This thesis takes a cultural studies approach to representations of post-war U.S. suburbia in Richard Yates’ 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, as well as in the contemporary AMC television series Mad Men. These texts explore the postwar time period, which holds a persistently prominent and idealized space in the collective cultural imagination of America, despite the fact that it was a period troubled by isolationism, containment culture, rampant consumerism, and extreme pressure to conform to social roles. This project disrupts the romantic narrative of postwar America by focusing on the latent anxiety within the suburban landscape—by interrogating the performative nature of the planned communities of the 1950s and 1960s and exposing the tensions that were borne out of the rise of domesticity and consumerism. This project explores the descent into a society obsessed with consumerism and conformity, and seeks to interrogate the culture’s false nostalgia for the time period. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

La horizontalidad en la conformación de esta casa busca acentuar su relación con el paisaje de la cordillera de Los Andes. Se organiza en dos volúmenes horizontales paralelos, desfasados y semitransparentes, que se clavan a la pendiente. Al interior, la vivienda se caracteriza por poder integrar sus espacios a través de mamparas corredizas. En el primer cuerpo se encuentran los espacios comunes, la cocina y dormitorios, mientras que en el segundo volumen se sitúan un estar familiar y los dormitorios de huéspedes. / The horizontality in the form of this house seeks to accentuate its relationship with the Andean landscape. The house is organized in two parallel, semi-transparent, horizontal volumes that are pinned to the slope. On the interior, the house is characterized by integrating its spaces with sliding screens. In the first body the common spaces, kitchen and bedrooms are found, while the second volume contains a family room and guestrooms.

The main objective of this thesis is to answer the question of the suitable future use of Masaryk Railway Station in Prague from many aspects. The theoretical part of thesis is dealing with the history of railways in Prague and the Station. Then it is explained the principle of the integrated transport systems and the inclusion of the railways as the spinal transport for suburban transport. In the analytical part, there is briefly introduced the cause of the Station future and then this question is evaluated by three disciplines. These are methods of city logistics, urban solutions and the significance of the Station from the cultural point of view.

The focus of this study was to determine the unique contribution to administrative salaries of the following criteria: gender, ethnicity, total years' experience in education, district years' experience in education, degrees held, per pupil expenditure, and school size. The sample was comprised of 1,866 administrators in 27 Texas suburban school districts with an Average Daily Attendance (ADA) over 10,000. The 1986-87 salaries of the following 11 administrative positions were analyzed using a multiple regression equation: deputy superintendent, assistant and associate superintendent, business officer, personnel officer, senior high principal and assistant principal, junior high principal and assistant principal, elementary principal and assistant principal.

In low-income, suburban Black communities, the prevalence of diet-related chronic illnesses is alarming. Various influences often increase diet-related illnesses among this population. One influence is the use of SNAP benefits to purchase food. In this study, the influences of SNAP as well as other influences affecting food purchase decisions among the study population was examined. A qualitative multicase study approach was used and, face-to-face interviews were conducted, to understand the experiences of 20 low-income, current recipients of SNAP who were Black and lived in suburban, New York. The data indicated the most significant influence, communicated by the participants, was that children in the household had a great deal of influence over food purchases. This was followed by health issues and concerns of those in the household and, the SNAP benefit amount. The study results shed light on multiple issues faced not just with buying food, but with trying to buy healthy food on a SNAP budget. The findings are consistent with previous studies which suggest food choices are often influenced by personal and cultural ideals, and controlled by present income, family structure, and the health of family members. The study findings also support Bandura's conceptual framework which believes before changes in behavior can take place, factors that can possibly influence behavior must be considered. In conclusion, providing guidance for both public health and social service providers on the influences that effect behavior among specific populations may impact social change and lead to greater success in the prevention of diet-related chronic illnesses.

Urbanisation and suburban housing development are the foci subjects of this thesis. The process of urbanisation may differ from one country to another in terms of socio-economic and political structures, environmental characteristics and also local features. In this context, housing areas at the urban fringe of Ankara were found to have been developed highly compatible with urban land use theories / but different from the process experienced in developed countries. In this thesis, a different dimension of suburbanisation has been discussed with regards to middle and lower-middle income groups&rsquo / suburban movement. The reasons why lower-middle and lower income residents prefer to live at the urban fringe have been found out. Suburban developments have various opportunities for the households such as larger housing unit due to cheap and available land, better urban services, quiet and clean environment and privacy. However, households living in urban fringe who are relatively from middle and lower-middle income are subject to high transportation cost. It is expected that they make a trade off between lower housing units and greater commuting distances and also many opportunities of living in such a suburb. With regard to these, the process of suburbanisation of middle and lower-middle income groups in Ankara within the boundaries of Sincan and Etimesgut Quarters in terms of their social characters and the features of using their urban space and house is discussed according to plan decisions, house builder and households&rsquo / characteristics, urban development pattern of Turkey and Ankara and then Etimesgut and Sincan, considering the theoretical basis and historical process.

What forms of resistance are gay men in France and North America enacting against heteronormativity and homophobia? And why are they enacting these particular forms of resistance? To answer these questions, this thesis aims to draw connections between gay men's resistance strategies and larger socio-political phenomena in both France and North American cultures. First I focus on the discursive construction of citizens, both heterosexual and homosexual, in order to illustrate how gay men are relegated to second-class citizenship based on their sexual identities and practices. My focus, here, is cultural citizenship and sexual citizenship, two themes that run throughout this thesis. Next, I use Foucault's theories of knowledge-power to reveal how power relations in society discursively create subject positions, such as 'homosexuals' and 'heterosexuals', utilizing structures of control, norms, rewards, and punishments in order to champion heterosexuality to the detriment of homosexuality. In order to contest exercises of power, gay men engage in acts of resistance. i examine scholarly debates centered on resistance, and create a list of criterion for overt resistance, which I dub A AVOIR Resistance on account that it includes the characteristics of Action, Alternatives, Visibility, Opposition, Intent, and Recognition. Utilizing my rubric for overt resistance, as well as Foucault's notions of power, I analyze interview transcripts from a sample of gay men in North America and France to reveal that some gay men, living outside of large metropolitan areas, are rejecting hegemonic ideals of 'gayness' and integrating into mainstream heteronormative society. These men are creating what I call 'authentic communities' where many individuals from various backgrounds and lifestyles live together harmoniously based primarily on access to resources rather than identity markers such as sexual identity. this research shows a split between the ways that urban and suburban gay men embody their homosexuality. Since research on gay men focuses on those living in urban areas, my research calls, instead, for focus on suburban gay men and their resistance to homo-normative ideologies of what it means to me gay. / text

ABSTRACT OUT OF THE GREYZONE: EXPLORING GREYFIELD DESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT Konstantinos Pavlou Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor Cecelia Paine Community shopping centres in many North American suburban areas have been in decline for two decades. Failed community shopping centres, termed ‘greyfields’, have resulted in large parcels of unused lands in core urban areas, forcing residents to travel longer distances to regional malls. The decline of community shopping centres may have a number of causes, but for this study it was hypothesized that successful community shopping centres share a number of design qualities that unsuccessful shopping centres do not have. A design framework was developed based on retail design and planning literature. The framework was applied to assess an existing redevelopment, the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto. The assessment findings derived from site observations and key informant interviews resulted in a revised design framework. The final framework provides a guide to those interested in transforming commercial greyfields into vibrant components of our urban communities.

This thesis contains explanations about the reasons why residents prefer apartment housing to low rise housing far away from the central business district. And it also investigates the facts that affect residents&rsquo / and producers&rsquo / apartment housing choice. As a dominant housing provision type, apartment housing is produced every location in urban space in Ankara. Therefore the study begins with investigating the formation and growth of apartment housing in Ankara by introducing spatial variation of apartment housing. With the help of building and population censuses, distribution of 400 quarters in the Greater Ankara Municipality borders with respect to building and population density, building features, share of apartment housing and average number of storeys are analyzed. FAR values are calculated and analyzed from the CBD to western direction to introduce the change in building densities. Lastly a questionnaire survey is done to find out whether differentiation of building and environment attributes of apartment housing that are produced in different location of urban area are well-matched with their residents&rsquo / preferences. At the end of the analysis differentiation of housing structure of the city clearly comes out. While it is expected that the height of housing structure is decreasing by going far away from the CBD, it is found increasing along certain directions such as western and south-western. However by moving at western direction FAR decreases from 2 to 0,75 which states different characteristics of housing structure even if high average number of storey. As a result apartment housing provisions at different locations offer different lifestyles with their building and environmental characteristics.

Dans ce travail nous cherchons à comprendre comment les conditions de projet du renouvellement périurbain modifient les structures de la production de l'habitat périurbain. Le développement durable qui a progressivement gagné toutes les sphères de l'action publique s'attache plus récemment à reconsidérer les modèles de développement d'habitat du périurbain. Dans ce contexte, nous comparons deux pratiques professionnelles récentes, française et américaine, qui reconfigurent le système de production de l'habitat périurbain. Pour mettre cette reconfiguration en évidence nous déployons une réflexion en trois temps. D'abord, nous constatons que ces deux pratiques entrainent une évolution effective des formes urbaines et architecturales. Au prisme de la notion de transition, introduite par la théorie des systèmes sociotechniques, nous montrons qu'au-delà de l'évolution typomorphologique constatée, les logiques de projet de Bimby et du New Urbanism sous-tendent l'implication d'un pluralisme d’acteurs bénéfique. Ensuite, nous présentons et analysons les processus de design charrette et de micro-conception par lesquels les deux pratiques étudiées visent à répondre aux besoins d'une collectivité locale en impliquant une variété d'acteurs. Dans cette partie nous évaluons le degré d'influence des participants sur l'évolution des formes constatée plus tôt. Enfin, par la comparaison nous caractérisons des logiques de projet, des logiques de contrôle ainsi que des figures de l'appropriation par lesquelles le jeu d'acteurs que nous mettons en évidence poursuit une vision durable du périurbain. Nous précisons également les définitions de la co-conception et de la coproduction comme des approches de la médiation situées en amont et en aval des structures de production classiques. Les résultats de cette recherche contiennent plus particulièrement la modélisation des logiques de projet de Bimby et du New Urbanism, la modélisation du système de production de l'habitat périurbain durable, et la modélisation du renouvellement périurbain. / This doctoral research aims to understand how different priorities and actions in the process of suburban renewal can change the ways suburbs are built. Sustainable development, which has increasingly gained acceptance in various venues of public thought and action, has recently entailed the reconsideration of suburban models. In this context, we compare two recent professional practices from France and the United States — Bimby and New Urbanism — that reconfigure the ways suburbs are designed and built. To substantiate this premise we have organized our demonstration in three steps. First, we observe that these two professional practices lead to an effective evolution of urban and architectural forms, and through the sociotechnical lens that examines the interaction between the structures of society and the human behavior of the residents we show that beyond this evolution of urban types and patterns, Bimby and New Urbanism both require a diversity of stakeholders that is beneficial to the design and delivery of an urban project. Then, we present and analyze both processes of the design charrette and micro-conception through which New Urbanism and Bimby expect to formulate better solutions, according to the needs of public and private stakeholders and participants. This enables us to evaluate the level of influence of participants on the whole project. Finally, the comparison allows us to characterize the concepts, processes and delivery mechanisms through which the stakeholders involved can create and follow a sustainable vision of suburban developments. We explain the meanings of specialist terms such as co-conception and coproduction as ways of involving diverse groups of stakeholders and residents before, during and after the conventional systems of suburban development. Our results more specifically include the conceptual models of Bimby and the New Urbanism, as models of sustainable suburb production and of suburban renewal.