Architecture Commons^™

Feasibility Of Reconstructing Decommissioned Urban Schools: Emphasis Private Involvement, George J. Spinaris, Ra

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Decommissioned urban schools in the United States have become a problem despite well-intentioned efforts of federal, state and local authorities to reconstruct them. The challenge to school districts, superintendants, local and state authorities is threefold – one arising from the education policy and declining student enrollment. The second challenge is due to inadequate funds for maintenance and renovation of existing facilities. The third from the architectural point of view stemming from an architectural and technological modernity to avoid not so much the possibility of urban sprawl but possible clash of community interests. Urban Sprawl is defined as “The unplanned, …

Climate Change Adaptation Chapter: Marshfield, Massachusetts, Joshua H. Chase, Jonathan G. Cooper, Rory Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Filipe Antunes Lima, Sally R. Miller, Toni Marie Pignatelli

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Climate change, understood as a statistically significant variation in the mean state of the climate or its variability, is the greatest environmental challenge of this generation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Marshfield is already being affected by changes in the climate that will have a profound effect on the town’s economy, public health, coastal resources, natural features, water systems, and public and private infrastructure. Adaptation strategies have been widely recognized as playing an important role in improving a community’s ability to respond to climate stressors by resisting damage and recovering quickly.

Based on review of climate projections for the …

An Update Of The 1984 Haymarket Redevelopment Plan: Lincoln, Nebraska, Stephanie Rouse

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

In 1984, Lincoln, Nebraska committed resources to renovating the Haymarket District to change it from a decayed manufacturing center into a viable business district. They successfully created a historic landmark district, commissioned a blight study and declared the area blighted, and then created a redevelopment plan. The 1984 Haymarket Redevelopment Plan examined the thencurrent district conditions and proposed future development that would support a thriving business district. Twenty-eight years later, that plan is being re-examined to determine what parts of the plan were realized, what the current district looks like, and how the current environment creates the need for an …

Building Healthy Communities: Integrating Walkability Concepts Into Local Land Use Planning, Jenna Danelle Muhlbach

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

In recent years, American communities have been diagnosed with several chronic health diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Several researchers attribute sedentary lifestyles as one of the contributing factors to chronic diseases. The lack of physical exercise can be blamed by the auto-dependent suburbia lifestyle that many generations have become accustomed to. Poor land use developments have roads and freeways dominating the use of space, with the intent of having an automobile get from one place to another as efficiently as possible. This has allowed places to be much further apart therefore it has had a negative impact …

From Carson Pirie Scott To City Target: A Case Study On The Adaptive Reuse Of Louis Sullivan’S Historic Sullivan Center, Lisa M. Switzer

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This study provides an in-depth exploration of the adaptive reuse of one of Chicago’s most iconic structures over the course of a year from the Summer of 2011 to the Summer of 2012. The Sullivan Center was converted from a mid-scale retailer to City Target. Through extensive interviews with the Target development team, Chicago city officials, historians and Landmark Commission representatives this study documents the conversion and identifies the successes and opportunities of the project. The study follows the project from design development to completion, and provides insight on the local community perspective on the development.

Advisor: Mark Hinchman

Mixed Method Collaboration In The Built Environment, Dermot Kehily

Conference papers

The built environment discipline or inter-discipline is a relatively new field in academic research. Its subject matter however is based on the traditional disciplines of the construction and property industries. Determining your ontological position and epistemological approach based on the researchparadigm of one of these fields’ may not provide an adequate solution to your research objectives.This paper outlines that framing your research within the broader confines of the built environment; drawing from related fields in an integrated manner may provide a more successful outcome.Arguments whether the built environment is an academic discipline or even the range of subjects thatmake up …

Towards Net-Zero Energy Communities: Evaluating Capacity Of Local Comprehensive Plans For Energy Efficiency In Oregon, Nan Zhao

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

While energy-related issue is conventionally recognized as a large-scale issue to human and natural environment, few researches directly focus on local-level policies and strategies on energy efficiency. This thesis mainly aims to explain how to establish Net-Zero Energy Communities (NZECs) in the respective of local planning and policy. Based on the innovation adoption theory and key factors of NZECs, this study firstly establishes a practical protocol to assist local jurisdictions to develop high-quality local comprehensive plans (LCPs) to promote the development of NZECs. Then, through assessing the capacities of LCPs for local energy efficiency in Oregon, the strengths and weaknesses …

Prelude To A Master Plan: Ware, Massachusetts, Belen Alfaro, Bruno Carneiro, Margaret Engesser, Kathryn E. Fox, Evadne R. Friedman, Timothy Inacio, Anita Lockesmith, Christina Mills, Stephanie Molden, Meagen Mulherin, Russell Pandres, Vinicius Pereira, Brian Reid, Pedro Soto, Jennifer Stromsten

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Prelude to a Master Plan offers ideas, recommendations, and a toolkit to help the town chart its own path towards that future. While the teams and individual students worked to ‘drill down’ into specific topic areas, the Studio defined three basic areas in order to think about how the various assets, challenges and ideas undermine or reinforce one another. The report is loosely organized in those terms: addressing the outlying rural areas and issues specific to these places, considering one of the key growth areas that has extended from town and the conflicts that arise from the many uses occurring …

Inclusive Excellence: Compilation Of Information, David Conn

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Los Osos Strategic Design Plan, Fall 2012, Crp 341 Urban Design Studio

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

In the 2012 Fall Quarter, Cal Poly City and Regional Planning Department’s Community Design Lab worked with the community of Los Osos to develop design proposals for four different areas within Los Osos and for general wayfinding and circulation within. The design areas were: Baywood, South Bay Blvd, Los Osos Valley Road East and Los Osos Valley Road West.

Drinking Water Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This document is intended to help local and regional planning agencies, and their constituent water utilities, integrate drinking water infrastructure planning and investments into plans for sustainable development. Resources listed here provide guidance on making land use decisions that protect water resources, setting adequate and sustainable drinking water rates, controlling water loss, funding water infrastructure projects, and managing water utilities.

The directory was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through this program, EFCN is providing capacity …

Sustainable Water Management On Brownfields Sites, Ryan Fenwick, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This practice guide was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Through a cooperative agreement with HUD, EFCN is providing capacity building and technical assistance to recipients of grants from the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency collaboration that aims to help towns, cities, and regions develop in more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable ways.

Connection Through Discontinuity: Tactical Urbanism In Yongsan, Du Young Yoon

Architecture Thesis Prep

No abstract provided.

Residential Square In The 21st Century: Applying A Typology To Create A New Urban Morphology, Elizabeth Whittington

Architecture Thesis Prep

"As a low-rise high-density mixed-use typology, the reconsideration of the residential square can provide a new urban morphology that densifies residential zones, while providing safe public spaces. In addition, I assert that through its combination of juxtaposed functional uses, unit typology the language of the façade, the historical European residential square, can articulate the identity of residents."

Forum Contemperanueus: Re-Connecting Society Through Public Interaction, Jonathan Bruno

Architecture Thesis Prep

"This new typology will serve a great social significance

in any city it is placed in. Its ability to gather and withhold a

large number of people is its fundamental importance. Today’s

society has lost its interactivity. Through digital technologies,

more and more of us are glued to smartphones, laptops and

tablets. If this trend continues without any intervention, it will

result in us living “along together.” The public forum was the first

feature of any and all forms of “civitas” for thousands of years.

We are responsible for bringing this urban feature back to our

contemporary cities before it …

Housing Indeterminacy: Responsive Design For Diverse And Changing Households, Mark Sousa

Architecture Thesis Prep

"This project hopes to create a new outlook on the future of housing design. Ray Forrest wrote, “The pace of demographic change need not be that dynamic to outpace the capacity of markets or states to provide appropriate dwellings in appropriate locations. […] Dwelling placement or adaptation is always likely to lag.”2 The preceding statement reflects the belief that housing is static and rigid, and that dwelling replacement or major structural adaptation is necessary to accommodate a continually evolving population. On the contrary, responsive housing can release significant pressure on housing systems by anticipating change and providing a lower cost …

Developing A Restorable Wetland Index For Rainwater Basin Wetlands In South-Central Nebraska: A Multi-Criteria Spatial Analysis, Zhenghong Tang, Xu Li, Nan Zhao, Ruopu Li, F. Edwin Harvey

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

It is always challenging for decision makers to prioritize wetland conservation programs at the landscape scale. This study employed a GIS-based multi-criteria spatial decision support tool that identified locations with the highest restoration potential for wetland conservation programs in the Rainwater Basin in south-central Nebraska. Five indicators were considered to assess wetland restoration potential: (1) Vegetation characteristics; (2) Soil characteristics; (3) Water volume released from hydrological modification of agricultural irrigation pits; (4) Topographical depression status; and (5) Habitat condition. The results suggested 192 (1.6% of the total) hydric soil footprints as the highest prioritized locations for future wetland restoration programs. …

The Self-Conscious Gentrifier: The Paradox Of Authenticity And Impact Among "First-Wave Neo-Bohemians" In 2 Changing Neighborhoods, Naomi Bartz, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Gentrification has been a major factor reshaping North American cities for at least four decades, as well as a vital concern of sociological research. In recent years, there appears to be an increasing awareness of the process among contemporary gentrifiers themselves. This self-conscoiusness is significant on two levels: (1) it is unanticipated by or at least unaccounted for in much of the canonical literature on gentrification, having only recently gained acknowledgement (most notably work by Brown-Saracino that explores aspects of a particular type of self-aware gentrifiier); (2) it is complicating the way many gentrifiers or would-be gentrifiers frame and actively …

Zoning Barriers To The Implementation Of New Urbanist Land Use Principles In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel K. Jones

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

Euclidean land use regulations that segregate different kinds of uses from one another can present significant barriers to achieving the land use-related principles of New Urbanism on a foundational level. This research evaluated the zoning ordinance of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a special focus on the Community Unit Plan and Planned Unit Development processes, in order to determine its openness to mixed housing and mixed uses, using a combination of policy analysis and Geographic Information System (GIS). It was found that a number of Lincoln’s zoning districts as well as a significant amount of land are restricted in …

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. …

South El Camino Real Vision Plan, City Of Atascadero, Spring 2012, Crp 553 Project Planning Lab

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

No abstract provided.

Green Infrastructure Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Green infrastructure is an approach for managing stormwater that uses vegetation and soils to capture and treat rainwater where it falls. Unlike single-purpose gray infrastructure, green infrastructure realizes multiple benefits at once, including flood mitigation, improved water and air quality, community beautification, provision of recreational opportunities, and energy and cost savings. This resource directory is intended to help communities design, implement, fund, and monitor green infrastructure practices and programs. It was compiled by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. …

Envision Downtown Hayward, Crp 410/411 Community Planning Lab

CRP 410/411 Community Planning Laboratory I & II

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Household In Urban Forestry As A Measure Of Urban Sustainability: A Matrix Of Action And Change, Anthony M. Rodriguez Ph.D.

Faculty Scholarship

The urban forest holds several important positions within the built and unbuilt environments. Those positions include economic, health, sustainability, quality of life measures, and overall protection of the environment, including air, water, and soil. The points are highlighted by Wolf (2005, 2007), McPherson (2005), and Rowntree & Nowak (1991). This research references the four socio-economic sectors; the public or government sector, for profit or market sector, philanthropic or nonprofit sector, and the household or private sector (Biggs & Helm 2007). The common purposes and role of each sector with respect to the urban tree cover takes on importance as they …

The Nebraska Sandhills Food Desert: Causes, Identification, And Actions Towards A Resolution, Andrew Thierolf

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

Declining populations over the past several decades have created issues for residents in many rural areas. A serious concern is the emergence of “food deserts,” areas where people do not have sufficient access to nutritious foods. The Sandhills region in west-central Nebraska is a prime example of an area that is subject to the food desert phenomenon. It features a low-density rural population that creates a difficult economic environment for grocery retailers.

This paper looks at multiple aspects of the food desert issue in the region. It begins by reviewing literature to determine the definition of the term “food desert” …

Roger Williams Park Edible Forest Garden, Mark S. Scialla

Senior Honors Projects

An edible forest garden is a low-maintenance system that uses edible native and regionally-adapted plants arranged in beneficial relationships to meet human, wildlife and ecosystem needs. The forest garden in Roger Williams Park will transform underutilized urban land into a highly productive parcel producing market-viable fruits, nuts, vegetables, medicine and fiber. Forest gardens mimic natural forest systems in architecture and complexity. The design follows ecological principles to create a system that promotes biodiversity and enhances the surrounding ecosystem. This project also demonstrates the potential to grow food and create land-based livelihoods in the city.

Located on the edge of a …

Assessing The Level Of Bicycle Planning In Local Planning Efforts: A Case Study, Christopher Michael Hussey

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

The transportation system in the United States has long been dominated by motor vehicles. The US Department of Transportation has encouraged cities to increase bicycle transportation as a means to improve health and activity, reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Bicycle transportation is improved in a city when thorough planning documents have been created to help guide and improve bicycling facilities

This research creates a framework to evaluate a city’s planning documents for the purpose of bicycle planning. The framework is derived from a thorough literature review and from …

North Bottoms: A Participatory Redevelopment & Sustainable Community Engagement Process, Andrea C. Koerner

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This project addressed the economic, social, and environmental ill effects occurring in the North Bottoms in Lincoln, Nebraska. This neighborhood requires the use of innovative community engagement to counteract minimal resources, civic engagement, and social capital in order to accomplish sustainable redevelopment when traditional methods have been unsuccessful. The initial goal of the project was to involve citizens in the design process to create an effective and development strategy and design project for the neighborhood.

Although traditional methods were sufficient to develop a comprehensive approach to sustainable development, it became obvious through engagement with citizens and civic officials that a …

Assessment Of New Energy Use Policy In Land Use Planning, Xun Liu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

In modern society, energy has long been a part of human life. However, traditional energy resources will be used up eventually, and they also cause environmental pollution. In contrast with traditional energy resources, new energy has three major advantages: it has high efficiency, renewable and environmentally friendly. Considering new energy’s efficiency, local government should adopt appropriate policies. New energy policies are the most effective and direct method to enable governments to achieve their goals.

This study mainly focuses on how energy policies can improve the efficiency of new energy use. More specifically, this research addresses three major questions: 1) To …

Along The Chicopee River From The Mills To The Ludlow Bridge - Creating A Vision For Indian Orchard, Ying Cao, Elizabeth Englebretson, Scott Fulford, Jing Huang, Yiwei Huang, Rocky Liu, Tracy Murphy, Sparky Von Plinsky, Albert Wang, Jinglin Wang, Yan Yan, Shanshan Yu

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The report documents design investigations for Springfield’s Indian Orchard neighborhood. The Graduate Urban Design Studio focused on the exciting area along the Chicopee River from the Indian Orchard Mills to the spectacular outlook at Indian Leap and the neighborhood gateway at the Ludlow Bridge. The primary goal of the project was to unveil the unique assets and character of the area, make these assets more accessible and legible and thus strengthen the identity of Indian Orchard as a vibrant place for its residents and visitors. Crucial keys to attaining this goal are: acknowledging the strong industrial heritage; improving connectivity to …