Browsing by Subject "Urbanism"
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Item A typology of rules : predictability, flexibility, and adaptation in form-based codes(2011-05) Barnett, Bradley Ryan; Paterson, Robert G.; Almy, DeanForm-based codes have been touted as a more flexible approach to zoning that emphasize physical form over land use to create more predictable built results, making sustainable urban form more achievable. However, scholarship to date has focused primarily on the New Urbanist aspects of form-based codes, with limited attention paid to broader issues of urban design and development as they relate to codes themselves. This paper thus proposes a new framework for studying form-based codes: a typology of rules. This proposed framework provides an instrument for evaluating form-based codes by looking at the structural characteristics of codes as they relate to predictability, flexibility, and adaptation to future change. It also separates the study of form-based codes from battles over New Urbanism, instead reframing form-based codes as an autonomous field of inquiry. Use of this typological analysis in a series of case studies indicates that there is a lack of diversity in the rule typologies currently employed in form-based codes. A discussion then highlights how the use of a typology of rules could help create codes that are adaptive and flexible enough to respond to the needs of contemporary urbanism.Item An intangible border : Sulla’s Pomerium and destabilization in republican Rome(2019-05-21) Fancy, Ashton Jeanne; Davies, Penelope J. E., 1964-; Clarke, John RIn the waning years of the Roman Republic, amidst an atmosphere of distrust and unease, Roman dictator L. Cornelius Sulla enacted a series of proscriptions that infamously left the streets of Rome running with blood, executing those who threatened his plans to re-concentrate power within an elite Roman class. While violence set a certain tone for his dictatorship, Sulla also conveyed his intentions to the public through subtler means, including a program of architectural restorations. This thesis will consider one such act of restoration—the expansion of the pomerium, or the boundary that marked a change in military and religious privileges within the city. While attested to by ancient authors, no physical remains of Sulla’s pomerium have been identified, meaning that the border was likely invisible and therefore largely unknowable to the uninitiated passerby. Over the course of his political career, Sulla would take advantage of the pomerium’s sacred and legal import by violating its ordinances on two occasions and subsequently reestablishing its bounds through an expansion of the border, effectively destabilizing the relationship of the city of Rome and its inhabitants by reasserting his control over space. It is my contention that Sulla capitalized on the boundary’s intangible qualities in order to unsettle what had previously been a stable, if benign, concept in the Roman imagination. This thesis aims to examine how architecture can communicate power in the absence of a physical structure, focusing on how the pomerium’s invisibility under Sulla’s dictatorship functioned as a malleable political tool for the state to exert control over its population. How the Romans related to the built environment and border spaces is of critical importance to this discussion, as the city and its architecture—visible or otherwise—conveyed important messages about political dynamics. I argue that the pomerium’s expansion under Sulla spoke volumes, as Roman spatial memory extended beyond that which was immediately visible to recall the past. As the city streets may have conjured memories of Sullan-spilt blood and its accompanying fear, so too may fragmentary knowledge of the pomerium have elicited a similar response, resulting in submission to the state’s authority.Item Architecture of the Islamic frontier : architectural sources and urbanism in the Aydinid principality (1304-1390)(2018-05) Acar, Tugrul; Mulder, Stephennie F.The conquest of western Anatolia by the Turcoman peoples in the early fourteenth century engendered the largest building program in the region since late antiquity. Involved in this program were not only forms of religious architecture like mosques, madrasas and mausoleums but also bathhouses, markets and other structures. This thesis primarily examines architectural patronage and concomitant urban re-structuring in Ayasoluk (Gr. Hagios Theologos), near ancient Ephesus, under the Aydinid principality (1304-90). It seeks to frame the formation of a new urban space and architectural idiom on this frontier zone, interpreting the buildings of royal patronage as visual articulations of self-representation and dynastic image. The thesis argues that Aydinid building patrons, Mehmed Beg (d. 1334) and İsa Beg (r. 1360-90), reckoned with the pre-Islamic heritage of their lands by incorporating spolia materials from Roman and Byzantine buildings and expressed an integrated architectural idiom with the past. On a supra-local level, İsa Beg conspicuously drew upon ancient Islamic history by emulating Islam’s one of the most venerable buildings, and by borrowing architectural forms and techniques from medieval Syria and translating them on marble he sought to link his realm with greater Islamic dynasties in an attempt to compete with other Turco-Islamic rulers. Under İsa Beg, the Aydinids in an effort to legitimize their rule, appropriated and re-interpreted the visual culture of Islam’s one of the ancient dynasties, conspicuous elements from architectural trends in medieval Syria as well as the palatial architecture of the Rum Seljuks, thereby they ultimately formulated a cosmopolitan visual language.Item Beyond the dirty war : urban reforms and protest during the last military dictatorship, 1976-1983(2012-05) Hoyt, Jennifer Tamara; Brown, Jonathan C. (Jonathan Charles), 1942-; Garrard-Burnett, Virginia; Twinam, Ann; Dietz, Henry; Lawrence, MarkBeyond the Dirty War is part of the second wave of studies to examine the last military government of Argentina, which controlled the nation from 1976 to 1983. The first generation of histories rightfully focused on state terror and the human rights violations committed by the regime. However, more recent scholarship has started to examine other aspects of the armed forces’ agenda. Through large-scale urban reforms in Buenos Aires, the military government attempted to resolve long-standing issues. The generals in charge sought to curb chaotic urban growth and transform the capital into a modern metropolis, thereby accomplishing a task with which previous administrations had struggled. However, the military quickly encountered vocal public opposition to the reforms. Citizens rebuked efforts to reshape the capital city, condemning the mayor’s unilateral actions and the flaws in the projects. Despite the terror that characterized the period, residents created productive spaces for dissent and demanded that regime be held accountable for its failures. Through the lenses of political participation, urbanization, and environmentalism, this study reveals the vulnerability of the authoritarian government and the limits of its repression.Item Creating spaces of shared citizenship and social control : redefining invisible borders through urban design interventions in Las Independencias, San Javier, Medellín(2018-05-07) Todtz, Evan Thomas; Sletto, BjørnMedellín, a city once plagued by violence, has recently become a global model for more equitable urban planning and urban design practice. Initiated during the mayoral administration of Sergio Fajardo (2004-2007), a progressive planning tool known as the Integrated Urban Project (PUI) guides physical design interventions in the urban peripheries where historic state absence had led to extreme levels of violence and socio-economic inequities. Collectively denoted as social urbanism, these new institutional and mobility projects seek to disrupt the existing geographies of violence, referred to by local residents as invisible borders (fronteras invisibles), while newly created public spaces aim to promote a culture of shared citizenship (cultura ciudadanía) between neighborhood residents. Given the state’s intent to shape and exert control over the socio-spatial relationships of residents within contexts of urban informality, this thesis seeks to contextualize the planning and design of new public spaces within the everyday lived experiences of neighborhood residents by presenting a case study along the public escalator system in the neighborhood sector of Las Independencias, San Javier. Based on a “quasi” design ethnography research methodology, including researcher observations and local resident interviews, the thesis provides a detailed description of physical and social characteristics of new urban common spaces. The public escalator system was designed to disrupt existing geographies of violence by creating new spatial connections and an institutional presence in Las Independencias. However, this mobility infrastructure also erodes the social vibrancy of the stairway, a dynamic social space within contexts of urban informality. By supporting only unidirectional movement (up or down) and removing the stairway’s potential for residents to gather, the escalators generate a pass-through space by design. Furthermore, the design favors social gathering in highly controlled public platforms between escalator segments, limiting the potential uses of these spaces to what the state deems acceptable and desirable. Ultimately, the design and surveillance of the public escalator system paradoxically works to provide residents with enhanced mobility, accessibility and socio-economic opportunities while simultaneously strengthening the state’s institutional presence in the sector, limiting the potential to reflect embedded local cultural values and practices.Item Creative financing & strategies for mixed-income transit oriented development in Dallas, Texas(2013-08) Partovi, Lauren Neda; Wilson, Barbara B. (Barbara Brown)This study evaluates the current environment for mixed-income transit oriented development along DART rail within the city limits of Dallas. A close look at income and racial disparity is used as the foundation for advocating for a more proactive and aggressive approach to the development of affordable units proximate to affordable transportation choices. Assembling financing for mixed-income TOD projects is especially challenging, and multiple layers of federal, state, and city funding mechanisms are required for achieving the capital requirements of the development. Both typical affordable housing funding methods and new and nontraditional funding methods for multifamily housing were researched and evaluated with the intention to propose possibilities for catalyzing development in DART station areas within the City of Dallas that have, to this point, experienced underdevelopment.Item "Juntos pero no revueltos" : the influence of the social stratification system on urban densification patterns in Bogotá, Colombia(2017-05) Yunda, Juan Guillermo; Sletto, Bjørn; Jiao, Junfeng; Wegmann, Jacob; Lara, Fernando; Irazábal, ClaraFrom the 1950s to the 1970s, Bogotá, Colombia was one of the fastest growing cities in the world. During this period, the city became characterized by extreme social and geographic polarization between rural migrants and urban elites. This polarization was caused by a lack of development control as well as planning policies that encouraged social and spatial segregation. Social elites primarily lived in suburban neighborhoods in the north of Bogotá, which were well served by municipal infrastructure and enjoying easy access to services and employment opportunities. Low-skilled rural migrants settled in informal neighborhoods in the south that had poor municipal services and were close to environmentally polluted areas and far from the central business districts. Faced with the prospect of continuing, ungovernable urban sprawl led by both the formal and informal sector, in 1979 the city implemented a set of growth control and densification policies. However, thirty-five years later these policies have failed to halt or reverse the uneven development of the city. I argue that the unintended outcomes of the growth management policies are largely due to private sector interests and actions, which in turn vi are influenced by social equity policies. To demonstrate this, I correlated the recent densification projects with the so-called Stratification system. This system separates the city into six levels based on built form characteristics to identify groups with different income levels, providing a proxy for the analysis of socio-spatial segregation patterns. In addition, I explored the behaviors and attitudes of urban development agents through interviews and analysis of planning documents. I found that there is a statistically significant correlation between the Stratification zones and the densification patterns shaped, in part, by the influence of the private sector over local land-use and density regulations. This influence of developers has led to a transformation of the built form that is distinguished by uneven density levels, access to services and employment, and concentrations of poverty. Because of this complex articulation of planning and social policies with private sector interests and actions, Bogotá’s low income residents are experiencing unpredictable patterns of disinvestment, overcrowding, revitalization or dislocation in their neighborhoods.Item Resto urbano, realismo y reciclaje (más representaciones del cine argentino contemporáneo)(2008) Mizraje, María GabrielaItem Social mixing to social integration in urban expansions : the case of IJburg District in Amsterdam, Netherlands(2021-08-05) Lindquist, Josiah; Atkinson, Simon, Ph. D.; Jiao, JunfengIn the past, social mixing has been considered the key to fostering relationships between groups of individuals with diverse social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. It has been used as an urban strategy when residential concentrations of disadvantaged or immigrant groups have grown to be considered a negative issue of neighborhood image and social cohesion. It involves mixing the "ideal" proportion of residents from diverse social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds within a neighborhood, striving for an equal distribution of minority ethnic and social groupings. The strategy is accomplished through two distinct means - urban renewal and urban expansion. In urban expansion projects, an ideal mix of economic diversity is set from conception. While social integration is the end to reducing inequalities, prejudice, and divisions and promote quality interaction and a sense of belonging in diverse environments, social mixing is the means. The research focuses on IJburg, Amsterdam—a unique urban expansion project designed for a social mix from its inception. IJburg, located in lake IJmeer in the easternmost part of the Amsterdam Municipality, consists of seven artificially constructed islands in response to Dutch post-war urbanization planning policy. However, a district like lJburg, though planned for social mix, does not serve as an integration framework. The mix of housing alone does not indicate asocially mixed, socially integrated, nor "successful city district" The aim of this research is to study how public realm design and strategies can foster socially integrated cities. It asks the question of whether or not the existing spatial conditions in IJburg's public realm are supporting interactions, participation, and equality between residents from different social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. It examines three scales, the neighborhood, the block, and the streetscape, using methods including observational analysis, data analysis, mapping, survey, and interview.Item Social Science Representations of Favelas in Rio de Janeiro: A Historical Perspective(2008) Valladares, LiciaItem Visible features : Austin(2014-05) Hart, Jonas Spencer; Reynolds, Ann Morris; Sutherland, Dan, 1966-This report is a summary of my work and research during my three years at The University of Texas at Austin. I engage the city's impressive urban parks and new urbanist developments through my own practice of descriptive and interpretive landscape painting. Through continuous exploration of the city, research into the history of landscape painting and into the strategies of modern landscape architecture, I have learned to see more clearly the role that the visual history of depicted landscape plays in contemporary practices of landscape design and construction. This has reinforced my interest in understanding how painting as a medium plays a role in our cultural understandings of how landscapes should look and act. By experimenting with new formats and materials I continue to adapt my work to articulate a new, dynamic understanding of landscape in flux and inextricable from its human inhabitants.