Improvising places: the fluidity of space in informal settlements

This paper engages with how the incremental production of space works in informal settlements. As one of the critical challenges of urbanism in the cities of the global South, informal settlements cannot be simply addressed through ruthless practices of demolition and eviction since they can often be incrementally upgraded on the same site. Such practices of upgrading rely on a sophisticated understanding of how urban morphology and adaptation work in informal settlements. In this paper, I focus on the fluidity of space by drawing on a case study of an informal settlement in Pune, India. The key research methods are observation and visual recording. The results of this study provide a better understanding of how informal settlements work in terms of urban morphologies and adaptations. Such an understanding plays a significant role in exploring how the capacities of informality can be developed in consistency with the incremental upgrading of codes regarding public open space, access network, construction, and functional mix. This paper contributes to the ways in which built environment professions can effectively engage with incremental transformations of informal settlements

Macular Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging in Glaucoma

The advent of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography has played a transformative role in posterior segment imaging of the eye. Traditionally, images of the optic nerve head and the peripapillary area have been used to evaluate the structural changes associated with glaucoma. Recently, there is growing evidence in the literature supporting the use of macular spectral-domain optical coherence tomography as a complementary tool for clinical evaluation and research purposes in glaucoma

Global Communication - 2/E

This book is intended to explore, analyze, inform, and provoke discussions about one of the major components of globalization: global communication. Global communication is a post cold war and post industrial revolution phenomenon that is rapidly transforming economic, relational, social, cultural, political, and structural aspects of practically every nation of the world. Global communication, made possible by the marvels of telecommunication technologies, is a vast, diverse, dynamic, complex, interactive, and rapidly growing discipline and enterprise

Access and forms of urbanity in public space: Transit urban design beyond the global north

There has been an emerging interest in the study of urban design dimensions associated with Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs). However, addressing the question of how TOD principles laid out in the international literature can be explored in the context of the global South remains in an incipient stage. In this paper, we investigate the nexus between station walkable catchments and forms of urbanity around transit nodes by adopting an assemblage approach to cut across any separation of sociality and spatiality. Drawing on empirical research from two case studies in Tehran, this paper contributes to studies on transit urban design by developing two measures of accessibility—the Catchment of Accessible Public Spaces (CAPS) and Accessible Interfaces (AI). We found that the combination of high CAPS and high AI within a given time can enable streetlife intensity, which is also linked to a synergistic effect of a larger assemblage, including the number of entries and diversity of functions. We argue that a focus on both measures is critical to understand the performance and potential transformation of street networks in a TO

Predictors of Place Attachment in Urban Residential Environments: A Residential Complex Case Study

AbstractThis paper follows two interrelated studies. Through the first study, we explore, classify and evaluate predictors that contribute to an increased place attachment. Through the second study, we examine the predictors on a residential complex in Tehran. Surveys and face-to-face interviews were conducted to investigate place attachment and the relationship of attachment with the overall design of their environment. The findings indicate a significant attachment to the neighborhood, which contributes to the users’ tendency to remain in the community. Also, physical dimensions of attachment are regarded as crucial in developing a sense of belonging

Urban morphologies in informal settlements: a case study

The emergence of urbanity is related to the ways in which urban informality, morphologies, activities, and temporality work in relation to sociality and spatiality. Informal settlements are predominantly self-organized and incrementally transformed out of the state control where the traditional approaches to urban theory and design practices have often failed to deal with the complex dynamism of such resilient forms of urbanism. The study aims to explore urban morphologies of informal settlements to unravel the capacities of these settlements as places of self-organization in which complex relations between sociality and spatiality contribute to the emergence of urbanity. Hence, the study focuses on the ways in which informal urbanism mediates urbanity. This conception is neither an attempt to aestheticize the concentration of poverty in informal settlements nor an attempt to undermine the role of the built environment professions in enabling or constraining the possibility of emergent urbanity in the city. On the contrary, the outcomes of the study give rise to the critical role of urban designers, architects, and planners in contributing effectively to the upgrading processes in a way to encourage the affordances for self-organization and incremental transformations over time. Drawing on empirical evidence from the neighbourhood of Khlong Toei in the city of Bangkok, the study seeks to understand the ways in which urban morphologies structure the emergence of urbanity in informal settlements. The research methods are observation, archival records, visual recording, mapping, and multi-scale analysis. In this way, the study contributes to the understanding of how informal settlements work in terms of urban morphologies and the ways in which emergence of street-life intensity can be enabled or constrained by the environmental design professionals

Mapping urban interfaces: a typology of public/private interfaces in informal settlements

Urban interfaces play a key role in enabling the different forms of social and economic exchange and the ways in which open space is contested and appropriated in informal settlements. Many upgrading practices involve a transformation of public/private interfaces. The transition between public and private territories is one of the critical issues in planning, urban design, and architecture that has the capacity to enable or constrain exchange and production. This paper develops a typology for analysing and mapping public/private interfaces in informal settlements. Drawing on the evidence from multiple case studies of informal settlements in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and South America, a typology of six interface types is introduced based on the criteria of proximity and connectivity. The study is informed by direct observation, visual recordings, and urban mapping to shed light on the ways in which urban interfaces work in informal settlements

Forms of informality and adaptations in informal settlements

Informal settlements have become integral to the urban imagery of the cities across the global South. Forms of urban informality emerge and grow through some generative processes of self-organisation and incremental adaptations. While formal interventions have often failed to put an end to such a resilient and complex type of urbanism, the desire for eradication and demolishment still prevails. Most of the informal settlements can benefit from incremental upgrading and micro-scale design interventions, which then rely on a sophisticated understanding and analysis of informal morphologies and adaptations. However, forms of urban informality and adaptations of informal settlements are relatively understudied. This paper aims to explore informal morphologies and their incremental adaptations drawing on empirical evidence from the case study of Khlong Toei district in Bangkok (Thailand). Direct observation, visual recording, and urban mapping are the key research methods. Five different forms of informality and adaptations have been identified in this study. One of the findings of this study is that informal morphologies emerge in different forms at multiple scales. Another finding of this study is that informal adaptations are often similar across different informal morphologies. The findings of this paper contribute to the growing body of knowledge in urban morphology and informal urbanism

Online education in the post COVID-19 era: students' perception and learning experience

Students’ learning experiences and perceptions are markedly influenced by the use of digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring students’ perception of blended online learning, amid the adaptations of the higher education sector in the wake of uncertainty, has become more critical than ever. This paper reflects on the experience of learning and teaching the Research Methods and Techniques subject in the postgraduate programme of MA Urban Design at Cardiff University during COVID-19 in the UK. To do so, we designed and carried out an online survey to explore students’ perception of online teaching and learning activities, feedback and assessment, and digital platforms based on their experience during the subject delivery period in the 2020–2021 academic year. One of the significant findings of this paper was that students agreed with the impact of eye contact on their virtual learning experience but as long as this was aligned with their rights to see others, including their peers and instructors, rather than reciprocal rights to be seen. In addition, students felt that facilitating synchronous communication through effective interaction among diverse peers has been quite challenging in small-group online reading seminars. The majority of respondents also reported that attending live online lectures was more helpful than watching pre-recorded lectures. Online formative feedback and synchronous interim reviews also allowed students to reflect on their progress and develop their projects further before their summative assessment. The outcomes of this paper can effectively assist educators who consider delivering programmes, adopting a blended online learning environment design model, in the post COVID-19 era. The findings of this study can also provide guidance for further developments and improvements in using digital technology and blended online learning in urban design education and pedagogy