Architecture Commons^™

Myers Street Streetscape Plan, Nathan J. Manning

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The Scott’s Addition neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia has faced growing density and redevelopment as the neighborhood has become an appealing place to live, work, and play. Myers Street sits directly East from most of Scott’s Addition and has historically housed many industrial businesses. The street is rapidly transforming as many commercial/retail businesses are moving into the corridor. Streetscape redevelopment of the corridor will cause a need for complete streets infrastructure allowing the street to be a safe place for all people, urban design to provide visual aesthetics, and sustainable water runoff catchments to help displace stormwater to name just a …

An Assessment Of The Sharing Economy And Its Policy Solutions Through The Lens Of Sustainability, Chloe An

Pomona Senior Theses

This senior thesis in environmental analysis explores the promise of sustainability of the sharing economy, its shortcomings from this positive potential, and possible policy solutions to help it reach its fullest, positive potential. At its core, the sharing economy enables shared access to goods and services that would otherwise sit in idle or underutilized capacity – popular platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and craigslist all fall within the sharing economy. By enabling affordable and convenient access to goods that would otherwise sit idle, the sharing economy encourages maximal use of a good that already exists rather than seeking out …

21st Century Synergies Between Architecture And Transportation, Shannon S. Mcdonald

ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium

Architecture and transportation are at the center of the current rethinking of our 21^st century. Their interrelationships create our settlements and can remake our world, in deep and profound ways. Student’s projects will be presented as visions for the 21^st century that give more than they take, creating regenerative spaces.

Transportation Related Challenges For Persons With Disabilities, Graydon Bascom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gaining access to transportation is essential for obtaining employment, education, healthcare, and social interaction. Individuals who face difficulties in gaining this access are considered ‘transportation disadvantaged’ and include individuals of lower socioeconomic status, aging individuals, and persons with disabilities. In our autodependent society, individuals with disabilities face even fewer opportunities to interact within their communities. In order to better understand how individuals with disabilities are limited by their access to transportation, two studies were conducted.

The first study specifically seeks to examine how individuals with disabilities gain access to transportation and the interpersonal relationships that affect opportunities for social participation …

Aug City: The Cyber-Spatial Impacts Of Augmented Reality On The Field Of Urban Planning, Colton Berck

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

In the summer of 2016 a technology revolution swept the world from an unsuspecting place, a mobile game called Pokémon: Go. Almost immediately upon release, this application reached white-hot growth with a user-base spanning the globe, sparking new methods of interacting with communities. Behind the app, a driving force of the popularity, is the technology known as augmented reality (AR). This innovative medium, which intersects the “real-world” with the “digital-world,” is set to impact many aspects of life. As planning professionals are closely involved with the development and growth of communities, this thesis serves as a tool to determine how …

Framing The Future: Imagining The City Through The Lens Of Film, Sofia Zavala Ferreira

Architecture Senior Theses

With a great interest in the relationship between film and architecture, this project establishes its subject matter on the possibilities presented in science fiction cinema and speculative design. By extracting attributes from these that would influence design and architectural concerns, a bridge between the disconnected imagined and real, current and future, can be created through the creation of a speculative scenario and a narrative.

It seeks to utilize cinematic design and storytelling conventions to successfully convey the desired atmosphere, architectural realities, and life conditions of a fictional city. By utilizing advanced digital techniques often used in cinema itself, including but …

Clean Venice: Infrastructure & Place-Making In Venice, Italy, Nicholas Musilli

Architecture Theses

Venice is deteriorating. The fragile city is crumbling, and eventually will be swallowed into the water which surrounds it. Besides the prospect of sinking, the infrastructure is damaged weekly by the cruise ships which visit the city and account for about 2 million tourists every year. Typically, these ships produce 50 tons of garbage, 210,000 gallons of sewage, and 35,000 gallons of oil-contaminated water. That being said, these floating cities contribute to about 20% of harmful emissions in coastal and port cities. In an already damaged state, Venice is negatively affected by traffic and pollution from these vessels. Recently, the …

Measuring Access To Employment To Guide And Evaluate Public Transit Service Planning In New Orleans, Kevin Harrison

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

New software and technology is making it easier than ever before for public transportation planners to evaluate how quickly residents can reach jobs and other destinations. Because in the past it was difficult to measure access to opportunities, these concepts remained primarily in the theoretical and academic realms of research. This thesis reviews methods that could be used to evaluate routine bus service improvements and performs a comparative analysis of different methods in the context of New Orleans. There are many different variables in how the analysis could be performed, but this thesis focuses on the role that time of …

Pleasurescapes: Mechanized Conveyances As Agents Of Alternate Urban Experience, Elias Varon

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis inquires the possibilities of creating pleasurable destinations in a city that engage their urban environment through the deployment mechanized conveyances - conveyances that offer an alternative experience to the day-to-day “mobilities."

Contemporary Infrastructure For The Sustainable Mid-Sized City, Christian Martinez

Architecture Thesis Prep

Embedded within the Feasibility Assessment of Sustainable Transportation: Syracuse study’s goals is an interest in urban mobility particularly in mid-sized cities in America. Well referenced texts tend to deliberate on issues of urban infrastructure in great urban metropolises. This presumes infrastructure improvements can universally have a positive impact on urban mobility irrespective of city size. But is it possible for the prosperity of cities to be augmented by virtue of investing in policy and infrastructure for sustainable transportation through following megalopolis biased guidebooks? Vishaan Chakrabarti advocates for a more urban America in “A County of Cities”, because of their ability …

The Renaissance Of The Railway | Towards A Global High-Speed System, Xiaoyu Li

Architecture Senior Theses

The railway has shown its unique character as a mode of transportation since its invention in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. In the beginning, its carrying capacity made it stand out, transforming human behavior, and stimulating economic productivity. During the 20th century, air travel, the railways, and long-distance road networks have shared the burden of human transportation - in many countries the car and plane have won out. In recent decade, however, new interest in the railway's potential has been generated as a result of the emergence of new technologies like high-speed rail and the maglev system. Greater speeds are …

Automated Vehicles: A Guide For Planners And Policymakers, Charlie Coles

Master's Theses

Automated vehicles are those which are capable of sensing their environments in order to perform at least some aspects of the safety-critical control (like steering, throttling, or braking) without direct human input. As a guide for planners and policymakers, the objective of this thesis is to develop a strong foundation for anticipating the potential impacts resulting from advancements in vehicle automation. To establish the foundation, this thesis uses a robust qualitative methodology, coupling a review of literature on the potential advantages and disadvantages of vehicle automation and lessons from past innovations in transportation, with recent trends of the Millennial Generation, …

Planning A Greenway Network For The “Impressions From A Lost World” Exhibit, Kellie Fenton, Tasuku Kamei, Yue Li, Yanhua Lu, Maozhu Mao, Emilie Marques Jordao, James Prendergast, Michalagh C. Stoddard, Ruoying Tang, Jing Wang, Nelle Katharine Ward, Yuqing Yang, Yi Yang, Yu Yu

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

This report describes a proposed multi-modal greenway network that links dinosaur-related sites in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The study conducted by the fall 2015 MLA studio at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst included assessment and design work at regional, sub-regional, and site scales. The proposed Dinosaur Trail Project greenway network was designed to incorporate the goals of the client, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, a historical and cultural organization based in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The project will help preserve, interpret, and highlight the rich history of dinosaur track discovery in the region for future generations.

Reconnecting The Urban Web: Chicago's Failed Olympic Hope, Eric Archer

Masters Theses

‘Towers in the park,’ a destructive urbanistic typology that gained notoriety with idealistic projects by Le Corbusier, are prevalent in American cities. This architectural and urban concept consists of mono-functional high-rise towers, typically residential, placed on a superblock of unprogrammed over-scaled greenspace. The original intention was to create order within the city and provide plenty of landscaping and urban space for the city’s occupants. Noble in goals, these mega-towers have been chastised for their lack of character, inappropriate scale, and the inability to create vibrant public space that promote interaction and community by creating an over concentration of segregated nodes …

Complete Streets At Calpoly San Luis Obispo, William W. Riggs, Jana Schwartz

William W. Riggs

A synthesis of work completed by CRP 470 / 425, Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning students this project evaluated bicycle and pedestrian transportation at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo. Focusing on the south campus area with a goal of mitigating impacts of increasing housing development in the area the project involved: 1) data collection and field work; 2) analysis of trends; and 3) proposed treatments to improve circulation, safety and active transportation.

More Than One Way To Think About Urban Streets, John I. Gilderbloom, William W. Riggs

William W. Riggs

This op-ed discusses research into the differences between one-way and two-way street design, and how two-way streets are associated with fewer traffic accidents, less crime and abandonments, and increased housing prices.

Redefining Transportation Culture: A New Union Station For Los Angeles, Pawel Honc

Architecture Theses

From iconic stations like Grand Central in New York City to the small suburban commuter rail station, the architecture of transportation can have a large effect on the perception of a transportation system. Architecture can also play a large part in encouraging a changeover to more of a public transportation oriented culture. The planning of transit hubs and stations should be transitoriented so that it can reach the most amounts of people. However, a changeover to a transit-oriented society would require a city like Los Angeles to overhaul their current transportation system by adding more lines, connections, and increasing station …

Moving Towards A Greener Future: An Investigation Of How Transit-Oriented Development Has The Potential To Redefine Cities Around Sustainability, Margaret E. Smith

Scripps Senior Theses

How does transportation shape the cities we live in? This paper takes a close look at the practice of transit-oriented development to assess its implications for the future of urban areas. Through the design of a hypothetical light rail station in the suburb of Redmond, WA, this paper demonstrates how targeting sustainable development around transit has the potential to influence entire towns to “go green,” and proposes that, moving forward, cities be designed to maximize mobility, livability, and sustainability.

Infra[Re]Structure, Sara Minsley

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project contends that through the mediation and expression of systems, energies and flows the pedestrian can reclaim the experience of the street.Crucial to this is an understanding of what is on the street and how objects and people are situated on the streets currently. Through exploiting these issues New York City the pedestrian is offered a more engaged experience of moving through the city.

Bridging The Gap: Community-Oriented Transit Development, Matthew C. Jones

Masters Theses

The bedroom community has become a prevalent and oft-criticized part of the modern architectural landscape. These suburban towns have continually grown radially outward from major cities across the nation since the end of the Second World War. While these suburbs have served to fulfill housing needs and wants of society, pressure to develop has often forced this growth to occur at a much more rapid rate than a traditional community. This rapid development has led to poorly implemented infrastructure, especially with regard to walkability and public transportation, which has fallen short of meeting the needs of users. These solutions in …

China Rail-Borne, Daya Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The next stage of China’ growth and advancement rests on the assumption that its population will be more and more concentrated in cites since approximately 350 million farmers are expected to move towards the urban areas from 2005 to 2025. How to connect its population of more than 1 billion within those cites, and among them, is always an urgent issue for Chinese government to deal with. Railway is the most common mode for Chinese to travel around. However, the overcapacity has plagues China’s railway network for years, especially during the national holidays, such as Spring Festival. The emergence of …

Calpoly Must To Do More To Put Brakes On Vehicle Traffic, William W. Riggs

William W. Riggs

There are countless examples of university communities in the United States and internationally that have implemented similar policies. While the city of San Luis Obispo is taking aggressive steps to move in that direction as a part of updates to the Land Use and Circulation Elements, these efforts are not being matched by the campus — and this is at a time where the increase in student population necessitates it.

Menlo Park Specific Plan Traffic Analysis, William Riggs

William W. Riggs

Independent analysis of the traffic impacts of Specific Plan Environmental Impact Report (SP EIR) for the City of Menlo Park and estimation of the total traffic volume using a bookend approach.

San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority: Recommendations For Future Service Demand, Alexander J. Fuchs

Master's Theses

Transit agencies at all levels of government monitor trends in services, operations, and ridership using performance indicators. Federal and state agencies use these performance indicators in the appropriation of funds to transit agencies. Public transportation is subsidized through federal, state and local programs while only a portion of the operating expenses are covered through rider fares. In order to gather information on riders and travel patterns, transit agencies primarily focus on current transit riders, many of which are transit dependent populations. By definition, these populations use public transit services as the primary or only means of transportation. As a result, …

The Urban Environment As A Barrier To Historic Preservation: A Mitigation Plan For Falmouth, Jamaica, Daniel Heinz Watts

All Theses

The principle question asked in this thesis is can widespread historic preservation occur in Falmouth, Jamaica without improvements to the town's urban environment? The question will be answered by researching the condition of Falmouth's historic district in light of its history, economic decline and current challenges. Background analysis revealed that the town has been economically stagnant for more than a century, that this weakness has incidentally allowed it to retain the largest collection of Georgian-era structures in the Caribbean, but has also led to a continuing decline in the condition of historic resources faster than preservation efforts can provide remediation. …

The False Hope Of Comprehensive Planning, Michael Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

Some commentators on sprawl and smart growth speak of municipal comprehensive plans and sprawl as polar opposites: but in fact, a comprehensive plan can be used to further auto-oriented sprawl just as easily as it can be used to encourage more pedestrian-friendly development. This speech uses parts of Jacksonville, Florida's plan as examples of pro-sprawl planning.

The Development Of Accessible Design In Malaysia: Built Environment And Transportation, Hazreena Hussein, Naziaty Mohd Yaacob

Hazreena Hussein

No abstract provided.

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 …

Mind The Gap, Beryl T. Johnsen-Seeberger

Architecture Thesis Prep

"I intend to create these appreciative moments in the context of desired program in the Long Beach Area. Long Beach offers a unique opportunity of density of modes of transportation, and types of people by touching on a major highway, the Port of Long Beach, and an active riverfront. The highway in question, Interstate 710, is one of the most clogged roads in Los Angeles. A major commuter route, it starts at the proposed site. The Port of Long Beach also has a rail yard and loading docks, as well as the start of its major freight train corridor on …

Political Feasibility Of Implementing Smart Growth Development Strategies In The Monterey Bay Area, Kristin Mckee

Master's Theses

Development over the past sixty years has created patterned growth and expansion outward from city centers, separating residences from commercial areas and employment centers. This separation of land uses has increased automobile dependency, which increases vehicle miles traveled and associated greenhouse gas emissions. California Senate Bill 375 mandates the development and implementation of a “Sustainable Communities Strategy” in order to plan regional land use and transportation in a coordinated fashion. In coordination with this effort, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) is developing the Regional Implementation Plan for Smart Growth Development Strategies, which entails the identification of smart …