Im Erscheinungsbild der Thüringer Großsiedlungen vollzog sich zwischen 1990 und 2000 ein deutlicher Wandel. Wohnumfeldverbesserungen trugen maßgeblich dazu bei. Diese Maßnahmen ordneten sich in die durch Förderprogramme gesteckten Ziele der Stadt- und Sozialplanung ein. In allen Wohngebieten wurden die Wohn- und Lebensbedingungen im Vergleich zu 1990 verbessert. Umfangreiche Aufwertungen im Wohnumfeld folgten i. d. R. umfassenden Gebäudesanierungen. Die Vorteile der Verkehrskonzepte und Versorgungsinfrastruktur wurden erhalten und ausgebaut. Die soziale Segregation vollzog sich deutlich langsamer als noch zu Beginn der 1990er Jahre befürchtet. Entsprechend blieb die gemischte Sozialstruktur teilweise erhalten. Die Bewohner sind mit ihrer Siedlung heute mindestens genauso zufrieden wie zu Beginn der Aufwertungsmaßnahmen. Das Eigenimage der Großsiedlungen konnte ebenfalls stabilisiert werden. Damit wurde das erklärte sozialplanerische Ziel, die Identifikation der Bewohner mit ihrem Wohngebiet zu stärken, erreicht. Diesen gelungenen Aspekten steht eine Reihe von Aufgaben gegenüber, die nicht umgesetzt wurden. So besteht die strukturelle, funktionale und bauliche Uniformität fort. Trotz Neu- und Umbau vieler Stadtteilzentren entwickelte sich nicht die angestrebte urbane Vielfalt. Die unzureichende funktionale und gestalterische Differenzierung des Raumes nach dem Öffentlichkeitscharakter verstärkt diese weiterhin vorhandene Monotonie der Siedlungen. Die Chancen, die Großsiedlungen besser an die Gesamtstadt und die landschaftliche Umgebung anzubinden, wurden nur selten genutzt. Trotz aller Bemühungen verzeichneten alle Großsiedlungen in den 1990er Jahren erhebliche Einwohnerverluste. Das Fremdimage der „Platte“ ist weiterhin schlecht. Die Wohnumfeldverbesserungen weisen in den Großsiedlungen deutliche Unterschiede hinsichtlich Umfang und Intensität auf. Allen Wohngebieten gemein ist ein Nebeneinander von aufwendig aufgewerteten Bereichen und von Quartieren, in denen nur wenig Veränderungen stattgefunden haben. In keinem Wohngebiet erfolgte eine komplette Gebietsaufwertung. An den Aufwertungsmaßnahmen waren viele verschiedene Akteure beteiligt, mit teilweise gegensätzlichen Interessen. Landschaftsarchitekten sind eine dieser Interessensgruppe. Ihre Arbeit bestimmt das Erscheinungsbild der Großsiedlungen erheblich mit. Allerdings bestehen nur geringe Handlungsspielräume zur Konfliktlösung zwischen den Beteiligten. Im Laufe der 1990er Jahre wandelten sich die wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Bedingungen. Nachfolgend fand ein Paradigmenwechsel im Umgang mit der Weiterentwicklung der Großsiedlungen und ihrer Freiräume statt. Aus den zu erwartenden Konditionen wurden hier Handlungsempfehlungen zur künftigen Wohngebietsentwicklung formuliert: in dauerhaft zu erhaltenden Quartieren sollten differenzierte Aufwertungen durchgeführt, in Rückbaubereiche neben der Stabilisierung des Wohnungsmarktes auch die Wohnungsvielfalt durch Umbauten erhöht werden. Die Freiräume in den Bestandsquartieren sind zu sichern, zu vernetzen und zu verbessern. Bei Interimsfreiräumen besteht ein erhebliches funktionales und gestalterisches Potential. Dazu gehören sowohl temporäre Aufwertungen für Erholungssuchende als auch extensive Freiraumentwicklungen verschiedener Vegetationstypen zur Erhöhung der ökologischen Vielfalt sowie wirtschaftliche Zwischennutzungen. / An enormous change in the appearance of the large suburban housing estates in Thuringia took place between 1990 and 2000. Improvements of the living environment contributed significantly to it. These measurements integrated into the aims of the city- and social planning that had been defined by support programmes. In all residential areas the housing- and living conditions have been improved in comparison to 1990. Extensive upgrading in the living environment generally followed substantial building restorations. The advantages of the traffic concepts and the provisioning infrastructure were conserved and extended. The social segregation transformed clearly slowlier than suspected at the beginning of the 1990ies. Correspondingly, the mixed social structure has been partly conserved. Today, the residents are at least as satisfied with their housing estates as at the beginning of the upgrading procedures. The image of the large suburban housing estates themselves could also be stabilised. Thus, the definded aim in social planning, to enforce the residents’ identification with their housing area, has been reached. These successful aspects are confronted with a row of tasks that have not been realised. So, the structural, functional and constructional uniformity still exists. Despite the new and re- construction of many community centres the intended diversity has not been developed. The insufficient functional and creative differentiation of the space according to the public character enforces this still existent monotony of the areas. The chances of linking the large suburban housing estates better to the whole town and the surroundings / landscape have only rarely been used. Despite all efforts all large suburban housing estates recorded immense losses of residents in the 1990ies. The external image of the “Platte” is still bad. Concerning their extent and their intensity the improvements in the living environments show significant differences in the large suburban housing estates. In all areas there is a coexistence of expensively upgraded parts and of accomodation with only few changes. There was no complete upgrading in any of the areas. Many protagonists contributed to the upgrading measurements, partly with opposed interests – landscape architects are one of these interest groups. Their work considerably defines the appearance of the large suburban housing estates. As a fact, there is only little room for manoeuvre concerning conflict resolution among the involved. In the course of the 1990ies the economic and social conditions changed. Afterwards a paradigm change in the handling of the advancement of the large suburban housing estates and their spaces took place. The expected conditions were formulated into recommended actions to the future development of the residential areas: in accomodation to be permanently preserved, differentiated upgrading should be made as well as the residential market should be stabilised in reconstruction areas while the diversity of flats should be increased through rebuilding at the same time. The open spaces in the accomodation need to be secured, to be linked and to be improved. There is an enormous functional and creative potential with interim spaces. Temporary upgrading for recreation searchers belongs to it, also extensive space developments of different vegetation types to increase the ecological diversity as well as temporary uses in the field of economy.

This dissertation sought to better understand the K-12 school experiences of middle and upper income Blacks educated in predominantly White and integrated suburban school systems. Through the narratives of six (6) participants—four females and two males (split evenly between Generations Y and Z)—the study contributes toward knowledge on African American within-group differences and perspectives on K-12 school experiences. The theoretical frames of social location and trust were used to help guide this investigation. Through social location, I sought to understand the interconnectedness of one's race, class, and gender and how these locations impact school experiences. Through the theoretical frame of trust, I sought to understand "overall" participant confidence in the educational processes (academic and social) they underwent. While findings from this dissertation matched some of what is already well-documented on the K-12 school experiences of Black American students in general, by focusing on within-group differences relevant to class and generational grouping, key variances in experiences (not often reported) were revealed. For example, as the study was intergenerational in scope, there was a clear generational divide among study participants in terms of their views relating to how race impacted their K-12 school experiences. Despite the fact that most felt that their schools were not sensitive to their needs as African Americans, race seemed to be less of a concern with Gen Z'ers than with Gen Y'ers. More specifically, while participants from Generation Y were explicit in stating that race had an impact on their school experiences, Generation Z was hesitant to say that race influenced their experiences. Interestingly, as all participants dealt with racial stereotyping, the biggest perpetrators of such stereotypes were peers and not educators. The influence of socioeconomic class on school experiences was also significant as most participants felt that their economic status influenced their cross-cultural interactions. In addition, while the social location of gender was not heavily emphasized in this dissertation, there were variations in perspectives stratified across gender lines. Taken together, a major conclusion was that one's social location (inclusive of generational grouping) cannot be ignored when taking into account the academic experiences of African American students as a whole. Finally, this dissertation highlighted the overall confidence each participant had in the educational process they experienced (academically and socially). Although all encountered some tough circumstances directly related to their social location, everyone felt positive overall about their school experiences—perceiving the academic training they received and inter-ethnic social interactions, as an asset.

Over the past fifty or so years there has been a well examined decline in socialconnections and many other facets of American communities (Fischer 1982; Putnam2000; Freeman 2001; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears 2006; Dunham-Jones &Williamson 2009). New urbanism has been proposed as a tool to reverse some of thissocial decline in communities. This study seeks to understand the possible socialconnective benefits of new urbanism in a number of ways. First, a new urbanistcommunity is compared to a similar adjacent community that also happens to betraditional suburban community. The study examines differences between the twocommunities in terms of social connections, social interactions, and communitysatisfaction. Second, the study examines individual design elements of new urbanism to understand their relationships with social interactions and social connections. This study also examines community cohesion in terms of diverse social interactions and bridging ties. Previous studies suggest that bridging ties are more likely to be formed between persons who are connected with weaker social bonds (Granovetter, 1973) as well as persons who interact through spontaneous rather than planned forms of social interaction (Molm, Collett, & Schaefer 2007). Lastly, this study seeks to understand if any of the new urbanist design strategies examined are related to bridging ties. The findings of this study suggested that new urbanist communities do have more social interactions, social connections, and community satisfaction than do traditional suburban communities. The findings also suggested that four new urbanist design strategies: porches, community meetings, and mixed-use zoning are positively related to social interactions and social connections. Moreover, findings suggested that persons connected by weaker social bonds are indeed more likely to have bridging ties, however, they did not support the idea that persons who have more spontaneous interactions will also be more likely to have bridging ties. Lastly, the findings indicated that of all the new urbanist design strategies, only the neighborhood business center was positively related to bridging ties. Conversely, a negative relationship was found between resident's who use their porches and bridging ties.

This thesis considers the potential of the suburban periphery to become an ecologically, socially and culturally productive site which supports local and regional public programs. It explores ways of creating connectivity across the hard boundaries of a suburban development, an expressway and an agricultural area in order to stimulate biological and cultural diversity in this typically neglected, “leftover” environment. The site is the Ninth Line Corridor at the suburban edge of Mississauga, Ontario. The investigation of boundary occurs at the urban, building and experiential scales, and considers how the intersection of landscape, ecology, architecture and program can generate activities and events which foster engagement with the site and within a community.

Wetlands are recognized for the diverse range of ecosystem services they provide. However, most economic valuations focus on the biophysical ecosystem services and disregard the cultural ecosystem services. A better understanding of the cultural ecosystem services that suburban wetlands provide supplements wetland valuations and contributes to wetland preservation and sustainable suburban development. This study, which was conducted in Sherwood Park, Alberta, explores how suburban residents use, perceive, and value suburban wetlands and draws conclusions about the cultural ecosystem services provided by suburban wetlands. Suburban wetlands have implicit existence value; they are aesthetically pleasing; and they provide recreational, spiritual, and intellectual opportunities. Suburban wetlands are venues for relaxation, stress relief, and connecting with nature. Residents have strong positive feelings toward suburban wetlands, and a strong preference for incorporating natural wetland elements into suburban developments. Incorporating natural wetlands contributes to sustainable suburban development and produces economic, social, and ecological benefits.

No description available.

This dissertation examines the evolution of the urban tissues of Quebec City's "faubourgs." It présents a diachronic morphological analysis of the structuration of the residential tissues of these neighborhoods between 1608 and 2001. It also provides a synchronic analysis of the syntax of the tissues as well as an architectural typology describing the main architectural types in terms of genesis and processes of derivation in successive types. Finally, it examines the practices of different groups of agents and their impacts on morphological change, while stressing the social and economic conditions under which these agents acted. The study is intended as a contribution to the fields of Urban Morphology and Urban History. This case study is among the first to apply in a North American context the theoretical framework and methods developed by the Italian school of process typology. It proposes also to envision morphological transformation through a theory of practice. Drawing heavily on cartographie documentation, urban iconography, and archival material on land development from notarial and religious sources, this urban morphogenetic study posits that the formation of the urban tissue can be better understood as the outeome of a dialectical interplay between purposeful planning practices, everyday "spontaneous" practices, and structurally resilient settlement configurations and urban form inherited from the past.

During the process of post-war Fordist suburban expansion, the American and Canadian city was expanded and built around the automobile as the dominant mode of transportation. This caused an inversion of the pattern of centrality and access in cities, and auto-accessible suburbs became the place of wealth and privilege, away from the city centre. There is reason to believe that these patterns are changing in this century. A re-investment in downtowns along with a loss of middle-class manufacturing jobs and income is resulting in changing suburban socioeconomic geographies. If auto-oriented suburbs are becoming the new location of affordability and decline, this would result in an unprecedented situation: car-dependent social peripheralization. This dissertation tests this possibility. Using statistics and spatial analysis, it presents public data on socioeconomics, urban form and public transit to try and understand the current geographies of housing affordability in relation to transit access in twenty large metropolitan regions. This research is concerned with how the spatial polarization of housing affordability to suburban areas impacts access to public transit for lower-income households. In a comparative survey of twenty North American cities, I demonstrate that the lowest-cost home ownership is often found outside of the zone served by frequent transit networks, while the lowest-cost rental housing is fragmented across both transit networks and outside them. Half of the cities studied did not have enough frequent transit lines to offer an accessible network at all. The results show that in cities with transit systems that offer metropolitan-scale access, there is commonly a misalignment between affordable home ownership opportunities and frequent transit networks. When incomes and other socioeconomic and built-in environment variables are taken into account, the cost of owner-occupied housing is higher in transit-accessible areas. This is problematic from the perspectives of social justice and economic efficiency: cities will not offer fair access to opportunity if large segments of the population are priced out. The issue of isolated suburbanisms calls for adding social utility to the criteria for transit extension, as well as for innovative land use policy to encourage affordable transit-oriented intensification in these areas. While this analysis offers a snapshot of current conditions, further quantitative and qualitative research would add to our understanding of these issues. This research suggests, at a comparative metropolitan scale in the North American context, that affordable home ownership is now often connected to automobile dependency and separated from access to alternative, less expensive mobilities. This lack of affordable access is a concern for social and environmental justice, for economic mobility and for personal and community agency.

Suburban Centres were established in the Toronto region as the population dispersed beyond the city’s borders. Intended as a set of delivery points for municipal services and concentrations of commercial and social program serving local suburban residents, government policy and market forces are now encouraging these centres to accumulate a greater range of program, and absorb a significant share of population growth. They have a mandate to orient new residents toward improved public transit routes as a relief for overburdened road infrastructure, but their fundamental role as a suburban downtown requires continued accessibility by car. The structure of the suburbs is fixed, dominated by the car as the primary element of an extensive mobility system that has generated its own spatial protocols and building typologies. The morphology of older urban areas was developed in response to the parameters of streetcar service and human abilities, and also shows a resistance to change. The two mobility systems co-exist, each with their own associated territories, creating an intermodal metropolis. In suburban centres, the intensive urban mobility extends into the reach of the suburban territory, creating a threshold condition that requires a hybrid morphology to serve both. The design adopts Scarborough Centre as a test site, proposing a morphology that accommodates urban and suburban mobility by embracing the suburban planning paradigm that separates vehicle traffic from public space. The interaction between the two networks is managed to create variations in accessibility characteristics that determine programmatic distribution. The public realm is compartmentalized into differentiated spaces that support a highly permeable pedestrian network integrated with the central transit station. The proposal allows Scarborough Centre to expand its public space network without compromising its function as a highly accessible suburban downtown.

Spurred by changing retail and development patterns, as well as continuous suburban growth, greyfield sites can be found at the heart of most postwar suburbs in North American municipalities. Ranging in definition, greyfields are best described as an “underused, economically obsolete, retail tract located in an inner ring suburb that requires significant public and private involvement to curtail decline” (Feronti, 2003, p.11). However, tied to demographic trends and increased municipal urbanization, these vacated retail sites are positioned well for redevelopment. Yet, the redevelopment process of these sites is fraught with impeding and facilitating factors that can have significant implications for redevelopment options and viability. As such, research questions considered were: Do municipalities address greyfield challenges and opportunities? What factors impede and facilitate greyfield redevelopment? This thesis also asks these questions within the context of the City of Edmonton’s current policy and existing built form, and asked: How should greyfields be planned in the City of Edmonton? This thesis attempts to answer these questions through a review and analysis of existing literature, case studies (Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado and Century Park in Edmonton, Alberta) and through primary research conducted with key stakeholders. The research found that municipalities were largely unacquainted with the challenges and opportunities of greyfield redevelopment. Where support guidelines did exist, they were largely aspirational and lacked consideration for the unique impeding and facilitating factors of greyfield redevelopment. It was found that impeding factors to greyfield redevelopment ranged from administrative hurdles fraught with inexperience in greyfield redevelopment, to financial and land economic constraints. Facilitating factors were found in collaborative stakeholder consultation, municipal and administrative leadership, and a range of supportive fiscal mechanisms. Lastly, ten recommendations to facilitate greyfield redevelop within the City of Edmonton were discussed.