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A Human-Centered Architecture
Published in Marcelo M. Soares, Francisco Rebelo, Tareq Z. Ahram, Handbook of Usability and User Experience, 2022
Elisângela Vilar, Francisco Rebelo, Paulo Noriega, Ernesto Filgueiras
In 1980, Whyte (1980) wrote a seminal book which is a manual about why some urban areas work and others don't. Using direct observation techniques (very little used at this time to study the dynamics of an urban area), he started studying parks and playgrounds in New York City motivated by an emerging concern over urban crowding. However, the main findings from direct observation suggested a lack of crowding in many of these areas, even in neighborhoods with a very high density of people, while some streets were full of children playing, contradicting the assumption that children play on the streets because they lack playground spaces. The authors expand their research to the plazas built in the light of an incentive bonus given to builders by New York City since 1961. So, builders could add 10 square feet of commercial floor space for each square foot of plaza they provided. Researchers recorded human activity involving plazas in order to acquire daily patterns of use and inquired users about the frequency they used the plaza, what they thought of it, where they worked and where they came from. The findings suggest that most users were young office workers and that most of them were not workers from the plaza's building. The reason for this dynamic is that workers want to keep some distance from their work, creating an interesting movement of people. According to Whyte (1980), this dynamic highlights a key factor: supply creates demand.
Description of foundations, general structural characteristics
Published in Efraín Ovando-Shelley, Enrique Santoyo, Correction of Differential Settlements in Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral and Sagrario Church, 2019
Efraín Ovando-Shelley, Enrique Santoyo
Following the recommendation of the learned group of experts, Arciniega built a masonry platform, really a foundation raft, with basalt, volcanic foam and lime mortar, over a surface of 140 × 70 m. Even though its average thickness is about 1.20 m, it is thicker towards the south, where softer ground is found, which suggests that the first builders added thickness at that particular zone to compensate the differential settlements that became apparent ever since the earliest stages of its construction. Before work on the actual raft began, the soil was reinforced by inserting some 22,500 wooden stakes or short piles of 20 to 25 cm in diameter and between 2.2 and 4 m in length. Archaeologists have revealed that the Aztecs, in their buildings, used this method previously to reinforce the marshy ground that prevailed in the city. On top of the platform a grid of masonry beams was built to receive the walls, pilasters and columns, as illustrated in Figure 2.2. The beams are 3.5 m in height, 2.5 m in width and as much as 127 m in length. The top part of the platform was at the same level as the Plaza Mayor (main square), and the grid of inverted beams reached a height of 3.5 m above this elevation, which is a clear indication that Master Builder Arciniega expected large-magnitude settlements to occur.
Categories and types of flood adaptation measures applicable in the design of public spaces
Published in Maria Matos Silva, Public Spaces for Water, 2019
The water plaza or water square can be generally characterized by being a low-lying urban area with a configuration similar to a square, which can be submerged during storm events. It is a measure that fits particularly well in densely built-up urban areas and not only in downstream areas or areas with low topographical elevation. It is designed to collect and retain rainwater from the nearby surrounding area, arising either from large-scale separative drainage systems or other local drainage systems encompassing different types of measures such as green and blue roofs, green walls, bioswales and rain gardens, among others. Collected rainwater is then directed to sunken areas within the public space, which store the water and tolerate its temporary presence. Besides serving as open-air reservoirs, these sunken areas can be designed to encompass different uses in the dry periods, such as amphitheaters, playgrounds and fairs, among others. By making water visible, people can be closer to natural water cycle changes and thus reduce their vulnerability toward those processes, a feature that is particularly valuable in adaptation endeavors.
Rainproof cities in the Netherlands: approaches in Dutch water governance to climate-adaptive urban planning
Published in International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2018
Liping Dai, Rebecca Wörner, Helena F. M. W. van Rijswick
The Benthemplein water plaza in Rotterdam illustrates this well. The plaza itself is equipped with innovative technology (Delta Delta Rotterdam, 2014). Even though the municipality carried out initial stakeholder involvement, the lack of continuity of involved students has made the square’s maintenance costly. Littering and clogging of pipes have become a serious problem, with cleaning costs higher than originally reserved. In terms of the monitoring and maintenance phase, it is important to identify the pitfalls and lessons at an early stage to implement an adaptive governance approach. Rotterdam publishes monitoring results on its website, yet the results are rather general and the last update was in 2013 (Rotterdam Climate Initiative, n.d.).