This thesis proposes that sensory experience should play an important role in setting up a direct relationship between people and the natural environment, and it is based on the premise that contemporary urban public space ecological designs. Are often deficient in this regard. In order to develop a design methodology that addresses both ecological function and sensory experience, the author examine both contemporary western ecological design and classical Chinese garden design. The former focuses on the ecological functions of the environment, while the latter typically emphasizes the sensory qualities of the landscape. Drawing from the strengths of both approaches, an experience-oriented ecological design framework is proposed with the goal of improving human experience in urban public spaces. The framework emphasizes both sensory experience and ecological functions in two phases of the design process — site analysis and site design. The framework is applied to a design for Bridge Park in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The design is evaluated to assess efficacy of the framework for the design urban public spaces that address both sensory experience and ecological processes. The evaluation suggests that the framework could be an effective tool for designers, and also draws conclusions regarding the potential role of sensory experience as a tool for creative discovery in the design process. Finally the paper raises questions regarding the desirability of employing sensory experience as a didactic tool to enhance environmental awareness. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Urban public spaces are constantly restructured with new meaning, reflecting their socio-cultural, political, historical, and technological influences. Over the last two decades, the rapid technological advancements and increasingly widespread use of mobile devices give people a chance to share their experiences of their immediate surroundings through various applications. As these platforms enable people to create and exchange various forms of User-Generated Content (UGC) has gained wide attention as an invaluable source of information on human-environment relationships including people's timely perception, emotion, preference, and sense of place in public space. This study employs quantitative content analysis to identify collective perceptions of urban public spaces and their characteristics as projected through a photo-sharing social media application, Instagram. A total of 1,200 users' photos and associated hashtags geo-referenced to three New York City urban public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. This study begins with a qualitative phase, employing manual categorization techniques to identify the concepts in visual and textual data. The second phase applied a statistical analysis method, a set of descriptive analytics, and chi-square tests to answer the research questions for this study. Findings indicate physical attributes of urban squares are the most dominant type of geo-referenced users' photographs through the visual social media platform. People's immediate perceptions vary with time and place, while the patterns of hashtag usage found in this study show no difference across the three urban squares. people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the square itself, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses adjacent to the square. While people rarely utilize hashtags as a method of emotional expression, findings show a clear connection between hashtags associated with users' photo content and the image of the city. / Doctor of Philosophy / The proliferation of mobile devices and social media platforms has given people new opportunities to document and exchange their experiences in urban public spaces. Publicly available content, which communicates timely opinions, perceptions, emotions, and preferences has a strong influence on the formation of the overall perception of urban public spaces in the digital environment. This study aims to explore how a sense of place—including emotional value, urban identity, distinctiveness, and seasonality—is built-in urban public spaces through one image-sharing application, Instagram. In addition, hashtags attached to the photographs are collected to help understand people's motivations for posting content in urban public places. The study compiles 1,200 photographs on Instagram taken at three New York City public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. The study finds that people tend to post content that focuses on the physical appearance of the squares. However, people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the squares themselves, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses around each square. One important function of Instagram in these spaces is for people to write information to document their experiences in the urban squares. There are also strong connections between the visitors' perceptions of urban public space as seen through their photographs and the image of the city.

Certain urban public spaces seem to embody the cities in which they are found, helping to make those cities the vibrant places they are. This project explores how urban public spaces can be created to reflect the vitality of the city by embracing the culture and the people who reside in it. Through literature review and case studies, a framework is developed focusing on the areas of identity and use in the design of public spaces. Identity is looked at in terms of place attachment, spatial identity, and how surrounding uses affect the identity of a space. Use is explored in terms of designing a public space to encourage a diversity of uses at different times. Identity and use are inevitably linked: much of a space's identity depends on the uses that take place there and whether or not the space meets the needs of its users. In the same way, a space will not be used unless potential users can identify with it and feel a connection to it. A design project is carried out in an urban neighborhood based on this framework to create a space that is connected to its users and its city. / Master of Landscape Architecture

The study aims to explore different aspects of urban public space. It does so through the case study of the medial debate concerning the planned redevelopment of Heden, an open central publicly owned area in Gothenburg, Sweden. The case study revealed the highly contested meanings of Heden, as well as different understandings of public space. The study also points to the dilemma of making urban public space readable and convivial, while maintaining it inclusive and open for everyone. The medial debate circles around the newly publicized redevelopment plan for Heden. In the plan the local government proposes the addition of more activities and functions to Heden. Thereby, they wish to attract new target groups to Heden. This proposal has met with some approval in the medial debate, but also with harsh critique. Some critics voice the concern of to whom public space is redeveloped. Other critics want to see more extensive redevelopment of Heden, to cover it with “inner city”. Others yet wish a future Heden to have a more explicit focus on sports. The study examines these differing opinions and their possible consequences for the “publicness” of urban public space.

Public space in the city. Social aspect and design for functional urban planning on the example of Prague The theme of this thesis is the formulation and revision of the general criteria of the functionality of urban public space in particular voluntary activities with the emphasis on user experience. The work as a whole combines theoretical and empirical approach to examining this issue, as these two views are complementary and mutually enriching. In the theoretical part, the theme of public space is imbedded in a broader sociological context. From the theoretical approach it is gradually moved to empiricism, which includes mainly the coverage of the concept of observable and measurable functionality indicators. In the empirical part, the formulated criteria are applied in practice within the observation of selected areas of Prague and also within their qualitative evaluation by the space visitors themselves. The universality and portability of these aspects in a different environment has been reviewed by comparing the theoretical aspects of functionality with the empirical evaluation of the observers. The work in its final section gives suggestions for the functional urban planning, based on newly uncovered contexts and dimensions. Key word: city, urban public space, functional urban planning

Urban public spaces have been considered an essential part of cities throughout history. Over the span of urban life, public spaces have continuously reflected the complexities of their cities’ cultural, social, and economic contexts. Public spaces play a particular role in the life of urban areas, whether as memorable, accessible, or meaningful places. However, recent researches on public spaces reveal that some are currently experiencing a decline in their physical design and in their use. Many writers and scholars of public spaces issues identify a general decline, for which the causes and prescriptions are different according to the context of urban planning and designing. Thus, in this period of change in using public spaces, it becomes important to evaluate and investigate actual use of contemporary public spaces, how and why they are used, particularly in terms of their physical deterioration and/or improvement. Therefore, an opportunity exists to reveal and understand the interrelationship between physical patterns of contemporary public spaces and people’s activity patterns within such spaces. This thesis relates to urban public spaces uses, particularly public squares, and to the relationship between their physical and activity patterns. It considers the design features of urban public space, focusing on people’s activities and various forms of use – from passive to active engagement to understand the activity-physical patterns relationship in a selected urban public space. It therefore asks: How do people’s activities relate to the physical patterns of an urban public space? And how are people’s activities affected and encouraged by urban public space’s physical features? In order to address these questions, this thesis employs a methodology that combines direct field observations, activity mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), as applied to a selected public space in Toronto, Mel Lastman Square to reveal the activity patterns that appear to be correlated with particular use of design features within the square. Thus, the value of this thesis is in studying the relationship between the activities and the physical settings of urban public spaces through using a proposed methodology and exploring GIS as an analytical tool to describe the activity-patterns relationship. Analyzing this relationship will add insights into and complement the application of urban design theories and practice which could lead to further studies to improve the public spaces design and planning process.

Urban public spaces have been considered an essential part of cities throughout history. Over the span of urban life, public spaces have continuously reflected the complexities of their cities’ cultural, social, and economic contexts. Public spaces play a particular role in the life of urban areas, whether as memorable, accessible, or meaningful places. However, recent researches on public spaces reveal that some are currently experiencing a decline in their physical design and in their use. Many writers and scholars of public spaces issues identify a general decline, for which the causes and prescriptions are different according to the context of urban planning and designing. Thus, in this period of change in using public spaces, it becomes important to evaluate and investigate actual use of contemporary public spaces, how and why they are used, particularly in terms of their physical deterioration and/or improvement. Therefore, an opportunity exists to reveal and understand the interrelationship between physical patterns of contemporary public spaces and people’s activity patterns within such spaces. This thesis relates to urban public spaces uses, particularly public squares, and to the relationship between their physical and activity patterns. It considers the design features of urban public space, focusing on people’s activities and various forms of use – from passive to active engagement to understand the activity-physical patterns relationship in a selected urban public space. It therefore asks: How do people’s activities relate to the physical patterns of an urban public space? And how are people’s activities affected and encouraged by urban public space’s physical features? In order to address these questions, this thesis employs a methodology that combines direct field observations, activity mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), as applied to a selected public space in Toronto, Mel Lastman Square to reveal the activity patterns that appear to be correlated with particular use of design features within the square. Thus, the value of this thesis is in studying the relationship between the activities and the physical settings of urban public spaces through using a proposed methodology and exploring GIS as an analytical tool to describe the activity-patterns relationship. Analyzing this relationship will add insights into and complement the application of urban design theories and practice which could lead to further studies to improve the public spaces design and planning process.

In a global urban context marked by increasingly unsustainable conditions, the capacity to imagine a fundamentally different future is crucial to avoid being trapped in a precarious present. The cognitive potential of critically challenging and reimagining current degraded conditions is only partly examined in the existing literature. Therefore, a question arises as to whether this process could somehow influence an individual’s understanding of environmental circumstances and the motivations for acting upon them. This study focuses on University City (Mexico) as a case study. It aimed to investigate the potential of critical futures studies (CFS), applied to human-environment interactions in public spaces, to help articulate positive futures and motivate taking action. The question: What should the future look and feel like?, let participants reframe prevailing negative narratives and envision human-environment interactions in an urban public space characterized by diversity, multifunctionality, livability, and democracy. Key findings from a series of participatory workshops revealed divergent responses to the critical futures approach in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, the inherent desire toward taking action, either increased or was maintained at high pre-existing levels, tentatively explained by the catalytic role of the emotional contrast between current and envisioned experiences. This study also observed narrative shifts regarding intrinsic motivation toward more collective, affective, and change-oriented reasons. Conversely, extrinsic motivation, as the disposition to act based on anticipated outcomes, remained limited after the workshops, which is hypothesized to be an outcome of perceived barriers, such as institutional hierarchies, and participants' unfamiliarity with potential courses of action.  Overall, this study explores and discusses the potential of CFS methods for motivating action toward positive change and underscores the importance of contextualizing motivational factors within present realities and actionable knowledge. Leveraging these insights in participatory settings can sustain motivation, furthering progress toward a desirable and sustainable future.

Diferentemente dos estudos tradicionais sobre as festas realizados pela História Social, pela Sociologia ou pela Antropologia, a presente tese tem como objeto de estudo as festas públicas no espaço urbano de São Paulo. Trata-se de um estudo espacializado e discutido em função dos impactos dessas práticas na cidade na longa duração, pois somente assim são perceptíveis as rupturas e continuidades. Nossa baliza cronológica inicial é o ano de 1711, marco de São Paulo enquanto cidade e momento em que a urbe apresenta uma vida urbana mais intensa, com um degradé social mais acentuado. Analisamos as festas públicas de realização e de frequência obrigatórias, espacializando seus espaços em meio à paisagem urbana e social. Procuramos compreender seu significado e função para os diversos grupos, entrevendo as práticas através das representações, e conflitos nas entrelinhas das normas e obrigações. Interpretamos o Império como período de transição na direção de um crescente processo de laicização nos usos dos espaços urbanos públicos e momento em que as festas deixaram de ser de realização obrigatória, isentando os moradores dos seus encargos de outrora. Procuramos mostrar como os Códigos de Posturas passaram a encarar as festas, levando em alguns casos à perda de suas funções simbólicas intrínsecas e de seu espaço na paisagem urbana. Nossa principal contribuição reside no exame mais detalhado do período republicano, quando o Brasil é decretado território laico, tendo a Igreja oficialmente se separado do Estado, mas mantendo-se a união em situações estratégicas e ideologicamente oportunas para a construção e fortalecimento do ideário e poder do novo regime em curso. Buscamos então compreender o espaço das festas e seus significados em meio às transformações materiais e sociais por que passava a cidade, especialmente no seu perímetro central. Entrevimos um descompasso entre a dimensão do espaço material em transformação e as festas. A área central da cidade transformou-se brutalmente em volumetria, mas se manteve muito semelhante em planimetria, tornando-se pequena e dominada por outros usos menos interessados nas grandes festas públicas, expulsando, recolhendo ou encolhendo algumas delas, ofuscando outras. Nossa baliza cronológica final é o ano de 1935, marco da ruptura na forma como as festas vinham sendo tratadas, deixando de ser controladas por seus impactos urbanísticos e passando a ser encaradas pela municipalidade mais como recreação do que propriamente como um problema relacionado com a própria feitura da cidade. Assim, a partir da análise de fontes primárias civis e eclesiásticas como Atas, Correspondências, Pedidos de Alvarás e Licenças, Livros de Tombo da Igreja e outras fontes oficiais comprometidas com o interesse de quem estava no poder, procuramos compreender o espaço da festa na paisagem urbana da cidade de São Paulo. O caso paulistano é um entre tantos outros e o estudo dos pormenores do processo, com seus ritmos por vezes contraditórios, com sua cadência ao sabor dos interesses, e seus descompassos inevitáveis, permitiu entrever o jogo das práticas em meio às representações, longe de ser um processo linear e tampouco rápido e sem conflitos. / Unlike traditional studies about parties conducted by Social History, Sociology or Anthropology, this thesis has as object of study the public parties in the urban area of São Paulo. This is a spatialized study and discussed in light of the impacts of these practices in the city in the long duration, because only in this manner the ruptures and continuities are perceptive. Our initial chronological line is the year 1711, mark of Sao Paulo as town and moment when the metropolis presents a more intense urban life, with a more pronounced social gradient. We analyzed the public parties of mandatory frequency and realization, spatializing their spaces amid the urban and social landscape. We tried to understand their meaning and function for the different groups, glimpsing practices through representations, and conflicts between the lines of the rules and obligations. We interpreted the Empire as the transitional period toward a growing secularization process in the uses of public urban spaces and moment when the parties ceased to be of compulsory realization, exempting residentes from their burden of yore. We tried to show how the Codes of Postures began to face up to the parties, leading in some cases to the loss of their intrinsic symbolic functions and of their space in the urban landscape. Our main contribution lies in the closer examination of the Republican period, when Brazil is declared secular territory, having the Church officially separated itself from the State, but keeping the union at strategic situations and ideologically appropriated to the building and strengthening of ideology and power of the new regime underway. Then, we tried to understand the space of parties and their meanings mid material and social transformations that the city passed by, especially in its central perimeter. We glimpsed a mismatch between the dimension of the material space in transformation and the parties. The downtown area was brutally transformed in volumetry, but it remained very similar in planimetry, becoming small and dominated by some other uses less interested in the major public parties, expelling, retiring or shrinking some of them, overshadowing others. Our final chronological line is the year 1935, mark of the rupture in the way as parties were being treated, ceasing to be controlled by their urban impacts and starting to be faced up by municipality more as recreation than as a problem associated to the own mode of making of the city. Then, from the analysis of ecclesiastical and civil primary sources such as Minutes, Correspondences, Requests of charters and licenses, \"Livros de Tombo\" of the Church and other official sources committed to the interests of whose were in power, we tried to understand the space of the party in the urban landscape of São Paulo city. The case of São Paulo city is one among many others, and the study of the details of the process, with its rhythms sometimes contradictory, with its cadence according to the interests, and with its inevitable mismatches, allowed a glimpse the practices game amid representations, far from being a linear process neither fast and nor without conflicts.

Urban aesthetics has been the concern of many academic researches, and there have been now more than hundred definitions of urban aesthetics. It is crucial to understand that aesthetics is more than just about the form and physical qualities of a place. Likewise, urban aesthetics is not only the concerns of academics, but also the concern of urbanites of cities and daily users of urban space. It is therefore important to understand what daily users of cities understand from the concept of urban aesthetics and what kind of aesthetically pleasant spaces they desire in cities, especially when public spaces are concerned. This thesis aims to find out the aesthetic qualities of urban space and understanding of urbanites on urban aesthetics, focusing on Tunali Hilmi Street, a widely used sub-centre of Ankara. It seeks to discover the aesthetic characteristics of the street and the perception of urbanites. The examination is carried out on the architecture, street furniture, floorscape, landmarks, planting and open spaces of Tunali Hilmi Street regarding seven variables which are harmony, rhythm, balance, order, complexity, scale and upkeep. The thesis argues that it is possible to achieve better-working public spaces if we are also able to identify what the daily users of public spaces envisage as an aesthetically pleasant environment.