This thesis is part of work completed for a National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) grant awarded in May 2012 to Texas Parks and Wildlife partnering with University of Texas, Austin (UT) Office of Sponsored Project and UT alumna Casey Gallagher. The purpose of the grant was to provide Bastrop State Park (BSP), following the 2011 Bastrop Complex Wildfire, with information on assessing fire-damaged park structures and guidance on preparing structures for future wildfires. The following chapters cover the historical background of the park and its structures, a brief account of the fire event, physical analysis of burned park structures, and a two part discussion on preparedness. The first preparedness chapter speaks generally on integration of cultural resource professionals in emergency planning and recovery at state, national and international levels, while the second discusses new options for fire prevention at BSP including defensible space, fire retardants, and alternative materials. / text

Hacienda San José de Cerro Gordo is a working hacienda 30 miles outside of Mexico City. The hacienda encompasses a large rancho (farming) area, mostly covered by prickly pear cacti and the central, gated compound, which includes the exquisite, 19th century casco (the main house of the hacienda), historic wall structures, and modern worker housing. The casco was built in the late 19th century (exact dates unknown). The hacienda is situated in an agrarian desert landscape, between the foothills of Cerro Gordo to the north and the pyramids of Teotihuacán in the distance to the south. The grand house has been completely uninhabited for forty years, the lack of maintenance leading to its dilapidation with each passing year. This Master's Report is in the format of a "feasibility study" which outlines the current conditions of the hacienda, explores the challenges it faces, options for its revitalization, and ultimately, to act as a resource for similar projects. The following research question is addressed: what are the best options for the stabilization and revitalization for Hacienda San José de Cerro Gordo, who are the actual and possible players in plan of action, what are the options for funding and what is the most feasible program for the hacienda? / text

How can interpretation be used to promote the sustainable conservation of a historic site? What is meant by sustainable conservation of historic sites is examined and its three aspects: the social, financial, and environmental defined. On the basis of a critical literature review, objectives for an interpretation plan that promotes the sustainability of a historic site are stated. Through case studies, current interpretive practices are examined and evaluated as to their potential for meeting these objectives. Sites chosen for study were identified by heritage professionals as ‘best practices.’ Case studies include Valley Forge National Park, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Burton Cotton Gin Museum, Burton, Texas; Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; President Lincoln’s Cottage, Washington D.C.; and the National Steel & Iron Heritage Museum, Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Based on the results of case study research, a best practices methodology is developed for writing an interpretation plan with sustainability among its central goals and practical examples of the unique ways in which each site addresses the different aspects of sustainability are given. The methodology developed is tested by outlining an interpretation plan for the Zedler Mill in Luling, Texas that promotes sustainability. This mill was a driving economic force in this small South Central Texas town for a period of nearly ninety years from 1874 to 1964. As with any historic site, conservation of the mill site today and into the future depends upon community support. My findings demonstrate how interpretation programs can provide the community (society) with social and economic benefits that can sustain that support. / text

In few cities will one find a landscape so scarred with the physical remains of its contentious recent past as Berlin. The capital city boasts recognizable and well-known relics from not only the Third Reich, but also from its time as communist East and capitalist West Berlin. Inconspicuously sitting in two of Berlin’s largest public parks though are two hills not as easily identifiable as other historic sites. Hidden beneath the grassy hills, the massive concrete remains of 1940s flak towers have slowly made their way into the historical consciousness of Berliners. In examining the evolution of the Nazi-built towers in the consciousness of Berliners, this thesis attempts to gain a better understanding of the city’s confrontation with the toxic relics in their landscape left from the Third Reich through a less-recognizable and less-contentious structure. / text

“Can the understanding of the patterns of urban development around a temple complex in India, using Christopher Alexander’s methodology, help better preserve these temple communities and their related temple architecture?” India, a country largely governed by a spiritual culture, draws sustenance and strength largely from religious buildings, thus leading to an emergence of many towns around these religious buildings and events associated with them. The temple acts as the nucleus and the body of life and township shoots from it with the cultural, religious and commercial needs acting as its driving force. Certain groups of people having similar experiential, ideological and sociological backgrounds tend to form a chorus in their pattern generation. The patterns refer to the patterns of relationship between the events that occur in the temple with the various spaces that they occur in. It also refers to the recurring relationships and influences of the temple on the temple town including both the urban development and community which shoot around the temple. The reverse recurring events also forms its own set of patterns. These patterns are seen both in the physical development of streets, shops etc around and in the intangible aspects of the culture, festivals and beliefs of people living in that town. Thus pattern language in this thesis refers to the life, culture and architecture generated by the recurring interactions and interdependencies of the temple communities as a whole. Thus this thesis concludes that the thorough understanding of these interdependencies and interconnections between the structure, its town and community helps preserve the temple architecture as well the town and its intangible culture more effectively. This approach to preservation makes the outcome more holistic and sustainable. This thesis, through its case studies of an existing successful temple town in Puri, India and an ongoing project of the Bindusagar lake, understands this interdependency and develops patterns to be applied in the context of a deteriorated temple village of Kapileswar. They are studied both as sacred places and urban growths where communities thrive. This thesis will focus its final chapters on the application of the studied patterns and its outcome in the form of a preservation model for the Kapileswar temple and temple village based in Orissa, India. However the model in its fundamental framework attempts to suggest that it can be applied on any other setting, location and architecture. This proposed model summarizes the above findings and tries to draw concepts for the preservation process of the Kapileswar temple village based on a pattern approach. The above case studies and their comparative analysis very clearly indicate the various similarities and dissimilarities between their respective settings and approaches. The proposed model for the holistic preservation model of the Kapileswar temple village draws its similarities from the culture, rituals, festivals, commercial endeavors, networks and location of the Puri Jagannatha Temple and the Bindusagar project and its differences from their management structure, devotee following, history, legends and economics. The model includes the proposed management structure and execution structure of the preservation process of the Kapileswar temple based on the above study that will help in the sustainable growth and maintenance of the temple village as a whole. The nucleus of this model is the temple. The model identifies the various elements that when incorporated in the co-operative society management structure and the space allocation diagram form the necessary patterns that ultimately make up for the pattern approach to preservation. The model also includes various charts and diagrams that prioritize and compartmentalize the many small and big items, events and spaces as a part of the above patterns. Hence the proposed model creates a flow of steps that will help preserve the Kapileswar temple and village based on a holistic pattern approach. / text

In the past decade, the government has been planning to further develop Lei Yue Mun into a more popular tourist spot. Works had been carried out to beautify the public areas such as erecting signage and re-paving the streets and open spaces. However, emphasis has been put mainly on the image of “Seafood Paradise”. In 2003, new plan was announced by the Tourism Commission for discussion by the public. This proposal involves construction of new public landing facility, observation deck, new street paving and lighting, etc. But it seems that these proposals do not take into account the potential heritage resources of the area. In fact, a substantial extent of the physical characters of this village can still be found even under such rapid urban development. It is partly due to the inaccessibility of the area and discontinuity with the larger urban core of Kowloon. In view of this, it is necessary to have a proper documentation of the historical development of Lei Yue Mun and to identify the values. Only through this historically grounded approach in introducing conservation principles and guidelines, that future development of the area can be made more successful in retaining its historical merits of the area. The dissertation will examine the identified heritage resources in Lei Yue Mun and explores the current challenges and opportunities. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

This dissertation shows the way in which movies, as a form of popular culture and contemporary medium, can be used as a tool for facilitating an alternatively impressionable approach in understanding social history in context, which can be complementary to the purely historical approach in conducting research in the field of heritage conservation. 6 representative post-war Hong Kong movies from the 1950’s to 2000’s are selected for discussion through textual analysis of key cinematic frames based on 5 specific criteria. The ‘cinematic reality’ of each is discussed against the ‘historical reality’ of the year of its release, so as to facilitate a contextual understanding of the social-economic, architectural-geographical and ideological-political conditions of Hong Kong for the past 5 decades. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

- The Conservation Plan for Ladder Street is prepared based on the research findings by going through the early history about the development of the streets in Hong Kong and particularly the driving forces about how the Ladder Street was developed. - Based on site survey to record about the significant value culturally and architecturally of the Ladder Street in this study. - Being part of the urban heritage of Hong Kong, the ever changing in nature of the street will be discussed. Taking the street’s basic function, statutory requirements and together with the significance values into consideration to develop a Conservation Guidelines for conservation and maintenance usage. - The importance of sustainability in conservation for the future generation will also be considered / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

“If you ask people what they think about cities they are more likely to talk about buildings and cars than streets and squares. If you ask them about city life they are more likely to talk about alienation, isolation, fear of crime or congestion and pollution than about community, participation, animation, beauty and pleasure.” (Rogers, 1997) The picturesque quoted here, illustrates the void that most of the modern cities are facing; unable to meet the demand of socio-cultural, ecological and communal characters of humankind for dwelling. The economic and political competency in the practice of urbanism makes an astonishing indifference towards vitality of urban spaces, which otherwise should have addressed the dynamics of urban life, people and community. To some extent, historic cities still express sense of place and identity of community at this juncture, though such elements in a few only remain authentic. Even though these cities went across century’s long political, socio-economic transformation, they have retained the legacy of sustained urban life and environment. And of course, the same is the socio-cultural manifesto and charm into cityscape and built forms. For such occurrence, reconciliation of conservation and current trends of development and changes need to prove one of the substantial means of transiting from traditional city planning approaches. In this aspect, urban conservation added new hopes, bringing even the ruins of such historic cities for preservation and made them an agendum for further researches in city planning and development. However, most of the conservation efforts in historic cities are focused on individual public monuments as a piecemeal trade to enhance international tourism and market forces. Consequently, as a dark side remnant of overall city planning and conservation practices, the image of city and its identity remained overshadowed. As one of such instances; Bhaktapur, the city known to be “Cultural Capital of Nepal” stands right into this dilemma of urban development and conservation. The living heritage of this city resembles the bonds of urban spaces, built environment, and life endowed with cultural activities enthralled entirely. This paradise perhaps will no longer remain if its urban development trends at the edge are freed. Urban growth however, inevitable currently as globalization; in no longer should influence the urban tranquility of this historical city. The outdated planning traditions are responsible for such hiatus to long for ages. Due to this fragility, it concurrently faces vigorous peripheral development at Kamalvinayak, Libali and Tumacho and a rapid transformation in historic fabrics demising traditional values. An approach of integration in historic city especially, cultural heritage area with emerging new development is believed to arrest the problem when it is unripe. Further investigation on amorphous relationships between the two urban typologies and development contexts is crucial to explore potentialities for integration. The synergy between urban conservation and urban development in order to retain the historic image of a cultural city is explored through an integrated approach. This study explores to seek integrity aspects of historic urban landscape of the traditional town with planning interventions to meet the demands of urban development at the edge. The study area is mainly focused on clusters of neighbourhood in cultural heritage area of this town incorporating new development area at the edge and an urban design research approach with random household survey is adopted in comparing the neighbourhoods for integrity aspects. Finally with thorough review on related concerns in conservation and development in Bhaktapur this study identified the need of integrated urban conservation taking into consideration of integrity aspects idealized during analysis. Integrated urban conservation is one that reconciles development aspects with overall structure of conservation process and this study finalizes the need of strategies of broadening heritage context, strategies for conservation oriented development, urban spatial continuity and strategies for capacity building with participatory mechanism. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

While historic sites have been used and operated as educational tools in the form of museums and public spaces since the emergence of the field of preservation, educational outreach frequently fails to include preservation concepts within these efforts. This thesis attempts to answer the question of “Why is preservation education lacking or absent at historic sites, and how can it be an integral part of a historic site’s programming, presentation, and interpretation?” To investigate this question, scholarly research was combined with first hand experiences of sites and interviews with stewarding organization staff members. Through this investigation, emerged a contextualization of historic sites within the fields of preservation and museum studies, a relation of the current state of preservation education to the opportunities available by means of physical sites, and a connection of preservation concepts to museum education theory. Multiple means of educational implementation and execution were explored, as were target audiences and organizational management structure. The result is a collection of examples in practice, explanations of missed opportunities, and recommendation for effective implementation. Collectively, these results reinforce the importance of using physical sites available to the public for educational purposes not limited to historic significance, but including preservation in all facets, as a means of introducing the field along with its impact and importance to the general public as a means of generating an interest that will be redirected into their communities. / text