The initiatives of open space conservation, as outlined in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, have been implemented through the purchase of nearly 65 thousand acres by Pima County. This land abuts sections of grazing leases held by state and federal agencies, forming largely unfragmented landscapes surrounding the city's urban core. Much of the outlying acreage is rural historic working ranches, now managed as open space conservation preserves. Ranches are landscapes of low-intensity impact, where the archaeological record of centuries of human land use is well preserved. Much of the land, however, remains relatively unstudied. To refine spatial predictions of archaeologically sensitive areas in southern Pima County, I use multivariate logistic regression to develop predictive models of probable archaeological site locations for three time periods at Rancho Seco as a case study. Results suggest portions Rancho Seco might contain additional Preceramic and Historic cultural resources but additional data collection is needed.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone / This case study examined the potential of creating collaborative co-working spaces at the University of Arizona. Through qualitative research on the effectiveness of co-working spaces already in place at three different universities across the nation, this study identified key features that could successfully be implemented at the University of Arizona. These features were a co-working space built around a student organization centered on collaboration and innovation. The latest in technological resources to aid in project execution and learning. Lastly, a partnership with a local makerspace providing students of all backgrounds and interests to collaboratively work on building physical items in a space they might not have had previous access to. While research was limited to university affiliated websites and articles on co-working spaces, scholarly articles on this specific subject where not found to further back conclusive findings and recommendations.

Increasingly, it is understood that in order to realize healthy cities the urban environment must include viable and accessible open space. In order for urban planning and development agencies to ensure the presence of open space within cities, it is necessary to understand what constitutes ‘quality’ open space and the impediments to its creation. The focus of this thesis is to further understand the issues surrounding planning and management of open space in the Msunduzi Municipality in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A case study of the Camps Drift Waterfront Project, a local open space area that is currently being developed, is investigated through both key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders and through a comprehensive survey of written information. The thesis reveals a further understanding of how open space is planned locally, the issues surrounding creating quality and accessible open space and the key areas for further research. Finally, this thesis highlights how the case study of Msunduzi can broaden the debates and concepts in open space theory and planning. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-29 16:19:29.922

The extensive literature on public open space illustrates that it is of great importance to the quality of life. This is particularly true in Syria where public open spaces play a critical role in the urban structure of cities and in the inhabitant’s daily existence. There is published evidence that improving the quality of public open spaces requires a comprehensive analysis of these spaces in order to be able to evaluate their quality. This thesis is concerned with investigating and evaluating public open spaces in Hama, Syria both in terms of the quality of the spaces themselves and the process of creating and managing these spaces in order to offer suggestions for improving the quality of life in Hama through improving the quality of its spaces. The research strategy, the social spatial approach, involves understanding the investigative context as: (a) a social phenomenon, by exploring the residents’ perceptions, professionals’ perceptions and users’ behaviour, (b) a spatial phenomenon, by exploring the physical and spatial structure of Hama. The research adopts a case study method choosing three parks as examples for their distinctive features, and a range of different qualitative and quantitative techniques are applied systematically to these parks and their wider context. These techniques comprised: a questionnaire survey with residents in Hama; observation and behavioural mapping in the parks; semi-structured interviews with professionals involved in the design and management process; land use and urban form surveys; space syntax applied at micro and macro scale; and a desk-top study of documents. The findings of the evaluation illustrate that the qualities of the three selected parks could be enhanced. In addition, they show the there is scope for a participatory process of design and management to ensure that the final delivery of new parks and the development of existing ones meet the users’ expectations. The research draws a number of conclusions, which are developed into a set of general recommendations. Two of the key suggestions are (a) the provision of good quality public facilities which meet residents’ needs in the parks (b) the provision of training programmes by Hama City Council for those involved in the development and delivery process of public open spaces. Both are vital if the quality of the public open spaces is to be improved.

This Master thesis aims to increase the work performance and satisfaction of employees of a law firm that provides its legal services to small, medium and large companies, and companies and individuals people. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on management of job performance, employee motivation and specifics of open space. The theory is applied in the practical part of thesis, which offers suggestions for improving the motivation system. Solutions are based on company and especially employee research.

Densification is well used in today’s city planning to meet the global urbanisation. Densification brings advantages for social, economic and ecologically sustainable development. However, it can also bring disadvantages, such as loss of open space. This study aims to examine and describe how open spaces manifest in Umeå, a Swedish city undergoing densification. The aim is also to examine how inhabitants perceive and use open space in two cases in Umeå. The study has been carried out through a literature review of relevant theory and relevant planning material, as well as through interviews regarding inhabitants’ perceptions and use of open space. Findings confirm that there is no distinct definition of open space in Sweden, which makes room for interpretation for city planners. In this study open space is defined as land within detailed development plan areas that is free of buildings and that is possible to reside in. The results show that in Umeå the current norm for open spaces within dense building structure is to emphasize quality and availability rather than quantity. Furthermore, the results show that open space manifests differently due to different prerequisites. Open spaces in the city centre are smaller and less green compared to open spaces outside of the city centre.

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Current residential building designs have become very close and confined. This confinement has made the house lacking in the feeling of open space and the gradual transition from the outdoor to the indoor spaces. These units lack to ventilation, natural lighting, and the connection with the natural environments. In this study, a non-conventional design of the residential building is introduced. This design has revealed the elements of the ideal that is missing in the typical residential buildings today. / Master of Architecture

My thesis is regarding the regeneration of identity and a sense of place on the unappealing nature of public open space, in terms of its urban context and architecture. A sense of place is related to the quality and character of making a place unique or special. It could be described as the established atmosphere or character of an individuals relationship with a place.  So a good sense of place becomes a place that people would like to be a part of and enhances a human's positive emotional attachment making people feel connected to a place. So creating a sense of place should be based on understanding the cultural identity, social activity, physical environment and heritage of a place. Shown on the left are two images captured from the movie "Lost in Translation"an American comedy-drama film directed and written by Sofia Coppola in 2003. The film revolves around an aging actor, Bob Harris, and a recent college graduate actress, Charlotte. These two Americans develop empathy after meeting by chance at their hotel bar in Tokyo. The movie explores themes of loneliness, insomnia, existential boredom and culture shock against the surroundings of a modern Japanese city. Both images from the movie show an unbalanced scale of the environment around the actor. These images reminded me of the first impression of disconnected or disappointed that I had of the atmosphere at the end of King Street in Alexandria, Virginia. The place was not comfortable to be in with its own character and the access to the water was hard to be sense visually. The first impression of this place still occupied my mind rather than any other attractive aspects within the area. This unpleasant experience arose from my own individual relationship with the place but later I figured out that it had already been seen as a public issue. These circumstances motivated me to think about how to regenerate a strong local sense of place in the area. The site of the project is an entire block from the Old Dominion Boat Club at the King Street Park to the Waterfront Park on Prince Street along the Potomac River in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. The main access to the site is at the end of King Street. King Street has been the dominant connection to the water and the main corridor, carrying most of the entertainments in Old Town. Currently though, it lacks designated routes to the water at the end of the street. This project, an urban park pavilion, is composed of four different programs: the roof park, plaza, community performance Theater and boat taxi terminal which will be treated as equal value by a juxtaposed arrangement and interconnected street grids. My thesis will narrates how to develop a sense of place through the interaction of quality of architecture, infrastructure, cultural identities, social activities and the environment. / Master of Architecture