This project explores the challenges of increasing density in a college town grappling with how to appropriately respond to expected population growth. It presents a concept idea for a section of Downtown Blacksburg, Virginia that meets the various planning goals for the community. It also experiments with an innovative way of presenting and fostering discussion around this kind of vision by inviting stakeholders to experience models of the concept in an immersive three dimensional environment. Common negative perceptions of density lead to resistance to increased density projects by the public and elected representatives. While there seems to be a consensus of understanding that denser development is preferable to sprawl, Americans in communities across the country have been resisting efforts to increase density. In Blacksburg higher density is often met with fear of student housing located too close to single family neighborhoods. Density resistance is rooted largely in the lack of general knowledge of what density looks like, how it is built, and how it feels once built. The negative aspects of high density neighborhoods, which have caused fearful reactions, are results of poor design, not an inevitability caused by density. This thesis uses two approaches to argue for the advantages of higher density development. Methods include background research of densification elsewhere, a neighborhood redevelopment proposal, and a research event in which a select group of participants completed surveys, viewed presentations of 3D computer models of virtual developments in Blacksburg, and discussed their opinions and thoughts about the models and proposal. This project has demonstrated that 3D modeling is a more effective planning tool for helping decision-makers perceive density and understand the value of quality designs than typical planning tools based on 2D presentations. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning / This project explores the difficulties of increasing density in a college town struggling with how to plan for population growth. It presents a concept idea for a section of Downtown Blacksburg, Virginia that meets the various planning goals for the community. It also experiments with an innovative way of presenting plans with 3D computer models to prompt discussion about the vision by inviting a group of people to experience 3D models of the concept in an immersive display. Many citizens and elected representatives have negative preconceptions of density which make them leery of projects that increase density in the neighborhood in which they are proposed. Even though there seems to be a common understanding that denser development is preferable to sprawl, Americans in communities across the country have been resisting efforts to increase density. In Blacksburg higher density is often met with fear of student housing located too close to single family neighborhoods. Density resistance is rooted largely in the lack of general knowledge of what density looks like, how it is built, and how it feels once built. The negative aspects of high density neighborhoods are results of poor design, not inherent traits of density.2 This thesis uses two approaches to argue for the advantages of higher density development. Methods include background research of densification elsewhere, a neighborhood redevelopment proposal, and a research event in which a select group of participants completed surveys, viewed presentations of 3D computer models of conceptual developments in Blacksburg, and discussed their opinions and thoughts about the models and proposed ideas. This project has shown that 3D modeling is a better planning tool for helping decision-makers understand density and quality design than typical planning tools based on 2D presentations.

This master project adresses the challenge of transforming the former Bergs Oil Terminal in Nacka into an adaptive, collaborative, and socially just environment supporting the development of a self-sufficient post petroleum society. As tools, it experiments with temporary "pop ups" with various life cycles. The project critically examines urban development under the viewpoint of bottom-up activities where future development must be adapted to current socio-economical conditions and ecological concerns.

The purpose of this research is to measure impacts on environmental constraint areas due to the presence of new suburban populations, to assess attitudes and behaviours of residents toward greenspaces incorporated into the design of the community and to attempt to project if the City of Waterloo’s vision for suburban development in the proximity of environmentally sensitive lands is being realized. Analysis includes the results of a mail survey for a sample of 600 households from three subdivision developments on the West Side of Waterloo, stratified according to the proximity to an environmentally significant forest in the study area. Similar questions posed to the sampled West Side residents were also included in the biennial K-W Area Study 2005 which included 2000 households in order to acquire a level of comparison between residents living on the West Side of Waterloo and the rest of the twin cities. Unstructured, open-ended interviews were conducted to gain insight into the normative practices, beliefs, and value structures of residents. Observational fieldwork data of the study area highlights encroachment and environmental stewardship in the environmentally sensitive area. Findings and conclusions suggest a very positive citizen response to the inclusion of an environmental amenity in the subdivision design but at the same time a continuation of adverse environmental impacts resulting from population growth, and minimal suburban lifestyle change in this community which aspired to incorporate the principles of new urbanism.

The purpose of this research is to measure impacts on environmental constraint areas due to the presence of new suburban populations, to assess attitudes and behaviours of residents toward greenspaces incorporated into the design of the community and to attempt to project if the City of Waterloo’s vision for suburban development in the proximity of environmentally sensitive lands is being realized. Analysis includes the results of a mail survey for a sample of 600 households from three subdivision developments on the West Side of Waterloo, stratified according to the proximity to an environmentally significant forest in the study area. Similar questions posed to the sampled West Side residents were also included in the biennial K-W Area Study 2005 which included 2000 households in order to acquire a level of comparison between residents living on the West Side of Waterloo and the rest of the twin cities. Unstructured, open-ended interviews were conducted to gain insight into the normative practices, beliefs, and value structures of residents. Observational fieldwork data of the study area highlights encroachment and environmental stewardship in the environmentally sensitive area. Findings and conclusions suggest a very positive citizen response to the inclusion of an environmental amenity in the subdivision design but at the same time a continuation of adverse environmental impacts resulting from population growth, and minimal suburban lifestyle change in this community which aspired to incorporate the principles of new urbanism.

Conceived of and established as a fortified city, Halifax developed a naval and industrial relationship with its harbour. The waterfront was seen as a strategic area for military defense, not for public amenities. In an effort to streamline the movement of goods, an imposing rail line corridor was developed along the peninsula’s waterfront. This industrialization effectively dislocated Point Pleasant Park from the rest of its urban fabric. The severing of this vital and historic artery symbolized the evolution of Halifax’s harbour from being fortified to industrialized. As a result, todays waterfront is largely privatized for the military, large industry and high-end single family residential. The focus of this investigation is to explore a methodology that recognizes the potential of the decaying rail line corridor and surrounding industrial environment. The intent of this intervention is to graft new vital arteries between Halifax’s urban fabric and its industrial waterfront.

The old hospital complex is located in close proximity to the historical center of Znojmo. The original function is no longer fulfilled and its structure does not correspond to the urban area and thus excludes it. However, due to its location and some historic buildings it has great potential. This work aims to transform the place into a full-fledged part of the city, preserving the original genius loci. After thorough analysis, it determines structures that will be preserved and removed. On the free parcels are proposed buildings of urban blocks with multifunctional use. By its arrangement, it responds to the neighborhood and away from the city, from closed city blocks, it opens to semi-blocks and solitaires.

No description available.

Our world continues to undergo significant and extraordinary changes. Technology is firmly becoming embedded into society, population is steadily increasing, and a greater awareness of our fragile environment is emerging. Cities are responding. There is a reclaiming of the American downtown. Suburban USA still sprawls at alarming rates, but cities are beginnng to shed their image of havens for crime and the homeless. A more acute investigation at the neighborhood scale reveals situations more reluctant to adapt. Pieces of the urban fabric over time have been torn from their whole. Some, the result of neglect, while others are the victims of sweeping Modernist ideas that never came to fuition, leaving racial, social and economic barriers that halt the momentum of change. This thesis project, Philadelphia Public Housing: Reknitting the Urban Fabric, addreses these issues by forming a bridge between a place, with its inherent urban language and the people who inhabit that place. In an age of mass produced housing, how does one create an architecture at the urban scale that harmoniously coexists in an environment of crafted, historic housing, while embracing a standardized set of parts and assembly, maintaining integrity and promoting the building of community? / Master of Architecture

A more water-coherent approach is postulated as a primary pathway through which biophilic urbanism contributes to livability and climate change adaptation. Previous studies have shown that upstream water retention is more cost-effective than downstream for mitigating flood risks downstream. This dissertation proposes a research design for generating an iconography of water urbanism to make upstream cities more coherent. I tested a hypothesis of aquaphilic urbanism as a water-based sense of place that evokes water-based place attachment to help adapt cities and individuals to water-coherent urbanism. Cognitive mapping, photovoice, and emotional recall protocols were conducted during semi‐structured interviews with 60 residents and visitors sampled from eight water-centric cities in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. The participants provided 55 sketch maps. I performed content analyses, regression analyses, path analyses, and mediation analyses to study the relationships of 1) pictorial aquaphilia (intrinsic attachment to safe and clean water scenes) and waterscape imageability, 2) waterscape imageability and the coherence of city image, 3) egocentric aquaphilia (attachment to water-based spatial anchors) and allocentric aquaphilia (attachment to water-centric cities), and 4) the coherence of city image, allocentric aquaphilia, and openness towards water-coherent urbanism. Content analyses show that waterscape imageability and pictorial aquaphilia were the two most common reasons why participants mentioned the five waterscape types, including water landmarks, canals, lakes, rivers, and harbors, during the three recall protocols. Regression analyses indicate that water is a sixth element of imageability and that the imageable structure of canals and rivers and the identifiability of water landmarks significantly influenced the aesthetic coherence of city image. Path analyses suggest that allocentric aquaphilia can be attributed to water-based familiarity, water-based place identity (or identifiability), water-based comfort, and water-based place dependence (or orientation) evoked by water-based spatial anchors. Mediation analyses reveal that water-based goal affordance (as a construct of water-based comfort and water-based place dependence) aided environmental adaptation, while water-based imageability (as a construct of water-based familiarity and water-based place identity) helped adapt cities and individuals to water-coherent urbanism. Canal mappability mediated the effects of gender and of visitor versus resident on the coherence of city image to facilitate environmental adaptation.

As a result of widespread urban development over the past two decades, global wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. This thesis develops a series of strategies for protecting wetland ecosystems from the ecological consequences that cascade through an ecosystem as a result of such development. This thesis is based on the paired assumptions that ecosystems represent networks of linked processes that operate across both local and global scales, and that the ecological integrity of any ecosystem can be maintained (a) only if the physical integrity of an ecosystem’s constituent processes is maintained, and (b) only if damage occurring at one ecological scale is prevented from affecting processes occurring at another. Thus, the strategies proposed here are multi-scalar and implemented at both the scale of the site and at the broader watershed scale. The strategies developed in this thesis focus on maintaining the physical integrity of the local wetlands as a means of protecting the processes that occur within the broader wetland ecosystem. The thesis proposes that wetland sites might be best protected from the effects of urban development by implementing a series of landscape interventions that provide the ecosystem with the means to reorient itself in new ecological relationships. Instead of attempting to recreate and control a complex set of conditions by imposing a deterministic architectural solution on the site, this strategy seeds new processes and new structural relationships such that the ecosystem reorganizes itself according to its own structural logic and grows into new stable relationships according to conditions that arise out of those processes. Because this approach generates a series of self-sustaining processes, human intervention is minimized beyond the initial stages. The stategies proposed here will be explored in the context of proposals recently announced by oil companies to develop ecologically sensitive wetland sites located on the Athabasca River in north-eastern Alberta.