Chiyang Xu

Graduation Semester and Year

2014

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture

Department

Landscape Architecture

First Advisor

Pat D. Taylor

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the relationship between Lynch's (1981) four methods of increasing adaptability and the planned changes in city form of Fort Worth's Urban Villages program. The four methods of increasing adaptability, based on the theory that deals with human values and settlement forms, were first described by Lynch (1981). According to Lynch, the four methods of increasing adaptability are improved access, reduced interference between parts, use of standardized units, and excess capacity. By manipulating these four methods of increasing adaptability, planners and landscape architects can increase the adaptability of city form, which can in turn help them successfully implement the master plan of the cities they develop. This study reviews how these four methods of increasing adaptability were manipulated to support the planned changes in city form of Fort Worth's Urban Village program. The goal of this research is achieved by using maps analysis and interviewing key informants. The results of this study provide future planners with a more complete understanding of how to increase adaptability between the master plan and changes in city form. Because city form can be manipulated and rebuilt based on changing circumstances, this thesis studies the planned changes in city form that were envisioned in the unique master plans of the Urban Villages, especially as these changes relate to the four methods of increasing adaptability described by Lynch (1981). In addition, the interviews discover the relationship between Lynch's four methods of adaptability of city form (1981) and Fort Worth Urban village Program from the view point of selected key informants. This study is done in three steps. In the first step, four of Fort Worth's urban villages are selected as study sites. The four selected urban villages present in majority of the different possible site conditions of the sixteen urban villages. In the second step, the maps from the urban villages' master plans of these four selected sites are compared with the maps and data of these same sites from immediately before the urban village program began. These morphological, land-use, and transportation maps and data are studied to identify planned changes in city form to these four selected sites and how these changes relate to Lynch's four methods. In the third step, key informants are interviewed to identify how Lynch's four methods of increasing adaptability were manipulated to support the planned changes in city form generated by these same urban villages. The data of interviews' transcription analyzed using Taylor and Bogden's (1998) analysis theory.The results of this research are used to identify how the four methods of increasing adaptability support the planned changes in city form of Fort Worth's Urban Village program. This research also helps urban designers better manipulate the four methods of increasing adaptability to design new cities or redevelop existing cities. Finally, this research initiates a corpus of data on city form change, especially in relation to the four methods of increasing adaptability, which can provide city planners and landscape architects avenues for future research.

Disciplines

Architecture | Landscape Architecture

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Download

Share

COinS