Search results

(1 - 4 of 4)
Making A Hot, Arid, Desert Arab City More Livable: Investigating the Role of Street Design in Enhancing Walkability in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Title
Making A Hot, Arid, Desert Arab City More Livable: Investigating the Role of Street Design in Enhancing Walkability in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Creator
Almahdy, Omar Esam
Date
2020
Description
Since the introduction of automobiles in the 1950s, cities in Saudi Arabia have evolved around an automobile infrastructure. Riyadh, the...
Show moreSince the introduction of automobiles in the 1950s, cities in Saudi Arabia have evolved around an automobile infrastructure. Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia with a population of over 7.2 million, is facing an urban mobility challenge. For most inhabitants, driving is the only transportation available, since there is not yet an efficient public transit system. Currently, contemporary urban streets in Riyadh are limited to automobiles and inaccessible to pedestrians. Creating a walkable environment and improving walkability could solve numerous problems like the obesity crisis, the lack of city vibrancy, traffic congestion, environmental injustice, and social isolation. In this research, I investigate the climatic, geographic, social, and cultural factors that influence walkability in Riyadh as a hot, arid, and desert Arab city. The study uses mixed methods that include structured streetscape observations and pedestrian activity mapping as well as surveys and interviews with Riyadh’s citizens. Also, more data were collected through interviews with experts in Saudi urban planning and development. The issue of walkability in Riyadh extends beyond the design of the built environment. Many non-physical barriers hinder people from walking. Again, the perception of the streets as thoroughfares for automobiles only has deepened the problem. However, the lack of adequate sidewalks on most streets is the main reason why people do not walk. Also, this lack is a critical indicator of the dearth of efficient and proper urban design. The harsh climatic conditions along with the occasional sandstorms as well as polluted ambient air make the walking experience uncomfortable most of the year. To sum up, this study indicates that people’s awareness of the value and importance of having walkable streets and minimizing the reliance on motorized transport modes is a key driver in creating a pedestrian-friendly street.
Show less
REVISITING MODERNIST MASS-HOUSING: RESIDENTS AS ACTIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE
Title
REVISITING MODERNIST MASS-HOUSING: RESIDENTS AS ACTIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE
Creator
Shah, Nadia
Date
2021
Description
In this PhD research, I have examined the modernist approach of mid-20thcentury mass housing projects against the backdrop of post-colonial...
Show moreIn this PhD research, I have examined the modernist approach of mid-20thcentury mass housing projects against the backdrop of post-colonial nation building and the need for housing refugees through resettlement projects after World War II. In this epoch most of the refugees were accommodated in newly decolonized nation states that were struggling to create their national identity as ‘modern'. It was at this critical moment in history, when the West assumed the paternalistic role of development of the so-called ‘Third World’, the ‘Global South’ or the ‘Underdeveloped Nations’, that they defined what is 'modern' using Western standards of ‘normalcy’. Aboard this international development project, architectural modernism’s response was to ‘generalize problems’ and provide ‘normative prescriptions’ as solutions based on rational models. I have reviewed the timeline of modernist ideas that led to mass housing and the associated notion of ‘normalization of space,’ presenting three scales used to organize society: regional planning, land use zoning, and mass-produced architecture, as a prescriptive process. I have examined architecture’s ‘normalization’ as a source of conflict for nation states in their process of national identity formation. I argue that the pedagogy of both modernism and late modernism, presented cultural distinction as an intermediary condition that was subject to change. In particular, modernist architecture engaged with the “concept of normalcy” for the formation of a modern society through spatial and physical organization. Using the case study of Pakistan, I present how this notion was at odds with Pakistani nationalism, since the country was created on the premise to house a traditional society. I have used the example of the Greek architect, Constantinos Doxiadis and his trajectory of late modernism for solving the global housing crisis after World War II. For this purpose, I present the case of a particular post World War II refugee resettlement project called Korangi Town in Karachi Pakistan. This case is studied in the light of modernist planning and architectural models to examine what was proposed, designed, and predicted by this professional architect and how Korangi Town has evolved in the past sixty years. The objective is to see how the new normal architecture and planning standards of the West were received in the non-Western culture? The case study of Korangi Town reveals that the residents of a locale may organize themselves along cultural and ethnic lines, deviating from implemented prescriptive and normative solutions. The changes that the residents made to their built environment through the processes identified as ‘appropriation’, ‘adaptation’ and ‘expansion’ in the dissertation are interpreted as the signs of their active agency. The residents’ agency emerges to reshape their built environs to meet their cultural and individual needs, but most of all their economic needs. These observations show that rather than being passive recipients of ready-made and prescriptive solutions, the residents were active agents in adjusting and adding to their environment. Inhabitants’ active agency needs attention by the planning and architecture professions to assure that environments intended for them have their meaningful input. This dissertation raises questions about how these professions can support this active agency from the beginning and through the planning and design processes.
Show less
THE SPATIAL BLOCK: NATURAL VENTILATION IN HOT AND DRY CLIMATES OF TURKEY
Title
THE SPATIAL BLOCK: NATURAL VENTILATION IN HOT AND DRY CLIMATES OF TURKEY
Creator
BAY, EZGI
Date
2020
Description
The housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI...
Show moreThe housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI, the governmental mass housing administration. Its residential projects based on ‘standard regulations’ and ‘high-rise typologies’ have been widely criticized. The ‘one size fits all’ approach is known for its limited exploration of contemporary needs of this society. Low quality urban and architectural conditions in TOKI projects are believed to marginalize the living standards of the residents. Sprawling rapidly throughout different regions around the country, a permanent complaint of TOKI residents is related to outdoor and indoor thermal conditions. As consequence of this ‘homogenization effect’, overheated and underheated conditions are experienced in these ‘naturally ventilated buildings’ designed with few considerations regarding the surrounding environment. Minimal research has been done on how TOKI towers perform under extreme seasonal conditions and what other building forms could be used in consonance with localized Turkish climates. Most TOKI projects have been developed for ‘hot and dry climates’ that also correspond to areas with larger urban growth from recent migrations. Through post-occupancy evaluations, this dissertation investigates a TOKI built in this climatic context. At the same time, this study brings new ‘typological’ alternatives analyzed through energy simulations and computer fluid dynamics (CFD). These methods are intended to bring clarity about the dynamic of thermal stress inside this project, and how renewable sources, such as prevailing winds, could be used to alleviate thermal related problems in consonance with ‘building forms’ derived from ‘vernacular architecture’ in this region.Inputs from residents illustrate the dynamics of thermal stress and reliance on natural ventilation in summer conditions. It is confirmed through results of the Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) and the Air Changes per Hour (ACH) obtained from Simulations in the IES-VE software. The relationship between human thermal comfort and indoor microclimate in TOKI housing can be improved through the reformulation of its residential typologies. The ‘Spatial Block’ approach presented in this dissertation brings the idea of how urban and architectural decisions in addition to improving indoor climatic conditions and thermal satisfaction or residents, brings them improved social integration.
Show less
Architecture as a Communicator of Values and Identity Spaces for Public Safety and Community Benefits
Title
Architecture as a Communicator of Values and Identity Spaces for Public Safety and Community Benefits
Creator
Waidele Arteaga, Nicolas
Date
2022
Description
Urban segregation, violence, and crimes are linked to drug trafficking. El Castillo Social Factory is an urban strategy that aims to recover...
Show moreUrban segregation, violence, and crimes are linked to drug trafficking. El Castillo Social Factory is an urban strategy that aims to recover the El Castillo neighborhood and prevent drug trafficking from advancing, understanding that police action is necessary but insufficient.This neighborhood is located on the southern periphery of Santiago in a commune called La Pintana and aspires to make its neighborhoods “more livable, healthy, and economically viable.” This proposal explores how investing in civic commons can make these goals a reality. First, it is essential to increase the presence of the State, strengthening existing services and adding new ones, with a focus on the care of children and young people. The second is to recover vacant lots and public spaces in poor condition or deteriorated through an “urban acupuncture” strategy based on the construction of many small or medium-sized projects. Art and sports are fundamental, allowing us to protect children and young people and offer them horizons of recreation and hope. The public buildings, institutions, land, water bodies, and infrastructure inherited from earlier generations are ready for us to see anew—as a robust network of civic assets ready to be activated for the current needs, desires, and dreams of all the people who share and shape them. El Castillo Social Factory offers a fresh look at our community anchors and the vibrant hubs our public spaces can become when we invest in collective urban life. Its vision focuses on positive transformation at the architectural scale—where personal experience and aspirations meet broad, long-range planning efforts—to spark the imagination and spur us to work together toward realizing the abundant potential of what we hold in common.
Show less