Community and its ties to locality have been bothering sociologists and researchers since society has abandoned its traditional organization. Many of them considered positive and negative aspects of industrial and later modern society's influence on community sense and human relationships. This thesis will walk the reader through the influential writings on the topic of community, meaning of space and human relationships. Starting with the appreciation of traditional community, through worries about its disappearance, diminishing importance of local ties and ending with complete anonymity and individualization. The empirical part of this thesis brings up results of the research conducted in neighborhoods of Žiar nad Hronom, town in central Slovakia. Findings from the interviews were confronted with ideas of New Urbanism, basically confirming role of architecture design in neighbors' relationships. Intensity, frequency and quality of interaction among neighbors are thus influenced by factors of spatial design, length of residence and busyness of residents. Nature of the relationships among neighbors is far from ideal (as in traditional community) but people look for communities in wider sense, creating networks with people from other social circles than those bounded to a place.

Architectonic and city planning development of Litomyšl town in 20. century Abstract The topic of master thesis is architectural development in Litomyšl town during 20th century. The development of the city will be set to the context of historical background and social-political and economic situation. Thesis will introduce architects and their work especially from 1990's including comprehensive changes in urban environment of the city, including the revitalization program of the city, which continues till now. The aim of master thesis is to evaluate architectural development of Litomyšl city during the last century and define the influences and the qualities of modernization of such historical town. Key terms: Litomyšl, architecture, city planning, revitalisation

This dissertation investigates how the concept of 'smart city' is made operational and governable through place-based interventions in the Danish Capital, Copenhagen. In this way, I seek to demonstrate the complexity of the smart city concept and the ways these policies are implemented in an existing city, instead of grounding the critique in universally idealized but often unrealized grand visions. Recent research into smart urbanism largely highlights the smart city agenda for being overly driven by corporate interests, who are using it to capture urban management functions as new market opportunities. This view however, seems to neglect that smart city interventions are integrated into existing urban settings, and is therefore always the outcome of social and spatial constellations of urban politics and the built environment. Therefore, rather than depicting the smart city as utopian or dystopian, I point towards a more situated understanding that moves beyond the corporate-driven smart city version, and directs attention to the urban scale where these policies are taking root. The theoretical apparatus is based on research in technological transitions, and is further supported by a relational view on urbanism to situate the analysis at the urban scale. The thesis is composed through a qualitative case study design, where document analysis and interview figures as key methods for data collection. The empirical materials have been collected from the municipality and their smart city unit, Copenhagen Solutions Lab, and the primary data source is political documents.The thesis concludes that the smart transition in Copenhagen is governed through an experimental approach where the technological possibilities are being adapted to the local context. In this way, Copenhagen Solutions Lab endeavor to ensure that only the solutions that fit the urban context are implemented, and it is therefore only specific, and more convenient solutions that are being integrated into the city. The thesis concludes further that the experimental smart-city-approach applied by CSL, contains the potential to contest corporate interests, in the sense that this approach gives rise to new explicit learning processes and efforts that holds the potential to compete with the corporate-driven smart city model.

Work on urban renewal internationally focuses on a vast range of topics, including gentrification, increased criminalization of poverty, rent-seeking behaviour, and neoliberal urbanism. These arguments tend to centre the interests and actions of certain actors, prioritize certain forces (such as economic ones), and thus tend to predict a particular set of outcomes. In adopting a southern urbanist epistemology, and Jennifer Robinson’s reimagined comparativism through a reconceptualized 'case’, this research shows how predominant assumptions regarding the drivers and outcomes (both social and physical) of urban renewal do not necessarily apply in the case of Braamfontein, an instance of urban renewal in Johannesburg, a post-apartheid city in the south. The findings examined here include policy narratives and empirical referents to culture-led strategies of urban renewal and ways in which they speak less to market-orientated objectives, and more to socio-political ones; how the findings in Braamfontein speak to literature on gentrification, studentification, and youthification, showing that urban renewal and gentrification are not the same processes, and that studentification does not necessarily lead to youthification or gentrification; how attempts to suppress informal trade have led to the proliferation of iterant strategies on the part of hawkers, and have in turn led to enhanced relationships between informal traders and the formal economy; and, finally, how the presence of communities self-identifying as foreign or gay are shown to be driven by forces other than those that the literature typically predicts.

Placemaking is a collaborative approach to redesigning spaces into places that improve their community value. Placemaking practices claim to be quick and easy to implement which is true in comparison to government level plans and policies but do not appear quick at an individual level. Tactical urbanism tackles the problem of slow change with a bottom up process that allows for fast changes to urban environments that can be conducted at an individual level. The spaces addressed by tactical urbanism are spaces that do not work to their intended use; they are underused, empty, or unmaintained. These spaces can vary in size and type. They can exist within a timeframe that is shorter than a change can occur from a quick placemaking practice hence why tactical urbanism becomes the appropriate response. Many of these places require responsive and swift action if they are sought to be improved. The spaces and designs that are tandem often have lasting positive effects in their communities. Concepts from cosmopolitics will be tied with placemaking principles to see if they are able to enhance and bring another element to tactical urbanism. The combination of these elements will aim to create care in relationships between humans and place. This report will explore how placemaking principles, cosmopolitics and tactical urbanismcan be used to create meaning and sustainabilityin spaces making them great places. Experimental interventions are used to put these concepts into practice. The interventions are focused at several locations around Linnaeus University campus.

Project points out possible methods of urbanistic and architectural work with panel housing estates, on specific example of Petržalka housing estate in Bratislava. Next to the possible alternatives of solution, which is this diploma project bringing on the table, its main importance is to move forward the thinking about panel housing estates, asking questions concerning our surrounding, and to discuss the future of environment we live in.

The thesis deals with the proposal of the Open Prison, which focuses on the resocialization of persons sentenced to serve an execution of the sentence. Prisoners have a specific regime where they are trained to live in freedom. The open prison in its form reflects the necessary operations for such a type of facility. The prison is located in close proximity to the city for its purpose.

The diploma thesis concerns the replenishment of the urban mosaic of Frýdek-Místek regional town in the Czech Republic. A new local vision for the Riviéra housing estate is to be set. The intervention area spirals around the brownfield of a former spinning factory, which is included into the modernist urban area. The brownfield neighbours with the Janáček park, which is standing out in the surroundings in the means of the articulation and condition of the public space. The fenced areal, on the other hand, forms a barrier to the urban life. The aspiration of the project is to unscramble the potential of the unbuilt area within the vivid part of the town.

Low-density residential development patterns in New England have resulted in the excessive loss of farms, forests and other open spaces and increased automobile dependence. Coupled with increasingly high land costs, sprawl has contributed towards an affordable housing crisis in Massachusetts. The need for sustainable development (such as new urbanism and smart growth) has been increasingly recognized, yet efforts have been hampered, in part, due to apathy and local residents’ resistance towards increasing residential densities, resulting in limited choices for willing homebuyers. This study examines perceptions of residential neighborhoods and sustainable development among residents in Hopkinton and Southborough, Massachusetts; two communities with rural and suburban character located in the rapidly growing metropolitan Boston region. A photo-based survey sent through the mail asked respondents to rate scenes of innovative residential settings and to answer questions about their attitudes towards environmental issues, planning approaches and neighborhood preferences, their current residential setting and demographic characteristics. The results from 253 survey respondents showed three important themes: (1) that residents expressed strong environmental values yet many lacked awareness of the environmental impacts of low density housing, (2) strong preference for views of nature and open spaces was prevalent and (3) visual design variables can dramatically influence perceived density. Key findings indicate two sub-groups. Approximately one-third of the respondents strongly support denser, sustainable development alternatives and value neighborhood planning that reduces auto dependency, meets the needs of households with various incomes and protects open space. While, the other two-thirds of the sample favor calm, scenic, low density neighborhoods and would like to see their community preserve its open spaces and maintain its historic and rural aesthetic. The study concludes with recommendations for regionally appropriate approaches to sustainable development that take into account the multiple scales and stakeholder involvement.

City managers and planners in the global South, particularly in African cities are confronted with an unprecedented urbanisation fraught with complexities such as urban sprawl, jobless growth, and informality. Urban planning practice in Ghana has retained colonial legacies that outlaw informality, be it economic, such as, street trading or housing, such as, slums. This has led to the marginalisation of the urban poor, who make up the majority of urban dwellers. Consequently, the masses invent ways to survive in the city and thus reshape the materiality of urban spaces. Most planners and state officials consider the activities of street vendors as a nuisance that mar the beauty of our cities. For this reason, 24% of the Ghanaian labour force who work on the streets are targets of misaligned and officious controls that include but are not limited to evictions. However, when evicted, most generally return to the streets. Building on existing work on urban planning in the global South and feeding into Southern urban theory, the research focuses explicitly on the Accra Mall Enclave (AME) as a microcosm of African cities. It explores how various players – planners/vendors/politicians – interact and navigate the dynamics of daily experiences. The research asks, how are planners navigating the tensions between planning regulations and the reality of street trading around the Accra Mall Enclave (AME)? What are street traders' logics, strategies, and experiences? How are vendors negotiating their interactions with state actors such as police, planners, city guards, toll collectors, etc.? The questions were answered through qualitative research methods; field observations, interviews, and a review of planning regulations and policies. The results of the study contribute to our understanding of how cities are being built in Africa, particularly Accra, Ghana. As a case study, the focus on the AME assisted in exposing the role of planners in this mode of urbanisation, while also uncovering meaning associated with space and place. Findings show that the state is reluctantly, if not unwillingly, coming to terms with vending within the AME. This could however change quickly if politics change, so still precarious. There are no viable alternatives to relocation, and vendors have established significant relationships and tactics that somehow entrench their position howbeit insecure. Besides all these, state officials, when acting in their individual capacity side with the vending profession because the state has not created jobs. Despite this personal understanding, the system, specifically state bureaucracy, generates obstacles, and as a result existing state structures frustrate the planning practice. This is complicated further by politics. Hence, planners themselves feel helpless, marginalised, and trapped. Further, spatial plans do not adequately provide access to the land needed by informal sector actors. The state resorts to occasional evictions when there is an adequate budget for this action. Imaginations of world class cityness dominate perceptions of the space. This is a candid depiction of the do-nothing scenario – the active contribution of the state in the creation of informality within the AME and the city of Accra, Ghana.