Cesar Wagner

Unitec Institute of Technology | Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka · School of Architecture

The urban form and the human psyche are two intrinsically linked phenomena. Urban environments are constantly stimulating the biologically embedded sensory systems that humans have. When senses are stimulated in a positive and satisfying way by public spaces, the brain registers a memory of that environment and stores that perception as a mental im...

The design of the urban environment is a challenging and complex exercise. The way people experience and use public open spaces is a valuable source of information for planning our cities. Indeed, understanding how these urban spaces are used and perceived by their occupants can provide a platform for learning and testing their adequacy and success...

The term “sustainable development” first appeared as part of discussions regarding the capacity of natural ecosystems to support the current model of economic growth, assuming a strong concern with the preservation of the planet's environmental structures. Initially, these concerns were conceived on a global scale, but soon the need to bring the di...

This thesis addresses the issue of sustainability in the urban development policies proposed by the municipal government of Porto Alegre, Brazil, for the area known as Lower 4th District (Baixo 4º Distrito). In order to verify the degree of sustainability contained in these policies, this research analyses the urban revitalization and economic reco...

In recent decades contemporary cities have been marked by a profound transformation in their historical centers. Starting in the 80s, it became a worldwide constant discussion around policies aimed at the redevelopment of central waterfront areas that were going through a process of decay and abandonment. These areas represent the possibility of bu...

From a process, initially spontaneous and rarefied, driven by the search for a better residential location in the urbanized territory, today gentrification has become an instrument to generate surplus value for both the private and the public sector. This is no longer just a collateral effect of a process of urban renewal, but a tool of urban trans...

Flanar pelas ruas de Auckland, permitir-se descobrir um pedacinho da Nova Zelândia. Uma cidade dinâmica e culturalmente diversa, onde modernidade e tradição coexistem na construção do social e do ambiente urbano.

Nas últimas décadas as cidades contemporâneas tem sido marcadas por profundas transformações em seus centros históricos. A partir dos anos 80, tornou-se uma constante mundial a discussão em torno de políticas visando a reestruturação de áreas portuárias centrais que se encontravam em processo de deterioração e abandono. Essas áreas representam a po...

This article proposes to reflect on the paradox of the importance of Brazilian metropolitan areas versus existing management weaknesses, observing the current situation of these areas, their process of formation and how the issue of metropolitan governance is inserted into this context. First the background of legal implementation of Brazilian metr...

This paper aims to discuss the production of urban space as a result of the social housing schemes developed by the Brazilian State Programme Minha Casa, Minha Vida (PMCMV), having as the object of study and analysis the territorial distribution of these developments along the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (RMPA), Brazil. Launched in 2009, wi...

This paper aims to discuss the structure of urban space according to the social housing produced in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (RMPA) through the Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program (PMCMV). The object of study and analysis is the map of the territorial distribution of these developments. The data required for this study was collected at th...

Porto Alegre and Auckland -being port cities on river estuaries, comparable in size and age, and sharing a number of morphological analogies -are similar enough to enable and justify a comparative analysis and evaluation of the physical opportunities for redevelopment. We are particularly interested in possibilities for a faster transition to envir...

This paper is drawn from research into the learning process provided by a design studio exercise where students are asked to design an extension for an iconic modernist building in Brazil. The design problem becomes an exercise in appropriate contextual response, not just to the specific site location, and local culture, but also to the architectur...

Community based architectural education projects are key components of sustainable community development. ln Aotearoa/New Zealand architectural education has been slow to acknowledge the needs of Maori communities and slower still to enter into collaborative relationships with rural Maori communities. Where Maori culture, values and architecture...

Te Hononga engages learners in Māori community based Project work, enhances their research skills in the field of Māori Architecture and provides holistic support for Māori students. These real-world architecture projects cover topics such as sustainability, landscape, resource management, planning and artistic expression. All projects have a hands...

This paper is drawn from research into domestic architecture in New Zealand, which investigates the complexities of local and international influences on the traditional Kiwi house dating back to early Maori and European settler houses. Social values and practices of the times are also investigated along with changes in household structure accounti...

The processes and conditions of our cities are all about movement, relations, and interconnections. The responses are not unambiguous forms (compositions), but plural contacts between places and events (arrangements), combinations and distribution in space. In the contemporary world, different layers of movement, actions and activities overlap, no...

Community based architectural education projects are key components of sustainable community development. In Aotearoa/New Zealand architectural education has been slow to acknowledge the needs of Maori communities and slower still to enter into collaborative relationships with rural Maori communities. Where Maori culture, values and architecture re...

Edited by Cesar Wagner and Debora Laub, the book "Fotografia do Brasil: a publication" portrays Brazil through the eyes and lenses of a group of travellers. In a period of thirty days, a group of students and lecturers from the School of Architecture (ScALA) of Unitec, New Zealand, visited seven cities in Brazil, among them Porto Alegre, São Paulo,...

Lugares para a meditação, para a contemplação, para a solidão e o acaso, deveriam fazer parte da lista de prioridades de todo programa urbano.

There are close relationships between the urban housing density and three main factors of an urban sustainable development: social, environmental and economical conditions. As social, environmental and economical requirements are different, the meanings of urban sustainable housing development for different cities are different. If a city's urban h...

O Māori Studio nasceu em 1997 através de um memorando de entendimento entre um grupo das comunidades dos Māori (Te Runaga o Whaihanga) e a Escola de Arquitetura (ScALA) da Universidade de Auckland (UNITEC). Desde o início, o Māori Studio conta com o apoio da diretoria da ScALA e da UNITEC. A relação entre o grupo de professores, alunos da ScALA e a...

To meet the fast growth of population in the Auckland area, Auckland city and Housing New Zealand have fostered an increase in house density for residential developments. The Strategic Growth Management Areas (SGMAs) in the Auckland area have been identified by urban planners to contribute to new homes for future population growth over the next 50...

This study identifies the characteristics and potential of medium density housing as a typology suitable for affordable urban development in the New Zealand context.

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze a set of issues related to the articulation of housing and urban projects in the context of developing countries, with the objective to understand the importance of intervening at the city scale to achieve social integration and the alleviation of urban poverty. This ‘intervening at the scale of the city’...