South Boston ex-urban : a new living paradigm for harbor revitalization

All around the world, old harbor areas stood empty once the city maritime functions began to wane in the early twentieth-century. Due to the excellent views, the location on the water, and the proximity to the city center, these areas have been rapidly redeveloped to facilitate urban expansion in the last three decades. The overlap of industrial decline and new revitalization has prompted new issues. Living in the city and urban demographics are changing. On the macro-level, because of the emptiness of the newly developed site, the density is not comparable and is difficult to evaluate in its integrated context. On the micro-level, an urban apartment is highly efficient means to provide living containers for urban dwellers; however, it sacrifices high living quality to enjoy sunlight, fresh air, the view, and private garden to every housing unit. A single family house symbolizes a success of personal life; however, it compromises urban public space and usually is exclusive to social activities in a shared economic era. This thesis project addresses the issue of livability as part of the harbor revitalization in a transitional site of a rapid redevelopment district, empty industrial zones, and suburban residential areas. I aim to create a three-dimensional, micro-urban living system in which residential, commercial, recreational, educational functions are merged together.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Jin, You, M. Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Andrew Scott.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103429

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/103429