logic and the mechanisms to convert the instruments of control of the occupation and use of land in a field of struggle, which the actors shape social interests, strategies and speeches that define them as political agents in the city. / Nessa dissertação tematizamos a política urbana no país através das modificações instauradas desde a Constituição de 1988 e a aprovação do Estatuto da Cidade em 2001, com foco principal na ampliação das esferas de decisão em nível municipal. Entendemos a política urbana como uma construção social capaz de formular um conjunto abrangente de dinâmicas sociais, econômicas, políticas e culturais no território da cidade, e, portanto, relacionada diretamente aos fenômenos condicionantes da organização sócio-espacial de cidades como Goiânia. A perspectiva adotada apoiou-se notadamente nas proposições teóricas e conceituais referidas em Henri Lefebvre, que localizam os problemas sociais da cidade no centro das determinações da política urbana e na produção social do espaço. A esta concepção articulamos a compreensão derivada das noções de Pierre Bourdieu, que toma o urbano como um campo de produção simbólica, no qual a coexistência de discursos, interesses, conflitos e consensos respondem pela elaboração dos instrumentos de planejamento e de gestão urbana. A análise concentrou-se em eixos empíricos assentados na confluência das bandeiras de reforma urbana com a elaboração do Plano Diretor de Goiânia, aprovado em 2007. Através desta apreciação pudemos compreender a lógica e os mecanismos que convertem os instrumentos de controle da ocupação e uso do solo em um campo de lutas, no qual os agentes sociais moldam interesses, estratégias e discursos que os definem como agentes políticos na cidade.

Implementing urban development projects in planning practice while simultaneously providing sufficient green spaces has proven to be challenging. As a result, there is a growing need for practical approaches and tools for the integration of urban green qualities in the on-going densification of cities. Environmental assessment, as a proactive decision aiding tool, can hold an important role in integrating green qualities in urban development plans and projects. However, in recent years environmental assessment has only added moderate value to planning issues regarding green space. Therefore, this thesis was designed to contribute to the knowledge and understanding on the role environmental assessment can have in the integration of green qualities in future urban development plans and projects in efforts to aid practitioners. This aim was achieved through examination of existing urban green space planning practice in the Stockholm region (Paper I) and the practice of environmental assessment in a selection of European countries in relation to the following factors identified to be important for practice: timing, quality control, alternatives, monitoring and public participation (Paper II). The findings from both studies were then analysed to identify possibilities of green space planning within the framework of these factors. A qualitative research was employed for this study including: semi-structured interviews with municipal planners in the Stockholm region and environmental assessment experts for the European Commission, literature review, document analysis and case study analysis. The case studies analyzed in Paper I were located in municipalities of Haninge and Huddinge, suburban areas located to the south of Stockholm. In Paper II, the experts interviewed were environmental assessment experts from the European Commission from: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia. Through analysis of the results from both studies, the potential role of environmental assessment in integrating green qualities in urban development plans and projects are explored and discussed in relation to the factors. The potential of environmental assessment to enhance public participation and dialogues amongst actors, or bring forth green space issues within alternatives are a few of the roles discussed. Furthermore, a selection of pathways is suggested for the integration of green qualities in future urban development through the application of environmental assessment. For example, the implementation of developer dialogues in the environmental assessment process and the development of knowledge exchange platforms for sharing experiences in relation to green space planning and environmental assessment. / <p>QC 20171122</p>

Urban space has transformed as a result of changing dynamics in 21th century. It has started to be considered as a consumer-focused by physical interventions. At this point, the concept of liveability has become significant since it approaches urban space in a holistic approach. This thesis discusses livability of urban square as it is one of the best places where liveability of urban space can be examined. In this study, Orhangazi Urban Square is chosen as a case study area. The aim of this study is to reveal &bdquo / what makes an urban square liveable

ABSTRACT INCREASING WALKABILITY IN PUBLIC SPACES OF CITY CENTRES: THE CASE OF TUNALI HILMI STREET, ANKARA GHADIMKHANI, PARISA M.Sc., the Department of City and Regional Planning in Urban Design Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. M&Uuml / GE AKKAR ERCAN May 2011, 204 pages Liveability and walkability have recently become one of the major policy topics in the agenda of many cities all over the world because of the negative effects of car-oriented urban developments that have impoverished physical, social, cultural, economic and environmental values of cities. In Ankara, however, the urban development policies based on the decentralization of the city centre and inner city, the impoverished public transportation services and infrastructure, the increasing car-dependent development and the neglect of pedestrians accessibility within the urban public spaces in last twenty years have decreased the walkability and therefore liveability of the city center. This thesis aims to investigate the notion of &lsquo / walkability&rsquo / in urban space, specifically in urban public space, and to identify the measures of &lsquo / walkability&rsquo / . By employing a case study method, it examines how far Tunali Hilmi Street (THS) - one of the major high streets and public spaces of Ankara - is a walkable street and identifies the positive and negative factors which effect its walkability capacity. The analysis on THS is carried out through six measures of the walkability: safety, orientation, attractiveness, comfort, diversity and local destination. Based on the findings of the investigation, this thesis gives recommendations which are practical and which can be implemented on the design of the case study area, as well as on the public spaces that are similar to THS in Ankara or other cities. Key words: Liveability, sustainability, walkability, public space, urban design, Ankara, Tunali Hilmi Street

Urban Development Projects (UDPs) have become hegemonic projects of redefining urban political priorities. The political construction of UDPs could not only be investigated through analyzing capital accumulation processes. To reveal how UDPs are politically constructed, this thesis investigates how governmental and non-governmental agents form a hegemonic block to mobilize hegemonic discursive practices and coercive-legislative mechanisms in the formation of UDPs. A Lefebvrian-inspired neo-Gramscian theoretical perspective is formulated to overcome eco nomic determinist and voluntarist agent-oriented approaches. Critical realist methodology is adopted with combining deductive and inductive strategies and qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first stage of research, the thesis critically and comparatively reviews the politics of different UDPs from different countries and then deduces initial arguments from this review. In the second stage, these arguments are reconsidered in the light of the empirical evidence of the case study. New City Center and Inciralti Tourism Center Development Projects from Izmir are investigated in the case study through critical discourse analysis, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The case study reveals how governmental and non-governmental agents collaborate to mobilize public support and consent for UDPs. The concept of &ldquo / capacity to produce consent&rdquo / is proposed to theorize hegemonically constructed discourses, activities and relations of governmental and non-governmental a gents. However this hegemonically constructed capacity is no t the only base of political power. Legislative interventions operate as coercive mechanisms and play key roles in the implementation of UDPs. UDPs are politically constructed by the complementary relation and differential articulation of hegemonically constructed capacities and coercive-legislative mechanisms.

Public spaces are the fundamental elements of urban space. Their quality significantly enhances the quality of urban life. Despite their inevitable significance, the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces has been threatened, especially in contemporary cities, primarily by the neoliberal policies, globalization and the recent advances in communication technologies. Besides, the declining &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces is also resulted from the provision and management policies, leading to exclusive places, rather than creating inclusive spaces for all. Public spaces are no longer inclusive spaces, melting pots of the urban arena. They are rather spaces of exclusion due to exclusionary design and management policies. This research aims to examine the notion of &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces and to identify the attributes, which describe this notion. It focuses on Gen&ccedil / lik Parki in Ankara &ndash / one of the biggest urban parks in Turkey and one of the most important open public spaces of the Republican regime. It examines the changing &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of this urban park from its construction to nowadays under four historic periods regarding four types of &lsquo / access&rsquo / : physical access, social access, access to activities and discussions, and access to information. Based on the findings, it discusses the factors and urban design strategies for the improvement of the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of Gen&ccedil / lik Parki. It also makes more general recommendations for the enhancement of the &lsquo / inclusivity&rsquo / of public spaces in the city center of Ankara and other Turkish cities.