The urban environment of the City of New Orleans is geographically landlocked between the crescent of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. Practically all available land for development has been saturated leaving only outlying areas for new development. In the past, traditional concentric growth, manifesting itself in the form of new peripheral development, attracted the affluent population to the suburbs leaving deteriorating inner-city neighborhoods to the poor Today, the necessity for conservation of energy and resources, a recessive economy, and priorities of historic preservation and environmental protection have created a demand for new solutions to the housing problem in New Orleans Economic and demographic research together with analysis of building types in selected neighborhoods reveals that many of the characteristics necessary to fulfill these needs are inherent in the existing buildings of uptown New Orleans. However, architectural modifications are required for the adaptive use of these structures to provide housing which meets contemporary living standards The fundamental hypothesis of this work is that changes in land use can occur while conserving urban resources through the adaptive use of the existing buildings. It is the intention of this study to demonstrate that the requirements of orderly urban growth can be accomplished through the adaptive use of existing structures. Land uses have been established which do not allow for residential growth and the expansion of facilities to meet the changing requirements of an inner-city population. The result of this investigation is a clear identification of the role of existing buildings in uptown New Orleans in the changing urban pattern of the city Established neighborhoods can accommodate the various requirements of a changing population by re-using structures which have previously served different functions. Zoning can be utilized as a major tool in modifying existing land use and control of density As an alternative to peripheral growth, the renovation and adaptive use of inner-city building stock can strengthen the city tax base, provide improved housing, alleviate transportation and energy problems by shortening trips to work, and contribute aesthetically to the scene. The quality of buildings constructed in this area provide excellent potential for recycling / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, 1999. / "June, 1967." / Includes bibliographical references. / Boston's public housing program is plagued with problems, both social and physical, some of which are common to housing authorities throughout the country, and some of which are unique to Boston. The Boston Housing Authority has been under attack from civil rights groups for racial discrimination, and from other liberal groups for its out-moded policies and philosophies. The members of the 5-man Authority have been criticized as unqualified, politically-motivated, and lacking in understanding of the special needs of the problem families who are increasingly the inhabitants of public housing. In spite of a waiting list of 4,500 families, no new family public housing has been built in Boston in 13 years. Although several new programs -- leased housing, turnkey, rehabilitation, rent supplement -- have been tried, none is operating with maximum effectiveness. Increasing vandalism, crime, disrepair, and tenant complaints about indifferent managers, indolent maintenance men, and unreasonable tenant regulations, all attest to a need for re-evaluation of the program. This thesis is, in essence, a case study of the Boston Housing Authority. It examines the organizational structure, the policies, and the operations of the BHA, and describes the people who run it: the Board, the Administrator, the department heads, the project managers, the staff. It analyzes present BRA programs, and assesses their effectiveness in the face of today's needs. It identifies those inadequacies which are the result of internal BHA management and structure, and those which are the result of state and federal legislation over which the BHA has little direct control. It attempts to evaluate the extent to which political patronage and nepotism -- in selection of tenants, in hiring of employees, in appointment of Authority members -- affect the program and its operation. In the concluding sections, recommendations are made for changes that seem indicated: Those which could be made within and by the BHA itself, those which could be made only by the Mayor of Boston, and those which would require legislative action at both state and federal levels. In brief, the thesis asks, "What is wrong with Boston's public housing program?" and suggests what could be done to improve it if the citizens of Boston want a more vigorous and viable program. / by May Boulter Hipshman. / M.C.P.

For Maori the cultural landscape is the foundation of traditional, historical and spiritual values and is fundamental to their cultural ideology. It is the relationship between people and the land that bestows Maori with a sense of cultural identity and belonging. At present the cultural landscape is under increasing pressure from inappropriate development, resulting not only in the destruction of the physical landscape but also defilement of associated intrinsic values. Planning for Maori cultural landscape values at the district level is challenging, with limited sucess in curbing landscape degradation under a dominant western planning regime. This study examines the planning process incorporating the cultural landscape values of Maori within the context of the Dunedin district. An overview of cultural landscape significance is provided. The study also assesses the current measures employed onto the landscape. The study also assesses the current measures employed for protecting the cultural landscape and offers recommendations for improving the integration of cultural landscape values into the planning process, both at a general level and with particular reference to three case studies of culturally significant landscapes in Dunedin. A combination of in-depth interviews with local Maori and Dunedin City Council planners, literature review, district plan content analysis and case studies established that current protection measures engaged by the Dunedin City Council are insufficient and lack the specificity required for adequate cultural landscape protection. A general lack of comprehension regarding cultural landscape meaning amongst planners was also found. It is recommended that cultural landscape planning extends beyond statutory requirements to adopt a collaborative approach, with Maori having a more significant role in the planning process. Three main recommendations for future management of the cultural landscape are provided: identification, co-management and public education. Together these recommendations promote a move towards a planning system with a greater bi-cultural focus. Improved protection provisions in planning will ensure the continuation and enhancement of the Maori cultural landscape into the future, as part of New Zealand�s heritage.

Problem: This study identifies some issues in the definitions of US megaregions which have strongly emphasized functional relationships without considering morphological characteristics. An extensive review of the literature revealed that the morphological approach and accompanying spatial statistical analysis described in this paper have not been done before, and represent a potentially useful refinement of current practice. Research strategy: This study examines morphological characteristics of the 11 US megaregions to represent morphologically-oriented US megaregions. A primary research hypothesis is that the megaregions spatially defined by morphological characteristics may not be the same as the current representation of the 11 US megaregions. The research hypothesis is tested by two distinct analyses which spatially examine the morphological characteristics at global and local scales. The global scale spatial patterns were examined with a density-based sprawl index, spatial scattering index, and spatial clustering index. Local scale spatial patterns were examined with the Getis-Ord Gi* hot spots analysis and the Anselin Local Moran’s I cluster and outlier analysis. In order to represent the megaregion-scale urban built environment, the morphological characteristics of total population, population density, impervious land cover, and nighttime light emissions were examined. All 11 megaregions were subjected to detailed GIS-based analysis and mapping for each morphological characteristic, and the results was analyzed using mapping, tables and graphs. Findings: The analysis results showed that global scale spatial distributions of morphological characteristics were inconsistently concentrated and clustered in high density subareas of each US megaregion. The morphological clustering representation of the 11 US megaregions clearly showed that the morphologically identified US megaregions were not the same as the current US megaregions. Takeaway for practice: This study asks the urban and regional planning profession to realize the incompleteness of a functional perspective, add a complementing morphological viewpoint, and balance the perspective between functional relations and morphological characteristics in identifying US megaregions.

The Next Step re-choreographs the trail system, encouraging a multiplicity of experiences while treating the city as an exhibit. This project focuses on the network's deployment in Washington, D.C. This network, empowered by digital navigational devices and blogging/chatting capabilities, forces a new dialogue between the organizational systems of recreational spaces and cities. The recreational corridor and its context are defined by perceived gradients and contrasts - determined by sensory information [sound, smell, light, temperature]. The expanded palette encourages a more dynamic and responsive network. Intersections, or nodes, whose scale and permanence has a direct relationship to the sensory contrast associated with their paths [magnitude of choice] are designed using a catalogue of programmatic-sensory specific elements that relate to the context of the paths and the definition of the node. These elements, deployed, enhance and amplify the site of the node to create a matrix of sensory atmospheres.

The Mexico/US border is a line of division between two nations, but paradoxically a moment of connection between local border communities. These competing interests of the border region at the federal and local scales have created a dynamic, hybridized, and rapidly growing regional zone known as the 'third space'. The emerging potential of this 'third space' as an economic engine has been jeopardized by US immigration policies which insist on understanding the border as a line, rather than its spatial reality as a blurred zone of transition. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA open up borders for goods and capital, but restrict the flow of the people. ¡SUPER NAFTA LAND! is a critique of the militarized, linear border. It presents an alternative model of using mega infrastructures to establish border regions as independent, bi-national zones of freedom, productivity, trade, and culture, open to the people of both countries.

Contingent Patterns looks to challenge the classical assumptions of variation and contingency in todays urban model. Starting with a lineage of conceptual planning and occupation strategies---the highway is antagonized as a new point of departure as an occupiable domain. Environmental, Economic, and Social constraints are reconsidered through the use of complex material systems. Traditionally change and variation is confined to the realm within the envelope; and where there is variability outside of the envelope it is confined, typically, within the footprint of the surrounding street grid. Environmental edges are typically framed by grid periphery and separated from pieces of the larger ecosystem. The use of complex material systems creates the foundation for a continuity of biological and environmental conditions. The use of water and phase change as a vessel to create a frozen surface in winter to an floral scaffolding. Contingency and variation are the tools to develop a new occupational space in the horizontal sphere, as well as, a continuity of systems between interior and exterior domains.

Monumentality can be seen as a culmination of consensus. However, when consensus is not present, furthermore, when disagreements construct the dialog, the architecture that mediates this dialog becomes a monument itself. Walls, dividing territories and cities around the world, have become dreadful monuments within our collective imaginary. Imposed separation lines, they reinforce the differences between ethnic groups and become long-term markers of a failed dialogue. This thesis takes a spatialized model of disagreement, the university, and constructs a new urban typology able to mediate conflicted zones through notions of programmed monumentality. It challenges a border condition and actively erodes a hard line within a city by strategic insertions of "encounter-platforms" for the two communities. Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus has been scarred by historical events that have created a series of unique conditions throughout the city fabric. A swatch of land running from East to West and varying in width between 3 m and 18 m has been imposed to split the city in two ethnically uniform halves. This thesis proposes an International Erasmus University inside the Green Line breaking the four-decade-old stalemate between the two communities. With students acting as effective diplomats, the exchange of ideas and opinions will aim to dismantle the firmly established psychological division between the two communities. The project creates a series of urban and architectural interventions in the city in order to stitch the unproductive separation of the territory, by proposing a series of programmatic nodes in place of the original market street. The new typology reinvents the city center and implements new points of interaction while activating the decayed urban fabric around the Green Line. The demilitarized zone is then turned into a park for the city and the university which facilitates the ease of pedestrian traffic from the two originally divided cities.

The earth has a finite supply of fresh water operating within a specific natural cycle. Due to population increases, massive industrialization of developing nations, and a culture of water consumption based on endlessness, the world is facing a massive crisis of freshwater shortage. Past and present solutions to local crisis have focused on supply management, when the real solution is demand management. Demand is founded on societal habits, cultural practices, and an individually based perception of water's value. The built environment mirrors this perception, where architecture as a cultural construct becomes an access terminal for various resource infrastructures. This thesis proposes an architecture that renders visible the cyclic specificity and finitude of water by proposing a new typology of public building that experientially transforms the inherited habits of citizens towards a balanced perception of water.

Public space in the American city is in a state of social and spatial indeterminacy. Situated within a sprawling aggregation of suburban back lawns, the redundant green space of the park appears as an absurd deformity in the Mega-Grid. Moreover, the myriad access points for mass media within the modern home facilitate collective experiences and public assertions of identity with unparalleled ease. The urban park, while providing a particular pastoral experience, is no longer the site of our collective life. This project proposes to redirect public and private capital to transform residential parks into alternative venues for collective media-event experiences offering a new scale of communality between the media room and the stadia. Through the deployment of infrastructures to Media-Event Hybrid Infrastructures, the Parks System can act as pastoral and spectacular bait, catalyzing an emergent collectivity by making public the latent spectacle within our domestic leisure activities.