Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (M.S. in Advanced Studies)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1978. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 108-111. / M.C.P. / M.Arch.A.S.

No description available.

How and why the scale of streets and squares has evolved from intimate and human settings to the contemporary neglect of human needs in open space is the focus of investigation in this research. An understanding of the concept of "human scale" establishes the variables that characterize humanly-scaled open space, which in turn identify transformations in the urban environment. In addition, the origins and development of zoning regulations help to trace the factors that degrade urban space and influence the loss of human scale. This loss has been identified in the adaptation of pre-industrial urban space to the novelties of technological and industrial expansion. The complexity of solutions to such issues as traffic congestion, the urgent need for new housing accommodation, overcrowding and hygienic problems influenced the new regulations that directly altered human scale through changes in street dimensions, land use patterns and size of houses and lots. In post-WW II developments these regulations became the single design tool and they greatly impeded the establishment of human scale. Recent changes in urban design practice and the reintroduction of human scale to the design of open space are not only a demonstration of increasing sensitivity towards aesthetic qualities but also a product of the new socio-economic and environmental climate. Through analysis of compositional laws and the planning practice of different Montreal residential neighborhoods over the last hundred years the author demonstrates how visual quality and human scale are the product of a complex series of socio-economic, technical and political issues.

Note:

No description available.

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel (1923), a pioneering Canadian woman architect and urban planner, contributed to the most important planning projects in Montreal during the 1960s. She worked in collaboration with H. P. Daniel van Ginkel, and together their planning proposals determined the direction of the future growth of Montreal. At a time of rapid clearance and construction in the city core, and when the Old City was at risk of total demolition, the van Ginkels were committed to the development of a humane architectural environment. The van Ginkels understood Modernism as a movement concerned with ethical, social and technical improvements within society, not merely as a style for building and major redevelopment. / In this thesis, I argue that Lemco van Ginkel developed a unique Modern urban aesthetic that is reflected in her planning work in Montreal. She viewed the urban environment as a total fabric in which the disruption of one thread affected the whole. Any changes made must be done with due respect for the totality ensuring an end product that is a whole cloth, not a patchwork. The development of her urban aesthetic can be properly understood only against the following backdrop: her experience in Europe, working in the Atelier of Le Corbusier, and attending CIAM in association with Team Ten; and, in the United States while teaching in the 1950s at the University of Pennsylvania where she initiated an American chapter of CIAM (Group for Architectural Investigation). Moreover, her design theory must be viewed in light of her collaboration with her husband, H. P. Daniel van Ginkel (1920), a member of the Dutch CIAM and a founding member of Team Ten during the 1950s. Lemco van Ginkel's conception of a Modern urban aesthetic allowed her to assume an essential role in the fundamental design of Montreal.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Efforts to resolve environmental planning and decision-making conflicts usually focus on participant involvement, mutual understanding of the problem situation, evaluation criteria identification, data availability, and potential alternative solutions. However, as the alternatives become less distinct and participant values more diverse, intensified negotiations and more data are usually required for meaningful planning and decision-making. Consequently, questions such as "What collaborative spatial decision making design is best for a given context?" "How can the values and needs of stakeholders be integrated into the planning process?" and "How can we learn from decision making experiences and understanding of the past?" are crucial considerations. Answers to these questions can be developed around the analytic and discursive approaches that transform diffused subjective judgments into systematic consensus-oriented resolutions. / This dissertation examines the above issues through the design, implementation, and assessment of the Collaborative Spatial Delphi (CSD) Methodology. The CSD methodology facilitates spatial thinking and discursive strategies to describe the complex social-technical dynamics associated with the knowledge-structuring-consensus nexus of the participation process. The CSD methodology describes this nexus by synthesizing research findings from knowledge management, focus group theory, systems theory, integrated assessment, visualization and exploratory analysis, and transformative learning all represented within a collaborative geographic information system (GIS) framework. / The CSD methodology was implemented in multiple contexts. Its use in two contexts - strategic planning and management of urban green spaces in Montreal (Canada); and priority setting for North American biodiversity conservation - are reported in detail in this dissertation. The summative feedbacks from all the CSD planning workshops help incrementally improve the design of the CSD process. This dissertation also reports on the design and use of questionnaire surveys to incorporate local realities into planning, as well as the development of an evaluation index to assess the face validity and effectiveness of the CSD process from the perspective of workshop participants. / The accumulated evidence from the CSD implementations suggests that many core issues exist across spatial problem solving situations. Thus, the design and specification of a core collaborative process model provides benefits for knowledge exchange. General systems theory was used to classify the core technical components of the collaborative GIS design, and soft systems theory was used to characterize the human activity dynamics. Object oriented principles enabled the generation of a flexible domain model, and the unified modelling language (UML) visually described the collaborative process. The CSD methodology is used as a proof of concept. / This dissertation contributes to knowledge in the general areas of Geography, Geographic information systems and science, and Environmental decision making. The specific contributions are threefold. First, the CSD provides a synthesis of multi-disciplinary theories and a tested tool for environmental problem solving. Second, the CSD facilitates a fusion of local and technical knowledge for more realistic consensus planning outcomes. Third, an empirical-theoretical visual formalism of the CSD allows for process knowledge standardization and sharing across problem solving situations.