On the limit: The experience and representation of boundaries in architecture and urban design

Architects often draw a line around the boundary of a site on a plan to demarcate a part of the world that is subject to design, or delineate legal ownership. Yet, in human experience, that line is frequently imperceptible as a presence on the ground. People often perceive that when they move from one place to another, sometimes in close proximity, there is not a clear sense of a definite line that separates one from another. These limits in urban design and architecture are complex, made manifest in multiple ways, yet architectural representation rarely captures their richness. This thesis explores the delineation of such limits in relation to their representation in architecture and urban design. It draws from phenomenological methods to analyse limits as “experienced” in the world, and from design research methods, by exploring the architectural drawing of limits. It thus constitutes phenomenological design research. A working definition of the experiential limit in urban design and architecture is provided, based on a review of key urban design thinkers in relation to the limit, accounts of the experience of limits in two urban case studies and one landscape case study, and a review of the idea of the limit in philosophy, anthropology and socio-political literature. The limit is defined as recognisable, inhabitable, spatio-temporal, reflective and contested, resulting in a strip which can be characterised as ‘topological’. This strip constitutes what might be called a double limit, which simultaneously separates and joins, and is asymmetrical, ambiguous and fluctuating. Thereafter, this working definition of the limit is tested against drawn representations of limits with further reference to the case studies, following a review of conventions of architectural representation. The limit is recognised as inherent in the line, which characterises architectural representation, despite lines not being experienced beyond the drawing. The line, through the experience of drawing, explores and articulates attributes of the limit and how these operate, further refining the definition of the experiential limit. The thesis concludes that this idea of limit which “has made space for” is no longer negative, restrictive or obstructive – as in the conventional definition of “limiting” – but instead positive, imagined conceptually as a space from which to look outwards, mediate, multiply, and examine. Indeed, the idea of “limiting”, conceived in this way, as a design process, opens-up opportunities for alternative ways to imagine urban design, architecture, spaces, and the conceptualisation of the act and outcomes of the design process

El problema de los residuos flotantes en la Vega Baja del Segura. Un análisis de los actores del territorio

[SPA] En el río Segura y en sus infraestructuras de riego se acumulan residuos sólidos de diversa índole, lo que afecta tanto a la calidad del agua como al propio sistema de transporte de agua por el río ocasionando diversos problemas de difícil solución. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo conocer la visión de los actores del territorio sobre los residuos flotantes en el río Segura y en sus infraestructuras asociadas, concretamente en lo que se refiere a su tipología, sus fuentes y a los problemas que generan. Para ello se realizaron 3 sesiones de grupos focales en las que intervinieron un total de 34 participantes pertenecientes a distintos colectivos, lo que permitía el análisis global desde distintos puntos de vista. Para los participantes, los residuos tienen un origen urbano fundamentalmente, aunque la actividad agrícola y la falta de limpieza de los cauces por parte de la CHS son destacables. En cuanto a los problemas que plantean los residuos, estos son de diversos tipos: económicos, medioambientales y paisajísticos, de salud pública, sociales e incluso legales. El trabajo ha permitido realizar un diagnóstico inicial y es un punto de partida para seguir trabajando en la búsqueda de soluciones. [ENG] Solid waste with different origins accumulated in the Segura River and in its irrigation system has important consequences in the water quality and in its transport system. This fact is provoking several problems with a difficult solution. The aim of this work is to know the point of view of the territory actors about this issue, especially its sources and the problems generated. Because of that fact, 3 focus group sessions were carried out with 34 stakeholders from different collectives, therefore a global analysis was obtained. The origin of solid waste was come from urban activities, although agriculture and the lack of cleaning By CHS are highlighted too. Different kinds of problems are originated by solid waste are: economic, environmental and landscape, public health social, and legal. The research has allowed to perform an initial diagnosis and it is a good starting point to continue working in the search of solutions.Investigación realizada con la financiación de la Dirección General del Agua de la Conselleria de Agricultura, Desarrollo Rural, Emergencia Climática y Transición Ecológica

Comparative validation of three contemporary bleeding risk scores in acute coronary syndromes

Background: Hemorrhagic complications are strongly linked with subsequent adverse outcomes in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. Various risk scores (RS) are available to estimate the bleeding risk in these patients. Aims: To compare the predictive accuracy of the three contemporary bleeding RS in ACS. Methods: We studied 4500 consecutive patients with ACS. For each patient, the ACTION, CRUSADE, and Mehran et al bleeding RS were calculated. We assessed their performance either for the prediction of their own major bleeding events or to predict the TIMI serious (major and minor) bleeding episodes in the overall population, in patients with non-ST elevation ACS (NSTEACS) and in those with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. Calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test) and discrimination (c-statistic) for the three RS were computed and compared. We used the concept of net reclassification improvement (NRI) to compare the incremental prognostic value of using a particular RS over the remaining scores in predicting the TIMI serious bleeding. Results: The best predictive accuracy was obtained by the CRUSADE score either for the prediction of its own major bleeding events (c-statistic=0.80, 0.791, and 0.81 for the entire sample, for STEMI, and for NSTEACS patients, respectively) or to predict the TIMI serious bleed occurrence (c-statistic=0.741, 0.738,and 0.745 for the whole population, for STEMI and NSTEACS patients, respectively). The lowest bleeding rates observed in patients classified as low risk corresponded to the CRUSADE RS. All scores performed modestly in patients who did not undergo coronariography (all c-statistic <0.70). The CRUSADE score was significantly superior to the ACTION model in predicting the TIMI serious bleeding occurrence in terms of NRI overall and by ACS subgroups (p<0.05). Overall, the CRUSADE RS exhibited better calibration for predicting the TIMI serious bleeding compared to the ACTION and Mehran et al scores (Hosmer-Lemeshow p-values of 0.26, 0.13, and 0.07, respectively). Conclusion: The CRUSADE score represents, among the more contemporary bleeding RS, the most accurate and reliable quantitative clinical tool in STEACS and STEMI patients. We encourage the utilization of the CRUSADE index for bleeding risk stratification purposes in daily clinical practice and in ACS outcome studies. The performance of the three more contemporary bleeding RS is modest in those patients who received conservative management

The mall in the online shopping era

This study is focused on the evolution of massive retail architecture as polyvalent container and consistent public space no longer located in the periphery, but as generic spaces within inner cities. Its aim is also to reflect on the adaptation of these large commercial complexes as they are affected by the new digital market and their impact on the urban design concerning public interiors in European cities. Some exemplary types of shopping malls: L'Illa in Barcelona, Spain; Almere Stad shopping centre in Almere, Holland and St David's in Cardiff, UK, have been critically compared by analysing their urban, formal and functional transformations

Prólogo

Brugarolas Molla Bauza, M.; Iglesias, E. (2022). Prólogo. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/19113

Comportamiento del consumidor valenciando ante los productos ecológicos e integrados

En el presente trabajo se ha realizado una segmentación de los consumidores de la Comunidad Valenciana según su comportamiento de compra (nivel de exigencia, percepción de la relación precio-calidad de los productos y relevancia que conceden al sabor del producto en su decisión de compra). Se ha estimado, mediante la técnica del análisis conjunto, la importancia relativa que concede cada segmento de consumidores a los atributos utilizados para definir los productos hortofrutícolas (sabor, precio, origen, garantía sobre el nivel de residuos y aspecto). También se ha caracterizado a los consumidores pertenecientes a cada segmento en función de características descriptivas y funcionales que han presentado diferencias significativas entre los segmentos. Finalmente se han estimado las cuotas de mercado de tres productos -ecológicos, integrados y convencionales- definidos bajo dos escenarios distintos. La cuota de mercado estimada ha sido en todos los segmentos, y para los dos escenarios planteados, muy alta en lo que respecta a los productos ecológicos, por lo que desde la oferta se deben reconducir las estrategias comerciales y aprovechar la oportunidad comercial que representan. Además, la garantía de ausencia de residuos de los productos es un atributo muy valorado, por lo que sí el resto de los atributos del producto (precio, lugar de compra, aspecto, promoción,...) fueran similares a los del producto convencional, los productos ecológicos podrían tener un futuro muy prometedor