In the contemporary built-environment the focus is very much on environmentally conscious design or so-called ‘sustainable’ design- or even the generic labelled ‘green’ architecture. Despite this popular and supposedly informed preoccupation with the importance of the role of ecology in architecture, ‘green’ architecture is usually fixated on energy efficiency within the envelope of an individual building. This dissertation questions this limited, and often artificial and technologically driven, relationship between man and ecology. Fundamentally it questions the role of architecture as negotiator in this relationship. The author proposes an alternative way of viewing ecologically conscious architecture, where the intent of the architectural intervention is to respond directly to a given environmental issue and where its existential impact relates to its surrounding situation and the tension between man and ecology existing within the landscape, instead of turning its focus inwards to achieve isolated ‘environmental’ efficiency. Examples of such a specific issue, context and program with a collective goal of achieving these aims are hence forth elaborated on in the content of this dissertation. / Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

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For mobile robots which operate in human environments it is not sufficient to simply travel to their target destination as quickly as possible. Instead, mobile robots in human environments need to travel to their destination safely,  keeping a comfortable distance to humans and not colliding with any obstacles along the way. As the number of possible human-robot interactions is very large, defining a rule-based navigation approach is difficult in such highly dynamic environments. Current approaches solve this task by predicting the trajectories of humans in the scene and then planning a collision-free path. However, this requires separate components for detecting and predicting human motion and does not scale well to densely populated environments. Therefore, this work investigates the use of deep reinforcement learning for the navigation of mobile robots in human environments. This approach is based on recent research on utilizing deep neural networks in reinforcement learning to successfully play Atari 2600 video games on human level. A deep convolutional neural network is trained end-to-end from one-dimensional laser scan data to command velocities. Discrete and continuous action space implementations are evaluated in a simulation and are shown to outperform a Social Force Model baseline approach on the navigation problem for mobile robots in human environments.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第17922号 / 情博第504号 / 新制||情||89(附属図書館) / 30742 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 守屋 和幸, 教授 吉川 正俊, 准教授 小山 里奈 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DGAM

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Metatheory, a study of theories, was the focus of this research study. A qualitative, grounded theory research design was used to examine documents on systems theory found outside the field of Clothing and Textiles (CT) and the social psychological theories used within CT. Recognizing the dynamic, complex nature of the human system and its interaction with multiple other systems led to the question of: What multidimensional theoretical framework would address this complexity and provide an expanded view for research and education in the field of CT? Data were collected from documentary materials pertaining to systems theory and CT theories by the researcher in a library search of the literature. Four domains were identified from the data that were collected and analyzed. The domains were Relationship, Process, Organization, and Outcomes. Then, a holistic, systemic theoretical framework and the Human-Environment Systems model were developed from the integration of systems theory and the CT theories. The model was designed to give a general, abstract visual representation of the theoretical concepts of a holistic, systemic view of the human-environment unit. A discussion of the complex societal issue of body image and eating disorders in females served to illustrate the use of the proposed theoretical framework and model. Recommendations were made for future exploration of the use of a holistic perspective for research and educational practices in the field of CT in order to address dynamic, complex human-environment problems. / Ph. D.

Coastal communities are facing unprecedented challenges as impacts of climate change continue to escalate globally. Rising sea levels, intensified storm activity, and coastal erosion are extreme climate impacts noticed frequently in coastal communities. Indigenous coastal communities in Ghana are impacted by these extreme climate impacts. In this thesis, I studied the perceived human-environment changes in Indigenous community of Akplabanya. Akplabanya community on the coast of Ghana is experiencing changes in their cultural heritage, environmental surroundings, and their climate. This thesis sought to explore adaptation dynamics within Akplabanya and offer insights into their human-environmental changes and resilience in the face of climate change. In studies that focus on Ghana, little is known about the changes of human-environment interaction in Akplabanya, or their Indigenous peoples' responses to those changes. The two objectives of this study are: 1). To identify changes in coastal human-environment interactions as perceived by the Akplabanya Indigenous community, and 2). To examine the human adaptation responses of the Akplabanya community to the changes in their coastal human-environment interactions. I used four qualitative data collection methods. Semi-structured interviews (n=61) enlisted personal experiences and insights on changing environment and adaptation responses. Key informant interviews (n=28) provided additional insights into context and history. Focused group discussions (n=3), each comprising five participants, focused the community's collective narratives on changing environment and adaptation responses. Participant observation conducted throughout data collection helped me to understand daily life of Akplabanya. Data collection occurred over a period of two months (December 2022-February 2023). I found five themes to explain Akplabanya's perceptions about the changes of coastal human-environment interactions. They are: 1). Biodiversity loss (e.g. vegetation loss), 2). Pollution (e.g. unsustainable practices), 3). Coastal climate change (e.g. coastal erosion), 4). Resource change (e.g. freshwater change), and Population change (e.g. increasing population). I also built participant responses that addressed objective 2 on themes of place, agency, collective action, institutions, coastal Indigenous knowledge, and learning. The findings built on these themes highlights changes in coastal human-environment interactions in coastal fisheries, water systems, land utilization, livestock management, architectural practices, and the preservation of Indigenous knowledge in Akplabanya. / Master of Science / Coastal communities are facing unprecedented challenges as impacts of climate change continue to escalate globally. Rising sea levels, intensified storm activity, and coastal erosion are extreme climate impacts noticed frequently in coastal communities. Indigenous coastal communities in Ghana are impacted by these extreme climate impacts. In this thesis, I studied the perceived human-environment changes in Indigenous community of Akplabanya. Akplabanya community on the coast of Ghana is experiencing changes in their cultural heritage, environmental surroundings, and their climate. This thesis sought to explore adaptation dynamics within Akplabanya and offer insights into their human-environmental changes and resilience in the face of climate change. In studies that focus on Ghana, little is known about the changes of human-environment interaction in Akplabanya, or their Indigenous peoples' responses to those changes. The two objectives of this study are: 1). To identify changes in coastal human-environment interactions as perceived by the Akplabanya Indigenous community, and 2). To examine the human adaptation responses of the Akplabanya community to the changes in their coastal human-environment interactions. I used four qualitative data collection methods. Semi-structured interviews (n=61) enlisted personal experiences and insights on changing environment and adaptation responses. Key informant interviews (n=28) provided additional insights into context and history. Focused group discussions (n=3), each comprising five participants, focused the community's collective narratives on changing environment and adaptation responses. Participant observation conducted throughout data collection helped me to understand daily life of Akplabanya. Data collection occurred over a period of two months (December 2022-February 2023). I found five themes to explain Akplabanya's perceptions about the changes of coastal human-environment interactions. They are: 1). Biodiversity loss (e.g. vegetation loss), 2). Pollution (e.g. unsustainable practices), 3). Coastal climate change (e.g. coastal erosion), 4). Resource change (e.g. freshwater change), and Population change (e.g. increasing population). I also built participant responses that addressed objective 2 on themes of place, agency, collective action, institutions, coastal Indigenous knowledge, and learning. The findings built on these themes highlights changes in coastal human-environment interactions in coastal fisheries, water systems, land utilization, livestock management, architectural practices, and the preservation of Indigenous knowledge in Akplabanya.

In a global urban context marked by increasingly unsustainable conditions, the capacity to imagine a fundamentally different future is crucial to avoid being trapped in a precarious present. The cognitive potential of critically challenging and reimagining current degraded conditions is only partly examined in the existing literature. Therefore, a question arises as to whether this process could somehow influence an individual’s understanding of environmental circumstances and the motivations for acting upon them. This study focuses on University City (Mexico) as a case study. It aimed to investigate the potential of critical futures studies (CFS), applied to human-environment interactions in public spaces, to help articulate positive futures and motivate taking action. The question: What should the future look and feel like?, let participants reframe prevailing negative narratives and envision human-environment interactions in an urban public space characterized by diversity, multifunctionality, livability, and democracy. Key findings from a series of participatory workshops revealed divergent responses to the critical futures approach in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, the inherent desire toward taking action, either increased or was maintained at high pre-existing levels, tentatively explained by the catalytic role of the emotional contrast between current and envisioned experiences. This study also observed narrative shifts regarding intrinsic motivation toward more collective, affective, and change-oriented reasons. Conversely, extrinsic motivation, as the disposition to act based on anticipated outcomes, remained limited after the workshops, which is hypothesized to be an outcome of perceived barriers, such as institutional hierarchies, and participants' unfamiliarity with potential courses of action.  Overall, this study explores and discusses the potential of CFS methods for motivating action toward positive change and underscores the importance of contextualizing motivational factors within present realities and actionable knowledge. Leveraging these insights in participatory settings can sustain motivation, furthering progress toward a desirable and sustainable future.