Mitt projekt bemöter ett småstadstorg där flera av förutsättningarna byggts bort eller med tiden inte underhållits, och där platsen och de gamla butikerna samtidigt har svårt att hitta en ny roll i ett allt mer urbaniserat land. Torgets kvaliteter finns i olika skalor och dimensioner, därför har jag valt att hantera projektet på tre nivåer: stad, torg och byggnad. Platsen är det sk. Skvallertorget i Kisa, Östergötland, med omgivande befintliga hus och butiker från tiden 1890-1910, varav många idag är delvis stängda eller med eftersatt underhåll. Utgångspunkten är att återuppväcka den gamla torg-platsen och byggnaderna som ramar in det. Projektet handlar om att genom hänsynsfulla förändringar och tillägg kunna väcka de kvaliteter som glömts bort, och skapa nya i samma spår genom restaurering och referenser i den egna staden. Jag vill också med detta projekt väcka frågor kring omsorg, kvalitet och identitet och hur detta finns med i vår hantering av befintliga och nya byggnader. / My project deals with a small town square where many of the qualities and requirements have been deconstructed or not maintained over time, and where the square and the old stores have trouble finding its place in an increasingly urbanized country. The qualities of a town square are found in different scales and dimensions, and I have therefore decided to approach the project on three levels: town, square and building. The site is the so called Skvallertorget in Kisa, Östergötland, with its surrounding existing houses and stores from the time 1890-1910, out of which many are now partly closed and neglected. To revitalize the old town square and the buildings surrounding it was my starting point, and the project is about awakening the forgotten qualities with careful alterations and additions, and to create new in the same style through restoration and references in the town. With this project I also want to ask questions about care, quality and identity and how this is part of our way of dealing with existing and new environments and buildings.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Alton A. Barnes Jr / A study was performed comparing the results of two different Smart Growth Scorecards against a land development project, Southlake Town Square, which the Smart Growth Network claims to be Smart Growth. Southlake Town Square was chosen from a list of projects published by the Smart Growth Network entitled “This Is Smart Growth: A List of Featured Communities”. The purpose of this study was to determine if Smart Growth Scorecards support what the Smart Growth Network claims to be Smart Growth. The Ten Principles of Smart Growth, published by the Smart Growth Network, served as a measurable set of definitions which cumulatively define Smart Growth. The New Jersey Smart Growth Scorecard for Proposed Developments published by New Jersey Future and the Austin, Texas Smart Growth Criteria Matrix by the City of Austin Transportation, Planning and Design Department were selected from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) website on Smart Growth. This investigation revealed that the two scorecards yielded similar results suggesting that Southlake Town Square failed to score better than 60% of the total possible points on either scorecard. Southlake Town Square failed to produce convincing results when the scorecards were analyzed in terms of the Ten Principles of Smart Growth. Furthermore, significant differences were observed in the measuring techniques of both Smart Growth Scorecards. The results of this study sufficiently conclude that significant inconsistencies exist between what the Smart Growth Network claims to be Smart Growth and what currently available Smart Growth measuring tools, Smart Growth Scorecards, say about a Smart Growth project. Consequently, the contemporary movement called Smart Growth maybe drastically weakened by unsupported claims, a lack of consistent, standardized measuring techniques, and differing definitions of Smart Growth.

This thesis analyzes news photographs related to the Old Town Square and its task is to explore the role of a place in a city and how it determines the myths in visual messages. The theoretical part focuses on the context of semiotics and news photographs and describes the possibilities in interpreting meanings of visual communication. In relation to photographic messages, it also reflects the analytical background at the level of myth, based on the work of Roland Barthes. Theoretical part also takes in account the symbolic and historical values of the Old Town Square. The analysis itself is based on a sample of 20 randomly selected photographs present in MF Dnes and Blesk, which cover events taking place in the Old Town Square between 1993 and 2013. Using comparative semiotic analysis it focuses on the visual content of news photographs in these journals, while observing how the Old Town Square takes part in the connotative chains and resulting myths.

<p>In this undergraduate thesis you will venture on a journey through the land of democratic values and urban planning. My research question is stated as: whether or not urban planning can show effects on democratic values and whether or not the municipalities in Sweden takes these possible effects into account when planning their city centres. You will in my theory part of this thesis be able to read about different views on urban planning and on democracy. Famous authors like Robert D. Putnam and Richard Florida will be examined as well as other theorists on democracy and urban planning. To be able to map whether or not urban planning matter I have done a thorough research on two cases of urban planning in two of Sweden’s smallest municipalities. Both of them have fairly recently rebuilt their urban centres and my research will try to show how this new urban planning has influenced the democracy in those regions. This research will show to you that thoughts, that urban planning affects the democracy, actually exist and affect the ones who execute and plan the urban centres in the municipalities. On the question whether or not there exist a correlation between urban planning and a well functioning democracy this research will show that no such link is recognizable and that urban planning, for the two cases, did not matter.</p>

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to examine how local citizens and the expert community perceive the current status of the Old Town Square in Prague. At present, the attention is very often turned to the possible completion of the Old Town Hall and the overall physical arrangement of the area. Thesis will be based both on the study of historical and present documents. Initially, the focus will be on determining the current situation and use of the square, later on we will discuss the completion of the Old Town Hall and comprehensively the use of area as such. Based on interviews with residents I will evaluate the satisfaction of local citizens with the current purpose of this place, what is their use of the square and what local people think about the completion of the Old Town Hall and other objects situated on the square.

Édifice emblématique de la Renaissance, l’église fut au coeur des réflexions théoriques des architectes italiens. Leur pensée, émanant directement du De architectura de Vitruve et de ses nombreuses éditions renaissantes, accorde également à la ville un rôle majeur dans l’élaboration d’une communauté humaine idéale. Il n’est donc guère étonnant que les deux thèmes, architecture religieuse et art urbain, se rencontrent dans la théorie comme dans la pratique pour magnifier la demeure divine. Toutefois, loin d’être mis à l’écart, le lieu de culte s’insère au sein d’un réseau viaire dense et complexe qu’il faut analyser soigneusement pour juger au mieux de la place accordée à ce type de monuments. Située à proximité d’autres symboles du pouvoir, tels que les palais seigneuriaux et communaux, l’église instaure un dialogue ambivalent avec ces derniers. De même, la place et/ou l’avenue qui la précèdent peuvent aussi bien contribuer à son isolement qu’à son intégration urbaine. Au fil des lectures, les concepts même d’architecture religieuse et de cadre urbain apparaissent donc polysémiques. Et l’analyse des constructions de la Renaissance ne clarifie en rien la situation. S’appuyant sur des sources variées (traités d’architecture, ouvrages d’humaniste, dessins, plans, etc.) le présent travail tend à interroger les valeurs multiples des lieux de culte de la Renaissance. Leur cadre urbain contribue-t-il nécessairement, comme l’affirme Alberti, à en faire les principaux embellissements de la cité ? / Symbolic edifice of the Renaissance, the church was fundamental in Italian architects’ theoretical reflexions. Their thought, based on Vitruvius’ De architectura and its numerous Renaissance editions, attributes also a great importance to the town in the development of an ideal human community. There’s nothing surprising about that both topics, religious architecture and town planning, meet each other in the theory as in the pratice to glorify the God’s house. However, not at all isolated, the place of worship is inserted in a concentrated urban network. Located close to other symbols of power, like seigneurial castle and local council, the church establishes an ambivalent dialogue with them. Similarly, the town square and the avenue can contribute to its isolated location or its urban integration. Therefore, the notions of religious architecture and town planning appear polysemous. Relying on varied sources (treatises, humanists’ writings, drawings, plans, etc.) the present thesis strives to examine the numerous values of Renaissance’s churches. Does their urban setting participate to make the church the city’s greatest and noblest ornament, as claimed by Alberti ?

In this undergraduate thesis you will venture on a journey through the land of democratic values and urban planning. My research question is stated as: whether or not urban planning can show effects on democratic values and whether or not the municipalities in Sweden takes these possible effects into account when planning their city centres. You will in my theory part of this thesis be able to read about different views on urban planning and on democracy. Famous authors like Robert D. Putnam and Richard Florida will be examined as well as other theorists on democracy and urban planning. To be able to map whether or not urban planning matter I have done a thorough research on two cases of urban planning in two of Sweden’s smallest municipalities. Both of them have fairly recently rebuilt their urban centres and my research will try to show how this new urban planning has influenced the democracy in those regions. This research will show to you that thoughts, that urban planning affects the democracy, actually exist and affect the ones who execute and plan the urban centres in the municipalities. On the question whether or not there exist a correlation between urban planning and a well functioning democracy this research will show that no such link is recognizable and that urban planning, for the two cases, did not matter.