Since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, there have been two-hundred and thirty more school shootings in the United States, not including those that have happened at colleges or universities[1]. This has been a major change that American school systems have been struggling to adapt to, especially since many of the schools were built in the 1950s and 1960s. In the wake of these recurring tragedies, there are strategies that can be followed to not only provide safer schools that will protect students, but also design with empathy in mind. This thesis will examine how architecture can inspire empathy in a school, while also providing a safe learning environment. Specifically, the generator for these design strategies will be a new design for Chelmsford High School, serving grades nine through twelve. This age range is particularly important to serve and inspire, as the average age of a school shooter is sixteen. High schools that inspire empathy will make students more excited to be at school and more interested in taking care of their community and building. The program of this new design will provide and support the education and safety of students, faculty, and staff. It will also act as a beacon where people in the surrounding community can participate in activities outside of school hours. This will foster a connection, and provide a second home for more than just employees and students who use the school on a daily basis. [1] (Goode, 2018)

The transformation of cities through gentrification and the commodification of culture and green space are central problems in Urban Studies. This thesis investigated how cities like Stockholm can move forward from this gentrification. The perspective of relational placemaking was taken, as this can occur both top-down via actions of urban planners and bottom-up by the organization of local residents. The SoFo neighbourhood on the island of Södermalm in central Stockholm is a rich example of gentrification and hipster urbanism. This research investigates the meaning of SoFo today, over 20 years after it was first named. The analysis was organized using the relational placemaking framework of Pierce and colleagues. To summarize, the problem or conflict was gentrification and this was illustrated for SoFo using data. Gentrification occurred after 2001 and the rapid rise in property value, a 20% turnover of people and the Swedish middle class demographics each confirm the gentrification noted by others. With this problem established, theplace frame of the current identity of SoFo was what the actors interacted around and what was considered as the response to gentrification. The initial placemaking of SoFo rested on a strong identity that was both radical and carefree and respondents tended to look back with nostalgia to the 90s when the area was the centre of the Stockholm music scene. The brand of SoFo was mainly produced grassroots through local residents and businesses without specific top-down actions from the city government. The two actors explored were real estate and small businesses. Real estate could encourage gentrification through the discourse in the ads and selective marketing to wealthy gentrifiers that appreciated quality and could afford it. Looking at final sale prices from abehavioural perspective, people were willing to pay for living in SoFo and paid more to be near areas like Nytorget with its liveliness. However, realtors claimed that SoFo also offers relaxation or peace and quiet, which rebrands away from the established carefree identity. Looking then at the small businesses, evidence was provided that indicated a strategy against gentrification. Many businesses focused on small scale handicraft or providing places for their friends and local community. Some were even not interested in a profitable business plan and acted on purpose to make their place uncool, to avoid attracting trendy hipsters that would displace their clientele. Small businesses were also rebranding SoFo, expressing that the carefree and relaxed identity is there if one looks away from trendy Nytorget. The defensive strategy of the small businesses was subtle and unusual and led the author to the following, somewhat informal analogy: SoFo is playing dead until the bear of gentrification moves on to another neighbourhood. This strategy understands theinterconnectivity of trendy, authentic shops, raised rents and gentrification.

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.

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Public space, where ordinary situations and everyday life takes place, is a concept that has gone from being ignored to becoming the core of urban development. As the interest of public space is increasing, so does the critique. A critique that in Kista criticizes public space for being neglected, segregated and scary. Nevertheless, Kista is standing before several urban renewal projects aiming to be a place of mixed functions and vibrancy. However, these projects are both time-consuming and complex and will not be able to address the issues within the nearest future. By introducing temporary use of public space, ideals such as placemaking and temporary urbanism may deal with the amount of time being consumed during the planning processes of formulation, approval, adaption and implementation. It is done so by activating space through meanwhile usage. By studying places, functions and actors in Kista, the aim is to develop a method to initiate and implement the concept of temporary use of space, in accordance to the Swedish planning system. Through a literature review, a city’s function is being analyzed, definitions of public space identified and urbans ideals/ theories explored. Furthermore, two urban renewal projects are being studied, where strategic structures of how to develop temporary initiatives is analyzed. From the literature review follows a case study where interviews and observations are being conducted to gain local knowledge and professional expertise. There are both general drivers and specific features found in Kista arguing for temporary use of space, which results in a strategy and a process. The strategy is of a comprehensive approach aiming to initiate the concept of temporary use while the process is about how to implement temporary activities. To initiate and implement temporary use of space several strategic structures are suggested. The study suggests an early implementation within a larger urban renewal project, developed together with a vision and municipal plan and program. The method should be of a top-down structure, led by Kista Science City and developed by the City of Stockholm and real estate developers in Kista. The community should act as co-creators during the development and implementation of temporary activities. Space chosen for temporary used should be done so with care, in relation to knowledge of what attracts people and preconditions in Kista. The structure of the process needs to be dynamic, giving room for changes and improvements.

Despite the overwhelming role food plays in our everyday lives, the both new and old phenomenon of incorporating food systems into master planned communities has largely been overlooked. The in-progress community of Serenbe located just outside of Atlanta, Georgia is breaking this trend. The mixed use 1,000 acre community has already included many food and agriculture elements such as an organic farm, farmers’ market, grocery store, farm-to-table restaurants and edible landscaping - making it an exemplar case of an emerging planning strategy called Agricultural Urbanism. While many are heralding Serenbe for its strides as a community that incorporates agriculture into its design, the problem is that the full impact of this project remains unknown. In utilizing the case study method for landscape architecture developed by Francis (2001), this thesis examines the process, current state and projected outcomes of including Agricultural Urbanism into the Serenbe Community.

In recent years, many academics have noticed the presence of food delivery couriers in theurban space. Likewise, activism has emerged calling for the recognition of food deliverycouriers, and many have addressed the dehumanization they have suffered by becomingcommodities and, thus, objects. Therefore, the food delivery courier has the potential tobecome a case study that can problematize how humanity categorizes what counts as humanand not. Through understanding how food delivery couriers shape the urban landscape, theiragency cannot be denied. This thesis uses the phenomenological method to reflect upon first-hand bodilyexperiences of the researcher and food delivery courier, who in this case is based in Malmö,Sweden. The food delivery courier finds and creates meaning by encountering the manyactors involved in city making by cycling in the city. Thus, this thesis is a materialization ofmore than human encounters and a space to reflect upon their relevance in creating the city asthe result of a coalition of multi-ontological intentionalities.

As we move forward in time, our cities are meant to be progressive, which should ideally prioritize its pedestrians and make spaces inclusive to all socio-economic groups. On the contrary, observation tells that some of our cities get designed with an “orthodox” approach by keeping in mind the interests of motorways with high mast blue-rich LED luminaires. Such a system does not allow pedestrian-oriented activities, such as Farmer’s markets, Food Streets, Public Plazas, etc., to thrive and leaves smaller streets where such activities happen in darkness or with unplanned, quick fix lighting.While darkness is good for the environmental benefit of light pollution, certain parts of our cities need to be lit the right way for the apt functioning of the urban realm.Based on the placemaking concept by urban activists/journalists and sociologists such as Jane Jacobs and William H Whyte there are 4 attributes to making a place great. The place diagram represents the four attributes: access and linkages, comfort and image, uses and activities, and scalability. The study utilizes the Place Diagram as a basis for the analysis and design of the lighting of the Russell Market Promenade site in Bangalore.The design proposal will focus on the various user groups of the space and the creative pattern of space use. The assessment of the lighting proposal is by the users of the space, architects, lighting designers, and pedestrians in the area.

Throughout the history of Architecture and Urbanism, many efforts were made and continue being done in order to learn how to successfully design good built environments for human beings. This goal has not only expanded to several other fields such as Geography, Sociology, and Environmental Psychology but also received new and invaluable contributions from several other unexpected fields. Such might be the case with the field of Viticulture and its interesting concept of terroir which has already been used to address topics connected with urbanism and against the increased globalization. The process of globalization in which people are instead considered as citizens of a new global world order reduces the place and rather creates a world of “placelessness”. As a concept, terroir sheds light on the importance of authenticity and how a sense of feeling can generate a cultural identity. However, in a time where neoliberal politics are increasing with a strengthened nationalism, it can also be a source of politics. Although its authenticity can be used as a means to work against globalization, it can also install a perception of unity to the local people, therefore excluding foreigners and maintaining an ideal that is unattainable for multicultural cities. The purpose of this paper is to primarily suggest a definition for a new concept entitled urban terroir and to reveal the elements of the interactive urban ecosystem of a place embodied in our cities’ characteristic and distinctive qualities. In addition, the paper also has an objective of understanding how architects, planners, politicians, and developers can deeply understand terroir when creating places and policies without excluding people from the developed cultural identity it is meant to create. This is possible by interviewing residents from three cities in France, Mulhouse, Dunkerque, and Toulouse, and different areas in the municipality of Stockholm about their respective perception of terroir in the form of authenticity and its linkage to placemaking that may act as an accelerator to further exclusion of cultural minorities in the urban environment. The obtained results conclude a definition of urban terroir as a compilation of elements and certain characteristics that collectively, with respect to the residents in an area, make up the essence of a city. These elements comprise the architecture and its historical significance, inherent traditions tied to the region, temporal legibility, the elements of scale including nodes, paths, landmarks, districts as well as edges, and ultimately, the inclusion of minorities. The author also raises the potential romanticization of nationalism with terroir and authenticity. Thus, policies according to Interculturalism are derived which firstly include acknowledging the impact that politicians have. This includes securing housing, providing strategies to work against the identified ethnic segregation, and developing an agenda that promotes interactions whilst simultaneously nurturing inclusive cultural identities. As for architects and urban planners, the study concludes the potential placemaking has in fostering micro-public places in the city where different cultures can meet. The authenticity behind these places should go beyond the physical attributes and instead include the people living in the city. It becomes crucial to view the city as not limited to the inner-city, but also validate the right to the city and placemaking of inhabitants residing in the periphery by organizing initiatives that foster growth in such areas of the city. By working against the identified current state, in the form of generating authentic interactions with a social attachment to minority cultures, urban planners are able to present an understanding of the inevitable political aspect of placemaking.