Access to public open spaces is supposed to be equitably distributed to all city inhabitants, especially in predominantly residential areas. If public open spaces are urban features that help to improve the social development of an area, then, why in big metropolises such as Mexico City the access to public space is many times perceived as a privilege instead of a right? Through space syntax spatial analyses, land use analyses, and the potential radius of influence specific public open spaces might have according to their size; this study investigates the diverse accessibility characteristics different public open spaces have.

The dissertation is a space syntax analysis on the spatial manifestations of collective memory, the case study is the city of Asuncion, Paraguay. The study has two sections: first, the spatial analysis of the historical growth of the city and centralities through time, the current spatial structure present in the city nowadays and centralities in different scales, as well as the concentration of elements of urban layers to define six local named areas. Second, a network-based study of the main elements of permanence - representatives of collective events and history- to reveal in this manner the place of collective memory in each area

This is a collection of bi-lingual teaching resources adapted from the DHOER teaching materials taken from the UCL Department of Information Studies.

This is the zip file for the DHOER teaching materials taken from the UCL Department of Information Studies.

The number of residential boaters within London is increasing with more people taking to the water as a way to live sustainable lifestyles, get closer to nature and attempted to reduce the costs of living in the capital. At the same time the increase in housing density in London means that areas of public realm such as canals need to work harder to meet the objectives of multiple users. This study investigated how there could be mutual benefits to both the growing liveaboard boater population, and visitors to the canal, by and increase in the provision of mooring services. The literature review uncovered access to nature, exotic appeal, safety, mooring space and conflict as common themes between the two groups. Case studies were reviewed through the lens of these themes to establish best practice in public space adjacent to canals. The literature review and case studies were combined to develop a toolkit with specific actions addressing the themes identified. Through the application of the toolkit to a test site in west London, it was found that better canal side spaces could be developed to meet the needs of both populations, if there was sufficient space, and funding streams could be identified. The toolkit was most successful when addressing sites adjacent to the canal, as opposed to delivering on the towpath itself.

A description of the work (Abstract): «Exploring a potential vision of the common good for London’s economic centres, this dissertation asks why and how economic democracy should be enacted at the scale of the high street. While COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities along many lines, evolving values around community, wellbeing and public space also pose an opportunity for re-imagining fairer economic trajectories through a focus on place. Often magnifying wider economic issues, the long-run decline of British high streets has been well documented. While commonly focusing on curation and design as a way to ‘activate’ these once public spaces, their complexity has given way to an equally diverse discourse lacking a consistent framework for guiding planning, interventions and policy. While current high street rhetoric offers a growing focus on social value and ‘community-led development’, economic power and equity implications are frequently overlooked. This thesis suggests, given the accessible and inclusive nature of high streets, the potential for situating a framework of economic development that considers a more radical restructuring of social and economic power. Placing the principles of economic democracy within an everyday site helps to foreground people and place. Through repurposing urban space for inclusive, collective and participatory workspaces, services or social centres, high streets can play a role in reformulating value concepts. Developing an analytical framework that considers rights, ownership and deliberation, through iterative empirical analysis, this thesis will address practices that could re-frame high streets to better serve their communities. SHORT: study asking why and how should a framework of economic democracy be used to re-shape london’s high streets, for the redistribution of economic power and the promotion of the common good.

Multiple-case study research using qualitative methods to explore impacts of water sensitive urban design on public space quality

This research examines women’s everyday walking experiences in the city of Santiago, Chile. It was developed from a feminist and phenomenological perspective taking ‘the route as a line’, empirically addressing the Chilean case with data gathered from 16 women through field-diaries and shared walks. By considering walking as a lived experience, the research explores the shape and configuration of different walking lines focusing on rhythm, gender-social interactions, and the built environment.

Confronted with a shrinking financial resource, the public authorities in the UK have limitations on investing in public space. Therefore, the traditional state-owned public space may not be the only form of public space today. As the transfer mechanism of ownership or management of public space becomes increasingly common, more concerns about publicness have been raised. There are lots of polemic critiques, concerning the privatization of public space would diminish the publicness of contemporary public space. However, this light has become more controversial recently, arguing an opposite sequence of privatization, especially in the British case. This research focuses on the debate on the privatization of public space and investigates the impact on publicness of public space by positive impacts on the ‘publicness’ with regard to management, access and use/users.

This content is taken from a Master's-level module, Electronic Publishing, taught at the UCL Department of Information Studies. It is about the publishing of digital products, including websites, apps, personal/public space, etc.

In the last decade the Indian subcontinent has seen unprecedented urbanization and a unique political situation. As cities often become models to project certain identities, one such case has been taken up here to understand this phenomenon through a recent urban intervention. The Sabarmati Riverfront development project has been a landmark in urban design in contemporary India as it is an instance where political agenda is furthered through an urban design project. The study analyses how this project altered the city’s relationship with its river by altering the spatial structure of the city itself. It then proceeds to examine how the project performs on its goals of creating inclusive public space for the city. The spatial structure of the city and the alternations to it by the project, are described using a spatial network analysis based in Space Syntax theories and methods. The shift in centralities (from before to after the SRFD)are observed in conjunction with what is known from other layers of geo-located data such as ward wise population densities, point of interest clusters, observed movement counts and public transportation network. Based on this information the study examines to what extent the riverfront is integrated into, and hence accessible to, the city of Ahmedabad. The analysis highlights the major difference in the performance of the 4 project at global(city wide)scale versus a local(walk able distance) scale, suggesting a need for better integration into the local context, this is corroborated by the network catchment from the nearest public transportation nodes. The findings also hint at a problematic private vehicle centric approach to urban design. These examinations of the riverfront’s accessibility specify where and how it underperforms socially as an inclusive and vibrant public centre. The attempt here is to identify the potentials for improving the performance of the riverfront as a public space in itself as well as its effect on the spatial structure of of the city. In this light some speculative design strategies are tested.

The project explores how public spaces in shrinking cities can be re-purposed by informed strategies and design interventions. This approach has the potential to increase place attachment, inspire citizen participation and encourage flexibility in the interpretation of urban futures of these places.