Digital Commons Network^™

Issue Brief: Auditing Your Town's Development Code For Barriers To Sustainable Water Management, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This issue brief is intended for town officials who want to understand how development regulations in their community affect local water resources. Municipal development codes – the set of regulations that control the built environment – can have a great influence on the availability of clean and healthy water for drinking, recreation, and commercial uses. This in turn affects the community’s social, environmental, and economic vitality.

Comprehensive plans, zoning codes, and building standards are just a few examples of regulations that intentionally or unintentionally regulate the way water is transported, collected and absorbed. Regulations that produce dispersed development or large …

Exploring On-Line Communities - Supporting Physical And Health Education Professional Development Opportunities., Gregg Rowland, Lori Lockyer, John Patterson

Professor Lori Lockyer

In an era of limited resources across educational sectors, academics associated with faculties of education are under increasing pressure to find innovative ways to support their teaching and research activities, - activities with which collaboration and interaction with pre-service teachers, practicing teachers and fellow academics is crucial. As such, developing a sustained community that involves such representative members is paramount for academics. A team at the University of Wollongong has initiated this concept through research and development of the 'ActiveHealth' learning community for physical and health educators. Whilst it is envisaged that such a project will take time to establish, …

Voices Of Youth In An Ethiopian Ngo's Educational Program: A Holistic View At Enabling Factors, Nathalie Piquemal

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This paper explores the impact that a Canadian NGO’s supported educational programs in Ethiopia have had on orphaned and vulnerable young people, socially, emotionally, and academically, as experienced, storied and understood by the children and adolescents themselves. Using Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) bio-ecological theory of human development as a theoretical framework and qualitative inquiry, specifically semi-structured interviews with 37 children and youths between 9 and 17 years old, as a methodological framework, this study explores factors that promote empowerment, resilience, and hope though students’ experiences and perceptions in these NGO’s educational programs. Discussion includes reflection gender, social justice, and implications for practice …

Citizen Engagement In The Shrinking City: Toward Development Justice In An Era Of Growing Inequality, Barbara L. Bezdek

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Department Of The Interior's Final Rule Allots American Indians More Freedom To Lease Land For Residential, Commercial, And Renewable Energy Development In Order To Improve American Indians' Economic Condition, Jeffrey Crockett

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

No abstract provided.

The Leadership Of Sustainable Cities: A Multiple-Case Study Of Two Oregon Cities, Kenneth L. Weaver

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

In order for cities to become more sustainable it is necessary for the leaders of the efforts to change the organizations and governments so that they understand and embrace what it means to be more sustainable. This study examined the change processes of two Oregon Cities, Corvallis and Eugene, that had made the choice to become more sustainable as a community. The approaches that the participant leaders used demonstrated the use of different ways of thinking about the leadership of change. The ways of thinking of the community leaders were formed by their unique personal backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and abilities. …

From Idea To Practice: Sustainable Development Efforts In Manitoba, A John Sinclair, Lisa Quinn

Dalhousie Law Journal

With a renewed global interest in achieving a more sustainable society, the authors reflect on the history of institutionalizing sustainable development in their province, Manitoba, and consider its future. This paper outlines that province's approaches to developing and advancing sustainable development and discusses the success of these approaches in shaping, guiding, and furthering sustainable development in the province. This is achieved through examination of legislation and review of sustainable development documents as well as interviews with various participants in the process including members of the Manitoba Round Table for Environment and Economy and members of the more recent Manitoba Round …

"How Do We Not Go Back To The Factory?" Negotiating Neoliberal Conditions In A Latina-Led Transnational Development Organization In El Paso (Texas), Anthony Michael Jimenez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: As the structure of the global economy shifted the United States' manufacturing base South of the U.S-Mexico in the years up to and post-NAFTA, thousands of women of Mexican descent residing in El Paso (Texas) were displaced from their garment factory jobs and left without social, political and economic support. Subsequently, some of these women joined La Mujer Obrera, an organization committed to fostering community development for low-income women from both sides of the U.S-Mexico border. The organization faces difficulties in receiving economic aid from the local government, which is apparently due to their development model being incompatible with …

Engendering Haiti’S Reconstruction: The Legal And Economic Case For Mainstreaming Women In Post-Disaster Programming

Research Papers

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake of devastating magnitude shook Haiti, killing over 250,000, reducing much of the country’s infrastructure to rubble—including its government—and leaving millions of people without homes and livelihoods. As Haiti lurches toward an era of rebuilding and renewal, the ways in which priorities are set and resources spent can either accelerate the rate at which Haitians are able to emerge from poverty and achieve economic development—or they can substantially inhibit the country’s path toward recovery. One of the most critical factors that will determine which path Haiti takes is the extent to which gender concerns are …

A Heuristic For Local Land Planning: Linking Ecological Function And Policy-In Context To Charlotte, North Carolina-, Kimberlee Robertella

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Ecological systems and services are foundational to human well-being, and in recent years have received increasing scholastic attention. The functional ability of these systems is influenced however, by human-induced land transformation related to conventional patterns of growth and development. Such land transformations, which commonly occur as single-family residential development, are criticized as being wasteful and inefficient, leading to issues like air and water pollution, diminished forests and wetlands, and habitat loss and fragmentation. In the United States a patchwork of policy exists aimed at addressing such ecological concerns. Despite best efforts, most local governments and planning offices still miss the …

Estuarine Blue Infrastructure: Priority Conservation Areas For The Seaside Of Virginia’S Eastern Shore, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

This project is an extension of earlier efforts within the coastal zone of Virginia to build a platform for enhanced Blue and Green Infrastructure planning. This project is motivated by an interest in extending statewide conservation efforts into estuarine systems and recognition that land use decisions on the upland effect water quality and habitat health in the receiving waters. The project in its entirety has been accomplished in distinct parts. Part one develops a Cumulative Resource Assessment to evaluate the distribution of aquatic natural resources within waters of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay waters, Back Bay of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the …

Above All Else Stop Digging: Local Government Law As A (Partial) Cause Of (And Solution To) The Current Housing Crisis, Darien Shanske

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

So many things have gone wrong with our housing market that it is hard to know where to start. One simple diagnosis is that we invested too much in houses that were not worth as much as we thought. Looked at in this way, it is relatively easy to see how innovations like interest-only loans contributed to an over-valuation of housing. Certain actions of the federal government were and are also clearly problematic, such as the longstanding tax breaks for home ownership.

This Article looks at state and local government law, and particularly at financing mechanisms created by state law …

Sustainability Initiatives In East Bayside Neighborhood Portland, Maine, Garvan Donegan, Henry Heyburn, Caitlyn Horose, Matt Klebes, Jennifer Riley, Damon Yakovleff, New England Environmental Finance Center

Planning

This is a bundle containing research on sustainability initiatives that could be implemented in the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland, ME. These six essays were prepared by the Spring, 2010 Sustainable Communities Class known as CPD 602 at the University of Southern Maine. The class is part of the core curriculum of the Community Planning and Development program of the Muskie School of Public Service at the university. The instructor for the class was Samuel Merrill, Ph. D. who is also director of the New England Environmental Finance Center at the University. These papers were prepared in conjunction with Alan …

South Burlington Vt: New Urbanist South Village, Jack Kartez, Richard Barringer

Planning

The 220 acre master plan for South Village, the largest project in the City of South Burlington’s history, encompasses multiple housing types and innovative provisions for affordable housing. It integrates housing with open space and natural resource conservation, including a major Community Supported Agriculture project developed by a nonprofit partner, the Intervale Foundation. While not a mixed-use project (that is, commercial as well as residential development), South Village nonetheless represents a qualitative change in approach for South Burlington by incorporating large-scale open space preservation as part of development and multiple housing-types in one project. The case study recounts events leading …

Green Local Governments In Florida: An Analysis Of Sustainability And Green Building Policies, Naimish S. Upadhyay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable development is increasingly being integrated within local government planning across United States. Many communities are attempting to translate this general principle into specific and measurable terms. The urban sustainability planning literature has mostly focused on descriptive case studies of pioneering cities that have been characterized as true innovators in their sustainability efforts. Noticeably absent from the literature, however, has been an examination of the sustainable development claims made by local governments undergoing 'green' certifications. This study evaluates the commitment and efforts of municipalities and counties of Florida within the framework of Florida Green Building Coalition's 'Green …

How Can Information And Communication Technology Bring About Development? An Information Architecture For Guiding Interventions In Developing Regions, Mehruz Kamal, Sajda Qureshi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

While a great deal is known about how Information and Communication Technologies are used in developing and underserved communities, there are still gaps as to how ICTs may enable development outcomes to be achieved. It appears that the majority of businesses in developing regions are micro-enterprises which employ between 1-5 people and face challenges of limited resources. This research investigates what is known about how ICTs bring about development and uses these insights to develop an information architecture adapted from the Zachman Framework that integrates the different perspectives. In this research, the key stakeholders are the micro-entrepreneurs who adopt technology …

Slides: The Urbanizing West: Limits To Water, Limits To Growth, Lora A. Lucero

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Lora A. Lucero, AICP, American Planning Association

18 slides

Engineers, Development, And Engineering Education: From National To Sustainable Community Development, J. Lucena, J. Schneider

Jen Schneider

In October 2007, Norman Borlaug wrote in Science magazine that ‘more than 200 science journals throughout the world will simultaneously publish papers on global poverty and human development – a collaborative effort to increase awareness, interest, and research about these important issues of our time’. Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and father of the green revolution, was demonstrating that the scientific community is at last taking questions seriously of sustainability and development. Borlaug's own contentious role in the history of ‘development,’ however, points to the complexity of the term and the contested role scientists and engineers have played in that …

Law No. 73 - Law Of Economic Incentives For The Development Of Puerto Rico, Asamblea Legislativa, Puerto Rico

Latin American Energy Policies

This law focuses on the need for the country to modernize its manufacturing sector in order to be competitive in the global economy. As part of this effort, this law states that the country needs to take action to reduce energy costs by using renewable sources of energy.

Where Is ‘Community’?: Engineering Education And Sustainable Community Development, J. Schneider, J. A. Leydens, J. Lucena

Jen Schneider

Sustainable development initiatives are proliferating in the US and Europe as engineering educators seek to provide students with knowledge and skills to design technologies that are environmentally sustainable. Many such initiatives involve students from the ‘North,’ or ‘developed’ world building projects for villages or communities in the ‘South.’ Sustainable development projects in engineering education are being lauded for meeting multiple educational outcomes and providing students with important international training. This paper argues that such programmes need to educate students to think critically about their role as development professionals, to understand and value the role of community in development projects, and …

Masterplan And Masterplan Design Guidelines : 2008, Grangegorman Development Agency

Design/Planning

The GDA determined that in order to articulate the Vision for the Project and to test the project viability a comprehensive spatial masterplan of the highest standard needed to be developed. A spatial masterplan is a sophisticated model which:

• Shows how streets, squares and open spaces of a neighbourhood are to be connected.
• Defines the height, bulk and massing of buildings.
• Sets out suggested relationships between buildings and public spaces.
• Identifies the movement patterns for people on foot, or by bicycle, car or public transport, as well as looking at the needs of service and refuse vehicles.
• Sets out the …

Entrepreneurship And “Conscientious Capitalism”? Economic Solidarity Within The Banco Palmas Network, Caroline Whistler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Capitalism is often thought of as a struggle between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Although the very nature of the economic system is to reward innovative ideas that can survive competition and the ‘free market’, many ‘have-nots’ do not have the same opportunities to succeed as those born with economic resources. The gap between those with capital and those without has gradually widened into a gaping hole that few can cross. While there are certainly enough resources in Brazil to keep all citizens above the poverty line, the reality is that economic survival has been replaced by one of the most …

Sex-Education And Preventative And Contraceptive Services: Educação-Sexual E Serviços Contraceptivos E Preventativos, Elizabeth M. Ortiz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Maternal morbidity is one of the leading causes of death amongst women in Latina America. Lack of access to Reproductive Health services has incited a continental epidemic amongst adolescent women - and should be considered a public health crisis. Yet, there is little being done by the governing male bodies to secure access and the Right to Reproductive Health services. This is not only a means of re-enforcing gendered inequalities- but also class, and racial disparities. Reproductive Health in Brazil and Northeastern Brazil in particular, serves as an allegory for socio-economic, gender, ethnic, and racial inequality in the region. The …

Integrated Mine Action: A Rights-Based Approach In Cambodia, Sally Campbell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The lives of some of the most impoverished Cambodians are beginning to improve as a result of new governmental programmes and nonprofit assistance that award land, provide training and offer other opportunities. Integrating mine action with other development programmes is building a sustainable economic community in Cambodia.

“Peace Is More Than The End Of Bombing”: The Second Stage Of The Vieques Struggle, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

The nature of colonialism in Puerto Rico has caused most political issues to be viewed within the framework of status politics. In the first stage of the struggle to expel the U.S. Navy from the island (1999–2003), civil society in Puerto Rico united when the issues were reframed with links not to status politics but to human rights and social justice. Viequenses symbolized for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico, on the mainland, and in the world at large the costs of military colonialism. In the second stage of the struggle, since the military’s departure, Viequenses have struggled to control the …

Daybreak Development: The First Of Its Kind In Utah, Kaylen N. Nichols

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Utah is experiencing major population growth and all of the problems that come with it, such as sprawl, congested roads, loss of open space, and declining quality of life. Kennecott Utah Copper owns 93,000 acres along the Oquirrh Mountains, half of which is developable. Their landholdings equal half of the developable land left in the Salt Lake Valley. Kennecott Land was formed to oversee the development of this land. Daybreak, the first of Kennecott Land's Sunrise developments, is located on the south-west side of the Salt Lake Valley, and is part of the City of South Jordan. Kennecott Land offers …

Towards A Theory Of Indigenous Development, Ana Maria Peredo, Robert B. Anderson, Craig S. Galbraith, Benson Honig, Leo-Paul Dana

Robert B Anderson

Indigenous populations throughout the world suffer from chronic poverty, lower education levels, and poor health. The ‘second wave’ of indigenous development, after direct economic assistance from outside, lies in indigenous efforts to rebuild their ‘nations’ and improve their lot through entrepreneurial enterprise. This paper suggests that there is a distinguishable kind of activity appropriately called ‘indigenous entrepreneurship’. We begin by defining the indigenous population and noting some general facts about their numbers and distribution. In an effort to discern the potential for development on indigenous peoples’ own terms, we then explore three frameworks for understanding efforts at development, including indigenous …

Aboriginal Economic Development And Entreprenership, Robert B. Anderson, Robert G. Giberson

Robert B Anderson

This chapter explores economic development and entrepreneurship among Aboriginal' people in Canada as a particular instance of Indigenous entrepreneurship and development activity worldwide. In tum, Indigenous entrepreneurship, and the economic development that flows from it, can be considered a particular sub-set of ethnic entrepreneurship. What makes Indigenous entrepreneurship a particular and distinct instance of ethic entrepreneurship is the strong tie between the process and place - the historic lands of the particular Indigenous group involved. With Aboriginal populations there is also often a strong component of "nation-building," or more correctly re building. This is in contrast with instances of entrepreneurship …

Integrating Demining With Development: The Way Forward, Domrei Research And Consulting

Global CWD Repository

Examines integrated demining in Cambodia, looking at rationale, hichlighting best practices, key successes and challenges, and highlighting two case studies from communities in North-Western Cambodia.

Who Are The Stakeholders In Environmental Risk Decisions - How Should They Be Involved, Mary R. English

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

[Excerpt] "In the United States, as in other countries, public participation in environmental policy decisions has come a long way. In its infancy, it was limited to public hearings concerning decisions that were, for all practical purposes, "done deals." Overturning public agency decisions could be accomplished only through expensive, often protracted, usually futile court cases, and then only if the issue was justiciable and the plaintiff had the funds and standing to sue. In recent decades - especially since the 1960s - opportunities for public participation in the U.S. have been overhauled. Access to documents has been assured through federal …