Equitable Development: The Path to an All-In Pittsburgh

Now is Pittsburgh's moment for equitable development, and its leaders must commit to implementing the recommendations in this report and ensuring everyone is a part of the new Pittsburgh. As this report illustrates, there are viable strategies that leaders in government, business, community development, and philanthropy can undertake to address racial inequities and put all residents on track to reaching their potential, starting with baking equity in to its new development projects and reaching across its institutional landscape and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Just as Pittsburgh has embraced its identity as a tech-forward region, it should—and can—be a frontrunner on equitable development

Cities, Government, Law, and Civil Society

This Article develops a first iteration of a locality-centered account of civil society and the role for government and law within it. I examine a particular municipality—the City of Pittsburgh—to provide a concrete example from which to generate ideas and judgments about the terrain and content of this localist account. While it may seem startling to approach the large goal of providing a generalizable account of civil society and municipal agency from a review of one U.S. city, I believe that doing so keeps the account grounded in particularities that highlight the very concrete ways in which civil society both manifests in, and can be supported by, a city. As more cities and other considerations are brought to bear on my account, I expect revisions to be in order. While I hope the account I produce can be serviceable for cities outside of the United States, my own ambition is to identify ideals suitable to cities within it. This is partly because my own expertise is in U.S. law, but also because I believe any ac­ count of cities, civil society, and law must relate to actual settings. U.S. cities share enough historical and legal context to answer to a general account. I leave to others, in their own application of reflective equilibrium, the question of whether the lessons I draw have implications for other cities in other places, with different histories and different laws

The Cowl - v.58 - n.10 - Nov 18, 1993

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 58, Number 10 - November 18, 1993. 28 pages

A People's History Of Recent Urban Transportation Innovation

Who are the people leading the charge in urban transportation? As our report explains, the short answer is that it takes leaders from three different sectors of urban society to make change happen quickly.First, there needs to be a robust civic vanguard, the more diverse their range of skills and participation, the better. Second, mayors, commissioners and other city leaders need to create the mandate and champion the change. The third sector is the agency staff. When these three sectors align, relatively quick transformation is possible. Several cities, including New York and Pittsburgh, recently experienced this alignment of a healthy civic community, a visionary and bold mayor and transportation head, and internal agency champions. Our report also highlighted the potential of other cities, such as Charlotte, where the civic sector continues to build on and widen their base

Transformative Architecture Through Kinetic Mechanisms

This thesis started with an interest in transformable architecture which will allow it to become adaptive. Zuk and Clark, in “Kinetic Architecture,” argued that modern architecture was outdated because of its static nature. Architecture can address these challenges in a simple and intentional manner if kinetics are included. This removes demolition and expensive remodeling. Plants and animals adapt kinetically, such as growing cells in the opposite direction in which they were bent, sets of muscles that flex and extend to kinetically move a limb, or transforming its whole body and positioning each limb strategically to maximize the range of movement and minimize the effort. All of these concepts are applicable in architecture. The research started with various mechanisms that enable movement; from joints in hinges or folding mechanisms, to pivoting systems that revolve around a defined axis, to sliding and telescopic mechanisms that allow elements to be displaced along a defined path. I developed a taxonomy of to organize these kinetic examples. The categories include mechanism (sliding, telescopic, pivoting-rotating, hinging-folding, and pneumatic structures), transformations of geometry (scale, change of volume, addition-subtraction, and deformation), architectural elements (point, line, plane, and volume), direction of movement (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and axial), energy input (human, hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical), transformations of space enclosure, open, hybrid), and physical components(partition, roof, floor, and structure). This thesis raised the following questions: What are the architectural design principles that can be applied to create spatial experiences? How are these principles incorporated into kinetic architecture? How can we create multiple spatial experiences based on the possibility to change space? In what situations is transformable architecture more convenient than conventional static architecture? These questions are explored in a series of studies that led to the conceptual design of a collapsible skyscraper

The Cowl - v.55 - n.6 - Oct 24, 1990

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 55, Number 6 - October 24, 1990. 24 pages

Winona Daily News

https://openriver.winona.edu/winonadailynews/2283/thumbnail.jp

The Cowl - v.52 - n.2 - Sep 16, 1987

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 52, Number 2 - September 16, 1987. 24 pages

The Cowl - v.58 - n.17 - Mar 10, 1994

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 58, Number 17 - March 10, 1994. 24 pages