<p>Runt om Växjö återfinns många köpcentra som ständigt utökar vilket kan bli ett hot mot centrum. Växjö city domineras ur shoppinghänseende, av en enda gata, Storgatan. För att få ett mer konkurrenskraftigt centrum och dessutom ett mer spännande gatunät skulle en breddning av centrum därför vara positivt. Närmast tillhands för en vidgning är den parallella gågatan Sandgärdsgatan, vilken i dagsläget känns mer som en bakgata. Vårt projekt gick således ut på att ta fram förslag på hur man skulle kunna göra Sandgärdsgatan till en mer attraktiv gågata. Undersökningar har gjorts i form av litteraturstudier, intervju- och enkätundersökningar samt besök i olika stadsmiljöer. Förslagen vi tagit fram innefattar allt ifrån ombyggnationer och allmänna upprustningar till torghandel och affischering. De största åtgärdsförslagen har vi förutom i text valt att visualisera med olika ritningar medan mindre förslag endast nämns i text.</p> / <p>In the outskirts of Växjö many shoppingmalls are vastly expanding which in time could pose a threat to the city centre. Växjö city is, in shoppingaspects dominated by one main street, Storgatan. To achieve a more competitive central part of the city and complex street network, a widening of the center would be preferred. Closest at hand for a widening of the city centre is the paralell pedestrian street Sandgärdsgatan, which today is thought of as a backstreet. Our project is to propose examples on how to turn Sandgärdsgatan into a more attractive pedestrian street. Research have been carried out in the form of literaturestudies, interviews and polls aswell as fieldtrips to various urban environments. The proposals we have created include everything from remodelling and general restorations to street markets and placarding. The main proposals aside from being presented in text are also visualised in drawings whilst smaller changes are only mentioned in text.</p>

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / Human happiness is often overlooked in urban revitalization. Many studies have proven the benefits of regular exercise for overall health and happiness. Active transportation adopted as a major form of transportation has the potential to provide similar benefits. Wichita, Kansas, like many other mid-sized, American cities, prioritizes the car over the pedestrian. Currently, the plans for Douglas Avenue, the major thoroughfare, includes only minimal bicycle infrastructure, shared lane symbols (City of Wichita 2013). Lack of focus on the pedestrian and bicyclist only reinforces the auto-dominated downtown. Douglas Avenue is a missed opportunity and needs a re-envisioned strategy based upon current needs. I hypothesized that better understanding the lived biking experience of Downtown Wichita would help me to develop design recommendations that address current streetscape issues as they occur in daily life. This exploratory study documents the experiences of a small group of people who bicycle in or through downtown Wichita on a regular basis. First, participants recorded their experience visually and verbally by using GoPro cameras during a typical bike ride. Next, each participant reviewed their video with me, clarifying their comments and the overall experience. Dominant themes included: urban environment, bicycling infrastructure, road/traffic, safety and motorist behavior. The analysis of the bike rides and follow-up reflections were mapped over each participant’s route to reveal positive, negative, and neutral experiences categorized by theme. Final design strategies for selected areas (determined through analysis of experiences) were then produced based upon feedback and streetscape best practices. Bicyclists of Wichita are faced with many stressful situations during their daily routes. I have realized that downtown Wichita has more than a design problem to fix—an entire bicycle culture must be developed. I learned that while each participant was unique, they wanted the same things: safety, a pleasurable ride, and to be respected by motorists. Not all bicyclists’ needs can be answered through design; however, this proposal can help to create a safer and more pleasurable bicycling experience in downtown. An improved bicycle network provides humans with increased health, freedom to move, encourages and strengthens social connections, and provides a resilient form of transportation.

abstract: Many communities that once relied on the extractive industries have since turned to tourism to find another source of income. These communities are primarily old mining towns. Since these towns have started to reinvent themselves, they have become important places of study. Previous literature has found specific factors that are common in tourist shopping villages. Currently, there is not much research that has explored the affect the streetscape and servicescape have on visitor experiences. Existing research focuses on urban shopping settings such as shopping malls. This study interviewed employees and surveyed visitors in two suburban tourist shopping villages in Arizona. More specifically, it is aimed to explore how the streetscapes and servicescapes in tourist shopping villages influence visitors' overall experience, intent to return to the village, and their purchasing behavior. This study adds to the current literature on tourist shopping villages and the streetscapes and servicescapes as there is a limited amount of information available. To date, the majority of scholarly information available describes the factors of tourist shopping villages and does not attempt to identify their importance for tourists. This study may serve as a stepping platform for future research. The findings of this study offer important implications for destination marketing organizations, different stakeholders of tourism, and the policy makers. This study primarily focuses on the tourists' view of tourist shopping villages, and can offer insight into how to increase visitor spending. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Community Resources and Development 2013

The middle landscape, more commonly referred to as Suburbia, has become spatially discontinuous, lacking the cohesive union, open spaces and city centers that once defined community. Presently, the middle landscape's community spaces do not offer the opportunity for familiar and chance encounters or ritual activity. Large-scale housing development in Northern Virginia and in the mid-Atlantic region is continually segregating and ultimately destroying community and all links to the area's history. Located in Southern Fairfax County, the newly abandoned Lorton Central and Maximum Security Prison Facility provides an opportunity to serve as a catalyst for community in this area. This thesis investigates the historic precedence for creating successful community centers. The author's personal investigation is focused upon using form and function to accomplish this vision. By adaptively reusing the existing architecture alongside new construction, the intent is to create a dense urban town center at the abandoned historic site. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture, Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / The Mid America Regional Council, (MARC) is the official metropolitan planning organization for the Greater Kansas City region. MARC received a 4.25 million dollar grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2010 to advance the region’s vision of sustainability through vibrant, green, and connected centers and corridors. From which the CSP (Creating Sustainable Places) initiative was established. Responding to this initiative, eight grant funded Kansas State University students worked in a Rock Island Corridor group. This group showed and described ways of achieving MARC’s and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s goals through the development of Master’s Reports. Reports include design ideas and proposals which MARC and city planning departments might not have developed otherwise. Student collaboration between public and city planning departments informed the development of student ideas. Green trail systems and tourism specifically addresses how the quality of life in the Kansas City Metro Area could be enhanced with the implementation of a cultural trail network. This network would provide access to the Rock Island Corridor, create greenspaces, and establish mixed-use housing districts for potential home and business owners. The Greater Kansas City region population is increasing. Trails, parks, and mixed-use buildings for residents in KC could improve the quality of life for future residents. Adding greenspaces, pedestrian mobility, and entertainment districts in which to find region specific activities could help attract people to redeveloping areas. Green trail systems and tourism’s project area is located between the Sprint Center and the Truman Sports Complex. To resolve problems and dilemmas within this region of Kansas City, a routing plan of a cultural trail network is outlined. This cultural trail features new trail heads, cultural centers, and proposed zoning overlays for park developments and mixed-use housing districts. The trail network created connects the Sprint Center and Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City, Missouri as a tourism link. Tourism destinations and historic sites add to the economic success of KC. Sites are connected to in the routing plan for the cultural trail. This proposal shows one approach for creating sustainable centers in KC.

When human constructs the physical surrounding, a psychological environment of meanings is being created, accompanying the world of shapes and masses. Interventions into built environment affect the meanings extracted from the composition of the physical setting and the response of people to design strategies reveals the importance of them. The entrance spine of a city is important in creating an image of the city in the minds of the observers, and the protocol highway of Ankara introduces the city to other countries&amp / #8217 / leaders and visitors. So any intervention into this highway will affect the symbolic image formed. As such, attaching claddings onto visible fa&ccedil / ades of buildings in terms of beautification changes the appearance of the streetscape, and Municipality&amp / #8217 / s approach to fa&ccedil / ade improvement does not heed the prestige of this corridor / being an application rather than a well-advised project. This thesis aims to study the quality of the streetscape under the principles of design in terms of objective and subjective dimensions with respect to the physical characteristics of the setting and people&amp / #8217 / s interpretations from it, and the objective of this study is to question the success of this intervention with regard to solutions to improve the quality of the streetscape. To this end evaluative analyses are studied in the second chapter and the third chapter introduces a matrix of design principles. According to these evaluations, most design concerns are being underestimated, resulting in the monotony of the streetscape but the streetscape appears to be visually more ordered compared to the past.

This thesis explores the influences of provincial grant programs on Canadian streetscape camera systems. Using qualitative interviews (N=32) and document analysis, the study explores the policymaking processes and outcomes of six Ontario cities that have engaged with the Civil Remedies and Proceeds of Crime grants. Grant programs have not only provided the financial support to facilitate the establishment or expansion of camera systems, but they have also encouraged particular patterns of implementation, design and operation of Canadian streetscape systems through the processes and conditions of the grant program, as well as through the encouragement of regional networking, policy learning and policy diffusion via policy tourism. While the Civil Remedies and Proceeds of Crime grants have influenced some similarities in streetscape camera systems, variation exists, particularly concerning privacy policies, due to idiosyncratic interpretation and adoption of diffused policies and an ambiguous and unclear privacy protection framework. / Graduate / 0626 / 0627 / dennymah@uvic.ca

Beboeliga städer är i frontlinjen i arkitekters och stadsdesigners arbete och beboeliga gator är en stor och viktig del av var stadslivet sker. Studerandet av befintliga gator och livet på dem, en del av urban morfologins forskningsområde, skulle kunna få fram aspekter som kommer att utveckla designprocessen. Den här avhandlingen föreslår en metod som syftar till att bidra till en bättre förståelse av hur vi upplever gatumiljöer. Det är ett försök att analysera och kvantifiera rytmer som uppstår genom vår dagliga livsupplevelse längs gatorna. Mönstren i elementen i vår byggda miljö bidrar till skapandet av sådana urbana rytmer. Metoden består av en kartläggningsprocess för datainsamling och en matematisk modell som analyserar data och ger kvantitativa resultat vilka används som jämförande index för korrelation av mönster längs fasaderna på utvalda gator. Metoden testas på ett urval av tre gator i Stockholms stad. Resultaten av testet anses vara tillfredsställande för att tekniken kan anses vara funktionell. Testet begränsar sig dock till fysiska, synliga element. Därför skulle metodens bidrag vara mer värdefullt i ett bredare sammanhang samt i kombination med metoder och data av en mer inkluderande studie - vilket kommer att ge en större helhetsanalys. Huvudhinder för metodens implementering är dels bristen på information om samband mellan befintliga mönster och urbana spatiala kvaliteter och även de ineffektiva tillvägagångssätten att kartlägga mönster i stor skala. Tekniska framsteg och ytterligare forskning kan emellertid skapa en god grund för vidare utveckling. / Livable cities are in the frontline of the work of architects and urban designers and livable streets occupy a large and important part of where city life happens. The study of existing streets and the life on them, a part of urban morphology's field of research, could bring light to aspects that will evolve the design process. This thesis suggests a method that aims to contribute to a better understanding of how we experience street environments. It is an effort to analyze and quantify the rhythms that occur through our every day life experience along the streetscapes. The patterns of our built environment's elements contribute to the creation of such urban rhythms. The method is comprised by a mapping process for data collection and a mathematical model which analyzes the data and provides with quantitative results that are used as comparative indexes for the correlation of patterns along the facades of selected paths. The method is tested on a sample of three paths in the city of Stockholm. The results of the test are considered satisfying for the technique to be considered functional. The test, though, limits itself to physical, perceptible objects. Therefore, the method's contribution would be more valuable inside a broader context and in combination with methods and data of a more inclusive study, which will provide a more holistic analysis. Main obstacles for the method's implementation are the lack of information about connection of existing patterns to urban space qualities and the inefficient ways of mapping patterns in a large scale. However, technological advancements and further research might create a fertile ground for development.

Streets are the most resilient elements in a city. While buildings are replaced and property borders redrawn, the streets remain. The primary means of planning new streets and the built environment surrounding it is by the creation of a two-dimensional plan - in a Swedish context called a detailed development plan. The two-dimensional plan is sometimes criticized for its inability to take the three-dimensional world into account and thus its inability to predict the actual outcome of the plan. To address this critique and provide additional understanding for this planning device, this paper empirically explores if the distribution of visual attention can  be predicted from a two-dimensional plan.  Visual attention is explored due to sight being the most prominent means used by humans to gather information in the urban environment. Fifteen subjects performed a simple, computerized eye-tracking experiment, whereby their visual attention was measured as they looked at 40 images on a monitor. The 40 images depicts four different street types: blocked, open, curved and angled, each of which was represented with a simple figure image, as per interpretation from a two-dimensional plan, as well as a photograph of the same environment, representing the actual outcome of the plan. The results show that the simple figure images have effective predictive capabilities, as  the distribution of visual attention exhibited a similar pattern in both the figure image and the photograph. The results also show that different patterns of visual attention are evoked by each of the four different street types. In sum, the results indicate that two-dimensional plans are able to predict the future three-dimensional outcome of a given plan in terms of visual attention. These indications are valuable for planners, architects, engineers and decision-makers when planning for new urban environments. The results are also valuable for understanding human perception of streets in a wider context.

What attributes can make a street become more sociable and create a vibrant streetscape where people feel comfortable spending time? The purpose of this study is to find these attributes and apply this knowledge in a case study on Drottninggatan and Strøget to identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as providing recommendations on how the streets can become more sociable public spaces. To achieve this a diverse selection of methods will be used. A literature review with emphasis on theories by Mehta (2013), Jacobs (1995) and Whyte (1980) will form the foundation for the study. Furthermore a combination of conventional methods such as observations and counting/tracking and more experience-based methods as City Walks and storytelling will form the core of the case study. During the case study a number of important urban elements arose with the key features being the use of open spaces, urban furniture and their positioning, the use of green structure and the presence of events on the street. The architectural ensemble is to be considered important for the framing of the public realm to a certain degree since it has a strong effect on how a space is perceived and the fact that if inappropriately used it can give rise to negative experiences of the street. Strøget and Drottninggatan show examples of both good and bad practice and both have aspects to improve to support a more sociable public space, even though Strøget have to be considered as being a few steps ahead. / Vilka attribut kan få en gata att bli mer socialt tilltalande och skapa ett levande gaturum där människor trivs att vara? Syftet med denna studie är att finna dessa attribut och tillämpa detta i en fallstudie om Drottninggatan och Strøget för att identifiera deras styrkor och svagheter samt ge rekommendationer på hur dessa gator kan bli mer välkomnande och socialt tilltalande. Olika typer av metoder kommer att genomföras under denna studie. En litteraturstudie med tyngdpunkt på teorier av Mehta (2013), Jacobs (1995) och Whyte (1980) kommer att utgöra grunden för denna studie. Utöver detta kommer också en kombination av konventionella metoder som observationer och räkning/spårning och mer upplevelsebaserade metoder som City Walks och historieberättande att vara kärnan fallstudien. Under fallstudien uppkom ett antal viktiga attribut, men de viktigaste var användandet av öppna ytor, gatumöbler och hur dessa är placerade, användandet av grönstruktur och närvaron av olika event i gaturummet. Arkitekturens utformning är en till en viss grad en viktig aspekt när det gäller inramningen av det offentliga rummet eftersom den har en stark påverkan på hur gaturummet upplevs och det faktum att olämpligt användande kan resultera i negativ påverkan. Strøget och Drottninggatan visar båda prov på både bra och dåliga exempel, och båda har aspekter som behöver förbättras för att kunna främja ett mer socialt tilltalande gaturum, även om Strøget måste ses som att ha kommit längre i processen.