Architecture Commons^™

Reorienting Local Housing Development Trends Via Land Value Taxation: A Bottom-Up And Top-Down Quantitative Analysis, Dakota B. Walker

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The region surrounding Burlington, Vermont is in the midst of sparse, decentralized growth which threatens the sense of place from which it has thrived. Many have argued that such development tendencies result from a disconnect between land use incentives at the individual level and the fruits of compact settlement, which materialize at larger scales. Two overarching problems are understood to contribute to this disconnect; the ability to privately appropriate the collectively-created value of land, and the inability to recognize ecological opportunity costs of natural land conversion in land use decisions. One proposed solution is the Land Value Tax (LVT). By …

From Maintenance To Stewardship: Green Stormwater Infrastructure Capacity In Vermont Towns & Design And Participatory Processes To Provide Cultural Ecosystem Services, Holly Lee Greenleaf

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The impervious surfaces of built landscapes create stormwater runoff that causes water quantity and quality problems downstream, upsetting natural hydrology and harming aquatic ecosystems. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) includes practices that reduce the amount of stormwater runoff and the pollutants it carries utilizing plants, soils, and other materials to capture, store, reuse, infiltrate, evapotranspire, and filter stormwater. GSI helps to restore developed landscapes, mimicking natural hydrologic processes and providing important water treatment functions as well as beneficial green spaces in urban areas. However, there are many challenges associated with the implementation and maintenance of GSI in our communities and cultures. …

Measuring Streetscape Design For Livability Using Spatial Data And Methods, Chester Wollaeger Harvey

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

City streets are the most widely distributed and heavily trafficked urban public spaces. As cities strive to improve livability in the built environment, it is important for planners and designers to have a concise understanding of what contributes to quality streetscapes. The proportions and scale of buildings and trees, which define the three-dimensional extents of streetscapes, provide enduring, foundational skeletons. This thesis investigates how characteristics of such streetscape skeletons can be quantified and tested for appeal among human users.

The first of two journal-style papers identifies a concise set of skeleton variables that urban design theorists have described as influential …