The dissertation investigates suitable living environments for the healing and rehabilitation of people in crisis in South Africa, focusing on the human experience of space. Through the understanding of the problem and the context, the product of the investigation is a shelter for the homeless in the city of Tshwane. The shelter can be defined as transitional housing for the adult urban homeless and their children, which focuses on the healing and ultimate rehabilitation of homeless people, including the reintegration of these people into society. The significance of the project is that the development becomes a metaphor for the reintegration of people into society. The project aims to empower people to become contributing members of society and discontinues the cycle of destitution by providing an opportunity for economic activity and by improving the physical environment of the homeless as well as the physical environment of the community in general. / Mini Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

The thesis deals with the issue of enumerating and mapping the needs of the homeless. It compares tools for measuring homelessness which are described in literature and shows the way for implementation of measuring within the area of smaller municipalities. Findings about homelessness, homeless phenomenon and services for the homeless published in the literature are discussed at the beginning of the theoretical part. The core fragment of the theoretical part is devoted to a discussion on the basis and ways of measuring homelessness both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Different tools for measuring homelessness are compared in the thesis, appended with commentaries reflecting author's own multiyear experiences with providing services for target group and his involvement in surveys. The empirical part describes the process of verifying the applicability of the given methodology for enumerating and mapping the needs of homeless in practice. The procedures how author reached the final adjustments of the given methodology are described in this part. The modified methodology for counting and mapping the needs of homeless is presented in the conclusion. At final stage the modified methodology is compared with the methodology used for enumerating homeless in the United States.

Just after midnight on a chilly April night in 2005, the author finds himself homeless in Hawaii, searching for a place to sleep. The account that follows is the true story of a young man's misadventures on the road as he attempts to reconcile his wanderlust with a need for order and security. This work of creative nonfiction reconstructs the first half of the summer the narrator spent wandering Hawaii. Specifically, this section concentrates on the author's experiences on the island of Oahu. There, the narrator, who constantly changes his name, is stuck at a crossroads; he is torn between his desires for the woman and the life he left in Texas and his need for exploration. At first he drifts along the road eating beef jerky sandwiches, ducking beer bottles flung at him by locals, and camping illegally in public parks. Eventually he finds work and belonging at a new age surf shop on the North Shore, but this stagnant environment only reinforces his desire to wander. After nearly drowning in a surfing accident and being threatened by the owner of the board he destroys, the narrator returns to the road where he has encounters with a military man, Mormons, fellow transients, the police, and a chicken fighter who tries to seduce him. Eventually he leaves Oahu for the island of Kauai. There he finds hope and friendship among the bohemians living communally on organic farms. However, his resolve to live a freewheeling lifestyle is ultimately tested one night by a band of drug runners who confront him on a deserted beach. This master's thesis celebrates the tradition of the great American road story. While the narrator retraces the footsteps of many who have set out on the open road, his personal account and voice reflect the modern values and cultural forces that lead many of his generation to wander America in search of something more.

The economic and the political crisis that Greece experiences has as a consequence a social degradation, which is linked and followed by a spatial one. The humanitarian crisis in the city of Athens visualizes physically-spatially in the abandonment of public and private spaces. Today, there are more than 1,200 abandoned buildings in the city center remaining unused and empty.  On the other side, there are more than 10,000 homeless people experiencing the consequences of the economic crisis. Taking into consideration this contrast, our basic proposal is the redefinement and the reuse of the abandoned buildings in order to  provide homeless people with the means to satisfy their needs. During our investigation we came to the conclusion that  what is  needed is much more than just physical shelter. Thus, land for food production as well as public spaces for social inclusion are also crucial for our proposal. The model that we seek to develop proposes shelter for the homeless people through the reuse of the buildings, supported by urban farming and public spaces. In order to visualize how this model could be implemented in the city of Athens we decided to work with a case study that combines all the parameters mentioned above.The area selected is a complex of three abandoned buildings within Drakopoulou park situated in the area of Ano Patissia. The three structures are in different conditions and each one of them is being treated in a different way. Moreover, Drakopoulou park constitutes a suitable public space for urban farming and social activity.   For the case study area we have developed three basic typologies for the renovation and the reuse of the abandoned buildings, according to their conditions. Additionally, three main typologies have been developed for urban farming proposals, according to the potential use of the land. Following the example of Drakopoulou park our final vision is the implementation of this model and its typologies in multiple neighborhoods of Athens where abandoned buildings and suitable land for urban farming are situated.

In this research, I examine the mediating role of transit and the mobility needs and experience of individuals who are homeless in the suburban community of Surrey, BC. I have used Harvey’s (2005) conception of social spatial sorting as a means of understanding the suburbanization of poverty and Galtung’s structural violence (1969) as a means of understanding the experience of homeless transit access. I employed a multiple case study, using semi-structured interviews, with residents and staff of three homeless shelters, located in three distinct neighbourhoods in Surrey. A cross-case analysis of the interview data was undertaken, to draw conclusions and recommendations for policy development and research concerning the transit needs of people who are homeless. To provide a policy context, a review of existing transit access programs available for people who are homeless and/or low-income is presented demonstrating the range of criteria and best practices. Four dimensions of transit access were identified by residents and staff: physical, temporal, social and financial (Kenyon et al., 2003). Residents had the most constrained agency (Coe & Jordhus-Lier et al., 2010) in relation to the physical and temporal dimensions, so that these dimensions became the most problematic in this suburban context. The importance of considering and understanding the geographic context of shelters and potential impacts on mobility and social inclusion for shelter residents, exiting from homelessness, are demonstrated. / Graduate

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The main goal with this essay has been to study how previous research and media report on the discussion around homelessness and how this impacts society’s view on homelessness. We chose to review previous research and media reporting to see how the phenomenon is discussed and portrayed, both historically and in the present. Throughout the essay, we have tried to explain how this affects the view of homelessness, both for the person who is homeless and also for the population in general, as well as what the consequences of this will be. The essay contains international research but has a predominantly Swedish perspective because it is in our interest to examine the subject in the country we live in. The method we worked on was a so-called literature study where we compiled the literature we dealt with in order to get answers to our main questions. We have used social constructivism and agenda setting as theoretical starting points. Our results show that the discussion around homelessness is constantly ongoing and that there are many aspects that influence the phenomenon and the view of it.

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