Access to nature has been shown to positively impact human health and well-being, reducing stress, anxiety, and depression while increasing relaxation. The Biophilia hypothesis suggests that even brief interactions with natural settings can have beneficial effects, emphasizing the evolutionary importance of our connection with nature and its potential as a tool for health promotion. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the brain activity during indirect and direct exposure to nature and urban environments. The search was done in Web of Science and MEDLINE EBSCO and 8 articles were identified to fulfill the inclusion criteria, based on,among others, the neuroimaging technique and mode of exposure to nature stimuli. Exposure to nature increases alpha power in the brain, with studies showing increased activity in variousregions such as the left and right prefrontal cortex. Additionally, specific brain regions, like the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right prefrontal cortex, exhibit lower oxy-Hb concentrations when viewing nature compared to urban environments. In sum, exposure to nature elicits changes in brain activity, particularly in alpha wave patterns and oxy-Hb concentrations. The findings support the integration of nature into urban design, highlighting its potential tobenefit public health and well-being, though further research is needed to explore long-term effects and potential applications in healthcare.

Exploring spatio-temporal flux within architecture, this thesis presents design-based research on the temporal environments of Oceania and Western evental theory. Oceanic thought and Western theories of the event share commonalities, both holding that space and time are inseparable dimensions. This spatio-temporal concept challenges Western philosophical and architectural doxa that privilege stasis over temporal flux, and offers a mode by which to introduce alterity into architectural discourse. I move over these cultural and philosophical grounds in order to explicate and further develop a personal design practice that is of this place and time for, while there is a body of writing that documents Oceanic built environments, there is less research that considers how these may be constituted and communicated through contemporary architectural design. The thesis posits two temporalised environments apparent within Oceanic spatial thought and practice – the shifting and extensive oceanscape, and the telluric groundscape that makes space; and describes two resultant spatial typologies – an oceanspace which is characterised by openness and mobility, and a groundspace which is both surface and space. These contentions are tested and theorised through three architectural experiments developed between 1999 and 2005: the Sounds House, which operates as an open and mutable spatial field; the Ground House, which forms monumental “interiors” that emerge from and relate to the earth; and Tokatea, which blends these two spatialities, fabricating a temporalised environment in between the momentary and the monumental, between interior and exterior. In presenting and discussing these speculative spaces, this thesis moves between architecture and academia, Oceania and the West, the ephemeral and the enduring, and the inside and the outside, with the aim of destabilising architecture’s discursive ground, causing its hermetic boundaries to become temporalised and fluid.

The potential for prefabrication has been sidelined by the process of the design>build>do-it-yourself model of building, maintaining and updating houses in New Zealand. Working from an industrial design perspective this research charts the possibility of a shift in home construction from site building towards factory-manufacture. Mindful of New Zealand’s creative, do-it-yourself heritage and personal rituals of homemaking, this study explores domestic ritual and the iterative nature of amateur home alterations. Just as we have the right to alter our own body’s surfaces so too should the homeowner have the ability to alter the surfaces and services they own and with which they interact. Flanked by the design-to-manufacture model promoted by industrial design and the emphasis on inhabiting and rearranging the home from spatial design a hybrid notion of housing design and production is put forward. Suggesting a product that deals affordably with the home’s surfaces and services, within the customs of daily and seasonal acts of maintenance in the home, offers an area of prefabrication that seems attainable for New Zealand interior.

This study uses complexity theory to examine the space of the street. In a morpho-ecological city, process creates form just as form creates process. The process of movement is a critical form generator within the urban system. In this thesis, the urban system comprising streets/ car/pedestrian is examined. If this collection of urban modes of mobility is a complex system capable of selforganising behaviour, what effect does the ordering imposed by traffic engineering have on this system? I look at the driving body and the walking body as co-creating the city by their movement through urban space. I suggest that, through attention to the fragments of interactions enacted during these movements, we can, through design, allow for the emergence of selforganising behaviour. Urban shared streets, descendants of the ‘woonerf’, appear to function more efficiently than engineered streets, without the usual traffic ordering. The counterintuitive success of these streets implies a self-organising behaviour that is generated by the density of interaction between the inhabitants of the street. These designs potentially work as a change agent, a catalyst, operating within a complex system. This has the potential to move systems from one attractor state to another. A city built with these spaces becomes a city of enfilades; an open system of spaces that are adaptable to uses that fluctuate with time and avoid thickening the palimpsest of traffic engineering. I look at siting shared streets in Wellington, based on jaywalking, a transgressive use of the streetspace that prefigures a shared space, and changes to urban networks associated with such designs. Interaction within the city is a creative force with a structure. City design needs to consider and address this infrastructure and design for it. The infrastructure of interaction has been subsumed by the infrastructure of movement. Shared streets indicate there may not be a need for this – they can be integrated. The process of movement creates instances of interaction; therefore designing spaces of/for movement must be designed to enhance the infrastructure of interaction. The result of such interaction is not just somewhat better; it may be a phase change - catalytically better .

This research project focused on the development of an appropriate interior design proposal for the Hulme F1 supercar. The Hulme F1 supercar, originally designed by Hulme Supercars Ltd, draws exterior design references from contemporary Formula One Grand Prix race cars. In addition, the Hulme F1 supercar integrated visual design cues expressing luxury, high-performance and exoticness. The existing design established the package, window openings, basic controls and door architecture for this study. Based on this material, the interior study focused on an overall aesthetic and its integration with ergonomic, technical and functional requirements. The conceptual nature of this project allowed for the inclusion of speculative and experimental design proposals that were not constrained by local contemporary manufacturing and economic issues. Consequently, the project based itself on a technological forecast of five to ten years. Research first explored and defined several key design motifs central to the Hulme F1 supercar. This involved studies into supercars, luxury, high-performance, exoticness, contemporary Formula One Grand Prix racing and the existing exterior form language. The results from this research established initial themes for development of the interior design proposal. A review of contemporary theory in visual product communication and experience was undertaken to identify an appropriate framework for this investigation. The research of Monö (1997), Norman (2004a) and Warell (2007) was reviewed. Review focused on two areas; a structure appropriate for defining design criteria and a comprehensive framework for visual analysis of exemplars to identify visual design trends. The Visual Product Experience (VPE) framework by Warell offered the most appropriate visual framework for this investigation. Using the VPE framework, a visual analysis of contemporary luxury motorcars, professional race cars and supercars was undertaken. Analysis focused on interior and interior/exterior related design trends. Findings illustrated that luxury motorcars have simple aesthetic compositions with frequent interior/exterior form element repetition. Conversely, professional race cars have complex aesthetic compositions with minimal interior/exterior form element repetition. Meanwhile, supercar interior aesthetics and appear to vary between these two spectrums depending on their overall aesthetic expression. To this end, the analysis illustrated the opposing visual qualities between luxury and high-performance. This suggested the interior design proposal required a delicate balance between complex and simple aesthetic elements to obtain an appropriate overall visual expression. Consequently, the interior design proposal used a combination of flowing soft surfaces and complex detailing to express luxury and high-performance. Research also established criteria for the design of interior functional systems required within the interior design proposal. Interior functional systems included control, body-support, display, storage and safety systems. The development process for the interior design proposal consisted of iterative design methods. This included concept generation, concept development and three-dimensional form studies. Throughout the development process, concepts were screened against design criteria in order to further direct the iterative process. Contemporary Formula One race car illustrated an abundance of visual inspiration for the interior design proposal during the development process. Elements such as exhaust and aerodynamic wing details were referenced within the interior design proposal. The intent of this was to create visual harmony between interior and exterior aesthetics. Research into ingress and egress found a conventionally fixed steering unit impeded participants. As a result, the final design proposed a steering unit that swung towards the centre of the interior for greater entry/exit space. The interior design proposal was assessed by internal and external ‘ design evaluation’ methods. Testing indicated that the interior design proposal had fulfilled most of the experience and performance design criteria and achieved the aim of this research. Overall, this investigation designed an interior design proposal to compliment the exterior design of the Hulme F1 supercar. The interior design proposal was supported by visual framework developed from this research investigation. In addition, the investigation proposed functional and ergonomic solutions to support the interior design proposal.

Atelierworkshop is an innovative Wellington based architectural practice that has advanced into the area of off- site manufacture of container-based housing solutions. Their product, the Port-a-Bach (PAB) is moving into its second generation (PAB Gen-2). This product development initiative has resulted in a range of projects that have been undertaken to improve off-the-grid energy systems, water supply and storage, packaging, transportation and cost reduction. This particular project documents the design and development of an energy management and supply accessory product, called the Bach Pack. The Bach Pack seeks to create a viable product energy system solution, at reduced cost and environmental impact (compared with existing solutions) and to achieve this through the development of the usability aspects and features of the product system. The focus is on developing a quality experience for the end user with regards to the attachment and deployment of the components that make up the Bach Pack product. This accessory and modular product solution enables the PAB Gen-2 to be self-sufficient with regard to electrical energy and water supply, and can be specified at point of sale or added later if required. This document focuses explicitly on the design and development of the solar array segment of the Bach Pack.

The objective of my project was to determine variability and representability of mercury in the urban environment of Umeå in northern Sweden, based on applying the methods of forest moss biomonitoring (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, ICP Manual). Mercury (Hg) is a commune pollutant in urban environments release to the atmosphere by anthropogenic activities. Industrial, traffic and incineration activities are the main sources of this element. Mercury is easily transported through the atmosphere and cycle through terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, trending to bioaccumulate in organisms. The aims of the study are: (1) determine the representability and variability of the method in a specific urban environment, based on more intensive analyses of a green area within the city boundaries of Umeå, northern Sweden. (2) influence of site-specific conditions on the concentration of mercury in mosses. (3) City-scale variability in relation to national forest moss biomonitoring data (IVL.se). Results of urban environment measurements do not differ much respect the values of mercury concentration obtained sampling mosses far from the city, but it is subject to many factors that can alter results of the study.  Most of these are meteorological factors and the difficulty of find green zones close to cities with the suitable conditions to find mosses and perform a property sampling process avoiding throughfall and litterfall. The conclusion is that the use of mosses is a representative and valuable method to obtaining information in an urban environment but is limited by mentioned factors.

The abstract This work deal with evaluation the social and spatial isolation in selected location. For resaerch were selected two different types of enviroment. City part of Pilsen - Doubravka and rural village - Pasečnice. This work researches the positives and negatives in their environment. The survey was conducted through a semi-structured dialogue which subjectively assesses the level of social and residential satisfaction in the the Down. Plzeň 4 - Doubravka and Pasečnice. The research is focused on social relationship, housing, primary shops, public services, traffic accessbility, leisure, and safety . Key words: social isolation, residential satisfaction, seniors, city and country, public services

Over the last few decades Czech cities have experienced significant improvements of physical environment, and urban regeneration is one of the processes contributing to these changes. The final appearance of renewed environment is the result of negotiations and conflicts among key actors involved in the regeneration process. The decision- making process of urban regeneration is influenced by many factors including the perception of the qualities of the buildings and of the place. The regeneration process can also change the place and its meanings. The aim of this diploma thesis is to characterize the role of perception in decision-making process of urban regeneration in the case of two parts of the city of Ostrov built in different architectural styles. First, the theoretical knowledge related to perception of the architectural heritage and its regeneration is discussed, with emphasis on the concept of place as a pervading approach. As the main research findings, the differences in the perception of given buildings were identified among the city residents and among the actors as well. It was also proven that the perception of given buildings affects the approach of the actors to regeneration to some extent, although in many cases the other factors predominate.

Cette thèse porte sur les défis en matière de surveillance de la fiabilité de la navigation par GNSS pour les applications de véhicules terrestres dans les milieux urbains. L'objectif principal de cette recherche est de développer des méthodes de positionnement avec confiance en utilisant des mesures GNSS et des mesures de confiance pour l'utilisateur dans des environnements urbains contraintes. Dans la première partie de la thèse, les erreurs NLOS en milieu urbain sont caractérisées par un modèle 3D de l'environnement urbain. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous avons proposé une technique de surveillance de la fiabilité dans le domaine des mesures GNSS pour l'environnement urbain en utilisant un capteur de vitesse fiable. Enfin, nous avons développé une nouvelle expérimentale de surveillance de l'intégrité pour le positionnement en milieu urbain. En surveillant de la statistique de test contre un seuil spécifique, l'intégrité et la continuité de positionnement sont fixés à un certain niveau de confiance. En outre, le calcul de niveau de protection horizontale (HPL) en utilisant une approche composite a également été proposé. / This thesis addresses the challenges in reliability monitoring of GNSS aided navigation for land vehicle applications in urban environments. The main objective of this research is to develop methods of trusted positioning using GNSS measurements and confidence measures for the user in constrained urban environments. In the first part of the thesis, the NLOS errors in urban settings are characterized by means of a 3D model of the urban surrounding. For the second part of the thesis, the work proposes a reliability monitoring technique in the range domain for urban environ ment using a trusted velocity sensor. Finally, the research developed a novel experimental scheme in integrity monitoring for positioning in urban environment. By monitoring the test statistic against a specific threshold, the positioning integrity and continuity are met at a certain level of confidence. In addition, the Horizontal Protection Level (HPL) computation using a composite approach has also been proposed.