This thesis analyzes the changing design and planning strategies in the contemporary urban design area. The rapid improvements during the 20th century in complexity sciences and computer technologies have directly affected all the branches of design. In architecture, as in urban design, generative models, evolutionary design attitudes and computer based simulation tools have taken a significant role during the last few decades. In urban design, emerged in a period starting form the second half of the century, non-determinist, dynamic and self-organized design attitudes depending on naturalistic models have emerged as an alternative to determinist, static and reductionist approaches based on linear solutions. In this study, it is aimed to define and evaluate these emerging contemporary approaches with respect to their antecedents and precedents. The study also searches for the conceptual and technical developments and background which support this process. With an analysis of case studies, the paradigm shift is examined in practice. The study intends to clarify whether contemporary urban design approaches, especially naturalistic models could be an alternative to deterministic stances.

The important positions and proposals of the thesis are firstly the framework posited for a socially sustainable urban environment, and secondly a proposal for the parameters of place formation for sustainable urban design. Research into social sustainability has provided a variety of approaches among which Castells&amp / #8217 / model for urban movements have been adapted as a matrix for social organization in terms of placemaking, highlighting the goals of an urban movement, in this case of a place, with the citizen as urban actor, against its adversary the historical actor. As for the parameters of place formation a matrix of place is developed as a tool for urban design and for measuring urban sustainability. The matrix delineates the six dimensions of place in terms of the three sustainabilities most strongly involved in each / to be measured by the indicators of sustainability which are to be achieved by applying various strategies for urban design. As a result of the study of the underlying dynamics of the paradigms of sustainability, place, and place-making, and the shifting role of urban design necessitated by problems of urbaproposed within a discourse that prefers to see the three sustainabilities in conjunction and, believes socially sustainable communities to be also environmentally and economically sustainable- the issue becomes how to facilitate a place process through urban design. Place as a social product, and place as an experiential, cognitive construct, place as object and subject of place-making, and place as a geographically specific, historical materialist formation are the four vantage points from which to inspect the juxtapositions and differences of the concept / and may be arrive at a theory of place. The predilection that sustainability and urbanization can be evaluated via placemaking stems, on one hand, from a study of the city/urbanization through the works of Harvey, Castells, Lefebvre and Bookchin who emphasize social space/process in the face of physical/geometric space / and an architectural background/disposition which finds place congenial on the other hand. The paradigm of sustainability and place, and place-making as urban design is applied to the case of Temelli, Ankara for a critique of sustainable/unsustainable urbanization. As a geographic, social, economic and historical location within the Greater Municipality of Ankara, Temelli has been a region of attraction for investors since the 1990s. What was once a small village planned for settling Balkan immigrants, became a municipality in 1994 / the land within the municipal boundaries were increased tenfold, and the region was earmarked for an overspill of 650,000 people from Ankara Metropolitan Area in the next 20 years. Four residential areas in the region have been assessed comparatively in terms of sustainable urban forms / and an evaluation of everyday lives have been conducted through surveys and interviews with residents to observe how and if place as social product evolved / how the conceived, perceived and lived spaces interacted.

The buildings of a city such as shopping malls, plazas, world trade centers, hotels or even residential complexes are not only alternative urban building typologies but they represent power in social, economical, political and even religious terms. In this sense buildings should not be seen as specific design and research areas limited with single building scale but rather should be seen as urban statements in city scale. However the eclectic existence of these buildings in urban fabric causes a series of unexpected transformations in a larger scale. The impact of a building in urban scale takes a very important place in the modern city &ndash / their architectural expression is not limited with their individual scale but rather it becomes an integrated part of the whole city which is open to transform function, infrastructure, architectural meaning, image ability and other social problems. This building behaves as a cultural and social symbol and it is inevitable to consider the design process as an urban experience. However many of the contemporary examples are designed as individual architectural buildings&hellip / The integration of Turkey, but especially the city of Ankara to the global economic network providing new cultural identities presents a transformation of the city which natures could be seen &ldquo / in terms of rent theory&rdquo / and makes this city &ldquo / a place of competition for profit.&rdquo / To better present these transformations one of the most important regions EskiSehir Highway will be analyzed for the power it reflects as the buildings are set on the two sides of the highway as a new type of urban architecture proceeding spontaneously and reconfiguring boundaries based on the limits of the capital. The limits economic power decides about social, economic and physical order of places shapes the city as an urban product to be sold.

In Turkey while the production of urban space is based on individual plots in the nner areas of the city, urban peripheral areas face development based on the cale of urban block or neighbourhood. Although such a development pattern carries potentials to produce qualified urban forms, it is mainly characterized with its fragmented structure and lack of public spaces. Thus, aim of the thesis is to explain the deficiencies and potentials of design control practice in Turkey, specifically in peripheral areas. Evaluating the contemporary approaches in design control, the thesis provides a theoretical framework that elaborates the procedural and substantive dimensions of design control. It is proposed that the interrelation between the dimensions of design control cannot be conceived without considering the ways of control on private property. Therefore, the peculiar characteristics of Turkish design control -which is mainly derived from property relations- is evaluated within the framework provided in the theoretical part through a procedural and morphological analysis of &Ccedil / ayyolu area. It is argued that design control in Turkey, focusing on quantitative dimensions of urban form, disregards qualitative aspects that necessitate the consideration of elements of urban form and their morphological characteristics. Finally, it is claimed that urban design problem in Turkey cannot be reduced simply to the domination of private interests in planning process but it is actually a matter of planning understanding which suffers from its poor insight on the idea of design. In this respect, a reconstruction of planning mechanism around the focus of &ldquo / design control&rdquo / is a necessity for an effective public control on private property.

Public spaces play essential roles in urban life for the city, the public and individuals, by setting strong relations between urban space and social and cultural values. Public spaces and their essential components have multi-dimensional impacts on people. Public art, as a constituent of public space, includes a wide range of artworks, activities and outcomes, contributing to the significance of the places in a variety of ways. However, each culture, country and city, has diverse policies and outcomes of public art based on different perspectives. Focusing on the public art policies in Ankara over the last two decades, this thesis seeks to examine how far the recent policies have contributed to the city. By carrying out in-depth investigation on the public art work interventions and policies of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, the thesis assesses the multi-dimensional contributions of these policies and interventions. It seeks to discuss how far the public artwork policies of localities are crucial for creating genuine public spaces of cities.

The relationship between urban design and economic activity is seldom studied through empirical studies with a large number of cases due, in part, to the implicit and intangible nature of design. This study was intended to understand, analyze, and evaluate the complex relationship between the design and the economic revitalization of downtown districts with reference to the 78 active Texas Main Street Program districts. First, the design, promotion, organization, and economic restructuring components of the Main Street Program's comprehensive four-point approach were investigated. Next, the economic changes that occurred within those districts were analyzed from 1997-2001. Finally, employment, the number of jobs, the number of business establishments, the number of sales tax permits, the retail sales volume, and the commercial property values were compared for the same time period among three categories of cities: those active in the Main Street Program, those formerly active but now inactive, and those who have not participated. Findings revealed that several positive changes occurred in design, promotion, organization, and economic restructuring components of the four-point approach within the active Texas Main Street districts. It appears that these changes produced several positive outcomes for the physical, social, and economical environment of the active Main Street districts. Moreover, the findings suggests that these changes in the Main Street districts resulted in an increased economic activity, not only within the Main Street district by generating jobs, or producing private and/or public investment, but also across the Main Street city by creating community wide economic activity in most of the variables that were under investigation. The results indicate that the Texas Main Street Program, part of which is urban design oriented, is having a positive effect on economic activity within the active Main Street districts.

Over 80-percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas that occupy a mere 3-percent of the country's total area. Development problems and infrastructural stress caused by urban overpopulation can already be seen in the nation's largest cities. Scattered across North America are small towns that, at one time, were largely sustained by agriculture or industry, but have watched as farming and manufacturing operations leave them behind. Rooted in these economic conditions is the growing gap between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The high concentration of rural lands and high poverty rates in the South makes this region particularly vulnerable to the effects of rural economic distress, and put it in desperate need of solutions. For many small towns in Georgia, the last two decades have brought either rapid population growth, as seen in the areas surrounding Atlanta, or great population decline, most clearly depicted in the southeastern region of the state. Each condition produces a host of different challenges for these small communities, illustrating no simple solutions. It is the focus of this research to determine what proximities, economic assets, and formal characteristics are necessary for small towns in Georgia to successfully revitalize and grow. Furthermore, it is the aim of this research to present a means of analyzing the assets of small towns in order to determine where outside investment is most likely to make a difference, and how resources can best be utilized.

Emergent morphogenetic designs provide a superior architectural response to programmatic, technical, structural, environmental and spatial requirements that conventional unit based architectural forms are too inflexible to fully address. Architecture has reached an exciting stage in its development, where structures are attempting to behave more like nature, which does not function as a static state, but as a complex grouping of symbiotic processes which are constantly evolving to adapt to environmental changes. Digital fabrication and materials engineering have promoted an explosion in formal architectural typologies. By utilizing these digital tools and enhanced materials to embrace a morphogenetic design strategy, architecture can respond rapidly, through multiple permutations to respond to multiple performance criteria. This approach outlines a design process that generates a typology and through multiple reiterations, changes as the design reacts to new performance criteria being added, or the model not adequately meeting the criteria being tested. The terms used to encompass this new design strategy are emergence, evolutionary optimization or morphogenetic design. This strategy utilizes tools in parallel that have been developed independently by different disciplines, including theoretical mathematics, materials engineering, bio-mimicry, environmental studies and digital technologies. The site is a parcel located on Tampa Bay at the outlet of the Hillsborough River, where the existing unit based Tampa Convention Center will be replaced with the new performance based Convention Center. The research methods will be simulation and modeling research. This method will start with a performance based program, and submit the models to multiple permutations. Each performance criteria will be applied to develop an iterative process that re-informs the shape, design, structure and materials, and can be evaluated at the conclusion of the design process, testing the accuracy of the Thesis.

Urban air pollution is responsible for high levels of morbidity and mortality in exposed populations due to its effects on cardiovascular and respiratory function. Transportation-related air pollutants account for the majority of harmful air pollution in urban areas. Forests are known to reduce air pollution through their ability to facilitate dry deposition and atmospheric gas exchange. This work characterizes the interactions between transportation air pollutants and urban forests in Hillsborough County, Florida. A highly spatially resolved passive air sampling campaign was conducted to characterize local concentrations of nitrogen oxides, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in Hillsborough County, Florida. Sampling locations included a proportion of densely forested urban areas in order to determine the effects of Hillsborough County's urban forest resources on localized concentrations of selected transportation pollutants. Recommended approaches for the use of urban forests as an effective air pollution mitigation technique in Hillsborough County were generated based on results from the sampling campaign. Results show mean concentrations of 2.1 parts per billion and 6.5 µg/m3 for nitrogen oxides and total BTEX, respectively. High spatial variability in pollutant concentrations across Hillsborough County was observed, with the coefficient of variation found to be 0.61 for nitrogen oxides and 0.79 for total BTEX. Higher concentrations were observed along interstate highways, in urban areas of the county, and near select point sources in rural areas. Differences in concentrations within forested areas were observed, but were not statistically significant at the 95%#37; confidence level. These results can be used to identify elements of urban design which contribute to differences in concentrations and exposures. This information can be used to create more sustainable urban designs which promote health and equity of the population.

This report uncovers relationships between water quality and quality of life (QOL) through urban design. It shows that Smart Growth (a type of urban design) is a reasonable management practice for stormwater that can also positively affect our quality of life. This study is meant to support and inspire further research on how to link quantitative measurements of QOL with quantitative measurements of water quality through urban design characteristics. The report will introduce an ongoing study by PhD candidate, Suzanne Pierce, as her and her team currently combine water quantity/quality science with decision making. They are using the stakeholder process I served on, The Barton Springs Regional Water Quality Plan 2005, as a test bed for their creation. My hope is that this study will serve as a collection of data that Pierce’s group can draw from as they get closer to illustrating design choices for stakeholders as well as linking those choices to water quality and QOL. / text