Underused Space Research Articles

Old abattoirs and new food politics: Sharing food and eating together at the meat market of Brussels

In 2012 in a formerly abandoned meat market in Brussels, Belgium, an NGO was founded to produce social inclusion programs and transform an under-used urban space into a community hub. In attempting to fulfill its goal, the founders, staff, and volunteers have used surplus unsold market produce that would otherwise have been discarded in order to fuel several programs, by inviting people to take food or to come and share a meal. This article is an ethnographic study of those efforts that rely on food waste to promote community engagement, and considers them as alternative forms of “scrappy collaboration” and commensality. In probing “scrappy collaboration” as a framework for understanding food sharing in a modern European capital, the article investigates the use of food waste to produce social inclusion as well as to provide a means of both subsistence and resistance.

APPLICATION OF 7S METHODOLOGY: A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH IN A BUCKET MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION

While the initial 5S methodology focused on sorting, cleaning, standardising, and sustaining the work environment, 7S is a new methodology that has been modified to incorporate a culture of safety and team spirit. The paper describes the application of 7S methodology as a systematic approach to increasing efficiency, quality, and safety performance in modern manufacturing organisations. The 7S approach sets the stage for effective lean manufacturing and continuous improvement efforts, stressing a tidy, safe, and organised working environment. The systematic application of 7S requires the application of international standards such as OHSAS 18001 to improve employees’ occupational health and safety. The case organisation in the study produces buckets for the construction industry. The study’s findings revealed the elimination of production problems such as delays, underused space, and non-conformance to safety measures through a holistic application of 7S. 7S also correlates with operational performance — explicitly those aspects of operational performance which influencing the overall quality and productivity of the organisation.

Modeling the hydrologic effects of watershed-scale green roof implementation in the Pacific Northwest, United States

Green roofs are among the most popular type of green infrastructure implemented in highly urbanized watersheds due to their low cost and efficient utilization of unused or under-used space. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of green roofs to attenuate stormwater runoff across a large metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest, United States. We utilized a spatially explicit ecohydrological watershed model called Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) to simulate the resulting stormwater hydrology of implementing green roofs over 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of existing buildings within four urban watersheds in Seattle, Washington, United States. We simulated the effects of two types of green roofs: extensive green roofs, which are characterized by shallow soil profiles and short vegetative cover, and intensive green roofs, which are characterized by deeper soil profiles and can support larger vegetation. While buildings only comprise approximately 10% of the total area within each of the four watersheds, our simulations showed that 100% implementation of green roofs on these buildings can achieve approximately 10–15% and 20–25% mean annual runoff reductions for extensive and intensive green roofs, respectively, over a 28-year simulation. These results provide an upper limit for volume reductions achievable by green roofs in these urban watersheds. We also showed that stormwater runoff reductions are proportionately smaller during higher flow regimes caused by increased precipitation, likely due to the limited storage capacity of saturated green roofs. In general, green roofs can be effective at reducing stormwater runoff, and their effectiveness is limited by both their areal extent and storage capacity. Our results showed that green roof implementation can be an effective stormwater management tool in highly urban areas, and we demonstrated that our modeling approach can be used to assess the watershed-scale hydrologic impacts of the widespread adoption of green roofs across large metropolitan areas.

4 Avenue Flyover: A little Lost Space Project ( breakout presentation )

Background In the fall of 2017, the community of Bridgeland approached the City of Calgary with a vision to enhance the space beneath the 4 Avenue Flyover, a key walking connection to the downtown and river pathway network. With the City of Calgary's Pedestrian Strategy approved in 2016, this project aligned with a new way of working with partners as well as to deliver on The City's development of a Tactical Urbanism program. Aim This project involves hiring grade six students in a youth-led design project. The community, local school, the University of Calgary Landscape Architecture program and the City of Calgary together will create a safer, more inviting walking corridor. The project will add temporary and permanent active modes, play, LID elements in the summer of 2017. Each of the partners has successfully joined their unique goals to ultimately benefit a community: City of Calgary: deliver on Step Forward, Calgary’s first pedestrian strategy by working closely with partners and creating a Tactical Urbanism program; University of Calgary, Landscape Architecture: offer a relevant and project as part of the Green Infrastructure and Winter City Design graduate course; Bridgeland Riverside Community Association: enhance an underused space beneath the 4 Avenue Flyover. Specifically, creating a gateway, enhancing safety, walking and lighting; Langevin School: deliver the grade-six curriculum around democracy & municipal government, forestry, math and writing in a fun and meaningful way. Method Landscape architecture students develop and refine concepts with input from City staff and community specialists including members of Calgary’s Drop In Centre, local business owners, artists and historians. The City’s provides project coordination and public engagement and will lead construction to temporary and permanent elements in the summer of 2017. Results This project will add shared streets elements, play spaces, lighting, public art, and low impact development. The project is being recognized through the media and other sources on its potential to empower communities. Conclusions The lessons learned through this project will inform Calgary’s tactical urbanism program and show how meaningful it can be to engage on improving walking – especially with the help of a few #flyover kids.

Itami city development project in cooperation with railway : Connecting and utilising underused space between two stations to make attractive public spaces with vibrant activities

Itami city development project in cooperation with railway : Connecting and utilising underused space between two stations to make attractive public spaces with vibrant activities

LPG충전소 유휴공간의 태양광발전설비 설치 유효성

LPG충전소 유휴공간의 태양광발전설비 설치 유효성

소규모 폐 역사의 활용방안 연구

Abstract More than 100 years of railway history in Korea, many of disused stations and railroads are happening.Many of disused stations are designated as registered cultural properties because of their historical value, and shouldbe utilized considering their historical meaning. The purpose of this study is to analyse the status and utilization ofdisused station designated as registered cultural properties, research the domestic and foreign cases of successful reutilization, and provide basic materials for desirable utilization of underused space. Status and utilization of 23 stations are classified as closed-type, continued-type, changed-type, toured-type, and different alternatives are analysedfrom foreign cases. From case study utilization appling user and detailed utilization are classified as follows; Proprietor(Manager)’s Private Use, Proprietor(Manager)’s Public Use, Community’s Public Use, Participant’s Cooperative Use, and Tourist’s Purposeful Use. The successful utilization of small disused station will be carried out with respect for disused station as cultural heritage, using place of coexistence and symbiosis for community, and effort to make spontaneous growth by participation of various users.

공공적 유휴공간 재생 계획과정의 특성에 관한 연구 -문화적 재생을 위한 공공 현상설계 프로젝트를 중심으로-

In Korea, several design competition have been conducted to revitalize the cultural function of some areas using under-used space. However, though such sites include public and urban assets inherently, these projects defined their boundary as an isolated architectural or landscape design. Hence, this study will clarify the differentiated design content and process for public regeneration of under-used space through analysis of the case-study. For this purpose, firstly, the public and urban assets of under-used space will be analyzed to prove that it should be handled with wider boundaries and perspectives. And then, this study will reveal the limitation of design contents and process of Korean design competitions linking to the regeneration of under-used space after analyzing several case studies. Lastly, some differentiated design inducements conducted by the City of Oslo for the each regeneration plan of under-used space will be deducted, focusing on the fact that those projects have been implemented in more urban and connected ways. As a result, this study is strongly aiming to insist that the revitalization of under-used space should not be implemented by advertising a poetic symbolism. Instead, it must be an practical integrated plan emphasizing the connectivity with surrounding environment and diverse plan.

Unpacking and Challenging Habitus: An Approach to Temporary Urbanism as a Socially Engaged Practice

Temporary urbanism is attracting worldwide attention and has been praised for its capacity to transform socio-political and physical spaces, while at the same time it has been criticized for its tacit instrumentality as vehicle for the progressive gentrification of the urban environment. A closer look at temporary urbanism reveals a myriad of practices, initiated by a great variety of actors with diverse ways of operating and taking place in a wide range of environments. Rooted in assemblage theory, we situate our design practice in the specificity of an underused space surrounding social housing blocks in Gateshead, explore manifestations of habitus and the capacity of temporary urbanism to reveal and engage with socio-spatial struggles.

Operational feasibility of one-dedicated-lane bus rapid transit/light rail systems

This paper proposes the concept of a bus rapid transit (BRT) or light rail system that effectively requires only one dedicated but reversible lane to support two-way traffic in the median of a busy commute corridor with regular provision of left-turn lanes. Traffic crossing is accommodated on the otherwise unused or underused median space resulting from provision of left-turn lanes. Conceptual design options and geometric-configuration sketches for bus stops and crossing spaces are provided. System performance in terms of travel speed, headway operations, distance between two neighboring crossing spaces, and number of crossing spaces is also analyzed. To ensure practicality, we study implementation of such a system on an existing corridor. Such a system is also useful as an intermediate step toward a two-dedicated-lane system because of its potential for facilitating transit-oriented development.

A história da praça João Alves e sua contribuição na paisagem da cidade

Landscape architecture is placed inside the integrated task of use, preservation, retrieval and reinvention of urban landscapes. All this based upon a city’s background and its environmental potentials. So, it is possible to build something, to preserve something else and to recover local traditions. The city then lives not only its past but its future. The landscaping must act according to social changes, modifying urban landscapes without changing its roots, natural and cultural resources that already exists. Public squares are some of those spaces.The place’s environmental characteristics direct the drawing, character and type of landscape intervention. Users and city management departments are essential to the project, its execution and management. A public square project intends to promote the meeting of collectivity, organization and construction of the place’s landscape. That’s what this work is going to present, showing the project of Joao Alves Square(Venda Nova, Northern area of Belo Horizonte, built in 2001) as an example of applied landscape concepts. This plan created a new scene for that area, its people and to the city. From an underused space, privatelyand improperly used as a junk deposit, illegal spot of carroceiros (it’s in between two arterial roads and could connect two adjacent blocks), it was transformed into a proper place for entertainment and collectivegathering. Therefore, the place met its urban goal of polarization and started being used as a proper square by a number of users. The new landscape changed the place’s history of being a junk deposit. However, it was all but a short tale. The local management desconsidered the square urban dynamics. Today, it’s being destroyed and its landscape reinvented by the population. History, contemporary, square, landscape, management.

Under-used desk space leads to inflated office costs, says Morgan Lovell

Under-used desk space leads to inflated office costs, says Morgan Lovell