About model-based approaches in pervasive information systems development

Tese de doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de InformaçãoUbiquitous computing is a research field of computing technology with a growing number of researchers and represents a new direction on the thinking about the integration and use of computers in people’s lives. It aims to achieve a new computing paradigm, one in which there is a high degree of pervasiveness and widespread availability of computers or other IT devices, usually with communication capabilities, in the physical environment. Model-Driven Development (MDD) constitutes an approach to software design and development that strongly focuses and relies on models, through which we build software-platform independent models. Several contributions of MDD are: gains of productivity; concepts closer to domain and reduction of semantic gap; automation and less sensitivity to technological changes; and capture of expert knowledge and reuse. This thesis aims to contribute for the appropriate use of model-based/driven development approaches in software development for pervasive information systems (PIS). This work considers a case study research strategy. It uses two projects developed in the field of ubiquitous and mobile computing that directed their software development to a model-based/driven approach. This thesis describes and analyses the projects. Each one of the project is formalized in a SPEM 2.0 model that presents the main elements of the project. This SPEM model allows perceiving the structure and elements of the project, along with some issues and facts of the project. This thesis conceives a development framework that introduces several useful conceptions. Among these conceptions are the dimensions of development, functional profiles, resources categories, functional profile instances, global and elementary development process. In consonance with this development framework, the thesis proposes a SPEM 2.0 Base Plug-In extension and a development framework pattern to assist in the analysis of the projects. The SPEM 2.0 Base Plug-In extension defines elements that are fundamental to the definition and application of the development framework pattern. The development framework pattern is applied to each of the projects to facilitate the analysis. From the analysis of the projects, the thesis synthesizes a set of guidelines and insight related to the adoption of model-based/driven approaches to pervasive information system development.A computação ubíqua é um campo de investigação de tecnologia de computação com um número crescente de investigadores e representa uma nova direcção no pensamento sobre a integração e o uso de computadores na vida das pessoas. O objectivo é alcançar um novo paradigma de computação em que há um alto grau de abrangência e ampla disponibilidade de computadores ou outros dispositivos de tecnologias de informação, geralmente com recursos de comunicação, no ambiente físico. Model-Driven Development (MDD), constitui uma abordagem de desenho e desenvolvimento de software que se baseia em modelos, através da qual construímos modelos de plataforma de software independentes. Várias contribuições de MDD são: ganhos de produtividade; conceitos mais próximos ao domínio e à redução do salto semântico; automação e menor sensibilidade às mudanças tecnológicas; captura de conhecimento especializado e reutilização. Esta tese visa contribuir para a adequada utilização de abordagens de desenvolvimento baseadas/conduzidas por modelos no desenvolvimento de software para sistemas de informação “pervasive” (PIS). Esta tese apresenta uma estratégia de investigação de estudo de caso. Usa, como estudos de caso, dois projectos desenvolvidos no campo da computação ubíqua e móvel, e os quais dirigiram o seu desenvolvimento de software para uma abordagem baseada/conduzida por modelos. Esta tese descreve e analisa os projectos; cada um dos projectos é formalizado num modelo SPEM 2.0 que apresenta os elementos principais do projecto. Este modelo SPEM permite perceber a estrutura e os elementos do projecto, juntamente com alguns problemas e factos do projecto. Esta tese concebe uma estrutura de desenvolvimento que apresenta várias concepções úteis. Entre essas concepções estão as dimensões de desenvolvimento, os perfis funcionais, as categorias de recursos, instâncias de perfil funcional, os processos de desenvolvimento global e elementar. Em consonância com esta estrutura de desenvolvimento, a tese propõe uma extensão ao SPEM 2.0 Base Plug- In e um padrão de desenvolvimento para auxiliarem a análise dos projectos. A extensão ao SPEM 2.0 Base Plug-In define elementos que são fundamentais para a definição e aplicação do padrão de estrutura de desenvolvimento. O padrão de estrutura de desenvolvimento é aplicado a cada um dos projectos para facilitar a sua análise. A partir da análise dos projectos, a tese sintetiza um conjunto de directrizes e de ilações relacionadas com a adopção de abordagens MDD para o desenvolvimento de PIS.Programa Operacional Educacional (PRODEP), e do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, através da sua Escola Superior de Tecnologia e de Gestão.Instituto Politécnico de Bragança. Escola Superior de Tecnologia e de Gestã

From massive rapid reconstruction to small-scale stepwise urban renewal: A contribution to socially integrative cities?: Case studies of Wuhan, China

Initially, urban renewal focused mainly on promoting better physical environments, living conditions and economic activities, by upgrading derelict neighbourhoods. But since the 1990s in Europe, the urban renewal approach emphasising the physical, environmental and economic spheres has been replaced by a more comprehensive and integrated approach, which links the stimulation of economic activities and environmental improvements with social integration, inclusion and cultural elements. The former pathway, marked by massive rapid demolition and reconstruction, is regarded as the dominant urban renewal approach in China. Driven by the unprecedented urbanisation, it has brought enormous economic benefits but at the cost of aggravating social and environmental problems, resulting in unsustainable cities. Therefore, China has entered a new stage by transforming into a more sustainable avenue – the small-scale stepwise urban renewal. Since 2009, the Chinese government has launched experimental actions in many pilot cities to cultivate the new approach. This trend can be noticed in different fields involving policies, movements, institutional settings and academia. Government and scholars expect small-scale urban renewal to simultaneously enhance physical infrastructures, reinforce cultural diversity and foster social cohesion, leading to sustainable and socially integrative cities. However, it can be questioned if the new urban renewal approach genuinely has a better performance in this regard. Therefore, the guiding research question (RQ) asks: How does urban renewal contribute to socially integrative cities in China? The author first sought insights to build a holistic conceptual framework: urban renewal towards socially integrative cities. It helped understand the urban renewal evolution in China, and the concept of social integration and inclusion both in international and in the Chinese context, especially regarding urban renewal projects. By conducting a literature review, three research gaps were identified: 1) A lack of systematic studies that integrate and summarise fragmented urban renewal approaches and concepts in China; 2) Social integration and inclusion in China have a relatively narrow perspective of “assimilation”; 3) Systematic and multi-faceted evaluation of experimental urban renewal in China, especially in social aspects, is too inadequate to make suggestions for improving current Chinese urban renewal approaches. To fill these gaps, this dissertation firstly scrutinises the differences between these co-existing two renewal approaches in China, massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal; secondly, it examines to what extent these two approaches have contributed to socially integrative cities, and thirdly, analyses the strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches and the rationales behind them. The 'socially integrative cities' (SIC) analytical framework, jointly proposed by Chinese and European scholars, is applied to examine the accomplishments in two urban renewal cases. The author defines 26 indicators corresponding to 12 characteristics, grouped into five dimensions: collaborative urban planning and design, urban environment and living conditions, local economy and labour market, socio-cultural development and social capital, institutional development and urban finance. The methodology comprises descriptive documents analysis and literature research, followed by qualitative comparative case studies. Two typical cases were selected, representing massive rapid reconstruction (Wuhan Tiandi) and small-scale stepwise urban renewal (Tanhualin). Both are traditional inner-city and run-down areas in Wuhan, a frontrunner prefecture-level city in China. During the fieldwork, semi-structured in-depth interviews have been conducted on identified stakeholders. After the fieldwork, a thematic content analysis and a stakeholder analysis were performed to analyse the interview data collected from online databases, documents, and project plans. Results firstly suggested that the differences between massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal exist in the aspects of the intervention levels, the actors and strategies, the scales of coverage, the planning goals, the renewal targets, the housing types and the sources of funds. An urban renewal project can combine both approaches in a hybrid model or adopt different approaches in different periods. The assessment of the implementation and impact of both urban renewal cases reveals that massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal have genuinely contributed to socially integrative cities in all five dimensions but to a varying degree. Massive rapid reconstruction has unique advantages in improving living and environmental conditions in urban areas, upgrading the physical environment in distressed areas, and strengthening the economy and labour market on a large regional scale, but it does not respect the social and cultural dimension. In contrast, small-scale stepwise renewal prevails in the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, revitalising cities and older towns, keeping people in the original neighbourhoods, stabilising housing prices and affordability, strengthening the economy and labour market on a small local scale, preserving cultural heritage, fostering the identity of neighbourhoods, as well as fostering social capital and the engagement of local stakeholders. However, it suffers from a comprehensive but limited effectiveness. The study also shows that many strengths and weaknesses of both urban renewal approaches are antithetical. Based on this finding, the author discovers their rationales behind the two different approaches, investigates the underlying causes that precipitate these antitheses, and proposes possible solutions to the challenges and dilemmas facing current Chinese urban renewal. Overall, this research concludes fragmented urban renewal approaches and concepts in China, summarised into two paradigms: massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal. Besides, it develops a more comprehensive and analytical framework that adapts to the Chinese context - “socially integrative cities”, to examine urban renewal projects. Finally, it elucidates in-depth empirical knowledge of the urban renewal paradigm shift in China and makes recommendations for government, practitioners and scholars to promote a more socially integrative urban renewal.:CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1.1 Problem overview 1.2 Study design and thesis structure 2 Conceptual framework: urban renewal towards socially integrative cities 2.1 Urban renewal in China 2.1.1 Basic Chinese terms and concepts 2.1.2 Massive rapid demolition and reconstruction 2.1.3 Small-scale stepwise urban renewal 2.1.4 Urban renewal evolution in China: initiating, testing and promotion 2.2 Social integration and inclusion 2.3 Influence of urban renewal on social integration and inclusion - socially integrative cities 2.4 Typical practices of urban renewal in China 2.5 Raised research questions 3 Research design and methodology 3.1 Overall research design 3.2 Framework to examine the accomplishment of socially integrative cities in urban renewal projects 3.3 Comparative case studies 3.3.1 Case study selection 3.3.2 Interview design 3.3.3 Data analysis 4 Exploring the context: Wuhan city and its two cases 4.1 Urban renewal in Wuhan 4.2 Planning documents of Wuhan concerning urban renewal 4.3 Massive rapid reconstruction case: Wuhan Tiandi 4.4 Small-scale stepwise urban renewal case: Tanhualin 5 Differences between massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.1 Classification criteria for urban renewal approaches 5.2 Intervention levels 5.2.1 Redevelopment, rehabilitation, and conservation 5.2.2 Intervention levels in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.3 Actors and strategies 5.3.1 Government-led, property-led, comprehensive model, and community-oriented mode 5.3.2 Actors and strategies in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.3.3 Sources of funds in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.4 Scales of coverage 5.4.1 Macro-level, medium-level, micro-level 5.4.2 Scales of coverage in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.5 Planning goals 5.5.1 Physical, social, economic, and morphological integrated 5.5.2 Planning goals in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.6 Renewal targets 5.6.1 Old city, old factory, old village 5.6.2 Renewal targets in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.7 Summary 6 Contributions to socially integrative cities by massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 6.1 Collaborative urban planning and design 6.1.1 Reducing urban sprawl and appropriate access to urban land 6.1.2 Involving different stakeholders in collaborative and participative planning and design on the different politico-administrative levels 6.1.3 Reflections 6.2 Urban environment and living conditions 6.2.1 Improving urban environment and living conditions in Wuhan Tiandi 6.2.2 Improving the urban environment and living conditions in Tanhualin 6.2.3 Reflections 6.3 Local economy and labour market 6.3.1 Strengthening the local economy and labour market 6.3.2 Strengthening technical and social innovation in cities and neighbourhoods opening up new possibilities for the local population 6.3.3 Reflections 6.4 Socio-cultural development and social capital 6.4.1 Fostering proactive education and training policies for children and young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods 6.4.2 Preserving cultural heritage and fostering the identity of neighbourhoods and their inhabitants 6.4.3 Fostering social capital and engagement of local stakeholders 6.4.4 Reflections 6.5 Institutional development and urban finance 6.5.1 Supporting adequate institutional conditions and mechanisms 6.5.2 Supporting adequate financial conditions and mechanisms 6.5.3 Reflections 6.6 Summary 7 Strengths and weaknesses of massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise renewal and their rationales 7.1 Collaborative urban planning and design 7.1.1 Rental-sales rights inequality 7.1.2 Paternalistic Danwei system 7.1.3 Lack of channels for public participation 7.1.4 Lack of vertical and horizontal integration between government sectors 7.1.5 Lack of clear collective goals 7.2 Urban environment and living conditions 7.2.1 Housing prices and affordability 7.2.2 Low-rent housing programmes and two innovations 7.2.3 Monetisation strategy 7.2.4 Efficiency versus quality 7.3 Socio-cultural development and social capital 7.3.1 Cultural heritage protection 7.3.2 Aesthetic concept cultivation 7.3.3 Open community versus gated community 7.3.4 Understandings of social integration and inclusion 7.4 Institutional development and urban finance 7.4.1 Establishment of urban renewal bureau 7.4.2 Transition from management-oriented government to service-oriented government 7.4.3 Human-centred, people-oriented design 7.5 Summary 8 Conclusion References Annexes Annex 1: Interview guidelines Annex 2: Dates of interviews Annex 3: Collected data Annex 4: Example of consent formUrsprünglich zielte Stadterneuerung in erster Linie darauf ab, Infrastruktur, Lebensbedingungen und wirtschaftliche Gegebenheiten durch die Aufwertung baufälliger Stadtviertel zu verbessern. Seit den 1990er Jahren jedoch wurde in Europa der Ansatz der hauptsächlich materielle, ökologische und ökonomische Aspekte betonenden Stadterneuerung durch eine ganzheitlichere Herangehensweise abgelöst. Diese verbindet die Stimulation ökonomischer Aktivitäten und ökologischer Verbesserungen mit sozialer Integration und Teilhabe der Bewohner sowie Rücksichtnahme auf kulturelle Gegebenheiten (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 3). Ersterer Ansatz, gekennzeichnet durch großflächigen und schnellen Abriss und Neubau städtischer Areale, wird meist als die in China übliche Vorgehensweise bei Stadterneuerungen angesehen. Getrieben von einem Prozess beispielloser Urbanisierung, ging sie einen enormen wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung einher. Dieser brachte allerdings gravierende soziale und ökologische Problemen mit sich, welche zu einer nicht-nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung führten. Deshalb beschreitet China zunehmend einen nachhaltigeren Weg: die schrittweise Stadterneuerung in jeweils kleinerem Umfang. Seit 2009 initiierte die chinesische Regierung verschiedene experimentelle Pilotprojekte für den neuen Ansatz. Dieser Trend macht sich in verschiedenen Bereichen wie Planungs- und Baustrategien, institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen und der Wissenschaft bemerkbar. Sowohl chinesische Regierungsinstitutionen als auch zahlreiche Wissenschaftler gehen davon aus, dass eine kleinteiligere Stadterneuerung nicht nur die physische Infrastruktur verbessert, sondern auch das Gefühl der Identität, die kulturelle Entwicklung und den sozialen Zusammenhalt unter den Bewohnern verstärkt. Damit geht allerdings die Frage einher, ob der neue Ansatz der Stadterneuerung tatsächlich per se besser zur Verwirklichung dieser Absichten beiträgt. Die zentrale Forschungsfrage lautet daher: Auf welche Weise trägt Stadterneuerung zur sozialen Integrativität chinesischer Städte bei? Zunächst entwickelte die Autorin den konzeptionellen Rahmen: Stadterneuerung im Sinne sozial-integrativer Stadtentwicklung. Dieser hilft beim Verständnis chinesischer Stadterneuerung und der Einsicht in den städtebaulichen Bezug von Konzepten sozialer Integration und Inklusion sowohl international als auch spezifisch in China. Bei der Recherche in Dokumenten und Fachliteratur zeigten sich weiterhin folgende drei Forschungslücken: 1) Ein Mangel an systematischen Untersuchungen, die die einzelnen Herangehensweisen und Konzepte der Stadterneuerung in China integrieren und zusammenfassen; 2) Ansätze der sozialen Integration und Teilhabe folgen in China einem relativ engen Verständnis von „Assimilierung“; 3) Der gegenwärtige Bestand systematischer Analyse und Bewertung experimenteller Stadterneuerungsprojekte ist hinsichtlich sozialer Aspekte unzureichend für eine Verbesserung aktueller Ansätze der Stadterneuerung in China. Um diese Forschungslücken zu füllen, sollen in der vorliegenden Dissertation zum Ersten die Unterschiede zwischen den beiden in China angewendeten Vorgehensweisen der Stadterneuerung – großflächiger und scheller gegenüber kleinteiligem und schrittweisem Stadtumbau – erforscht werden; zum Zweiten soll untersucht werden, inwiefern beide Ansätze zur sozial integrierten Stadtentwicklung beitragen, und zum Dritten soll eine generelle Analyse der Stärken und Schwächen beider Ansätze und ihrer inneren Logik erfolgen. Zur Untersuchung zweier Fälle von Stadterneuerung bezüglich des Ziels einer sozial-integrativen Stadtentwicklung kommt der Analyserahmen „Socially Integrative Cities“ (SIC), der gemeinsam von chinesischen und europäischen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern vorgeschlagen wurde, zum Einsatz. Die Autorin definierte 26 Indikatoren aufbauend auf 12 Charakteristika aus vorausgegangenen Forschungen, die fünf thematischen Dimensionen zugeordnet wurden: kollaborative Stadtplanung und Stadtgestaltung, urbane Umwelt- und Lebensbedingungen, wirtschaftliche Situation und Arbeitsmarkt vor Ort, soziokulturelle Entwicklung und soziales Kapital und schlussendlich institutionelle Entwicklung und städtisches Finanzwesen. Das methodische Vorgehen vereint beschreibende Analyse von Dokumenten und Literaturrecherche, gefolgt von qualitativen vergleichenden Fallstudien. Für die Untersuchung wurden zwei typische Fälle von Stadterneuerungsprojekten ausgewählt, die einerseits eine großflächige und schnelle (Wuhan Tiandi) und andererseits eine kleinteilige und schrittweise (Wuhan Tanhualin) Vorgehensweise repräsentieren. In beiden Fällen handelt es sich um traditionelle innerstädtische, jedoch baufällige Viertel in Wuhan, einer aufstrebenden chinesischen Bezirkshauptstadt. Im Laufe der Feldforschung wurden unter anderem semistrukturierte vertiefende Interviews mit Vertretern von Einrichtungen geführt, die vorher als Stakeholder identifiziert wurden. Für die Auswertung des Interviewmaterials schloss sich während und nach der Feldforschung die inhaltliche Analyse und die Stakeholderanalyse an. Weitere Daten hierfür wurden von Online-Datenplattformen, Dokumenten und Projektplanungen generiert. Zunächst einmal legen die Resultate nahe, dass die Unterschiede zwischen großflächiger, schneller und kleinteiliger, schrittweiser Stadterneuerung hauptsächlich bei den Aspekten Interventionsebene, Akteure und ihre Strategien, Größe der Baufläche, Planungs- und Erneuerungsziel, Gebäudetypen und Finanzierung liegen. Dabei besteht die Möglichkeit, dass Projekte der Stadterneuerung beide Vorgehensweisen in einem hybriden Modell kombinieren oder verschiedene Ansätze in unterschiedlichen Abschnitten zur Anwendung bringen. Die Auswertung der Umsetzung und Folgen der beiden Stadterneuerungsprojekte offenbarte, dass sowohl die großflächige und schnelle als auch die kleinteilige, schrittweise Stadterneuerung in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß einen spezifischen Einfluss auf allen fünf o.g. Dimensionen des Konzepts der sozial-integrativen Stadt haben. Großflächige und schnelle Stadterneuerung bietet unbestreitbare Vorteile für die Verbesserung der Lebens- und Umweltbedingungen, bei der baulichen Aufwertung in baufälligen Stadtbereichen sowie für die Stärkung der regionalen Wirtschaftstätigkeit und des überregionalen Arbeitsmarktes. Allerdings nimmt sie wenig Rücksicht auf soziale und kulturelle Aspekte. Im Gegensatz dazu zeichnet sich eine kleinteilige, schrittweise Stadterneuerung durch flexible Umnutzung existierender Gebäude, eine Wiederbelebung von Stadtkernen und Altstädten und stabileren und erschwinglicheren Immobilienpreisen aus. Menschen können in ihrem angestammten Viertel bleiben, die Lokalwirtschaft und der Arbeitsmarkt vor Ort werden gestärkt, baukulturelles Erbe bewahrt und sowohl das Identitätsgefühl der Quartiersbewohner mit ihrer Umgebung als auch Sozialkapital und Engagement lokaler Stakeholder gestärkt. Gleichwohl leiden diese zwar umfassenden Ansätze unter einer begrenzten Effektivität. Darüber hinaus wurde in der Studie deutlich, dass die Vorteile des einen Ansatzes in vielen Fälle die Nachteile des anderen spiegeln und umgekehrt. Darauf aufbauend beschrieb die Autorin die zu Grunde liegende Logik beider Wege, untersuchte die Ursachen, die zu deren Widersprüchen führen und bietet mögliche Lösungswege für die Herausforderungen und Dilemmata an, denen gegenwärtige chinesische Stadterneuerungsprojekte gegenüberstehen. Diese Forschungsarbeit fasst verschiedene bislang fragmentarische Ansätze und Konzepte der Stadterneuerung in China zu zwei Paradigmen zusammen: Dem des großflächigen, schnellen Stadtumbaus und jenem der kleinteiligen, schrittweisen Erneuerung. Daneben wurde ein breiter gefasster und an den Kontext der chinesischen „sozial-integrativen Stadt“ angepasster Analyserahmen für Stadterneuerungsprojekte entwickelt. Schlussendlich erläutert die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit ausführlich empirische Erkenntnisse im Zusammenhang mit dem städtebaulichen Paradigmenwechsel, der sich in China vollzieht, und gibt Empfehlungen für entsprechende Regierungsinstitutionen, Fachleute und Wissenschaftler zur Förderung einer sozial–integrativen Stadtentwicklung.:CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1.1 Problem overview 1.2 Study design and thesis structure 2 Conceptual framework: urban renewal towards socially integrative cities 2.1 Urban renewal in China 2.1.1 Basic Chinese terms and concepts 2.1.2 Massive rapid demolition and reconstruction 2.1.3 Small-scale stepwise urban renewal 2.1.4 Urban renewal evolution in China: initiating, testing and promotion 2.2 Social integration and inclusion 2.3 Influence of urban renewal on social integration and inclusion - socially integrative cities 2.4 Typical practices of urban renewal in China 2.5 Raised research questions 3 Research design and methodology 3.1 Overall research design 3.2 Framework to examine the accomplishment of socially integrative cities in urban renewal projects 3.3 Comparative case studies 3.3.1 Case study selection 3.3.2 Interview design 3.3.3 Data analysis 4 Exploring the context: Wuhan city and its two cases 4.1 Urban renewal in Wuhan 4.2 Planning documents of Wuhan concerning urban renewal 4.3 Massive rapid reconstruction case: Wuhan Tiandi 4.4 Small-scale stepwise urban renewal case: Tanhualin 5 Differences between massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.1 Classification criteria for urban renewal approaches 5.2 Intervention levels 5.2.1 Redevelopment, rehabilitation, and conservation 5.2.2 Intervention levels in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.3 Actors and strategies 5.3.1 Government-led, property-led, comprehensive model, and community-oriented mode 5.3.2 Actors and strategies in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.3.3 Sources of funds in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.4 Scales of coverage 5.4.1 Macro-level, medium-level, micro-level 5.4.2 Scales of coverage in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.5 Planning goals 5.5.1 Physical, social, economic, and morphological integrated 5.5.2 Planning goals in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.6 Renewal targets 5.6.1 Old city, old factory, old village 5.6.2 Renewal targets in massive rapid reconstruction and small-scale stepwise urban renewal 5.7 Summary 6 Contributions to socially integrative cities by

Beyond Participatory Design for Service Robotics

The spread of technologies as Cloud and Distributed Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning techniques comes with highly disruptive innovation potential and consequent design imperatives. High connectivity of devices and machines is shaping not only sensing and monitoring capabilities, but also describing ever more ubiquitous and diffuse computing capabilities, affecting decision-making with a wide range of assisting tools and methods. With the scaling potential of moving beyond its contemporary application such as industrial facilities monitoring, precision farming and agriculture, healthcare and risk management scenarios, RaaS is bound to involve an increasingly fluid and diverse range of users, shaping new socio-technical systems where practices, habits and relationships will evolve in respect to its adoption. On these premises, applied research at Polytechnic Interdepartmental Centre for Service Robotics in Turin, Italy, focuses on the development of a service robotics platform able to operate on the local scale and capable of adapting to evolving scenarios

An ecosystem inspired framework for digital government transformation

Traditional e-government and Digital Government Transformation (DGT) initiatives are often focused on technology transformation and business-IT alignment with the attempt to make government more efficient, transparent and easier to operate within. However, billions of public funding has been spent on those initiatives with very few anticipated benefits yielded. This thesis asserts that DGT will bring about true government transformation when business, people and culture are considered together. Many existing business/industry frameworks, architectures and best practices in the literature for DGT projects address only one or two of those dimensions. To focus on the development and delivery of transformational changes in DGT initiatives, this thesis will propose a solution framework for an integrative approach that brings about business transformation, technology transformation, with people-stakeholder-leadership oriented cultural transformation to form a holistic methodology framework for DGT that is beyond technology alone and will illuminate the road to success in DGT executions. This thesis will provide an ecosystem inspired framework together with tools and maturity model framework to guide a government-wide successful execution of the DGT journey that is iterative, measurable and with consideration of all aspects of business, technology and people. This thesis will approach DGT journeys by: 1. Implementing of a holistic framework to guide the DGT; 2. Considering people and culture for an effective DGT; 3. Providing an integrated approach that can bring innovative knowledge and cultural transformation together with the technology transformation; and by 4. Providing a measurement framework and metrics to guide the maturity of DGT projects. This thesis will be evaluated through four case studies including public sector, the defence force, and health ecosystems and is aimed at supporting public entities for better utilisation of resources, modernising operations, displaying better use of public funds, keeping trust high, saving time, offering fast learning, and better engagement and services for its stakeholders both internally and externally

Knowledge and Management Models for Sustainable Growth

In the last years sustainability has become a topic of global concern and a key issue in the strategic agenda of both business organizations and public authorities and organisations. Significant changes in business landscape, the emergence of new technology, including social media, the pressure of new social concerns, have called into question established conceptualizations of competitiveness, wealth creation and growth. New and unaddressed set of issues regarding how private and public organisations manage and invest their resources to create sustainable value have brought to light. In particular the increasing focus on environmental and social themes has suggested new dimensions to be taken into account in the value creation dynamics, both at organisations and communities level. For companies the need of integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues into strategy and daily business operations, pose profound challenges, which, in turn, involve numerous processes and complex decisions influenced by many stakeholders. Facing these challenges calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge as well as the development of proper management models, approaches and tools aimed to contribute to the development and realization of environmentally and socially sustainable business strategies and practices

Architecture as artform : drawing, painting, collage, and architecture, 1945-1965

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-329).The development of an American architectural avant-garde after the Second World War is examined in relation to the formal properties and institutionalized cultural authority of modern art. Rather than looking to the artwork of their American artistic contemporaries, architects and critics appropriated the early European avant-garde as typological precedents, guided by a pedagogical approach steeped in Bauhaus teaching methods. Drawing became the common conduit between the abstract work of art and its transformation into modern architecture. Architecture was seen as a problem that could be studied diagrammatically, and consequently also thought of as a fundamentally conceptual, immaterial artifact. At the same time that architecture was moving towards a flattened artistic condition, however, abstract expressionist painting began to take on the material and dimensional properties of the architectural object, demarcating volume and structure. Modernist collage techniques were also introduced into postwar architectural design, but again the material aspects of the medium were suppressed in favor of its purely visual qualities.by Eric K. Lum.Ph.D

Thermal performance: the politics of environmental management in architecture

How do architects address the ambiguity of practice, being on the one hand tasked with making buildings that perform well in terms of energy use and environmental strategy, and on the other facilitating the production of capital, through their service to ensuring that the performance of the occupants (efficiency, productivity and wellbeing) is satisfied? In this PhD by practice, I use the theoretical concept of ‘the performative’ through both the written thesis and project to interrogate the various ways in which thermal management becomes entangled with management processes. The context is specific: the workplace at a moment of convergence between smart technology with architecture; where notionally, agency is given over to autonomous environmental systems to do the right thing, and work environments that are embedded in performative-linguistic company cultures that urge their occupants to ‘do the right thing’. In other words – where machines do things with fans and boilers, and humans do things with emails, meetings, performance reviews and corporate culture. I invoke Lucy Schuman’s question ‘who is doing what to whom?’ to draw attention to the way that actions are elicited from employees through discursive and constitute organisational practices. At a point where new-build non-domestic buildings, which are specifically designed to perform environmentally well, are failing to do so- I invoke Isabelle Stengers’ ethical proposition ‘what are we busy doing?’ to ask whether architects’ actions are fundamentally compromised by this entanglement. I propose a strategy for architects to address their practice in relation to these propositions, and trace the actions as they migrate through discursive fields – sustainability, organisational management, theories of motivation, workplace politics, technological innovation, activism and resistance. The narrative of the written thesis is asynchronous, and is interconnected with the project in multiple ways, it is structured in such a way so as to introduce strategies of encountering the various discursive fields which form the context of study. The project work, on the other hand, immerses the reader directly within these fields. The database that reveals the multiple realms that embed the concepts of power, economics, desire, love, productivity and war into the architectural concerns for comfort and energy use; while the performance video places two subjects constituted by management, whose passions are put to work and situate them within a discursive environment latent with the full cultural significance of its metaphors in the workplace of the knowledge economy. The first part of the written component of the thesis opens up discussions about performance and action – which are generally applicable for the discourse of environmental performance, as mediated by the occupant and the use of technology, within the contemporary workplace. I move into the second part of the written thesis, which places the context specifically within the conceptual domain of thermal management, elaborates on the implications of taking a performance oriented approach to ‘heat’, and reveals how performance and the domain of heat converge on issues of productivity, subjectivity, and wellbeing. The two actors who perform in the video can only continuously improve their performance, every action can be subverted or appropriated, presenting the urgency for my conclusion in the written thesis, that as we, in architecture, are expected to also act entrepreneurially – the question is not how we do so subversively, or as a mode of critique. We should instead pay attention to Stengers’ and Suchman’s questions, and paying attention to what is brought about, and for whom, and focus our work on care for precarious, exhausted and hyper-active subjectivities that are produced through these actions

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 2: Living, Making, Value

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 2 includes papers from Living, Making and Value tracks of the conference

Architecture handbook

2002 handbook for the Faculty of Architectur