This thesis examines an urban form analysis method called delayering. This method examines the street network of a city. By plotting the streets in an electronic format and mapping information based on the spatial properties of streets such as those running east west, and overlaying these with other maps, delayering identifies patterns in the streets. This method was presented in a book titled The Urban Text. In the book the findings of an analysis of the City of Chicago were presented to outline the attributes of the delayering process. These include the ability to find patterns unseen in traditional analysis methods, the ability to read neighbourhood boundaries from the street patterns, and heighten awareness of elements through a unique graphic presentation method. These attributes and claims of the delayering process made it intriguing as a potential tool for the planning profession. Urban physical planning is based on a rational-comprehensive methodology where analysis is used to inform scenario development and decision making. If delayering could add to the analysis phase of planning it could become a useful tool to the profession. To identify this an assessment of the process' strengths and weaknesses had to be made. To examine this question I reviewed contemporary literature regarding the urban environment, the importance of the street, perception of place, and presentation methods. This provided the background information that supported the importance of the attributes of the delayering process. To test the strengths and weaknesses of the process a case study use of it in the City of Vancouver was conducted. This tested the transferability of the process, its accuracy, and the ease of use. Combining this information with the information of the literature review an assessment of delayering was made. The overall findings were that the process lacks single strength that would make it a useful tool. All of its attributes were somewhat successful in their claims, however the combined process was not seen as superior to traditional methods of analysis of form The unique methodology of the process, a reverse of the overlay design process, and focus of the street were seen as the overall strengths. The recommendations for the use of delayering is that it adds to the theoretical discussion of the planning profession, it can be helpful in exploratory analysis exercises, and its methodology can be adapted to other types of urban form mapping exercises.

Good neighbourhood shopping streets have long been significant in their ability to provide goods and services within walking distance of neighbourhood residents, to create a rich public realm, and to foster a sense of community. Far removed from their past as streetcar strips, the neighbourhood shopping street is once again being looked at as an important element of the urban environment. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the characteristics of good neighbourhood shopping streets and to examine these characteristics in the context of two Vancouver case studies—Commercial Drive and West 41st Avenue. Based on a review of planning, urban design, and landscape architecture literature, the fundamental principles of good neighbourhood shopping streets are revealed. Specifically, a good neighbourhood shopping street is accessible, comfortable, sociable, a place, adaptable, beautiful, and diverse. Flowing from these principles, and the means to them, are the characteristics of good neighbourhood shopping streets—buildings that relate to the street, good walking facilities, pedestrian amenities, traffic management, street activity, neighbourhood goods and services, maintenance, supportive neighbourhood context, and supportive government. The research suggests that real-life neighbourhood shopping streets rarely have all the characteristics that the literature holds as ideal. Rather, some characteristics— buildings that relate to the street, street activity, neighbourhood goods and services, a supportive neighbourhood context, and supportive government—appear as fundamental to good neighbourhood shopping streets but are exhibited to varying degrees. More specifically, the case studies help illustrate what particular elements are either essential or helpful, creating a checklist that other streets can benefit from.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The purpose of this creative project was to bring about the development and hypothetical implementation of development guidelines for the McGalliard Road commercial corridor in Muncie, Indiana, as an example of how the development guidelines can improve the development character, safety, and creativity within Muncie's urban arterial corridors. The project introduces the development guidelines, explains the existing conditions along McGalliard Road in terms of transportation efficiency, safety, and aesthetics, implements a model design alternative along McGalliard Road based on the guidelines, and presents implementation strategies and recommendations for changes in current development regulation policies which would bring about these changes for arterial commercial developments in the city of Muncie. / Department of Urban Planning

The goal of this thesis is to investigate and propose housing that increases density while offering a better quality of life for citizens inhabiting Toronto’s Avenues. This thesis compares three different building prototypes, all of varying scales and typological characteristics. The viability of each prototype is discussed with regards to the current economic and regulatory conditions within the city, as well as the varying quality of life that each prototype creates.

This thesis aims at understanding design strategies developed by Team 10 members and their relevance to contemporary architecture. These strategies are studied by referring to their seminal projects. It is argued that what is significant in the design approaches of Team 10 is the search for patterns of human association or networks of human relations that supports physical structure and organizes social communication. The thesis focuses on the Golden Lane Housing Project (1952) by Alison and Peter Smithson is in order to illustrate how the patterns of association are organized. Team 10&amp / #8217 / s approach to design suggests a shift of emphasis from specific object to spatial organization of relations. They try to achieve a multi-layered urban and architectural solution. Their projects are infrastructural organizations, in which all layers are combined in a perpetual complex system. The thesis makes an analysis of the Golden Lane Housing Project in order to understand the ways how the layers are organized and associated to each other. An inquiry into the works of Team 10 members shows that they put particular emphasis on the notions of infrastructural organization, mobility, flexibility, layering, adaptability to change and growth, repetition and variation. The thesis points out that these notions are still relevant in contemporary architectural practices.

Thesis (Master of Community Planning)--University of Cincinnati, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 11, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.) -- Mississippi State University. Department of Civil Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Due to the current practices of street design in countries with hot and humid climates that prioritise air-conditioned cars as the favoured mode of transport, the physical and spatial characteristics of the street space have failed to retain much or any user-friendliness for walking or for sustaining street life. Moreover, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the increasingly sedentary lifestyle is leading to significant health problems and prevalence of lifestyle diseases. However, there has been limited research conducted on the use of urban streets under hot and humid conditions, and even less is known about the impact of certain sociocultural aspects in, for example, Muslim countries, on the design of streets for walking. Such a situation poses challenges to the urban space researcher and designer interested in gaining a better understanding of how walking can be restored into the street space. This thesis contributes to the advancement of knowledge in this area by integrating three influential factors connected to walking in a single study; an approach which has not been elaborated previously. This thesis aimed to broaden the understanding of pedestrians’ requirements, attitudes and preferences in order to identify ways in which the neglected street space can be reclaimed for walking under hot-humid climatic conditions and to inform decision-making into improved street design. The scope of this research centred on combining an understanding of pedestrians’ thermal comfort in a hot and humid urban environment, that of the city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia, where the problem is particularly acute, coupled with exploration into the socio-cultural aspects through which behaviour such as undertaking increased physical activity is governed. The research postulated an interactive relationship between the existing conditions of the street space and these two factors. Owing to the multifaceted nature of the factors affecting an individual’s choice to walk, there are few accepted theoretical frameworks, hence studying the cause-and-effect relationship between street design and walking is challenging. Following the literature review and analysis of existing street characteristics; the strategy of mixed-method data collection combining participant observation with interviews and a questionnaire was conducted. The findings revealed the dual impact of key street characteristics on pedestrians’ reluctance to walk on streets and this led to two levels of simultaneous interventions being suggested: physical and spatial. The analytical process (1) identified the upper thermal comfort limit for pedestrians by application of the Physiological Equivalent Temperature index, ‘PET’, through use of the RayMan Software; (2) revealed that physical proximity to other people while on the street is the most sensitive socio-cultural issue in the outdoor spaces of Saudi, particularly between the opposite sexes, and that the existing pavements are generally too narrow to accommodate the preferred personal distance; (3) identified appropriate design interventions at the microscale of the street space to introduce improved shading and create air movement to reduce the impact of solar radiation and humidity and thus to contribute towards encouraging more use of streets for walking; and (4) marking the pavement to indicate distance walked along with high quality streetscape elements was shown to attract pedestrians effectively. Such findings have significant implications for restoring the place of walking on streets in hot and humid cities and the research concludes by emphasising: (1) it is the design of the street space in climatically responsive and socio-culturally compatible ways, rather than the configuration of the urban form that is most associated with increasing physical activity; (2) there is a crucial need to redistribute the street space away from cars and towards pedestrians by widening the existing pavements both for satisfying the average personal comfort distance between pedestrians and for incorporating appropriate streetscape elements.

Cuidado à população adulta em situação de rua em Lajeado, RS. Essa é a temática que orienta a pesquisa, que tem como objetivo central compreender como as pessoas adultas, em situação de rua, percebem e acolhem as estratégias de cuidado disponibilizadas pelo sistema de Proteção Social na cidade de Lajeado. Para embasar os objetivos da pesquisa, foram criados quatro capítulos conceituais para fundamentar teoricamente a proposta: A praça, o enredo, a história; Paulo, Joaquim e Márcio: quem são eles que compõem a história; Política da Assistência Social; Onde fica a praça? Onde se passa a história? Um pouco sobre Lajeado. Esta é uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, que utilizou como metodologia grupos focais com a população em situação de rua de Lajeado. As falas disparadas nos encontros foram avaliadas pela análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin (2011). Após as transcrições, os conteúdos foram distribuídos em quatro categorias: Vida com Droga, Droga com Vida (versa sobre as relações estabelecidas com o uso de álcool e outras drogas em suas vivências nas ruas); Entre o real e o ideal(izado) (aborda a rede de serviços disponível na cidade, do mesmo modo que avaliam como necessário); Trabalho: o abre e fecha (discute formas de inclusão e exclusão que atravessam o mercado de trabalho); Quem (des) cuida de quem? (analisa as relações de cuidado que vivenciam na rua, que perpassam movimentos de acolhida e violência). Ao longo do processo de escrita do trabalho, foram realizados encontros com a proposta de discutir a construção da história. Nestes foram apresentados os resultados aos sujeitos participantes e, ainda, ocorreram práticas de cuidado como roda de conversa, lanche coletivo, risadas, etc. / Care to people on the street in Lajeado, RS. This is the theme that guides the research, which was aimed at understanding how the adults people on the street realize and embrace the strategies of care provided by the social protection system in the city of Lajeado. To support the objectives of the research, four conceptual chapters were created to theoretically support the proposal: The square, the plot, the story; Paulo, Joaquim and Márcio: who are they that make up the story; Politics of Social Assistance; Where is the square? Where does the story take place? About Lajeado. This is a qualitative study which used as methodology focal groups on the streets people of Lajeado. The statements triggered in the meetings were evaluated by content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011). After the transcripts, the contents were divided into four categories: Life on Drugs, Drugs with Life (it deals with the established relations with the use of alcohol and other drugs in their experiences on the streets); Between the real and the ideal (ized) (it addresses the network services available in the city, as well as evaluating as necessary); Work: opens and closes (discusses ways of inclusion and exclusion that cross the labor market); Who (un) takes care of whom? (It analyzes the care relationships they experience between them, or in their relations on the street, as well as how they perceive the care provided by the city services). At the end of the research and writing process, a meeting was held with the aim to discuss the construction of the story. The results were presented to the participating people and care practices also ocurred as conversation circle, collective snack, laughter, etc.