Primary objective of master's thesis named Media image of changes at Wenceslas Square in the context of urbanism and architectural quality is to analyse the media coverage of important architectural and urban changes of Wenceslas Square between 1997 and 2015. The two main topics chosen for the analysis are the Revitalisation of Wenceslas Square and the development of Euro Palace. The purpose of the analysis is to answer the following question: "Do readers of generally oriented periodicals have an access to objective information about architectural and urban projects?" I will apply a quantitative content analysis to answer this question and prove that media contents are unbiased. After that, we would be able to say in case of Prague the architectural topics are covered enough and readers have a chance to form their own opinions or not.

This thesis is an attempt to interrogate the relationship between everyday walking and the contemporary Indian city, specifically the contemporary cultural and geographical space of Delhi--—a postcolonial city that functions simultaneously as a “global” city and a “walled city” (King, Spaces). While walking as performance art is of increasing relevance in the contemporary Indian city, the scope of this project restricts itself to examining the nature of everyday walking and its ties to everyday life, heritage and urban memory. Engaging with walking as a form of performance ethnography, this thesis considers a range of walks—heritage walks, commemorative memory walks and a form of the Situationist dérive—in the contemporary city of Delhi to ask: What can walking as an activity of performance ethnography tell us about how architecture, violence and the urban imagination dictate our lives that urban form and histories alone cannot? What is the relationship between forms of urban memory, everyday life, and heritage in an Indian city—Delhi, in this case—and how do the various kinds of walks inform this relationship? What are the various kinds of walks that emerge in response to and dialogue with site, and how do New and Old Delhi serve as models for this? This thesis is primarily about everyday walking practices in urban India, but in becoming so, it also attempts to crucially interrogate walking as ethnography as well as the practice of ethnography itself, specifically performance ethnography. It argues that some of the productive ways to engage with these practices are by re/considering walking as a practice of performance ethnography of the city, through the selective lenses of everyday life, heritage and urban memory.

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.

The proponents of New Urbanism claim the neighborhoods they design, called Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TNDs), promote community, sense of place, physical health, and environmental sustainability. Critics assert that community is stressed at the expense of individuality, that design unity has become rigid uniformity, and that the neighborhoods are orchestrated and do not reflect real life. This thesis, a post occupancy evaluation (POE), examines how one TND works for its residents and whether it accomplishes the goals of the architect/planner. An additional, essential purpose of this POE is to serve the "feed-forward" role of informing future neighborhood planning projects. The Village of River Ranch in Lafayette, Louisiana is the site of my research. Utilization of multiple research methods (survey, interviews, naturalistic observations) offered opportunities for triangulation and the ability to produce a more comprehensive analysis.

Beginning with the development of Seaside (Walton County, FL), Kentlands (Gaithersburg, MD), and Laguna West (Elk Grove, CA), New Urbanist developments have set aside parcels for civic structures, many of which now house congregations. Using interviews with developers, planners, and church officials, this thesis examines the rationale behind including congregations within New Urbanist developments in four southeastern states (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina). The expectations of New Urbanist developers largely mirror those found within key New Urbanist texts: congregational structures help create a legible landscape through typological architecture and conspicuous siting while providing space for public gathering. The thesis ultimately argues that New Urbanism requires a more robust sociological model, one which captures the influence of institutions on forms of social interaction. Moreover, such a model might provide insight into the ways in which developers and congregations might collaborate to fulfill the social goals of New Urbanism.

[pt] Esta pesquisa apresenta uma avaliação ergonômica dos aspectos físicos de praças urbanas, desenvolvida com base na opinião da população. Buscou compreender a relação entre o mobiliário urbano e seus usuários, e ainda, a importância desta troca na vivência do espaço denominado Praça - espaços livres públicos, de lazer, de estar, de contestar, de viver. O cenário desta análise foi a cidade do Rio de Janeiro, facilitando assim a pesquisa de campo. A partir de uma seleção prévia, algumas praças cariocas foram avaliadas através da utilização de técnicas, com o objetivo de entender o seu sistema e sua funcionalidade. Por fim, uma única praça foi selecionada como objeto de estudo: a Praça Edmundo Bittencourt. A partir dos resultados obtidos através dos métodos aplicados durante a pesquisa foi possível avaliar a real importância e influência do mobiliário urbano no ambiente construído observado. Foi identificada uma dificuldade da parte dos usuários em compreender o espaço público como um conjunto de objetos. O design, o conforto e a qualidade dos mobiliários ficaram em segundo plano, diante da acessibilidade, da limpeza e do conforto ambiental. / [en] This research presents an ergonomic evaluation the physical aspects of urban squares, developed based on the opinion of the population. Furthermore try to comprehend the relation between the urban furniture and the square visitors, and its importance in the existence of the space called Square - public open spaces, leisure, living, to challenge, to live. This analysis took place in Rio de Janeiro, turning easier the process of field research. From an initial selection, some carioca squares where evaluated through the application of techniques, with the objective of understanding its system and functionality. Eventually only one square was chosen as the object of study: the Edmundo Bittencourt Square. From the results obtained through the methods applied during this research, it was possible to evaluate the real importance and influence of the urban furniture in the considered environment in which it was built. It was identified a difficulty among part of users to understand the public space as a set of objects. The design, comfort and quality of the urban furniture remained in the background, in front of accessibility, cleanliness and the environments comfort.

[pt] A partir de uma plataforma conceitual, pretendeu a pesquisa criar condições para avaliação do uso da mídia externa de painéis nas empenas laterais dos prédios do Rio de Janeiro, considerando o painel como instrumento de informação e contribuição na percepção da cidade. A identidade do Rio de Janeiro é intensamente marcada pela presença exuberante da natureza de significativa participação na vida dos cariocas, para quem o espaço aberto é mais importante do que em qualquer outra capital. Entendendo os painéis de empena dos prédios das médias e grandes cidades como um desafio para encontrar uma solução adequada do ponto de vista do design, numa interpretação da sua utilidade no atendimento às necessidades de comunicação da população urbana, pretendeu-se que as referências e considerações analíticas apresentadas possam induzir a que o tema seja avaliado, sem desconsiderar o aspecto mercantilista, para, inserindo-o no âmbito do urbanismo, da arquitetura e do design, incluir a participação dos profissionais dessas áreas na sua projetação. Imaginou-se, portanto, que, o ambiente questionador e reflexivo possa propiciar indagações e avaliações, dando respaldo à ação do estado na revisão e aplicação da lei, ao possibilitar maior harmonia entre o público e o privado, favorecendo o atendimento às necessidades de comunicação da população urbana através dos painéis de empena. / [en] Through considerations about sidewalls´ billboard on the buildings of Rio overlooking beyond trade objectives the author evaluated aspects of how these information designs, nevertheless a needed service, can interfere on building finishing, on the legibility and volumetry of the city of Rio de Janeiro, within the knowledge of how important is nature to its inhabitants. A challenge in finding a cue from design´s point of view, in a clear interpretation that sidewalls´ billboard could help as a response to lack of information to people walking and/or driving in the streets. Imagining that the use of billboards on buildings under the disciplines of urbanism, architecture and information design could help to act more ideological to better understanding the use of sidewalls in Rio where living outside in open space is most important than to all other Brazilian cities and understanding that updating the law would assure actions of the state to avoid conflicts between public and private attending the needs for better intercommunication for the citizens.

A presente proposta trata da possibilidade de articulação arquitetônica das infraestruturas aquáticas - como formas de reestruturação e qualificação dos espaços da cidade - apresentando possibilidades técnicas, ambientais e urbanísticas que viabilizem e justifiquem a concepção de um Hidroanel Metropolitano da Grande Vitória no Estado do Espírito Santo. Ao propiciar meios para a total navegação urbana - tornando o leito fluviomarítimo viável aos fluxos e deslocamentos de pessoas e cargas - se reinaugura uma condição plena para Vitória no que diz respeito à sua unidade geográfica insular de alcance interior através de canais, rios e lagos - que transformados em hidrovias - reforçam o caráter público das margens, como espaço indispensável para a metrópole. A idéia essencial de projeto é de se pensar cidades desenhadas pelas águas - com suas orlas, baías, enseadas, canais, rios e lagos. / This proposal deals with the possibility of architectonic articulation of aquatic infrastructures - as forms of restructuring and qualification of the spaces of the city - presenting technical, environmental and urban possibilities that make feasible and justify the design of a Metropolitan Hydroplane of Greater Vitória in the State of Espírito Santo. By providing means for total urban navigation - making the fluvial-river bed viable to the flows and displacements of people and cargoes - a full condition for Vitória is reopened with respect to its insular geographical unit of interior reach through channels, rivers and lakes - That transformed into waterways - reinforce the public character of the banks, as an indispensable space for the metropolis. The essential idea of a project is to think of cities designed by the waters - with their borders, bays, coves, canals, rivers and lakes.

A cidade de Maringá, localizada no noroeste do Paraná, faz parte de uma extensa área colonizada pela Companhia de Terras Norte do Paraná, que teve como sucessora a Companhia Melhoramentos Norte do Paraná. Construída a partir de um plano urbanístico moderno, elaborado em meados da década de 1940, Maringá emergiu rapidamente em meio à mata. A fundação da cidade ocorreu em 1947. Após a emancipação política, em 1951, iniciou-se a primeira administração municipal em dezembro de 1952. Em 1982, encerrou-se o mandato do sétimo prefeito. Em 35 anos, a cidade foi construída, tendo como ponto de partida e parâmetro para sua evolução o plano urbanístico moderno. Esta tese divide-se em duas partes. A primeira denomina-se A criação de Maringá: projeto e história e constitui-se por dois capítulos. A segunda parte intitula-se Construir e administrar: técnica e política na construção da cidade e compõe-se de sete capítulos, sendo um para cada gestão estudada, de 1953 a 1982. Na primeira parte estudamos o contexto regional no qual se formou Maringá e analisamos o seu plano inicial. A segunda parte refere-se especificamente às realizações das administrações municipais. Divide-se em sete capítulos, abarcando as primeiras sete gestões. Em três décadas e meia reconstituímos o processo de construção da cidade e a constituição da cultura técnico-profissional municipal. Verificamos o contexto da formulação do projeto inicial e sua importância na indicação das principais diretrizes para a implantação da cidade. Porém o nosso principal interesse foi estudar as gestões públicas e a formação da estrutura administrativa e do corpo técnico municipal, para compreender a institucionalização do planejamento da cidade. Analisamos o processo de construção urbana, desenvolvido em forma de ações públicas que formularam planos, obras públicas, redes de infraestrutura e legislações urbanísticas e edilícias, as quais se refletiram na manutenção ou nas transformações das indicações existentes no projeto inicial. As modificações responderam às demandas que se apresentaram com o desenvolvimento urbano. A expansão da cidade resultou em grandes espaços vazios na malha urbana, na qual os conjuntos habitacionais subsidiados com verbas federais foram implantados em áreas periféricas. Em 1979, com a estrutura administrativa consolidada, formularam-se as diretrizes viárias que tinham como objetivo estabelecer ligações com as ocupações urbanas desvinculadas das áreas consolidadas e expandir o perímetro da cidade. / The city of Maringá, located in the northwest of Paraná, is part of an extensive area colonized by the Companhia de Terras Norte do Paraná, which had as successor the Companhia de Melhoramentos Norte do Paraná. Built according to a modern urban plan, drafted in mid-1940s, Maringá quickly emerged amid the forest. Its foundation occurred in 1947. After the political emancipation in 1951, the first municipal government started in December, 1952. In 1982 the mandate of the seventh mayor ended. In 35 years, the city was built, following the modern urban planning as a starting point and parameter for its evolution. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first is called \"A criação de Maringá: projeto e história\" and it consists of two chapters. The second part is entitled \"Construir e administrar: técnica e política na costrução da cidade and consists of seven chapters, one for each administration studied, from 1953 to 1982. In the first part we study the regional context in which Maringá was formed and we analyze its original plan. The second part refers specifically to the achievements of municipal administrations. It is divided into seven chapters, covering the first seven administrations. In three and a half decades, the process of building the city and the constitution of municipal technical and professional culture, were reconstituted. We checked the context of formulating the initial design and its importance in determining the main guidelines for building the city. However, our main interest was to study the public administrations and the formation of administrative structure and of municipal staff, to understand the institutionalization of the city planning. We analyze the process of urban construction, developed in the form of public actions that have formulated plans, public works, infrastructure networks and urban and building laws, which reflected in the maintenance or transformation of existing information in the initial design. The changes responded to demands which appeared with urban development. The expansion of the city has resulted in large empty spaces on the urban network, in which the public housing subsidized with federal funds were located in peripheral areas. In 1979, with administrative structure consolidated, roads guidelines were formulated aiming at establishing links with the urban occupations disconnected from consolidated areas and expanding the perimeter of the city.

O presente trabalho se enquadra na visão de projeto como pesquisa e desenvolve a arquitetura do programa de uma cidade fluvial a ser implantada no leito maior do ribeirão da Vargem Grande e do Sorocamirim, rios que fazem a divisa entre os municípios de Ibiúna, São Roque e Vargem Grande Paulista e estão situados na subbacia hidrográfica do Alto Sorocaba, gerenciada pelo Comitê de Bacia Hidrográfica do rio Sorocaba e Médio Tietê. A partir da tríade programa, lugar e construção, é feito um ensaio projetual que serve à abordagem de conceitos como urbanismo lento e rua viva. A Cidade-Canal de Ibiúna é uma cidade linear de 25km construída ao longo de um sistema de lagos-canais que, em grande parte do percurso, preserva o curso do leito menor do rio Sorocamirim e do ribeirão da Vargem Grande. A Cidade-Canal faz contraponto à cidade rodoviarista e propõe uma nova temporalidade ao estruturar-se em torno da presença material da água na vida cotidiana de seus habitantes e do espaço da várzea como paisagem urbana. Um sistema de parques fluviais é criado com o objetivo de recuperar a mata ciliar nativa e garantir a oferta hídrica para funcionamento das infraestruturas hidráulicas dentro da lógica do uso múltiplo das águas. O canal artificial de navegação é uma hidrovia urbana. Potencialmente, a Hidrovia do Alto Sorocaba, como parte da Hidrovia do Alto-Médio Tietê, poderia fazer a interligação entre a rede hidroviária do Alto Tietê (Hidroanel Metropolitano) e a Hidrovia Tietê-Paraná ao vencer um divisor de águas e um desnível líquido total de 183m entre os munícipios de Santana do Parnaíba e Salto. Porém, diante das dificuldades físico-territoriais e operacionais de um sistema tão complexo, o potencial mais promissor da Hidrovia do Sorocaba é o de conectar, ao longo de seus cerca de 200km, uma série de outras estruturas urbanas de modo a conformar uma rede de cidades-fluviais modelo. Esta pesquisa se alinha aos interesses do Grupo Metrópole Fluvial (GMF), pertencente ao Laboratório de Projeto do Departamento de Projeto (LabProj) da Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo (FAU USP) e visa difundir a cultura de projeto de arquitetura de infraestruturas urbanas fluviais. / This work pertains to the vision of project as research and elaborates the architecture of the program of a fluvial city to be set up in the larger riverbed of Vargem Grande creek and Sorocamirim river, that divide the municipalities of Ibiúna, São Roque, and Vargem Grande Paulista and are situated in the Alto Sorocaba hydrographic subbasin, managed by the Hydrographic Basin Committee of the Sorocaba and Médio Tietê rivers. Based on the triad \"program, place, and construction\", a project essay is made to approach concepts such as slow urbanism and living street. Ibiúna Canal-City is a linear city of 25km built alongside a system of canal lakes that, in a long stretch of its trajectory, preserves the course of the smaller riverbeds of the Sorocamirim river and the Vargem Grande creek. The canal-city is a counterpoint to the motorway city and proposes a new temporality structured around the material presence of water in the daily life of the inhabitants and of the space of the marshes as an urban landscape. A system of fluvial parks is created with the goal of restoring the native ciliary woods and guaranteeing the hydric offer for the operation of the hydraulic infrastructures within the logic of the multiple usages of the waters. The artificial navigation canal is an urban waterway. The Alto Sorocaba Waterway, as part of the Alto-Médio Tietê Waterway, could potentially make the connection between the Alto Tietê waterway network (Metropolitan Waterway Ring) and the Tietê-Paraná Waterway, bridging a watershed and a total liquid elevation of 183m between the municipalities of Santana de Parnaíba and Salto. However, given the physical, territorial, and operational difficulties of such a complex system, the most promising potential of the Sorocaba Waterway is to connect, along its approximately 200km, a series of other urban structures so as to form a network of model fluvial cities. This research is aligned with the interests of the Fluvial Metropolis Group (GMF), that belongs to the Project Laboratory of the Project Department (LabProj) of the Architecture and Urbanism School of the University of São Paulo (FAU USP), and it aims at disseminating the culture of the architecture project of urban fluvial infrastructures.