This thesis introduces <em>Interstitial Urbanity</em> as a strategy for addressing issues of urbanity and place within New York's peripheral developments. Driven primarily by market forces, these developer led office and condominium complexes are currently being constructed along the post-industrial shorelines of New York's outer boroughs. Interstitial urbanity proposes an urban centre: a fragment of place within a non-place settlement. The theory is manifested in the design of an interstice that sits within the Queens West development on the Long Island City waterfront. Taking the form of a multi-layered public space, the interstice is comprised of a waterfront market square flanked by a commuter train terminal and an arts centre housed in a turn of the century power plant.

This thesis identifies the attractors of Detroit’s growth and divulges into the cultural, federal, socio-economic and urban deterrents that have afflicted Detroit for the past fifty years. It probes the city of Detroit and exposes a hyper-segregated city that has been destroyed by a self-feeding cycle of nomadic behaviour and a speculative culture of endless opportunities. To initiate change this thesis examines real alternatives that are not defined for the citizens of Detroit, but are created by them. It is a self-organizing grassroots approach that applies pressure on the city to rethink its conventional methods of urban revitalization. Utilizing the city’s large inventory of vacant land, abandoned buildings and neighbourhood schools, an alternative design methodology is logically applied to atomize, consolidate, fortify and envisage a new Detroit; one where residents can remain sufficiently abreast of the social and economic problems that consistently challenge them.

This thesis introduces <em>Interstitial Urbanity</em> as a strategy for addressing issues of urbanity and place within New York's peripheral developments. Driven primarily by market forces, these developer led office and condominium complexes are currently being constructed along the post-industrial shorelines of New York's outer boroughs. Interstitial urbanity proposes an urban centre: a fragment of place within a non-place settlement. The theory is manifested in the design of an interstice that sits within the Queens West development on the Long Island City waterfront. Taking the form of a multi-layered public space, the interstice is comprised of a waterfront market square flanked by a commuter train terminal and an arts centre housed in a turn of the century power plant.

This thesis identifies the attractors of Detroit’s growth and divulges into the cultural, federal, socio-economic and urban deterrents that have afflicted Detroit for the past fifty years. It probes the city of Detroit and exposes a hyper-segregated city that has been destroyed by a self-feeding cycle of nomadic behaviour and a speculative culture of endless opportunities. To initiate change this thesis examines real alternatives that are not defined for the citizens of Detroit, but are created by them. It is a self-organizing grassroots approach that applies pressure on the city to rethink its conventional methods of urban revitalization. Utilizing the city’s large inventory of vacant land, abandoned buildings and neighbourhood schools, an alternative design methodology is logically applied to atomize, consolidate, fortify and envisage a new Detroit; one where residents can remain sufficiently abreast of the social and economic problems that consistently challenge them.

This study sought to determine how five neighbourhood models (the Grid, Loop and Cul-de-Sac, Fused Grid, New Urbanist and Greenway) compare in terms of the characteristics known to affect active transportation rates, and which model is most likely to be able to facilitate active transportation as a result. In order to do so, model principles and design characteristics of case study neighbourhoods were described and used to create a range of design specifications for each model. These specifications were then used to develop a GIS-based representation of an example neighbourhood for each model, which included the transportation network, parcels of different land use types and densities, homes and destinations. GIS, statistical and graph-based techniques were then used to comprehensively assess and compare the models in terms of their potential to facilitate walking and biking through the built environment correlates identified in through a literature review. The models were ranked on each variable, and then an overall comparison was made on the basis diversity (land use mix), density and design - the three dimensions identified by Cervero and Kockelman (1997) as being the key ways through which the built environment can contribute to creating walkable (and potentially bikeable) neighbourhoods. Additional measures related to trip characteristics and issues of importance to developers (such as buildable area) were also included. The results illustrate how each model’s unique approach to facilitating walking and/or biking is reflected in the built environment characteristics assessed. While a model that was strong in one category was often weaker in another (a finding which echoes that of Filion and Hammond, 2003), the three alternative models (Fused Grid, New Urbanist and Greenway) consistently fared better than the more traditional Grid and Loop and Cul-de-Sac designs, with the New Urbanist scoring the highest on the overall evaluation of walkability and bikeability and the Greenway the best on network design for cyclists. In addition to these findings, the study also provided an opportunity to explore several challenges related to model assessment, such as issues arising from frame choice, off-set networks, and the use of roads as proxies for active transportation networks.

The aim of this study is to investigate characteristics of urban transformation in Antioch and Alexandretta during the French Mandate, 1920-1938. Contending that a purely formal analysis would fail to grasp complex politics of architecture and urbanism promoted by the French administration, this thesis seeks to explore the urban transformation of these cities in its political and representational context. In analyzing the French perception of the urban space especially in Antioch, this thesis devotes an extensive attention to the nineteenth century travelers who visited Antioch, by emphasizing the ways in which they described the urban make-up of the city. Moreover, it situates the case of Antioch and Alexandretta within the broader framework of French colonial architecture and urbanism by occassionally referring to French North Africa on the one hand, and other cities of the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon on the other hand. Along with an analysis of the changing built environment in Antioch and Alexandretta, other visual and representational strategies such as the colonial exhibition, archeological works, scholarly endeavors, and tourism are discussed. It is the major premise of this thesis that a comprehensive portrayal of the architectural and urban transformation of these cities might be attained only through the inclusion of different forms of political and visual representation.

ABSTRACT OUT OF THE GREYZONE: EXPLORING GREYFIELD DESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT Konstantinos Pavlou Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor Cecelia Paine Community shopping centres in many North American suburban areas have been in decline for two decades. Failed community shopping centres, termed ‘greyfields’, have resulted in large parcels of unused lands in core urban areas, forcing residents to travel longer distances to regional malls. The decline of community shopping centres may have a number of causes, but for this study it was hypothesized that successful community shopping centres share a number of design qualities that unsuccessful shopping centres do not have. A design framework was developed based on retail design and planning literature. The framework was applied to assess an existing redevelopment, the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto. The assessment findings derived from site observations and key informant interviews resulted in a revised design framework. The final framework provides a guide to those interested in transforming commercial greyfields into vibrant components of our urban communities.

Urban highway infrastructure in North America has been singularly designed for the automobile, severing parts of the urban fabric, blighting our once-thriving city centres and resulting in spaces that are void of the human scale. The Cogswell Interchange in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is such an infrastructure, cutting through the downtown core and heritage district. This thesis investigates the Cogswell Interchange in an attempt to animate and enliven a dead urban space, reducing traffic and bringing new activity and life to the street. Reappropriating parts of vehicular infrastructure for cyclist and pedestrian use and creating a variety of activities and programs (gallery, gym, restaurant, park) enables an increased connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists and brings a more human-scale urbanity to the site. The infrastructure itself becomes a framework upon which to build, revisioned as an active, vibrant place which people can experience with a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation.

This practicum analyzes the leadership, management practices, and organizational structure of five university gardening organizations, to determine if they have had an impact on the spaces of agricultural production in the cities in which they exist. The research concludes that if university gardens/farms are to become successful demonstration projects within their cities they must: 1) have strong, collaborative, and flexible leadership structures; 2) effectively communicate with stakeholders; 3) generate consistent funding; 4) demonstrate their success on campus and within their communities; 5) create linkages with academic and community organizations; 6) create goals and objectives that overlap with university and municipal strategic plans. Furthermore, this study illustrates that university gardens/farms are important to planners as ‘living laboratories’ of urban food production; as well as educational tools that build the capacity of residents to grow local food, and understand the importance of agricultural urbanism (AU) for city planning and design.

This study sought to determine how five neighbourhood models (the Grid, Loop and Cul-de-Sac, Fused Grid, New Urbanist and Greenway) compare in terms of the characteristics known to affect active transportation rates, and which model is most likely to be able to facilitate active transportation as a result. In order to do so, model principles and design characteristics of case study neighbourhoods were described and used to create a range of design specifications for each model. These specifications were then used to develop a GIS-based representation of an example neighbourhood for each model, which included the transportation network, parcels of different land use types and densities, homes and destinations. GIS, statistical and graph-based techniques were then used to comprehensively assess and compare the models in terms of their potential to facilitate walking and biking through the built environment correlates identified in through a literature review. The models were ranked on each variable, and then an overall comparison was made on the basis diversity (land use mix), density and design - the three dimensions identified by Cervero and Kockelman (1997) as being the key ways through which the built environment can contribute to creating walkable (and potentially bikeable) neighbourhoods. Additional measures related to trip characteristics and issues of importance to developers (such as buildable area) were also included. The results illustrate how each model’s unique approach to facilitating walking and/or biking is reflected in the built environment characteristics assessed. While a model that was strong in one category was often weaker in another (a finding which echoes that of Filion and Hammond, 2003), the three alternative models (Fused Grid, New Urbanist and Greenway) consistently fared better than the more traditional Grid and Loop and Cul-de-Sac designs, with the New Urbanist scoring the highest on the overall evaluation of walkability and bikeability and the Greenway the best on network design for cyclists. In addition to these findings, the study also provided an opportunity to explore several challenges related to model assessment, such as issues arising from frame choice, off-set networks, and the use of roads as proxies for active transportation networks.