Urban Design as a Tool for Preservation and Adaptive Reuse of Public Space in Historic Districts

This paper looks into frameworks which aim at furthering the discussion of the role of regenerative design practices in a city's historic core utilizing the tool of urban design to jumpstart urban revitalization in the context of historic preservation and adaptive reuse in historic city centers. The main prong of investigation will consider the effect of proposed changes in the physical infrastructure and fabric of the city and the management of public space, as well as the catalytic effect of sustainable urban design practices. Through this process, the work hopes to integrate the contained potential within the existing historic city center, which includes both buildings and the space between buildings. It also looks at the notion of a community's right to the public space and the public life of the target areas as well as the potential contribution and participation of its population in the local economy. It also examines ways in which this coupling of factors can bring to the front the positive effects of this combined effort on an otherwise sluggish local redevelopment effort, and uses a local case study to illustrate the potential application of preservation and reuse sstrategies in the historic core of the Nicosia suburb or Strovolos on the island of Cyprus. The data for this study is being collected and organized as part of an ongoing urban design and development workshop manned by diploma students from the University of Cyprus. The presentation is organized around a historical background and theoretical framework for developement, followed concluding thoughts that address sets of actions that may have a positive impact on future projects conceived along similar lines by educators and practitioners in comparable regional initiatives

International Medical Technology Diffusion

Does medical technology originating in countries close to the technology frontier have a significant impact on health outcomes in countries distant from this frontier? This paper considers a framework where lagging countries may benefit from medical technology (a result of research and development by countries close to the frontier) that is embodied in medical imports or diffuses in the form of ideas. Using a novel dataset from a cross-section of 73 technology-importing countries, we show that medical technology diffusion is an important contributor to improved health status, as measured by life expectancy and mortality rates.International Technology Diffusion, Health

The Global Joint Distribution of Income and Health

We investigate the evolution of global welfare in two dimensions: income per capita and life expectancy. First, we estimate the marginal distributions of income and life expectancy separately. More importantly, in contrast to previous univariate approaches, we consider income and life expectancy jointly and estimate their bivariate global distribution for 137 countries during 1970 - 2000. We reach several conclusions: the global joint distribution has evolved from a bimodal into a unimodal one, the evolution of the health distribution has preceded that of income, global inequality and poverty has decreased over time and the evolution of the global distribution has been welfare improving. Our decomposition of overall welfare indicates that global inequality would be underestimated if within-country inequality is not taken into account. Moreover, global inequality and poverty would be substantially underestimated if the dependence between the income and health distributions is ignored.income, health, global distribution, inequality, poverty

The Global Joint Distribution of Income and Health

We investigate the evolution of global welfare in two dimensions: income per capita and life expectancy. First, we estimate the marginal distributions of income and life expectancy separately. More importantly, in contrast to previous univariate approaches, we consider income and life expectancy jointly and estimate their bivariate global distribution for 137 countries during 1970 - 2000. We reach several conclusions: the global joint distribution has evolved from a bimodal into a unimodal one, the evolution of the health distribution has preceded that of income, global inequality and poverty has decreased over time and the evolution of the global distribution has been welfare improving. Our decomposition of overall welfare indicates that global inequality would be underestimated if within-country inequality is not taken into account. Moreover, global inequality and poverty would be substantially underestimated if the dependence between the income and health distributions is ignored.Income; Health; Global Distribution; Inequality; Poverty

Is the Financial Development and Economic Growth Relationship Nonlinear?

Using nonparametric estimation techniques we find that, in contrast to recent research, the finance-growth relationship is linear when the previously documented nonlinearity between initial per capita income, human capital and economic growth is taken into account.

An urban infill : a residual site in Boston

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-87).This thesis is concerned with the treatment of residual sites in the context of the urban environment and in particular with the wounds inflicted by the passage of the Massachusetts Turnpike through the city of Boston. The Pike, crossing the city from east to west at a level which is approximately twenty feet below the established city datum, has resulted in deep perforations of the city skin and it has caused discontinuity in the urban fabric. The result is the formation of "leftover" sites in the city which are devoid of life. The proposed solution involves the study of a possible way to span the highway passing underneath and to integrate this residual site with the surrounding community. This results into two distinct structural systems: one which anchors itself along the dividers of the Turnpike and of the railway lines and one which sits on firm ground. The design calls attention to this twofold structural issue, but also tries to resolve the two systems into an integrated building. The consequent treatment of the block, is the connection and formation of public pathways and plazas, within the surrounding context and the proposed development.by Andreas L. Savvides.M.Arch

Thermal Assessment of Traditional, Partially Subterranean Dwellings in Coastal and Mountainous Regions in the Mediterranean Climate. The Case of Cyprus

Fully, or partially, subterranean dwellings have developed as a distinctive building type from the prehistoric to pre-industrial era in the Mediterranean region, often serving specific purposes. The energy benefits of such spaces are well documented mainly through the investigation of numerous examples found in vernacular architecture. Despite their environmental potentials, subterranean structures remain limited in contemporary design practices. The present paper reports on the findings of a systematic research that examines partially subterranean traditional dwellings in the coastal and mountainous regions of Cyprus, an island in the Eastern Mediterranean. The study focuses on the environmental assessment of these spaces, through the monitoring of air temperature and relative humidity, and on a brief demonstration of various passive strategies for indoor microclimate improvements. Although these structures are not very common in the vernacular architecture of the island, their scientific examination produces useful knowledge in terms of energy savings. This can inform contemporary design applications and form a basis for the drafting of environmental refurbishment guidelines, applicable for this particular building typology. The research indicates favourable temperatures and significant cooling effects in partially subterranean spaces during the hot summer period, especially in mountainous regions. Temperatures in such spaces during the cold winter period are found to exhibit higher values compared to the temperatures of above-ground spaces, although they remain below comfort limits. High indoor humidity is found to be a major problem, in both the summer and winter period, in the coastal regions of the island. It is highlighted that, although partially subterranean spaces have many environmental benefits, as earth offers thermal insulation and heat storage, generalizations should be avoided since a number of varying parameters, such as the local climate, geology, natural ventilation conditions and building materials used, influence considerably their environmental performance

Significance of Patterns in Data Visualisations

In this paper we consider the following important problem: when we explore data visually and observe patterns, how can we determine their statistical significance? Patterns observed in exploratory analysis are traditionally met with scepticism, since the hypotheses are formulated while viewing the data, rather than before doing so. In contrast to this belief, we show that it is, in fact, possible to evaluate the significance of patterns also during exploratory analysis, and that the knowledge of the analyst can be leveraged to improve statistical power by reducing the amount of simultaneous comparisons. We develop a principled framework for determining the statistical significance of visually observed patterns. Furthermore, we show how the significance of visual patterns observed during iterative data exploration can be determined. We perform an empirical investigation on real and synthetic tabular data and time series, using different test statistics and methods for generating surrogate data. We conclude that the proposed framework allows determining the significance of visual patterns during exploratory analysis.Peer reviewe