Brownfield restoration and remediation is a growing concern across the United States. Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties with real or perceived contamination. Successfully restoring these properties requires strong stakeholder collaboration, including the local community. The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities of creating a community garden on a residential brownfield site located in a low-income, high-minority neighborhood and to gain a better understanding of how a community based project develops and impacts individuals from the community. Specifically, the study investigated who chose to participate in the project, what motivated individuals to become involved and remain committed, and how individual's understanding of the project's risks and plans changed throughout his/her involvement. The case study followed 17 participants through the first year of the Emerson Street Garden, a brownfield restoration project in the King Neighborhood of northeast Portland, Oregon. Findings showed that individuals were attracted to different styles of outreach materials based on their own personality and preferences. The desire to improve the community was an important motivation for all the participants but personal motivation was not connected to knowledge retention. While the Emerson Working Group was successful at distributing knowledge to all its members, individual's flexibility to new ideas was critical for continued involvement in the working group. In conclusion, the study found that a "one-size-fits-all" method for engaging community members in urban restoration and renewal projects does not exist; however, there are best practices that can be applied to most situations. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

Cette thèse de doctorat s’intéresse au suivi de trajectoire basé sur la perception visuelle et la localisation en milieu urbain. L'approche proposée comprend deux systèmes. Le premier concerne la perception de l'environnement. Cette tâche est effectuée en utilisant des techniques d'apprentissage profond pour extraire automatiquement les caractéristiques visuelles 2D et utiliser ces derniers pour apprendre à distinguer les différents objets dans les scénarios de conduite. Trois techniques d'apprentissage approfondi sont adoptées : la segmentation sémantique pour assigner chaque pixel d’une image à une classe, la segmentation d'instance pour identifier les instances séparées de la même classe et la classification d'image pour reconnaître davantage les étiquettes spécifiques des instances. Ici, notre système considère 15 classes d'objets et reconnaît les panneaux de signalisation. Le deuxième système fait référence au suivi de chemin numérisé. Dans un premier temps, le véhicule équipé enregistre d'abord l'itinéraire avec un système de vision stéréo et un récepteur GPS (étape d'apprentissage ou numérisation du chemin). Ensuite, le système proposé analyse hors ligne la trajectoire GPS et identifie exactement les emplacements des courbes dangereuses (brusques) et les limitation de vitesse via les données visuelles. Enfin, une fois que le véhicule est capable de se localiser lui-même durant la phase de suivi de chemin, le module de contrôle du véhicule piloté avec notre algorithme de négociation de vitesse, prend en compte les informations extraites et calcule la vitesse idéale à exécuter. Grâce aux résultats expérimentaux des deux systèmes, nous prouvons que le premier est capable de détecter et de reconnaître précisément les objets d'intérêt dans les scénarios urbains, tandis que le suivi de trajectoire réduit significativement les erreurs latérales entre le trajet appris et le trajet parcouru. Nous soutenons que la fusion des deux systèmes améliorera le suivi de chemin pour prévenir les accidents ou assurer la conduite autonome. / This PhD thesis focuses on developing a path tracking approach based on visual perception and localization in urban environments. The proposed approach comprises two systems. The first one concerns environment perception. This task is carried out using deep learning techniques to automatically extract 2D visual features and use them to learn in order to distinguish the different objects in the driving scenarios. Three deep learning techniques are adopted: semantic segmentation to assign each image pixel to a class, instance segmentation to identify separated instances of the same class and, image classification to further recognize the specific labels of the instances. Here our system segments 15 object classes and performs traffic sign recognition. The second system refers to path tracking. In order to follow a path, the equipped vehicle first travels and records the route with a stereo vision system and a GPS receiver (learning step). The proposed system analyses off-line the GPS path and identifies exactly the locations of dangerous (sharp) curves and speed limits. Later after the vehicle is able to localize itself, the vehicle control module together with our speed negotiation algorithm, takes into account the information extracted and computes the ideal speed to execute. Through experimental results of both systems, we prove that, the first one is capable to detect and recognize precisely objects of interest in urban scenarios, while the path tracking one reduces significantly the lateral errors between the learned and traveled path. We argue that the fusion of both systems will ameliorate the tracking approach for preventing accidents or implementing autonomous driving.

Applying complex ecosystems theory, this thesis maps and analyzes the codependency of ecological and manufacturing flows affecting cities, the landscape, and the environment. Learning from this analysis, a prototype for a hybrid eco-manufacturing and urban park is proposed on degraded industrial lands. Its design is influenced by eco-industrial parks including Kalundborg and contemporary urban parks including La Villette, Downsview, and Fresh Kills. The prototype’s design is motivated by the mutating spatiality caused by contemporary trends in North American manufacturing and the degrading environmental state of the Great Lakes. The horizontal expansion of post-Fordist industrial areas on the urban periphery of North American cities has helped lead decentralization of core urban areas. This organization is becoming vulnerable to future energy and environmental concerns. In Hamilton, this trend has resulted in approximately 3,400 acres of underutilized contaminated land in its historical bayfront industrial areas. The hybrid park prototype will incubate reuse of a 576 acre site within this land by creating a network of eco-operations and public spaces. As part of North America’s Great Lakes, Hamilton Harbour drains into the head of Lake Ontario. The Port of Hamilton’s manufacturing activity strains the ecological systems of these lakes. Some of the most problematic discharge into Hamilton Harbour occurs at Windermere Basin. The basin is surrounded by a twilight industrial area that contaminates its water, soil, and air. This will be the location of the hybrid park prototype. Light manufacturing spaces that treat industrial contamination will be designed. Their organization will hypothesize a new form of urbanization based on environmentally benign uses of energy and materials.

Uppsatsen behandlar styrningsverktyg i arbetet mot ett ekologiskt hållbart samhälle, av kommuner nyttjade styrmedel och de boendes uppfattning av dessa. Fokus ligger på de boendes respons på miljömål i uppbyggnaden av den ekologiska stadsdelen Hammarby Sjöstad i Stockholm. Med hjälp av kvalitativ metod och djupintervjuer med 14 boende studeras de styrmedel som används för att påverka och förändra de boendes miljöbeteende, de boendes inställning till dessa samt vilka drivkrafter som finns bland de boende för att agera miljövänligt. De aktuella styrmedlen; regleringar, ekonomiska styrmedel och informativa styrmedel presenteras med hjälp av citat från intervjuerna och redovisas utifrån strukturell, positionell samt individuell nivå. Dessutom redovisas meso-kontextens påverkan samt individens egna drivkrafter för miljöbeteende. Teorier som tas upp och relateras till det empirirska materialet är makt, governmentality samt relevant urban- och miljöforskning. I resultatet framkommer exempelvis att de boende efterfrågar inbyggda lösningar för ett miljövänligare samhälle. I diskussionen resoneras bland annat kring den krock som kan finnas mellan de olika diskurserna; miljövänlighet och senmodernitet.

Applying complex ecosystems theory, this thesis maps and analyzes the codependency of ecological and manufacturing flows affecting cities, the landscape, and the environment. Learning from this analysis, a prototype for a hybrid eco-manufacturing and urban park is proposed on degraded industrial lands. Its design is influenced by eco-industrial parks including Kalundborg and contemporary urban parks including La Villette, Downsview, and Fresh Kills. The prototype’s design is motivated by the mutating spatiality caused by contemporary trends in North American manufacturing and the degrading environmental state of the Great Lakes. The horizontal expansion of post-Fordist industrial areas on the urban periphery of North American cities has helped lead decentralization of core urban areas. This organization is becoming vulnerable to future energy and environmental concerns. In Hamilton, this trend has resulted in approximately 3,400 acres of underutilized contaminated land in its historical bayfront industrial areas. The hybrid park prototype will incubate reuse of a 576 acre site within this land by creating a network of eco-operations and public spaces. As part of North America’s Great Lakes, Hamilton Harbour drains into the head of Lake Ontario. The Port of Hamilton’s manufacturing activity strains the ecological systems of these lakes. Some of the most problematic discharge into Hamilton Harbour occurs at Windermere Basin. The basin is surrounded by a twilight industrial area that contaminates its water, soil, and air. This will be the location of the hybrid park prototype. Light manufacturing spaces that treat industrial contamination will be designed. Their organization will hypothesize a new form of urbanization based on environmentally benign uses of energy and materials.

In this thesis a platform of knowledge is provided for the development of enhanced Indigenous cultural heritage legislation by examining the specific nature of the cultural heritage of a Queensland Aboriginal group, the Dajarra Aboriginal community of Northwest Queensland for whom the Georgina River is a heartland in their cultural geography. The thesis was conducted during a period when the Queensland Government began to recognize demands for more effective Indigenous cultural heritage legislation. Queensland's latest Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, introduced in 2004, emerged from a history of legislation dominated by an archaeological model of cultural heritage. However, despite some improvements this new legislation has maintained a physically orientated model of cultural heritage. Therefore Queensland's Indigenous societies, their places, place knowledge and certain types of place-specific behaviours continue to be exposed to imposed change. The thesis examines the 'lifeworld', the 'everyday' experiences of place of the Dajarra community. A broad definition of culture and an interactive model of place, coupled with a phenomenological approach provide a theoretical framework to engage with and describe cultural heritage as Dajarra people themselves experience it. The cultural heritage of Dajarra people involves interactions with a diversity of places and various combinations of behavioural, knowledge and physical properties. All of the places examined were interrelated with other places to form both small and large-scale place complexes. This dissertation reveals that the cultural heritage of an Aboriginal community lies not just in the physical environment but also in the diverse everyday people-environment interactions of that community. Effective cultural heritage legislation must be capable of encompassing this diversity. Cultural heritage is essentially dynamic, it is found in processes of change, it is found in ongoing people-environment interactions as well as those of the past. It is argued that Aboriginal people hold 'active cultural heritage rights'; these are rights to interact with places and rights to control action in places. Ideal cultural heritage legislation would recognize these active rights and provide for Aboriginal control of them, that is, Aboriginal defined and controlled change. This study reveals that it is difficult to separate places in time and space from other places with which they are co-dependent or inextricably intertwined. Studies of Aboriginal people-environment interactions and legislative measures must respond to the broader place complexes within which individual places are embedded and within which the everyday experiences of place are had. It is shown that there is a range of ways that an Aboriginal cultural heritage community can be defined and a range of Aboriginal people that might have interests in the cultural heritage of an area. Lastly, the thesis calls for the adoption of an interactive model of place as a foundation to cultural heritage studies and legislation in order to respond to the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people as they themselves experience it and wish to experience it.

In this thesis a platform of knowledge is provided for the development of enhanced Indigenous cultural heritage legislation by examining the specific nature of the cultural heritage of a Queensland Aboriginal group, the Dajarra Aboriginal community of Northwest Queensland for whom the Georgina River is a heartland in their cultural geography. The thesis was conducted during a period when the Queensland Government began to recognize demands for more effective Indigenous cultural heritage legislation. Queensland's latest Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, introduced in 2004, emerged from a history of legislation dominated by an archaeological model of cultural heritage. However, despite some improvements this new legislation has maintained a physically orientated model of cultural heritage. Therefore Queensland's Indigenous societies, their places, place knowledge and certain types of place-specific behaviours continue to be exposed to imposed change. The thesis examines the 'lifeworld', the 'everyday' experiences of place of the Dajarra community. A broad definition of culture and an interactive model of place, coupled with a phenomenological approach provide a theoretical framework to engage with and describe cultural heritage as Dajarra people themselves experience it. The cultural heritage of Dajarra people involves interactions with a diversity of places and various combinations of behavioural, knowledge and physical properties. All of the places examined were interrelated with other places to form both small and large-scale place complexes. This dissertation reveals that the cultural heritage of an Aboriginal community lies not just in the physical environment but also in the diverse everyday people-environment interactions of that community. Effective cultural heritage legislation must be capable of encompassing this diversity. Cultural heritage is essentially dynamic, it is found in processes of change, it is found in ongoing people-environment interactions as well as those of the past. It is argued that Aboriginal people hold 'active cultural heritage rights'; these are rights to interact with places and rights to control action in places. Ideal cultural heritage legislation would recognize these active rights and provide for Aboriginal control of them, that is, Aboriginal defined and controlled change. This study reveals that it is difficult to separate places in time and space from other places with which they are co-dependent or inextricably intertwined. Studies of Aboriginal people-environment interactions and legislative measures must respond to the broader place complexes within which individual places are embedded and within which the everyday experiences of place are had. It is shown that there is a range of ways that an Aboriginal cultural heritage community can be defined and a range of Aboriginal people that might have interests in the cultural heritage of an area. Lastly, the thesis calls for the adoption of an interactive model of place as a foundation to cultural heritage studies and legislation in order to respond to the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people as they themselves experience it and wish to experience it.

In this thesis a platform of knowledge is provided for the development of enhanced Indigenous cultural heritage legislation by examining the specific nature of the cultural heritage of a Queensland Aboriginal group, the Dajarra Aboriginal community of Northwest Queensland for whom the Georgina River is a heartland in their cultural geography. The thesis was conducted during a period when the Queensland Government began to recognize demands for more effective Indigenous cultural heritage legislation. Queensland's latest Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, introduced in 2004, emerged from a history of legislation dominated by an archaeological model of cultural heritage. However, despite some improvements this new legislation has maintained a physically orientated model of cultural heritage. Therefore Queensland's Indigenous societies, their places, place knowledge and certain types of place-specific behaviours continue to be exposed to imposed change. The thesis examines the 'lifeworld', the 'everyday' experiences of place of the Dajarra community. A broad definition of culture and an interactive model of place, coupled with a phenomenological approach provide a theoretical framework to engage with and describe cultural heritage as Dajarra people themselves experience it. The cultural heritage of Dajarra people involves interactions with a diversity of places and various combinations of behavioural, knowledge and physical properties. All of the places examined were interrelated with other places to form both small and large-scale place complexes. This dissertation reveals that the cultural heritage of an Aboriginal community lies not just in the physical environment but also in the diverse everyday people-environment interactions of that community. Effective cultural heritage legislation must be capable of encompassing this diversity. Cultural heritage is essentially dynamic, it is found in processes of change, it is found in ongoing people-environment interactions as well as those of the past. It is argued that Aboriginal people hold 'active cultural heritage rights'; these are rights to interact with places and rights to control action in places. Ideal cultural heritage legislation would recognize these active rights and provide for Aboriginal control of them, that is, Aboriginal defined and controlled change. This study reveals that it is difficult to separate places in time and space from other places with which they are co-dependent or inextricably intertwined. Studies of Aboriginal people-environment interactions and legislative measures must respond to the broader place complexes within which individual places are embedded and within which the everyday experiences of place are had. It is shown that there is a range of ways that an Aboriginal cultural heritage community can be defined and a range of Aboriginal people that might have interests in the cultural heritage of an area. Lastly, the thesis calls for the adoption of an interactive model of place as a foundation to cultural heritage studies and legislation in order to respond to the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people as they themselves experience it and wish to experience it.

In this thesis a platform of knowledge is provided for the development of enhanced Indigenous cultural heritage legislation by examining the specific nature of the cultural heritage of a Queensland Aboriginal group, the Dajarra Aboriginal community of Northwest Queensland for whom the Georgina River is a heartland in their cultural geography. The thesis was conducted during a period when the Queensland Government began to recognize demands for more effective Indigenous cultural heritage legislation. Queensland's latest Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, introduced in 2004, emerged from a history of legislation dominated by an archaeological model of cultural heritage. However, despite some improvements this new legislation has maintained a physically orientated model of cultural heritage. Therefore Queensland's Indigenous societies, their places, place knowledge and certain types of place-specific behaviours continue to be exposed to imposed change. The thesis examines the 'lifeworld', the 'everyday' experiences of place of the Dajarra community. A broad definition of culture and an interactive model of place, coupled with a phenomenological approach provide a theoretical framework to engage with and describe cultural heritage as Dajarra people themselves experience it. The cultural heritage of Dajarra people involves interactions with a diversity of places and various combinations of behavioural, knowledge and physical properties. All of the places examined were interrelated with other places to form both small and large-scale place complexes. This dissertation reveals that the cultural heritage of an Aboriginal community lies not just in the physical environment but also in the diverse everyday people-environment interactions of that community. Effective cultural heritage legislation must be capable of encompassing this diversity. Cultural heritage is essentially dynamic, it is found in processes of change, it is found in ongoing people-environment interactions as well as those of the past. It is argued that Aboriginal people hold 'active cultural heritage rights'; these are rights to interact with places and rights to control action in places. Ideal cultural heritage legislation would recognize these active rights and provide for Aboriginal control of them, that is, Aboriginal defined and controlled change. This study reveals that it is difficult to separate places in time and space from other places with which they are co-dependent or inextricably intertwined. Studies of Aboriginal people-environment interactions and legislative measures must respond to the broader place complexes within which individual places are embedded and within which the everyday experiences of place are had. It is shown that there is a range of ways that an Aboriginal cultural heritage community can be defined and a range of Aboriginal people that might have interests in the cultural heritage of an area. Lastly, the thesis calls for the adoption of an interactive model of place as a foundation to cultural heritage studies and legislation in order to respond to the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people as they themselves experience it and wish to experience it.

Outdoor education in the UK has been growing in popularity and with it a further understanding of its benefits. Research shows that many young people still don’t access natural environments and many educators still struggle with how to provide them. This is particularly prevalent in urban environments where spatial inequality has been linked to a decline in health, well-being and personal development. Community mapping involves a community coming together to create a map of their locality and share local knowledge. This can take many forms. Sometimes it might be a traditional cartographic map while other times it may be stories, sculptures or poems. In this research I explore how community mapping can be used as a pedagogical tool, looking particularly at how it can help educators approach outdoor education in an urban environment. I take a teacher action research approach, inspired by previous art-based approaches to educational inquiry. Through doing a community mapping project with two groups of 8 to 10 year olds on an urban farm in central London I share the visable and often invisible components of our pedagogies, including children’s voices and work as well as the voice of myself and another educators, reflecting on the realities of outdoor education in an urban environment. I discover the cross curricular possibilities that such a project brings, the spaces it opens up for us to learn from children’s voices and the many ways in which community mapping can be used to address aims and goals of the UK primary curriculum. Community mapping can help educators overcome a lack of confidence in how to approach outdoor learning. The child-led nature of projects can allow children and educators to work together to co-create their understanding of the locality, noticing the small details they hadn’t seen before. It can provide a space for educators to learn more about how the young people they work with see the world around them while also providing authentic experiences that can be utilized in wider classroom learning. This research allows other educators to take away what resonates with them, with their experiences and pedagogies, and use these new understandings to enhance their own educational practices in their own settings.