This thesis investigates factors which influence the physical form of the urban environment at the micro-scale. Three aspects of form are considered. These are configuration, separation, and consistency. A method of assessing the form of a property from a public place with respect to these aspects is outlined. The technique breaks each aspect into a scale of form types as a tool for measuring the formal characteristics of the environment. These form types are used to describe an urban environment. A comparison of this description with the physical attributes of the area identifies four factors which may have affected the patterns and distributions of the forms observed in the description. These are land use, land ownership patterns, time, and regulatory controls. Detailed studies of these factors in five particular areas reveals that relationships between each of the factors and the incidence of the various form types exist. Correspondences which suggest that the factor probably has an influence on the forms identified are evident in varying degrees depending on the factor considered.

Polynesian architecture has tended to be neglected or dismissed as a field of serious study by architects in New Zealand. This is also true of the indigenous art forms in general, which have been the source of substantial scholarship by ethnologists; scholarship of which art specialists, are often unaware. The result is that apart from monographs with an ethnological viewpoint, the treatment of indigenous architecture has been superficial at best.

Drainage codes exist to provide appropriate and safe means of disposal of effluent from buildings. If it is seen that those codes may not be written in a way which leads to an assured appropriate outcome, then they need to be questioned. Accordingly, this thesis follows up on the author's concerns regarding the approach taken to the layout of drainage under today's building regulatory regime. Under the New Zealand Building Code any standards may be used or any approach may be taken to methods of building, drainage and plumbing, providing the approach used can be justified as complying with the non-prescriptive objectives and performance requirements of the Building Code. Under this approach drains are now being installed more often under buildings with their maintenance access points within the building. This situation, and the consequent likely emission of microbiological aerosols, are cause for concern: that is the airborne release of microscopic particles. The "Report of the Departmental Committee - Intercepting Traps in House Drains" of 1912 from the UK, parts of which are quoted in Section 7.0, reinforced these concerns of the author. But these concerns were not shared by many others who have a major influence on the form and shape of our buildings, and it was assumed that current code requirements may not have been based on any significant research. Based on a relatively widespread lack of knowledge, there was a scenario of doubt and denial as to whether or not there were shortcomings in current code requirements in New Zealand. This provided incentive for the research project within this thesis, on the basis that there may be encouragement for future code requirements to be based on even more research in order to confirm their validity. This thesis demonstrates that the ambiguity in existing approved methods of compliance with current building codes fails to adequately protect the populace from adverse potential health effects. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Drainage codes exist to provide appropriate and safe means of disposal of effluent from buildings. If it is seen that those codes may not be written in a way which leads to an assured appropriate outcome, then they need to be questioned. Accordingly, this thesis follows up on the author's concerns regarding the approach taken to the layout of drainage under today's building regulatory regime. Under the New Zealand Building Code any standards may be used or any approach may be taken to methods of building, drainage and plumbing, providing the approach used can be justified as complying with the non-prescriptive objectives and performance requirements of the Building Code. Under this approach drains are now being installed more often under buildings with their maintenance access points within the building. This situation, and the consequent likely emission of microbiological aerosols, are cause for concern: that is the airborne release of microscopic particles. The "Report of the Departmental Committee - Intercepting Traps in House Drains" of 1912 from the UK, parts of which are quoted in Section 7.0, reinforced these concerns of the author. But these concerns were not shared by many others who have a major influence on the form and shape of our buildings, and it was assumed that current code requirements may not have been based on any significant research. Based on a relatively widespread lack of knowledge, there was a scenario of doubt and denial as to whether or not there were shortcomings in current code requirements in New Zealand. This provided incentive for the research project within this thesis, on the basis that there may be encouragement for future code requirements to be based on even more research in order to confirm their validity. This thesis demonstrates that the ambiguity in existing approved methods of compliance with current building codes fails to adequately protect the populace from adverse potential health effects. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Kampung is a pervasive concept in Malay Culture and considered counter urban in contemporary discourse. Rural to urban migration of the Malays from kampung to cities occur at an accelerated pace in urbanizing Malaysia. Rural migrants are said to remain attached to their rural kampung lifestyles and find the socio-spatial character of urban environment difficult to adapt to. Previous studies on rural kampung by anthropologists and social scientists have unpacked the socio-economic and cultural aspects of kampung Malays in rural area. My study of migrants in Alor Star and Kuala Lumpur is focused on the landscape meanings of kampung and explores how these ideas have been brought across to a city environment. I investigated the meanings and symbolic values that kampung holds to the rural-urban migrants through a ‘landscape lens’. I recorded the experiences of the rural-urban migrants in adapting to an urban landscape, identified kampung elements to which people have strong attachment with and highlighted the kampung characteristics that could be maintained or replicated in order to address the maladaptation of the migrants and enhance their urban living experience. Study participants were rural-urban migrant respondents from rural kampung in Yan, Kedah who have either moved to Kuala Lumpur or Alor Star. The case studies in the two cities were carried out using qualitative methods including photo elicitation, in-depth interviews, model mapping techniques and participant observation. Respondents provided narratives of their journey from kampung, moving to the city, and their process of adapting and settling in cities. Challenges in adaptation to city living spaces included spatial use, privacy, social relationships, safety and surveillance. My findings demonstrated that the memory of kampung plays a significant part in guiding the life of respondents in the city, and that the image of kampung is pervasive in the daily social and spatial practice of rural-urban migrants, guiding respondents’ level of adaptation and place-making in the city landscape. The use of landscape as lens was helpful in interpreting the complex and multivalent kampung meanings. Addressing a dynamic kampung idea through a landscape framework highlights the strong parallels between kampung and the early landscape concepts. The process of unweaving the meanings of kampung have illustrated that kampung ideas have the potential to inspire a landscape design language that could mitigate the harsh contrast between rural and urban Malaysia.

Cities are not merely inanimate objects. They are complex living environments, built over time by cultures and civilisations. This thesis argues that cities have a central place in human history and civilisation because they are imbued with meaning and meaningful activity. Thus, cities are inherently political spaces, and it may be reasonably expected that they will be important sites of social transformation in the postmodern era. In order to understand the relationship between urban space and political consciousness, this thesis traces several different interpretive paths within the marxist tradition. First, we examine the work of Henri Lefebvre, who argues for an understanding of urban space as socially produced. Next, the thesis looks at the contributions of Guy Debord, particularly at his understanding of the relation between time and the city. Both writers struggle to understand the urban in the context of the shift to what we now call postmodernity. Despite their many strengths, Debord and Lefebvre ultimately fail to theorise a social subject capable of resisting capitalist domination of the city. As a result, the thesis turns to a consideration of the work of Antonio Negri. Negri’s analysis of the fate of contemporary subjectivity has reinvigorated marxist critique with a return to the question of political change. His figure of the multitude takes leave of traditional marxism in challenging and productive ways, and helps us better understand the nature of subjectivity and resistance in a world of immaterial labour and virtuality. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that there is still work to be done before Negri’s work can be mapped out onto the contemporary metropolis.

As the area of impervious surfaces at urban environment increases, the more rapid runoff and urban flash floods lead to frequent overflow of the sewer system. For storm water runoff prevention and mitigation, there are soakaways commonly built in newly build up areas. The soakaways volume calculation is given by ČSN 75 9010 regulation in the Czech Republic. The presented thesis verifies applicability of this regulation in selected study sites (smal basins) of projected building construction model basins, which differ with regard to their infiltration characteristics, slope, area and degree of planned urbanization. The runoff calculation was estimated by Clark's Unit Hydrograph (UH) transformation and triangular SCS UH. HEC-HMS software has been used for Clark's UH application. Triangular UH runoff calculation has been done using MS Excel environment to establish a series of equations and logical conditions. Both models' results were compared for storms with 5 years, 10 years, 100 years and theoretical maximum return period; thus also for storms with longer return period than is proposed in the regulation. The positive differences in soakaway peak overflows and peak runoffs in study sites before the start of the urbanization were compared and evaluated, together with the differences in soakaway...

Diss. Stockholm : Tekn. högsk., 2005.

In preparation for, and for decision support during, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) emergencies it is essential to know how such an event would turn out, so that one can prepare a possible evacuation. Afterwards it might be good to know how to backtrack and see what caused the emergency, and in the case of e.g. a gas leak, where did it begin? The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) develops models for such scenarios. In this thesis FOI's model, "The Nordic Urban Dispersion model" (NUD), has been studied. The system of equations set up by this model was originally solved using Intel's PARDISO solver, which is a direct solver. An evaluation on how an iterative multigrid method would work to solve the system has been done in this thesis. The wind model is a mass-consistent model which sets up a diagnostic initial wind field. The final wind field is later minimized under the constraint of the continuity equation. The minimization problem is solved using Lagrange multipliers and the system turns into a Poisson-like problem. The iterative algebraic multigrid solver (AMG) which has been evaluated had difficulties solving the problem of an asymmetric system matrix generated by NUD. The AMG solver was then tried on a symmetric discrete Poisson problem instead, and the solution turns out to be the same as for the PARDISO solver. A comparison was made between the AMG and PARDISO solver, and for the discrete Poisson case the AMG solver turned out on top for both larger system size and less computational time. To try out the solvers for the original NUD case a modification of the boundary conditions was made to make the system matrix symmetric. This modification turns the problem into a mathematical problem rather than a physical one, as the wind fields generated are not physically correct. For this modified case both the solvers get the same solution in essentially the same computational time. A method of how to in the future solve the original (asymmetric) problem, by modifying the discretization of the boundary conditions, has been discussed.

Urbanization is a worldwide trend resulting in loss of bird habitat, dominance of invasive species and higher densities of some predatory species. However, cities provide new opportunities for birds because of warmer winter climates and sources of artificial food. Proper management of urban habitat is significant for maintaining diverse bird communities and raising conservation awareness among city dwellers. This study aimed at identifying important urban bird habitats as well as their characteristics in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Fourteen local birders outlined bird habitats on maps, and the information was compiled and presented using GIS. In total, 28% of the study area was indicated as key habitat for urban birds. By comparing the GIS data with existing conserved areas, coastal areas, marine habitat and urban wetlands were found to be under-represented in conserved areas. Following from the research findings, recommendations for improving habitat identification and management are made.