Life and Death of Great American Cities

Challenging the modernist inspired urban renewal . She

based her book on her observations from vignettes of life
in new York.

Jane Jacobs

Fernando Lara
Why modern architecture was better received in Brazil

than Europe and United States

Took case of Belo Horizontte- because it had many

1950s popular modern houses in major sections of the

city and Pampulah complex built in 1940s was a major
public building known to the entire citys population.

strategy
Archival research to study the contribution of various

social, economic, cultural and media transmissions

Formal analyses of facade design and interior layout in
a sample of 300 houses in two sections of the city
In depth interview with 20-30 residents of popular
modernist houses.
Multiple data strategy priority to collect physical
extent of adoption and adaptation of modernism and
the peoples own understanding with larger cultural
context.

Result
She was able to explain why modernism was infused in

middleclass residential areas of Belo Horizonte.

Popular magazines were full of both advertisements
and stories of artifacts of modernization, many of the
families who built modernist style homes were
influenced through personal connections and / or
direct exposure to the homes of more well-to-do
families.

 Application of modernist principle was piecemeal

where faade was modern but interior was social

tradition of pre-modernist houses
Jane Jacobs through her study was able to demonstrate
socio-physical dynamics that contribute to vitality of
urban life . Though she may have gained insights from
other study the main content of the book relies on her
case study of New York
Where as Laras research focuses on multi faceted
dynamics in the adoption and adaptation of
modernism in a city. His case of Belo Horizonte
demonstrates combined strategy of historical and
qualitative aspects in a case study

Defintion
A case study is a empirical inquiry that

investigates a setting or phenomenon

within its real life context, especially
when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not
evident.
Adapted from Robert Yin definition by Linda Groat and

David Wang

Characteristics of Case study research

1. Focus on single or multiple examples in a
2.
3.

4.

5.

real life context

Capacity to explain casual links
Importance of theory development in the
research design phase
Reliance on multiple source of evidence,
with data needing to converge in a
triangular fashion
The power to generalize to theory.

TYPOLOGY OF CASE STUDY DESIGN

Role of theory development

Research should be guided by theory

development- either to test of develop

theory
Description of what is being studied as a
theory
Which helps goal setting as to what data
should be collected and what is the criteria
to analyze it.

Multiple sources of evidence

Jane Jacobs
Observations
Commentaries of officials and community leaders in New York
and elsewhere
Lara
Archives- magazines articles and advertisements
Oral history
Art factual inventories
Formal and spatial analysis- 25 house plans classify into
traditional to modernist based on faade and spatial quality of
floor plan using visual and computer based analysis
Interviews with owners and residents- 21

Generaizability to thoery

Distinguishing the case study

Single or multiple case design depends on
1. The nature of the theoretical questions or research
questions involved
2. The role of replication in testing or confirming the
studys outcomes
Single- allows comprehensive study of complex multiple
factors in an exploratory and descriptive manner.
It the scope is narrower and the consequences are
affected with more than one variable then increasing the
number of case studies may be beneficial.

How many ?
It is based on concept of replication rather than the

concept of sampling

Rails to trails

Case study strengths and weakness

Study of one comprehensively gives holistic

explanation to casual links and phenomenon but

generalization should be done with due care on
contextual validity
The behavior may have more multi faceted and
variegated features than explained in research design.
Multiple source of data may threaten coherence of
findings
Theory remains tentative till confirmed by other case
studies

Case study strengths and weakness

Less rules or general standards are there for case study

research as each one needs to designed as per context

and intent
Depth complexity and multifaceted quality gives
robustness to case study research design

triangulation
Mixed methods
Ways of knowing

Paradigmatic dichotomy-linking mathematics, art and

social science
Qualitative and quantitative combination- system of
inquiry

Two phase design

Two or more strategies in a sequence of distinct phases
prevent lack of coherence if conceptually not well

linked

Mixed methodology