Weitzman School of Design

The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design prepares students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, we are committed to advancing the public good–both locally and globally–through art, design, planning, and preservation. 

Filters

15
Reset filters

Settings

Publication Type: Book Chapter ×

Search results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
  • Publication
    The Unsheltered Woman: Definition and Needs
    (1985) Birch, Eugenie L.
    One-third of the nation has a housing problem. Twenty-three millions households are ill-housed. They are a diverse group - the elderly, families with children and single people of all races. Most significantly, they tend to be women. More than 40 percent of the group - or 10 million - are female householders. Females head about 27 percent of all American households today; yet, they are disproportionately represented among those experiencing housing problems. In fact, numerically, they are the largest subgroup of the poorly sheltered population.
  • Publication
    Walter Benjamin and the Tectonic Unconscious: Using Architecture as an Optical Instrument
    (1999) Mertins, Detlef
    The writings of Walter Benjamin include appropriations and transformations of modernist architectural history and theory that offer an opportunity to broaden the interpretation of how the relationship between the 'unconscious' and technologically aided 'optics' is figured in his commentaries on cultural modernity. This essay focuses on three moments in his writings, each of which touches on this topic in a different way: first, on Benjamin's reading of Carl Bötticher's theory of architectural tectonics as a theory of history in which the unconscious serves as a generative and productive source that challenges the existing matrix of representation; secondly, on Benjamin's transformation of Sigfried Giedion's presentation of iron structures into optical instruments for glimpsing a space interwoven with unconsciousness, a new world of space the image of which had seemingly been captured by photography; and thirdly, on Benjamin's suggestion that the mimetic faculty continues to play within representation, history and technology to produce similarities between the human and the non-human. In each instance, Benjamin reworked the dynamic dualism of nineteenth-century architectural tectonics - (self)representation seeking reconciliation with alterity - into a dialectic. In so doing, he set the cause of revolution (of a modernity yet to come) against metaphysical and utopian claims, progressive and regressive alike.
  • Publication
    Development and Women’s Writings from Southern and Northern Africa
    (1999) Carchidi, Victoria K
    Women have historically provided vision and leadership to African countries and are now being recognized as pivotal to the overall sustainable development of Africa. In many cases, however, this recognition has not resulted in the empowerment of African women, who still face great discrimination. This edited volume explores the contributions women have made to all phases of development—planning, design, construction, implementation, and operation—and the obstacles they have had to face. Besides analyzing the current situation and identifying trends, the contributors also make recommendations for policy reform and for future planning.
  • Publication
    An Approach to the Evaluation of Cleaning Methods for Unglazed Architectural Terracotta in the USA
    (1994-09-01) Matero, Frank G; Bede, ElizaBeth A; Tagle, Alberto
    The safe and effective removal of disfiguring atmospheric soiling from brick and unglazed architectural terra cotta is a problem well known to building specialists. While limited research has been conducted on the study and repair of glazed architectural ceramics, very little recent work has addressed the characterisation and analysis of unglazed architectural terracotta, the physicochemical nature of soiling mechanisms, or the short- and long-term effects of commercial cleaning methods currently employed. In addition, an over-emphasis on cleaning efficacy, along with the meteoric rise in the availability of untested chemical and mechanical cleaning systems, has led to the disfigurement and surface damage of many terracotta buildings, permanently altering the visual and protective qualities of the material and potentially jeorardising the overall weatherability and performance of each building's skin.
  • Publication
    Integrating and Distributing Administrative Data to Support Community Change
    (2005-01-01) Hillier, Amy E; Culhane, Dennis P.
    An increasing number of groups are demanding access to information about the physical, economic, and social conditions in their communities. In addition to researchers, community development corporations, neighborhood associations, social service agencies, and municipal agencies all are becoming consumers of quantitative data. More powerful desktop computers, sophisticated data management software, enormous data storage devices, and expanding Internet access have increased exponentially the capacity of even small organizations to handle large amounts of data. However, none of these advances guarantees that organization staff will be able to make sense of these mountains of data. Perhaps more important, the advances do not enhance access to the most useful types of data that frequently reside behind municipal agency firewalls and layers of bureaucratic red tape. The growing demand for small-area administrative data in useful formats makes essential the development of new tools to support a wide range of community change efforts.
  • Publication
    South Africa from Text to Film: ‘Cry Freedom’ and ‘A Dry White Season’
    (1994) Carchidi, Victoria K
    Selected Papers from the 15th Florida State University Conference on Literature and Film
  • Publication
    Housing and Urban Communities
    (2001-01-01) Birch, Eugenie L.
    The housing industry plays an important social and economic role in the United States. Not only do dwellings and their locations denote status in U.S. society, but approximately 4 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product is created by residential development. Its effects ripple through the economy. It provides direct employment in construction and related jobs and indirect support for other consumer spending, including home furnishings, appliances, and even garden equipment. The federal government, through surveys conducted by several agencies, among them the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce, keeps close watch on this important industry, monitoring housing starts (usually ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 million units annually), single-family sales, mortgage interest rates, and quality indicators. These statistics provide a picture of the industry, illuminate potential problems, and reveal specific areas for government intervention.
  • Publication
    Design, Process and Institutions
    (1987-08-19) Birch, Eugenie L.
    Although many Anglo-American social historians would like to believe that they have invented planning history, their assumption is incorrect. The field has deeper roots. Its earliest practitioners - architects, archaeologists and classicists - engaged in questions of urban design, the origin of cities and urbanization.
  • Publication
    Beyond the First Job: Career Ladder Initiatives in Information Technology Industries
    (2004-01-01) Wolf-Powers, Laura
    In the past two decades, major growth drivers in the U.S. economy have included computers and software, information "content" such as broadcast entertainment, and advanced services and manufacturing that rely on information technology. This is particularly true in leading metropolitan agglomerations, where synergies between the global reach of communications systems and the local intensity of face-to-face communication are crucial to getting the most out of talent, entrepreneurial creativity, and productivity (Graham and Marvin 1996; Hall 1999; Sassen 2001). The polarity between information haves and have-nots in the most dynamic urban centers is stark, however. The digital divide creates or reinforces cultural distance among people who are geographically within a few miles of one another (Mitchell 1999; Servon 2002). Significantly, since it has as much to do with earning power as with access to information, the divide also reinforces income disparities among urbanites (Schön 1999; Hall 1999; National Telecommunications and Information Administration 2000).
  • Publication