No description available.

No description available.

No longer are suburban towns filled with households made up of large middle-class white families. In recent years, America’s diverse, elderly, and singles have joined this demographic in increasing numbers. The large square footages of homes and properties do not serve smaller households and are not environmentally sustainable. They demand significant heating and cooling and reliance on automobiles for everyday transportation due to the lack of walkability and transit connectivity. These two issues result in a high carbon footprint compared to living in a dense urban environment. Urban design interventions can help these suburbs facing population growth, demographic change, and unsustainable lifestyles. Solutions include a shift towards mixed-use development, densification, greening, and walkability. Implementing these design strategies in a strategic balanced way can help improve sustainability efforts, the health and wellness of the residents, and community engagement.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / A 2009 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for Social & Demographic Trends found that people living in suburban areas are significantly more satisfied with their communities than are residents of cities, small towns, or rural areas. With almost 50 percent of Americans living in suburban areas, and not enough infill opportunities to accommodate future population growth, suburban development will likely continue to be a primary location for development (Berens 2010). As suburbia continues to develop there are two options: continue to use conventional suburban strategies or implement alternative suburban strategies. The city of Springville, Utah is currently experiencing suburban growth near a future transit station to the west of the downtown core. Since suburban sprawl has already begun in this area, the city has an opportunity to design for growth and become a positive example of suburban development in the region. What are the possibilities and impacts of using conventional suburban strategies versus alternative suburban methods? A 60-acre tract of land in west Springville, Utah is planned and designed for development. The first master plan is designed to demonstrate Conventional Suburban Development. The second plan is designed to demonstrate Alternative Suburban Development. A comparative analysis of the two master plans accompanies the designs to compare the two solutions. This method has been used by New Urbanists to illustrate the difference in their method of suburban development. This tract includes a future transit station, a major highway corridor, and nearby access to Interstate 15. Additionally, the tract is located approximately two miles from downtown Springville. The focus of this study is to provide the background and evidence that there are design alternatives which can contribute to the mending of suburban sprawl. In this project, city officials, planners, developers, business owners, and housing consumers are provided with an objective comparative analysis of conventional versus alternative methods of suburban development in the Wasatch Front Region of Utah. The analysis of the two design proposals provides valuable insight into the feasibility or desirability of key design principles contained in each design proposal. The study provides compelling evidence that alternative methods of community design and suburban development are to be considered to help the region achieve its long range planning goals set forth in the Envision Utah initiative.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a time of dynamic social and political change for Tampa, a growing city on Florida's west coast. These changes led Tampa's commercial-civic elite to look beyond the law, the militia, and the church for ways to maintain their sense of order. This thesis illustrates non-violent enforcement of the status quo via public works, specifically bridge construction over the Hillsborough River. Over a period of three decades, three different bridges were built at the same place, at Lafayette Street. Each time the bridge was built or replaced, it was ostensibly for a different reason. However, each time the financing, construction, and form of the bridge was the result of Tampa's social, political, and economic systems. Development and maintenance of public works involves questions of private rights, property ownership, acquisition of capital, fiscal policy, and labor relations. Thus, in Tampa, the history of a bridge over the Hillsborough River becomes a stud of class and power within a growing southern city.

This thesis addresses innovation in affordable housing. Many people face homelessness or suffer from the burden of renting a house that they cannot afford. In Boston, Massachusetts only 35% of the population are homeowners, resulting in more people renting in the city if they manage to find housing there at all. The increasing cost of housing in the United States presents a significant obstacle for immigrant families, many of whom are already struggling to make a living due to language barriers and limited access to employment opportunities. As housing prices continue to rise across the country, immigrant families face mounting challenges in securing safe and affordable housing, which can result in overcrowding, homelessness, and other adverse outcomes that exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities. To address the housing problem this research engages the solution of high-quality affordable housing for immigrant families in Chelsea, MA (a suburban neighborhood of Boston) by analyzing density and methods of prefabrication. Along with the solution of affordability, the intellectual node of the thesis also discusses the importance of suburbia and its advantage vi of providing a nurturing community. This thesis intends to develop certain functional parameters of design using a Prefabricated Panelized Approach. The prefabricated design for affordability approach provides a technique which can save time and money using off-site manufacturing of products and on-site assembly. This kind of development offers an opportunity to optimize the construction process and an efficient way to build affordable housing. Through this approach, the thesis intends to provide opportunities for home ownership, promote a sense of community among immigrant families, and offer language support to facilitate their growth.

No description available.

This thesis explores the meaning of sustainability, in both philosophical and practical terms, as it applies to community design. It clarifies the meaning of "sustainable development" and discusses the philosophies of certain landscape design paradigms associated with postmodern environmental ethics and the concept of eco-development. Information from the literature is synthesized into design goals and objectives grounded in postmodern environmental ethics and eco-development These objectives are used as criteria with which to determine the relative sustainability of selected urban fringe communities: Cerro Gordo, Oregon; The Fields of Long Grove, Illinois; Golden, Colorado; Kentlands, Maryland; Laguna West, California; Village Homes, California; and The Woodlands, Texas. In addition, the philosophies, goals, and characteristics of the community design strategies associated with each of these projects are reviewed. A rating system is developed and employed in the community design evaluation process. / Master of Landscape Architecture

ABSTRACT OUT OF THE GREYZONE: EXPLORING GREYFIELD DESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT Konstantinos Pavlou Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor Cecelia Paine Community shopping centres in many North American suburban areas have been in decline for two decades. Failed community shopping centres, termed ‘greyfields’, have resulted in large parcels of unused lands in core urban areas, forcing residents to travel longer distances to regional malls. The decline of community shopping centres may have a number of causes, but for this study it was hypothesized that successful community shopping centres share a number of design qualities that unsuccessful shopping centres do not have. A design framework was developed based on retail design and planning literature. The framework was applied to assess an existing redevelopment, the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto. The assessment findings derived from site observations and key informant interviews resulted in a revised design framework. The final framework provides a guide to those interested in transforming commercial greyfields into vibrant components of our urban communities.

This thesis situates women as stakeholders in Canada’s post-war suburban development in their roles as designers, builders, owners and investors. By 1949, 60 percent of properties in the Municipality of Oak Bay, a suburb of Victoria, British Columbia, were held in female ownership. Most women owned houses jointly with their husbands. Others owned houses, vacant lots, commercial buildings and investment properties solely in their name. To understand the role that women played in shaping the built landscape of this post-war Canadian suburb between 1940 and 1960, information for each female owned property, along with a 20 percent sample, was collected from the municipality’s 1949 property assessment roll. Results were matched with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to illustrate the spatial characteristics of these ownership patterns and building permit records were examined. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who spoke about their own or a relative’s experiences as property owners.