Prevailing city design in many countries has created sedentary societies that depend on automobile use. Consequently, architects, urban designers, and land planners have developed new urban design theories, which have been incorporated into the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) certification system. The LEED-ND includes design elements that improve human well-being by facilitating walking and biking, a concept known as walkability. Despite these positive developments, relevant research findings from other fields of study have not been fully integrated into the LEED-ND. According to Zuniga-Teran (2015), relevant walkability research findings from multiple disciplines were organized into a walkability framework (WF) that organizes design elements related to physical activity into nine categories, namely, connectivity, land use, density, traffic safety, surveillance, parking, experience, greenspace, and community. In this study, we analyze walkability in the LEED-ND through the lens of the nine WF categories. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses, we identify gaps and strengths in the LEED-ND and propose potential enhancements to this certification system that reflects what is known about enhancing walkability more comprehensively through neighborhood design analysis. This work seeks to facilitate the translation of research into practice, which can ultimately lead to more active and healthier societies. (C) 2016 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / The design of a transit-oriented development (TOD) is a major concern with regards to its functionality and prospects for success. The Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri, home of two professional sports venues, has a unique location on a proposed transit corridor, the Rock Island. This corridor is planned to run between downtown Kansas City and suburban Lee's Summit. Therefore, the Truman Sports Complex site is a natural choice for a TOD. Building a TOD at the Truman Sports Complex will create a focal point on the Rock Island Corridor that connects Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums to downtown Kansas City and Lee's Summit via a regional transit system; bring together a diverse population through the creation of a walkable, mixed-use center located adjacent to the regionally known cultural institutions; and encourage new development around the junction of Interstates 70 and 435, a major transportation node in Kansas City, Missouri. This study, focusing on the design of such a project on this specific site, employs an extensive site analysis informing conceptual and specific planning ideas. It draws from a large body of literature and precedents, incorporating well established elements and principles into a new development that is both unprecedented in the Kansas City region and unique among TODs and sports-related districts. The main findings reveal the desirability of a strategy to develop on the existing parking surface of the Truman Sports Complex and reroute the Rock Island Corridor through the middle of the site so that it passes between the two stadiums. The final plan incorporates a mixed-use program, with retail, entertainment, offices, and apartments, into a variety of building types, including garden apartment buildings, low- to mid-rise mixed-use buildings, and high-rise towers, placed throughout the site in a compact, walkable grid pattern of streets. The significance of this project is that it can inform the Mid-America Regional Council, the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, and other relevant stakeholders about the potential for developing on this site, and it demonstrates that a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly, large-scale transit-oriented development with a wide variety of program is both viable and desirable at the Truman Sports Complex.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) are an unprecedented typology in the Kansas City region, which predominately exhibits automobile-oriented development characteristics. The Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri, home of two professional sports venues, has a unique location on a proposed transit corridor, the Rock Island, planned to run between downtown Kansas City and suburban Lee's Summit. Therefore, the site is a natural choice for a TOD. Building a TOD at the Truman Sports Complex will create a focal point on the Rock Island Corridor that connects Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums to downtown Kansas City and Lee's Summit via a regional transit system; bring together a diverse population through the creation of a walkable, mixed-use center located adjacent to the regionally known cultural institutions; and encourage new development around the junction of Interstates 70 and 435, a major transportation node in Kansas City, Missouri. This study employs extensive regional, market, and transportation analyses to inform specific planning and programming ideas. It draws from a large body of literature and precedents, incorporating well established elements and principles into a new development that is unique among TODs and sports-related districts. The project’s findings reveal that retail, multi-family housing, and office development at the Truman Sports Complex, supported by rail transit and strong tenants, would fill a void in regional business and population density close to downtown, and have the potential to be economically viable as a regional center through 2040. This research has also shown that in order to achieve the adequate density for pedestrian vitality on the site, high-rise development with limited single-family options is necessary. And perhaps the most important finding is that the rail line should be rerouted through the center of the site if Transit-Oriented Development at the Truman Sports Complex is pursued, in order to maximize the pedestrian-accessibility of land suitable to development and ensure that activity is concentrated around the stadiums. Overall, the significance of this project is that it can inform the Mid-America Regional Council, the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, and other relevant stakeholders about the potential for developing on this site, and it demonstrates that a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly, large-scale transit-oriented development with a wide variety of program is both viable and desirable at the Truman Sports Complex.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Brent Chamberlain / 3D interactive visualizations can communicate complex urban design ideas to communities to improve planning (Bertol & Foell, 1997; Bishop et al., 2008; Griffon et al., 2011; Lange & Bishop, 2005). Unfortunately, many landscape architects, urban designers, and city planners currently re-frame from using such gaming technology capable of creating 3D interactive visualizations (Deane, 2015a). Many firms use verbal descriptions with images. This method is insufficient for facilitating feedback (Bratteteig & Wagner, 2010; Gordon, et al, 2010; Stakeholder Engagement, 2009; Zhang, 2004). According to Lange and Bishop (2005) there is no reason why real-time visualizations should not be used in urban design. Design fields will be moving toward procedural modeling software that is code-based to quickly model urban development (Flachbart & Weibel, 2005). However, this type of software, i.e., ESRI CityEngine, is only being used by approximately 10% of firms (Deane, 2015a). This paper is one of the first to analyze how ESRI CityEngine can be used and improved to support the workflow of landscape architects, urban designers, and planners for urban development projects. The project explored ESRI CityEngine’s procedural modeling and metric capabilities, and how it could be used to visualize a proposed Urban Core Residential District in Manhattan, Kansas. This process involved applying CGA (computer generated architecture) rules to GIS data, to model trees, streetscapes, landscapes, and buildings. Visuals that were produced include a CityEngine Web Scene and a Unity game.

Researched during the summer of 2006 in a collaborative effort between Carnegie Mellon University's Urban Lab and East Liberty Development, Inc. this thesis seeks to develop a model for evaluating the impact of progressive urban design strategies in an existing community by measuring the costs and potential returns of public investment in progressive urban infrastructure. Using the case study of East Liberty as a laboratory, this study identifies clear baseline assumptions for the costs of urban infrastructure, as well as estimated public returns based on private investment leveraged and new residential and commercial tax revenue streams. Aimed at providing urban designers a facilitation tool in arguing for public investment in progressive urban infrastructure that reconnects fragmented com m unities, this study suggests that clear financial and com m unity returns are "hidden" in urban infrastructure investment.

Zoning is premised upon the segregation of land uses. Rudimentary zoning ordinances originated in New York around 1916 as a means of separating the lower class fabric markets from the upscale retailers of 5th Avenue nearby, and to reduce density. The Standard Enabling Acts of the 1920s granted governments the broad authority to enact zoning ordinances to reduce population densities in cities for the purposes of health, safety, and well being. The United States Supreme Court upheld this authority as constitutional in the landmark case of Euclid v. Ambler Realty (1926). In the roughly eighty years since the Euclid decision, zoning has become the planning profession's primary tool to regulate land use. While an effective policy response to issues at that time of a rapidly industrializing America, Euclidean zoning has unintentionally shaped the US landscape into a sprawling, auto-dependent society characterized by segregated communities of isolated populations. Euclidean zoning makes it extremely difficult to mix uses. As a result, 'traditional' development patterns with high-density housing, nearby commercial, and pedestrian-friendly walkways are virtually impossible to create. Many critics suggest that zoning promulgates sprawl. In short, Euclidean zoning prevents 'good' urban design. In recent years, new trends have emerged to address these problems to varying degrees of success. Form-Based Codes are one of the most recent planning innovations. With origins in the New Urbanist school of development, Form-Based Codes elevates physical design in city planning, as opposed to the 'use-based' restrictions of Euclidean zoning. This paper examines whether or not Form-Based Codes could be a viable solution to the ills associated with Euclidean zoning. Benefits and drawbacks of both Euclidean zoning and Form-Based Codes are debated, including a case study analysis, as well as a discussion of legal ramifications and future scenarios in land use planning. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

Este trabalho relaciona-se à forma urbana, mas não sob a ótica do urbanismo ou do planejamento urbano em stricto sensu: relaciona-se a uma maneira de ver a cidade através dos seus sistemas de espaços livres, onde a paisagem assume o papel de uma \"lente\" pela qual é lida a cidade contemporânea, indicando meios para sua configuração. Neste contexto, a Arquitetura Paisagística enquanto disciplina e atividade profissional constitui-se como o conjunto de teorias, conceitos e métodos que tornam esta \"lente\" operacional. O objetivo deste trabalho, portanto, é recuperar o sentido da adoção de fundamentos do projeto e planejamento paisagístico em qualquer tipo de desenvolvimento, crescimento e gestão de cidade, considerando que os espaços livres, dentre eles ruas, rios, áreas de preservação, praças, parques são os sistemas estruturais que moldam a paisagem urbana. Este trabalho aborda ainda os diferentes agentes que participam deste dinâmico processo de configuração da paisagem, e demonstra que a falta de planejamento e diretrizes de projeto tem como resultado a fragilização e a fragmentação da forma urbana. A legislação, um dos únicos instrumentos de fato operativos, em grande escala, assume o papel principal de mediador e ordenador dos diferentes interesses, e isoladamente não se mostra apropriada para tal fim. Neste sentido, a hipótese central que guia esta tese é a de que o resgate do conceito estrutural do Sistema de Espaços Livres - SEL na paisagem urbana é essencial para uma nova abordagem de planejamento e projeto de cidades. Como estudo de caso, foi escolhida a cidade planejada de Umuarama-PR, que entre o seu plano inicial e as novas áreas de expansão, possibilitou a análise comparativa de dois momentos distintos do processo de formação e de gestão do sistema de espaços livres e sua relação com a forma urbana. / This paper is related to urban morphology, but not upon the Urban Design view or the Urban Planning in stricto sensu; instead, it is related to a way of viewing the city through its open spaces systems, where the landscape turns into lens through which the contemporaneous city is read, pointing out ways for its configuration. In this context, the Landscape Architecture as a subject and professional activity is the set of theories, concepts e methods that make these \"lens\" being operational. So, this paper objective is to bring back the meaning of the adoption of fundaments of Landscape design and planning in any kind of development, growth and management of a city, by taking into consideration that the open spaces, such as streets, rivers, which shape the urban landscape. This paper also mentions the diferente agents which take part in this dynamic configuration of landscape process, and it shows that the lack of planning and guideline of a project results in a urban space fragility and fragmentation. The legislation, one of the only tools which is really operative in a large scale, takes the main role of mediator and organizer of different interests, and it does not show itself to be fit for this purpose. In this sense, the central hypothesis that guides this theory is that the bailout of the structural concept of the open system spaces in the urban landscape is essential for a new approach of planning and designning cities. The planned city of Umuarama - PR was chosen as a case preservation areas, squares, parks are the structural systems study, which between its original plan and the new areas of expansion, made possible the comparative analysis of two distinct moments of its open spaces system and its relation with the urban form.

As transformações sociais decorrentes dos novos arranjos da economia mundial nos últimos quarenta anos têm repercutido enormemente na estrutura espacial das cidades. Em razão disto emergem novos modos de interpretação da realidade territorial da cidade e novas formas de intervenção que passam a considerar, como ponto de partida, a cidade existente. Neste processo assistimos à revalorização do projeto urbano como instrumento de reflexão e intervenção no âmbito de políticas urbanas que atestam a necessidade de assumir ações conjuntas entre o poder público e a iniciativa privada, isto é, de buscar uma aproximação entre o planejamento urbano, o desenho urbano e a economia de mercado. Este novo contexto aponta para a afirmação do projeto como instrumento fundamental da política urbana contemporânea. Dentre as múltiplas perspectivas abertas no âmbito da política urbana contemporânea destacamos, neste trabalho, aquelas que decorrem do processo de revalorização de Áreas Centrais e Frentes Marítimas decadentes ou abandonadas e da percepção do potencial existente nestas áreas no que se refere à possibilidade de recuperação das cidades com vistas à sua (re) inserção na economia global por meio da atividade turística e da atração de negócios e eventos. O objetivo desta pesquisa é situar o recente processo de revalorização do projeto urbano em Fortaleza com foco no recorte espacial da Frente Marítima da Área Central da cidade. Este trabalho procura demonstrar a hipótese de que os projetos recentes para a orla de Fortaleza estão inseridos no contexto dos projetos urbanos contemporâneos e buscam inseri-la no panorama do turismo internacional. Dentre estes destacamos o projeto não executado do Centro Multifuncional de Eventos e Feiras do Ceará, elaborado em 2002. / The social changes derived from the new arrangements of the world economy over the past forty years have reflected greatly in the spatial structure of cities. For this reason we are seeing the emergence of new modes of interpretation of the territorial situation of the city and new forms of intervention which began to consider, as starting point, the existing city. In this process we witness the revaluation of urban design as a thinking and intervervention instrument in the scope of urban policies which attests to the need to assume joint actions between government and private initiative, that is, to an approximation between urban planning, urban design and the market economy. This new situation indicates the assertion that design is the major instrument in contemporary urban policy. Among the many possibilities opened up in contemporary urban policy context we highlighted, in this work, those that derived from the revaluation process of decaying or abandoned Downtown Areas and Waterfronts and from the perception of the existing potential in those areas in regard to the possibility of recovering cities aiming to it\'s (re) integration into the global economy through tourist activity and by attracting businesses and events. The objective of this research is to situate the recent urban design revaluation process in Fortaleza with focus on the spatial cutout named Downtown Waterfront. This work seeks to demonstrate the hypothesis that the recent projects to Fortaleza\'s waterfront are placed in the context of contemporary urban projects and seek to insert it in the international tourism panorama. Among these we highlighted the not executed project of Ceará State\'s Conventions and Exhibitions Multifunctional Center, developed in 2002.

Essa pesquisa estuda a interação entre fontes sonoras de tráfego veicular e a influência da forma urbana para a constituição de um ambiente sonoro, utilizando-se de um estudo de caso como campo experimental na cidade de São Paulo. Durante as observações do cenário acústico da região de estudo, foi caracterizado que o tráfego de veículos consiste na principal fonte de ruído local. Nas regiões internas dos bairros, as edificações e muros se comportam como bolsões de silêncio. Foi visto que tal atenuação depende da forma e disposição das edificações em relação à fonte de ruído, ou seja, da permeabilidade do espaço urbano. Esses aspectos mostram a importância da proteção de atividades sensíveis ao ruído como habitações, hospitais e escolas da dinâmica de atividades urbanas, principalmente dos ruídos gerados pelo tráfego de veículos. O objetivo da pesquisa foi definir o comportamento do ruído propagado nas vias de tráfego diante da forma urbana e fornecer informações que possam servir como subsídios ao planejamento e desenho das cidades no que se refere à redução dos ruídos. / This research is concerned with the interaction between noise sources of traffic propagated and influence of the urban aspect for the constitution of a sonorous environment. In the methodology suggested a study based on using a case study as experimental field in the urban city area of municipal district of São Paulo. During observation the studied area related to the acoustic, was identify that the traffic of vehicles consists of the main source of local noise. On the other hand, the buildings and walls of some internal regions of some quarters produce a calm environment. The experience demonstrates that the increase of the source noise depended of where and how the buildings were constructions, in resume, the permeability of the urban space. These aspects are discussed in terms of the importance of protection the noise sensible activities as buildings, hospitals and schools of the urban dynamics activities, especially the noises generated by traffic vehicles. The objective this research is to define the behavior of the noise propagated in the ways of traffic the urban aspects also collaborated to the improvement a better planning and drawing of the cities related to the minimizing noise problems.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o papel dos concursos públicos de arquitetura e urbanismo na produção do espaço urbano da cidade de São Paulo, no período entre 1989 e 2004. Os concursos são entendidos como políticas públicas de ação sobre a cidade. Percorrendo quatro gestões administrativas, a partir da análise dos editais, dos processos de julgamento e dos projetos premiados, esta dissertação identifica modelos de desenho urbano e visões de cidade, tanto no que diz respeito ao projeto da cidade em si, quanto em relação à participação dos diversos atores sociais envolvidos. Os concursos, se por um lado podem refletir a vanguarda do pensamento urbanístico tanto do poder administrativo nas diferentes gestões, quanto dos profissionais de urbanismo, por outro podem estar completamente descolados da realidade, ora em relação à viabilidade executiva de suas idéias, ora no entendimento das realidades locais. De qualquer forma, os concursos se apresentam como uma forma de discussão sobre o espaço urbano e de exposição de conflitos. / This job has the purpose to analyse the public architecture and town planning (urbanism) contests targeted in the urban space of Sao Paulo city, during the period between 1989 and 2004. The contests have been perceived as changes by public politics concerning the city. Examining the four municipal administrations, from the analysis of the contest main documents, judging processes and the prized designs, this dissertation identifies the urban design models and city foresights, as much as the city project design in itself, as far as the various social players involved. The contests, on the one hand, can deflect the vanguard of the urban thought developed by the government authorities in the different administrations or by the urban planning professionals as well. On the other hand, should be entirely out from the reality of the executive viability or from the local social needs. In any case, the contests present themselves as the pattern of the discussion about the urban space and the exposure of its conflicts.