Making Space: An Exploration of Parklets in North America and Vancouver
Making Space: An Exploration of Parklets in North America and Vancouver Kathleen Corey University of Guelph, 2014 Advisor: Nathan Perkins University of Guelph In the last few decades many municipalities have temporarily closed streets to vehicular traffic to open them to people and foster community. More recently, New York and San Francisco introduced pop-up parks to street rights-of-way, initially as plazas reclaimed from excess road space. On a smaller scale, ‘parklets’ are a response to people’s desires to repurpose parking stalls for community spaces. In June 2013, VIVA Vancouver launched its stand-alone Parklet Pilot Program. The parklet application and design process was examined using an action research case study method for one of the first parklets to be built under the program by PWL Partnership. San Francisco and Vancouver parklets were mapped and compared. Findings reveal that parklets begin as business sponsored projects and over time evolve into community partnerships. Recommendations have been developed for emerging and established programs across North America.
In partnership? pedestrian plazas in New York City
IN PARTNERSHIP? PEDESTRIAN PLAZAS IN NEW YORK CITY by Hanife Vardi Topal Traditional public spaces —such as public parks, streets, and public squares—have long been part of the urban landscape. In today’s congested cities, however, creating such public spaces is difficult because they require capital investment, vacant land, and ongoing maintenance. Possibly in response to these obstacles, new types of urban public spaces have emerged. Pedestrian plazas, one of these new types, is the topic of this research, with a focus on the New York City Plaza Program, which was the first such program in the U.S. For this research, the design, management, and use characteristics of five completed pedestrian plazas were examined, with attention also given to the partnerships behind the creation and maintenance of these plazas. The role the partners played in the plaza program was also investigated to understand its impact on the design, management, maintenance, and use of pedestrian plazas. The five case study plazas are located in neighborhoods without sufficient public space, as determined by the Department of Transportation, which runs the program. The following data collection strategies were used: site observations, user surveys, and interviews with government officials and sponsor partners. This research demonstrates that although pedestrian plazas are relatively small and are located immediately adjacent to roadways, they fulfill an important role in urban neighborhoods that otherwise lack sufficient public space for recreation. The type and
Electrophysiological evidence that a subset of midbrain dopamine neurons integrate the reward signal induced by electrical stimulation of the posterior mesencephalon
This study was aimed at determining whether midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons are trans-synaptically activated by rewarding electrical stimulation applied near the midline in the posterior mesencephalon (PM), and in the affirmative, whether the increase in firing was proportional to the rewarding effectiveness of the stimulation. Experiments were performed on male Long-Evans rats trained to lever press to obtain 400 ms trains of cathodal rectangular pulses. Following the training period, curves relating the rates of responding to the stimulation frequencies were determined at two current intensities and reward thresholds were calculated for each animal. Each animal was then anesthetized with urethane (1.2 g/kg, i.p.) and firing rate of DA neurons were recorded before, during, and after each of 50 trains (1 train/3 s) of stimulation to the PM using stimulation parameters that either sustained near threshold responding (rewarding), or failed to sustain responding (non-rewarding), in the behavioral tests. A total of 24 DA cells were recorded from 13 behaviorally trained animals, and of these, 17 (71%) responded to rewarding stimulation by an increase in firing, five (21%) were unresponsive and two (8%) were inhibited. In 12 of the 17 cells that were activated, the increase in firing was proportional to the rewarding effectiveness of the stimulation rather than the total strength of the stimulation. These results provide evidence that a subset of midbrain DA neurons are trans-synaptically activated by rewarding PM stimulation and constitute a second, or subsequent, stage of the reward-relevant pathway that integrates the PM reward signal.