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Full and Void: Activating Public Space in the Contemporary City

Velazco, Timothy K.

Abstract Details

2010, MARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of).

The decentralization of cities in the mid twentieth-century resulted in an urban landscape of empty spaces. New buildings failed to materialize on plots recently demolished for redevelopment purposes, because the supply of existing buildings already exceeded the demand. The usefulness of these empty spaces, commonly referred to as urban voids, is an ongoing debate in contemporary cities. However, as the general population, once again, becomes interested in urban cores, the potential functionality of these voids is increasingly significant. An architectural response to an increasing demand in urban lifestyles is likely to result in the densification of urban cores. Therefore, urban voids are likely candidates for building development.

Urban voids are considered to be detrimental for contemporary cities. However, this thesis suggests that urban voids can be transformed into public spaces that positively contribute to urban cores. The greatest challenge facing contemporary public spaces is ensuring that they are utilized. Many designs for public spaces create attractive spaces for activities to occur, yet fail to become active and utilized. Thus, this research investigates the forces that are most likely to generate utilized public spaces in an attempt to transform underutilized urban voids into utilized and valuable spaces for activities in urban cores.

The research has four primary components that share a single objective: to determine the advantages and disadvantages of public spaces in contemporary cities. The first component investigates the origin of contemporary urban voids and available transformation strategies for redevelopment. The second component investigates the historic evolution of public spaces in order to understand the usefulness of voids in the contemporary city. The third component involves the diagrammatic analysis of physical characteristics inherent in highly utilized public spaces. The final component investigates the functional abilities of public spaces in the contemporary city.

This research can provide urban designers with architectural strategies for creating highly utilized public spaces for both required and leisure activities. Moreover, the absence of building density in urban cores can be a positive condition when activating forces exist to create uses within these voids.

Rebecca Williamson, PhD (Committee Chair)
Nnamdi Elleh, PhD (Committee Chair)
103 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Velazco, T. K. (2010). Full and Void: Activating Public Space in the Contemporary City [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1277156214

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Velazco, Timothy. Full and Void: Activating Public Space in the Contemporary City. 2010. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1277156214.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Velazco, Timothy. "Full and Void: Activating Public Space in the Contemporary City." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1277156214

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)