Digital Commons Network^™

Public Land Revisited: Municipalization And Privatization In Newark And New York City, Samuel Stein, Oksana Mironova

Publications and Research

Public land plays a central role in contemporary urban planning struggles. Using a comparative case study approach focused on the north-eastern US cities of Newark and New York City, we uncover patterns of land acquisition and dispossession that fit five broad and often overlapping periods in planning history: City Beautiful, metropolitan reorganization, deindustrialization, and devaluation, followed by hyper-commodification in New York City and redevelopment amidst disinvestment in Newark. Through this periodization, we find that accumulation and alienation of urban public land has largely taken place through two modes of municipalization (targeted and reactive) and two modes of privatization (community-led and …

Resistance Beyond The Frontier: Concepts And Policies For The Protection Of Isolated Indigenous Peoples Of The Amazon, Minna Opas, Luis Felipe Torres, Felipe Milanez, Glenn Shepard Jr.

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

Trash Talk: The Effects Of Plastic Pollution On Seabirds In Narragansett Bay, Erin A. O'Neill

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern with more than 8 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. This policy paper assesses plastic pollution in Narragansett Bay and the negative implications it holds on local seabird populations. Also, essential background information on plastic production and throwaway culture is provided. Moreover, the biological significance of seabirds is described, highlighting the vital role such populations play in local ecosystems such as Narragansett Bay. This paper contributes research to the global issue of plastic pollution by observing declining native wildlife life populations, such as seabirds, on a local …

Climate Futures, Design And The Just Transition Schedule, Liberal Arts Division

Climate Futures Symposium

Schedule of events distributed at the Symposium.

Challenges Towards Sustainable Port Development In India: The Adverse Effects Of Port Development On Coastal Ecology And Community In Ennore : A Case Study, Balaji Balasubramanian

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Challenges Towards Sustainable Port Development In India: The Adverse Effects Of Port Development On Coastal Ecology And Community In Ennore : Case Study, Balaji Balasubramanian

World Maritime University Dissertations

Ports and shipping play a crucial role in the coastal development, however, it possesses numerous potential risks to the marine environment and the coastal community. Sustainable development is a key concept which integrates the triple bottom line: economic, environmental and social elements into all aspects of decision making. This paper explores and analyses the challenges towards the progression of sustainable development of Indian ports, taking the Ennore port in India as a case study. My objectives in this research were to highlight the lack of consensus on the importance of the two pillars, environmental and social in the concept of …

The Politics Of Disaster: The Great Singapore Flood Of 1954, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore in the 1950s was a deeply divided society. Struggling to recover from the hardships ofthe Second World War and fighting an internal battle that the British government termed an‘emergency’, it was a time of hardship, tension, and anxiety. In the midst of this crisis, Singapore’sinhabitants continued to manage the natural elements of their climate and environment, especiallythe dangerous combination of heavy monsoonal rains, low-lying marshland, and tidal flooding.This article examines the circumstances surrounding a particularly severe episode of flooding thatoccurred in December 1954. It explores how the flood’s impact was exacerbated by humanexigencies, especially recent government resettlement plans and …

Barriers To “New Mobility”: A Community-Informed Approach To Smart Cities Technology, Aaron Golub, Vivian Satterfield

PSU Transportation Seminars

There is an active debate about the potential costs and benefits of emerging “smart mobility” systems, especially in how they will serve communities already facing transportation challenges. This presentation will describe the results of an assessment of these equity impacts in the context of lower-income areas of Portland, Oregon, based on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research.

Portland, Oregon’s proposal for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge, “Ubiquitous Mobility for Portland,” focuses on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). This study found that by lowering …

Capacity, Sustainability, And The Community Benefits Of Municipal Utility Ownership In The United States, George C. Homsy

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

Most literature on utility sustainability focuses on internal operations; this misses the role that utilities cold play within a community. This study measures the impact of municipal ownership of water and electric utilities on the sustainability policymaking of local governments. I find that municipalities with government-owned water utilities adopt more sustainability measures than those with investor-owned service. Similarly, municipally-owned electric utilities have higher levels of energy sustainability in the community, but not in government operations. The utilities provide fiscal and technical capacity to municipalities. This study brings potential community benefits to the discussion of private investment in public service delivery.

Governance For A Changing Climate: Adapting Boston’S Built Environment For Increased Flooding, Stephanie Kruel, Rebecca Herst, David Cash

School for the Environment Publications

Climate Change is impacting everything in our society and in our world. The changes we are already experiencing are starting to multiply and accelerate. Determining how to respond to this new reality wisely within the governance and governmental structures that we have built is a complex challenge. Some might argue it is humankind’s greatest test. Given the monumental size of this task, it is difficult to simultaneously address all of the related issues both broadly and deeply. This is the third and final in a series of reports from the Sustainable Solutions Lab that were sponsored by the Boston Green …

A City Club Report On The Portland Clean Energy Fund Surcharge On Retailers To Fund Clean Energy And Job Training, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Accessibility, Economic And Social Equity Impacts Of Urban Greenway Infrastructure, Jenny Hsing-I Liu, Wei Shi

TREC Final Reports

“City Greenways” is a concept proposed as a part of Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for a citywide network of park-like pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets crisscrossing the city at roughly three-mile intervals. This research establishes several approaches to measure the transportation network impact of the “City Greenways” and relate bicycle network measures to economic and social equity outcomes. Expanding upon existing literature, we derived three sets of bicycle accessibility measures (BAMs). They are distance-based BAM, destinationbased BAM, and low-stress network-based BAM, which incorporate different components of a comprehensive bicycle network. The distancebased BAM measures accessibility of the active …

Environmental Justice In Natural Disaster Mitigation Policy And Planning: A Case Study Of Flood Risk Management In Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon, Seong Yun Cho

Dissertations and Theses

This study aims to explore the possibility of environmental justice as social consensus and an institutional framework to reduce socioeconomic differences in natural disaster vulnerability through a case study of flood risk management in Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon. First, by analyzing institutions, policies, and currently ongoing flood mitigation projects, this study investigates how federal and local governments are addressing and responding to current flood problems. Second, through flood expert surveys and GIS spatial analysis, this study examines various factors that contribute to communities' susceptibility to flood risks, and whether there exist spatial differences between physically and socioeconomically vulnerable communities within …

Community-Based Assessment Of Smart Transportation Needs In The City Of Portland, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Final Reports

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Smart Tech, Smart Cities: Achieving Mobility For All, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Project Briefs

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Translational Research: Ethical Considerations, Yiqing Dong

Honors Program Theses

Translational research (TR) is a new categorization for the efforts of biomedical research and emphasizes efficiency in achieving population health improvements through the application of basic science knowledge in clinical practice. It will be argued that the current emphasis on speed and collaboration with industry established by national policies provides challenges to maintaining the integrity of scientific research. There is no agreed upon definition of TR and the current standard of judging the success of TR focuses on product production. I propose that the principles of beneficence and responsive justice should be used to inform the values of TR and …

Science, Advocacy, Policy, Planning: Tools For Advancing Transportation Equity, Garrett S. Mcallister

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of this portfolio is how different tools and approaches can be used for advancing transportation equity. Broadly defined, transportation equity is about fairness in transportation. There are a number of ways this fairness can be assessed. The most common way to assess transportation equity is by looking at the fairness of outcomes, distributed geographically, socially, or even by mode of transportation. Equity can also be defined by the fairness of processes. The first half of the portfolio illustrates some of the problems with the current transportation system and how it is unhealthy (Piece 1) and unjust (Piece 2). …

Epoca House: The Implementation Strategy, Courtney Thomas, Yaffa Fain, Shuxiao Teng, Mingjun Xie

School of Professional Studies

This capstone report provides a written strategic implementation plan for EPOCA House. EPOCA, Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, is a non-profit dedicated to creating better resources and opportunities for prisoners and ex-prisoners in Worcester. The organization’s most recent initiative, EPOCA House, is a transitional facility that will provide reentry services and temporary housing to ex-offenders in and around the Worcester area. Recently, Massachusetts passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill that will dramatically reduce the number of people being incarcerated; however, little attention is focused on what will happen to individuals after they leave prison. At the same …

Establishing A Central Archive For Transit Passenger Data, Gregory Newmark, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report describes the rationale, background, establishing organization, and future steps of CATPAD, the Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data. The Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data is a repository that collects, indexes, archives, and makes available online the transit survey instruments, data, and reports collected across the country. This resource is unique in its focus on the disaggregated information of individual transit users – information that is critical for a range of transportation planning analyses. In addition, where available, CATPAD contains aggregated information, such as station boardings and service and fare schedules, to provide key context for the disaggregate …

A Fair Distribution Of Accessibility: Interpreting Civil Rights Regulations For Regional Transportation Plans, Karel Martens, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights–related laws. In this paper, we suggest four interpretations of directives’ distributional standards in relation to accessibility. Employing this framework, we review the equity assessments of regional plans of the ten largest MPOs in the United States. Against our expectations, we find that MPOs tend to employ relatively strong distributional standards, albeit never explicitly. We argue that more explicit guidance regarding standards would improve the fairness and consistency of planning practice

State-Reinforced Self-Governance Of Community-Managed Open Spaces In Chicago, Il And Louisville, Ky., Willow Sequoia Dietsch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As urban populations rise, small greenspaces, like gardens, are increasingly important to well-being of communities, and urban sustainability as a whole. However, past development, and current political and economic challenges encumber many cities in providing adequate greenspace. Cities like Chicago, IL and Louisville, KY have turned to the communities to manage greenspaces with help from partner organizations. This thesis examines these arrangements, and compares them in terms of several potential factors, (i.e. legal authority, responsibility, and support). Semi-structured interviews of important community greenspace stakeholders, and archival sources including original documents, news articles, and government reports, were used to understand the …

Power Dynamics Of The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests: An Environmental Justice Analysis, Brittany Bondi

Student Publications

The Dakota Access Pipeline and the events of the accompanying protests are contemporary examples of environmental injustice, with the Standing Rock Nation facing a majority of the injustice. Analyzing Sioux history, the pipeline's previous routes, and the police and state responses to the "protectors", I propose that the Dakota Access Pipeline is a form of distributive, procedural, and substantive injustice.

Legacies Of War: How The Commercialization Of Plastics In The United States Contribute To Cycles Of Violence, Karis Johnston

Capstone Collection

Plastic manufacturing practices developed and justified during World War II transitioned into the commercial space, entered our homes, and became part of everyday life. This proliferation was due in large part to the consolidation of manufacturing processes organized and subsidized by government contracts and the plastics industry leaders’ marketing dynamism. Plastics are in the cars we drive, the way we package our food, and are invaluable throughout the medical field. Moreover, the use of plastics has tangible environmental and health ramifications. The plastics industry and consumption patterns in the United States contribute significantly to hydrocarbon emissions, ecological violence, and the …

Citizen Advocacy For Safe Streets In Bremen, Germany, Anne Kirkham

PSU Transportation Seminars

Although Germany may be known internationally for its environmentalism, over the past 20 years German cities have chronically underinvested in transportation networks, both for public transport as well as non-motorized options. The lag in the development and expansion of sustainable options combined with the rapid growth in private automobile ownership (itself the result of automobile-industry-friendly policymaking) means that cities like Bremen have been left behind in terms of transportation planning. As in America, SUV sales continue to increase despite considerably narrower streets, particularly in cities.

Nowhere is this more visible than in Bremen’s Neustadt, a dense neighbourhood with the most …

Assessing Vulnerability To Urban Heat: A Study Of Disproportionate Heat Exposure And Access To Refuge By Socio-Demographic Status In Portland, Oregon, Jackson Voelkel, Dana E. Hellman, Ryu Sakuma, Vivek Shandas

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extreme urban heat is a powerful environmental stressor which poses a significant threat to human health and well-being. Exacerbated by the urban heat island phenomenon, heat events are expected to become more intense and frequent as climate change progresses, though we have limited understanding of the impact of such events on vulnerable populations at a neighborhood or census block group level. Focusing on the City of Portland, Oregon, this study aimed to determine which socio-demographic populations experience disproportionate exposure to extreme heat, as well as the level of access to refuge in the form of public cooling centers or residential …

Translating Legal Norms Into Quantitative Indicators: Lessons From The Global Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Sector, Sharmila L. Murthy

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Flint Food Store Survey: Combining Spatial Analysis With A Modified Nutrition Environment Measures Survey In Stores (Nems-S) To Measure The Community And Consumer Nutrition Environments, Erika R. Shaver, Richard C. Sadler, Alex B. Hill, Kendall Bell, Myah Ray, Jennifer Choy-Shin, Joy Lerner, Teresa Soldner, Andrew D. Jones

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

Objective
The goal of the present study was to use a methodology that accurately and reliably describes the availability, price and quality of healthy foods at both the store and community levels using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S), to propose a spatial methodology for integrating these store and community data into measures for defining objective food access.

Setting
Two hundred and sixty-five retail food stores in and within 2 miles (3·2 km) of Flint, Michigan, USA, were mapped using ArcGIS mapping software.

Design
A survey based on the validated NEMS-S was conducted at each retail food store. …

Growing Deeper Roots: Toward Resilient Urban Forests, Sachi Arakawa

Metroscape

This article examines the urban forest in Portland, Oregon, as part of a complex system that requires management, education and outreach to remain healthy and sustainable. It also reviews the economic and ecological benefits of a health urban forest.

Environmental Injustice And Racial/Ethnic Heterogeneity In Houston, Texas, Michel G. Loustaunau Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis seeks to contribute to distributive environmental justice (EJ) research by analyzing racial/ethnic and intra-ethnic disparities in potential health risks from exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Harris County, the most populous county in Texas. Previous EJ research in this urban area has not examined intra-ethnic heterogeneity in exposure to air pollutants or attempted to compare social disparities in exposure to air pollution caused by vehicular (mobile) and point (stationary) sources. The goal of this study is to determine how the EJ implications of cancer risks from inhalation exposure to HAPs from mobile and stationary sources differ across …

Global Climate Change I-Ii, Kendall Barrett Sooter, Dione Rossiter, Costanza Rampini

Faculty Publications, Environmental Studies

Many different scientific observations and measurements indicate that Earth is experiencing global-scale changes in climate, i.e., in the long-term distributions of temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and extreme weather events. Scientific consensus considers most these changes to be caused or accelerated by human activities. The economic, ecological, social, and cultural challenges caused by global climate change will affect everyone on the planet, and are very likely to have disproportionate impacts on developing nations. In this course, we will study global climate change from an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating natural and social science approaches to understanding processes and effects. We will study the …