This thesis focuses upon the redesign of McKeldin Plaza in Baltimore, MD. Situated beside the Inner Harbor and at the intersection of Pratt and Light Street, this occupies an important space in the city, functioning as a crossroads between several important urban landmarks. However, a reconfiguration of this plaza has become necessary due to the growth in traffic around the area, both automotive and pedestrian, as two 5-lane streets surrounding the plaza has left the site physically cut off from the Inner Harbor. Additionally, a beloved but under-functioning fountain awkwardly divides up the space, ultimately rendering the large plaza unused except the sidewalks at the edges. Through redesigning the street layout and traffic patterns, this thesis offers an alternative to the current scheme, one which offers a new connection to the Inner Harbor and an active, pedestrian-friendly space. In joining the plaza with the Harbor, a new urban nexus is created which seams together the upper and lower Inner Harbor. The redesign focuses on three key elements: a new fountain to pay homage to the old, bringing the harbor into the plaza, and creating spaces which are both accessible and inviting, yet astute in addressing functional and contextual needs. While maintaining some of the original qualities of the space, such as materiality and surrounding building footprints, this design also encompasses the addition of a new arcade in order to allow a greater flow between the interior, commercial and exterior, civic spaces. / Master of Architecture

There is an estimated 16 million housing units shortfall in Nigeria and the government cannot meet the housing needs of Nigerians because of budgetary constraints and other competing needs. It is important to note that the leaders have failed on numerous occasions to tackle the key challenges associated with a lack of infrastructure development. The emphasis has been placed on the individual homeowners fulfilling all their own requirements. The aim of this research is to develop a framework that will aid sustainable housing delivery in Lagos one of the most challenged areas of Nigeria. A clearer picture of the housing environment in Lagos was documented based on critical literature reviews, analysis of the reasons why there is a deficiency in housing and its infrastructure delivery. The aim of the researcher was following the identification of the challenges to draw up a framework that would assist the relevant stakeholders namely the householders, developers and government in overcoming these and delivering further sustainable housing. The research was completed using a mixed method including qualitative and quantitative means of acquiring necessary information in the form of a detailed literature review followed by a questionnaire survey of 500 household respondents. A total of 496 sets of data were collected through the questionnaire survey and analysed using SPSS, Excel and selected statistical methods. Validation of the framework was done using focus group discussions with stakeholders. Interviews with key housing and government personnel were also held including an analysis of 5 case studies. The key findings are that 1) the market economy approach along with flexible, efficient economic instruments are key factors in enabling the construction industry to positively respond to sustainable development in terms of resource efficiencies and environmental protection in a developing economy like Nigeria. 2) The social and political barriers cannot be overcome without a meeting of wills amongst the stakeholders. 3) There needs to be transparency and the desire to achieve the objective so the monitors will be effective to counteract dissatisfied individuals that will come out of the bureaucratic woodwork. 4) There needs to be an urban redesign driven by stakeholders keen to see government policy align with sustainable housing objectives. Key recommendations from this research are that: 1) The government should partner with the private sector to provide enough homes for Nigerians. 2) The government should henceforth concentrate in outlining good policy framework for the sector providing much needed infrastructural and financial support that will encourage sustainability and systematic development of housing in the country. The framework developed in this research is envisaged to be contributory in road mapping the way and identifying key attributes and strategy for delivering sustainable housing in Lagos, Nigeria.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:20:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarissa Maria Rosa Gagliardi.pdf: 5829483 bytes, checksum: 74eb3bc151669d792fba7e5cd2564122 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-20 / The redesign policies of urban spaces have been seen as instruments to suit cities to the demands of capital for new spaces of reproduction and often such transformations overlap the aspirations of the place itself. The historical centers, favorable zones for such policies for their cultural potential to generate new economical opportunities, end up being a point of convergence between dimensions of local life and distant interests. But on account of the peculiarity how each experience is built, according to the different levels of participation of the social groups involved, the historical inheritance of each town, the political usages proper to each administration, in sum, having the local culture as mediator, it is possible to notice that urban redesign plans may not respond exclusively to market interests, but they can also attend society local necessities, gathering distant and proximate orders. Therefore, it is assumed that there are no predefined models of urban redesign plans, unless as the result of social activity at a certain time and in a certain space, which makes important to know each of the cases in which this kind of policy is introduced. Here the analysis is centered on two recent redesign programs of the historical center of the Italian city of Genoa, the Program URBAN II, an initiative of the European Community, and the Contratto di Quartiere del Ghetto, promoted by the Italian Ministry for Infrastructure and by the Region of Liguria. Based on an approach of qualitative countenance and driving attention to the local context and to the typology of the interventions that distinguish the programs, this thesis tries to identify the relevance of social activity of the various participants on the process and of local inheritance, reflecting upon the implication that this kind of policy has on the city, its impact on urban space and the new uses it induces in the areas where it occurs / As políticas de requalificação dos espaços urbanos têm sido vistas como instrumentos de adequação das cidades às demandas do capital por novos espaços para sua reprodução e, muitas vezes, tais transformações se sobrepõem às aspirações do próprio lugar. Os centros históricos, zonas privilegiadas para tais políticas por seu potencial cultural para a geração de novas oportunidades econômicas, acabam por ser um ponto de encontro entre dimensões da vida local e interesses de origem distante. Mas, em função da peculiaridade com que cada experiência é construída, de acordo com os diferentes níveis de participação dos grupos sociais envolvidos, das heranças históricas de cada cidade, das práticas políticas próprias de cada administração, enfim, tendo a cultura local como mediadora, observa-se que os projetos de requalificação urbana podem não responder unicamente aos interesses do mercado, mas também atender a necessidades sociais locais, agrupando ordens distantes e ordens próximas. Parte-se, assim, do princípio de que não há um modelo pré-definido de requalificação urbana, senão como produto da ação social em um determinado tempo e em um determinado espaço, tornando-se importante conhecer cada um dos casos em que se implementa este tipo de política. Aqui, a análise centra-se em dois programas recentes de requalificação do centro histórico da cidade italiana de Gênova, o Programa URBAN II, uma iniciativa da Comunidade Europeia, e o Contratto di Quartiere del Ghetto, promovido pelo Ministério Italiano da Infra-Estrutura e pela Região Ligúria. Com base em uma abordagem de caráter qualitativo, voltando a atenção para o contexto local e para a tipologia das intervenções que caracterizam os programas, tenta-se identificar a relevância das heranças locais e da ação social dos diversos sujeitos envolvidos no processo, refletindo sobre as implicações que este tipo de política tem na cidade, suas repercussões urbano-espaciais e os novos usos que induz nas áreas onde incide

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:53:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarissa Maria Rosa Gagliardi.pdf: 5829483 bytes, checksum: 74eb3bc151669d792fba7e5cd2564122 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-20 / The redesign policies of urban spaces have been seen as instruments to suit cities to the demands of capital for new spaces of reproduction and often such transformations overlap the aspirations of the place itself. The historical centers, favorable zones for such policies for their cultural potential to generate new economical opportunities, end up being a point of convergence between dimensions of local life and distant interests. But on account of the peculiarity how each experience is built, according to the different levels of participation of the social groups involved, the historical inheritance of each town, the political usages proper to each administration, in sum, having the local culture as mediator, it is possible to notice that urban redesign plans may not respond exclusively to market interests, but they can also attend society local necessities, gathering distant and proximate orders. Therefore, it is assumed that there are no predefined models of urban redesign plans, unless as the result of social activity at a certain time and in a certain space, which makes important to know each of the cases in which this kind of policy is introduced. Here the analysis is centered on two recent redesign programs of the historical center of the Italian city of Genoa, the Program URBAN II, an initiative of the European Community, and the Contratto di Quartiere del Ghetto, promoted by the Italian Ministry for Infrastructure and by the Region of Liguria. Based on an approach of qualitative countenance and driving attention to the local context and to the typology of the interventions that distinguish the programs, this thesis tries to identify the relevance of social activity of the various participants on the process and of local inheritance, reflecting upon the implication that this kind of policy has on the city, its impact on urban space and the new uses it induces in the areas where it occurs / As políticas de requalificação dos espaços urbanos têm sido vistas como instrumentos de adequação das cidades às demandas do capital por novos espaços para sua reprodução e, muitas vezes, tais transformações se sobrepõem às aspirações do próprio lugar. Os centros históricos, zonas privilegiadas para tais políticas por seu potencial cultural para a geração de novas oportunidades econômicas, acabam por ser um ponto de encontro entre dimensões da vida local e interesses de origem distante. Mas, em função da peculiaridade com que cada experiência é construída, de acordo com os diferentes níveis de participação dos grupos sociais envolvidos, das heranças históricas de cada cidade, das práticas políticas próprias de cada administração, enfim, tendo a cultura local como mediadora, observa-se que os projetos de requalificação urbana podem não responder unicamente aos interesses do mercado, mas também atender a necessidades sociais locais, agrupando ordens distantes e ordens próximas. Parte-se, assim, do princípio de que não há um modelo pré-definido de requalificação urbana, senão como produto da ação social em um determinado tempo e em um determinado espaço, tornando-se importante conhecer cada um dos casos em que se implementa este tipo de política. Aqui, a análise centra-se em dois programas recentes de requalificação do centro histórico da cidade italiana de Gênova, o Programa URBAN II, uma iniciativa da Comunidade Europeia, e o Contratto di Quartiere del Ghetto, promovido pelo Ministério Italiano da Infra-Estrutura e pela Região Ligúria. Com base em uma abordagem de caráter qualitativo, voltando a atenção para o contexto local e para a tipologia das intervenções que caracterizam os programas, tenta-se identificar a relevância das heranças locais e da ação social dos diversos sujeitos envolvidos no processo, refletindo sobre as implicações que este tipo de política tem na cidade, suas repercussões urbano-espaciais e os novos usos que induz nas áreas onde incide