Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Fulfilling Urban Infrastructure Standards To Increase The Carrying Capacity Of Tourism Destination, Shana Fatina, Tri Edhi Budhi Soesilo, Rudy Parluhutan Tambunan

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Labuan Bajo is an emerging coastal tourism destination in Indonesia, which is also part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Komodo Biosphere Reserve located in the East Nusa Tenggara region. Recent tourism developments have transformed Labuan Bajo from a rural area into an urban area, and significant land use changes have followed. This new urban area development will attract tourists as well as population migration. The ongoing issue is to develop the urban infrastructure and facilities of Labuan Bajo in an integrated and sustainable way, considering the carrying capacity following the high demand for tourism and …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

An Analysis Of Racially Disparate Impacts On Housing For The City Of Tukwila, Washington, Neil Tabor

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

The housing crisis within the Pacific Northwest of the United States has prompted action from Washington legislators, resulting in Governor Inslee identifying housing as a key priority and the legislature passing a number of forward-thinking bills in the last half decade, requiring the allocation of more resources, and asking more of jurisdictions to address current housing needs and anticipated future growth. Layered within the planning efforts for future growth are concerns and considerations for the potential of new housing development to perpetuate and exacerbate societal inequities built on discriminatory housing policies and practices of generations past and present. In an …

Maximize “West End Opportunity” In America: Alternative Policy Options To Address Perceived Drawbacks Of Tax Increment Financing (Tif) & Opportunity Zones, Justin Avert, Samuel C Kessler

Commonwealth Policy Papers

In March 2021, the Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 321 (Acts Chapter 203) authorizing the creation of a tax increment finance (TIF) district within the West End of Louisville. Designed to spur community-wide economic development, it set up a public-private nonprofit partnership. Known as the West End Opportunity Partnership (WEOP), this 21-seat board include community representatives and has sole control over any fund disbursement. Funds can be used towards a broad array of investments including small business loans, financing affordable housing units, home improvements, etc.

Residents within the district have expressed opposition to the TIF, skepticism towards the board …

Urban Spatial Structural Change And Transformation In The New Era, Xiao Xiao, Xiaoping Xie, Jingzhong Li, Xiao Xie, Bing Xue

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Urban spatial structure is an important part of the research on the regional system of the human-land relationship, and it is also an important starting point for the sustainable development of cities. How to scientifically understand the urban spatial structure in the new era is the basis for optimizing its regulation. This study briefly reviews the historical background of traditional urban spatial structure theory and points out the transformational turn of urban spatial structure in terms of organizational principles, organizational methods, optimization goals and elements through the analysis of technological revolution, policy, and socio-economic environment in the new era, and …

New Opportunities For Urban Science Research, Guangtao Wang, Fen Li, Xiang Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Urban science is the study of urban problems from the viewpoint and by method of system science. At present, China’s urbanization rate has reached 65.22%. Urban development has entered a new period of quality improvement and structural adjustment, and the progress of information technology and the development of information industry have also brought new opportunities for urban science. After reviewing the theoretical basis of urban science put forward by Qian Xuesen, drawing on the cutting-edge trends of international urban science research, combined with the goal support, key challenges and application scenarios of China’s new smart city construction, the study puts …

Urban And Community Tree Cover In The Mountain West, Zachary Billot, Zachary Walusek, Annie Vong, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Environment

This fact sheet examines data on tree cover and impervious cover in urban land for the United States and for the five states in the Mountain West: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The original report includes data for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Making Pla(Y)Ces: Softening The City Through Play, Shivani Pinapotu

Masters Theses

Cities that grow naturally over time integrate spaces of gathering that allow for serendipitous happenstance. However, the cities we design today instruct and codify through intentional planning and design; they assign use, hardening specific function to place. Such strategies lead to spaces devoid of spirit, inculcating in city-dwellers to a sense of disconnect from the city.

In contrast to this, the places we make as children, express our intuitive, direct, and unselfconscious relationships with space and one other. These spaces embody softness through their malleability and adaptability, borrowing from the world around them and imbuing the ordinary with imagination. …

Public-Ish, Aliah Werth

Masters Theses

Climate change affects public space, and architecture must establish tenets that prioritize pedestrians in this difficult era. Greywater re-use can be a mechanism for creating shade, and in turn, public space.

As heat waves grow more intense, the vast swaths of asphalt that connect commercial zones pose greater risks to public health and to urban vitality. This thesis records the typical material, spatial, and lived conditions of strip malls in urban heat islands, and demands more from infrastructure in public-ish space.

Heat violence weaves through Los Angeles’ built form. Parking space minimums, required setbacks, and height restrictions pull buildings away …

Historic Downtown Streetscape Plan Price City, Utah, Patricia Beckert

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The idea of a small-town Main Street has profound meaning within the American culture that has prevailed for the past two centuries. Historically, Main Street serves as the beating heart of a community, a place where economic, social, cultural, and civic activities are centered (Francaviglia, 1996; Main Street America, n.d.). Since the beginning of the 19th century, many factors have led to the decline of Main Streets, and despite a variety of efforts from different stakeholders, that decline has only intensified in recent decades (Isenberg, 2008; Orvell, 2014 Howard, 2015). In 1980, after a three-year project conducted by the National …

Gentrifying While Black: Exploring The Concept Of An African Homeland Through Gentrification In Accra, Ghana, Amaya Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Property Pillagers: Effects Of Dirty Urbanism, Chase Wilson, Kayli Clark

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This podcast dives into American urbanism and its associated development targeting certain minority communities; the ill intentions to disrupt specific neighborhoods led us to refer to the practice as “dirty urbanism”. The pair of I-40 and Jefferson Street in north Nashville, alongside similarly treated areas across the United States, exemplify dirty urbanism. Exercising their raw power and ability to cover up to 90% of the costs, the federal government incentivizes the local governments to construct the highway system: a highway system used as a racially motivated tool to sever black-built urban fabrics. With the highways, vehicular space overrides …

Planning, Preserving, And Increasing Accessibility: A Reflection On Going “Car-Free”, Abigail J. Weizer

City and Regional Planning

This paper studies the accessibility of car-free areas to those with mobility impairments by examining three car-free and car-lite experiments in California. Whether slowly converted to car-free with long-term, careful planning, or expeditiously changed to car-free during the COVID-19 pandemic, these three car-free experiments show the shortcomings of planning for accessibility in car-free spaces, and how instead of improving accessibility, current planning practice often hinders it. This paper offers a deep-dive into the drawbacks and benefits of going car-free and the ethical and legal reasons why urban planners, designers, and policymakers must consider the accessibility of a space before planning …

Strengthening Urban Resilience: Understanding The Interdependencies Of Outer Space And Strategic Planning For Sustainable Smart Environments, Ulpia-Elena Botezatu, Olga Bucovetchi, Adrian V. Gheorghe, Radu D. Stanciu

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The conventional approach to urban planning has predominantly focused on horizontal dimensions, disregarding the potential risks originating from outer space. This paper aims to initiate a discourse on the vertical dimension of cities, which is influenced by outer space, as an essential element of strategic urban planning. Through an examination of a highly disruptive incident in outer space involving a collision between the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 satellites, this article elucidates the intricate interdependencies between urban areas and outer space infrastructure and services. Leveraging the principles of critical infrastructure protection, which bridge the urban and outer space domains, and …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Bicycling For Sustainable Urban Mobility: Comparing Urban Transformations In Paris And Bogotá, Luba Masliy

Pomona Senior Theses

Promoting cycling is one of the low-hanging fruits to decarbonizing transportation, with further extensive benefits to quality of life. The main deterrent to the adoption of cycling for transportation is the lack of safe and connected infrastructure. This thesis explores and compares the case studies of Paris and Bogotá, where cycling modal shares grew significantly within the last decade. Plans outlining ambitious goals around sustainable transportation were put in place, and total bicycle network lengths increased rapidly in both cities. My work focuses on examining policy and infrastructure developments that lead to increased adoption of cycling over time in Paris …

Nexuscapes: A Landscape Approach For A Transdisciplinary Water-Energy-Food Nexus Decision-Making Process, Fortino Acosta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study develops a reliable transdisciplinary framework for complex ecological and social systems by characterizing, mapping, typifying, assessing, and testing enhanced water-energy-food nexus scenarios under critical time constraints, specialized skills, or sensitive data accessibility. Detached management of limited essential resources like fresh water, reliable energy from renewable sources, and nutritious food can jeopardize regional economies and governance. Using a novel landscape approach, this study recommends a decision-making the framework focused on the circular economy that induces collaboration among diverse sectors and brings strategic coordination, specificity, and magnitude to the proposed solutions. The study elaborates on a decision-making tool that integrates …

Exploring The Impact Of The Habitat For Humanity Home-Building Process On Partner Families' Holistic Well-Being, Hawkley Pusey, Nikhil Mathur, Kathryn Figliomeni, Nanditha Srinivasan, Keely R. Dehn, Jason A. Ware

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how participating in the Habitat for Humanity house-building process influenced participants’ purpose well-being, social well-being, community well-being, physical and mental well-being, and financial well-being, and how effective Habitat for Humanity is in aiding neighborhood revitalization within the Greater Lafayette area. The research project resulted in a presentation of quantitative data and a testimonial video that highlighted the stories of families that had worked with Habitat for Humanity. Quantitative data was gathered through a survey that addressed respondents’ levels of satisfaction within the various categories of well-being mentioned above. Testimonial information was gathered …

Planning For Micromobilities In Canada: Transportation Policy Review, Nathaniel C. Frisbee Ba, Jason Gilliland Phd, Jinhyung Lee Phd

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Canadian municipalities face a complex decision on how they tackle the ‘wicked problem’ of climate change over the next decades. One form of sustainable transportation that municipalities could pursue is light electric vehicles (LEVs), commonly referred to as e-bikes and e-scooters or referred to as a Power Assisted-Bicycle by Transportation Canada. Transportation-related policies and plans of Canadian municipalities were evaluated for their consideration of LEVs. Municipalities were selected based on having a university campus within their boundaries, as this is where the highest density of Canadian population resides. The analysis spreads across all 10 provinces in Canada.  There are significant …

Weathering The Storm: Navigating Urban Ecologies Of Communication In Times Of Crisis, Austin Hestdalen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores cities as urban ecologies of communication in which crises emerge and are given significance within the dialogic relations cultivated among public actors attempting to make a living, together, within the shared historical-cultural contexts of everyday life. To describe cities as urban ecologies of communication is to describe them in terms of urban communication and its interdisciplinary foundations in the study of rhetoric, philosophy, planning, policy, architecture, sociology, geography, and media. The first chapter introduces the challenges of urban risk and crisis management within the complex ecologies of communication constituted by cities and reviews how ‘risk’ and ‘crisis’ …

Cityengine As A Tool For Visualizing Neighborhood Change: An Initial Study, Zach Noyes

City and Regional Planning

Urban planning is reliant upon genuine public engagement to ensure that planning and policy decisions reflect the ideas shared by the public. Because planning is a profession largely focused on the physical and built implications of more abstract planning concepts, effective graphic communication is critical to securing public support and understanding of policy decisions. ESRI's CityEngine uses procedural modeling technology to render personally-tailored scenes to non-planner members of the public, and shows potential to positively change the way that planners generate graphic representations of physical impacts of policy changes. This initial study establishes a methodology for determining the efficacy of …

Affordable Housing On Community Land Held In Trust: An Essential Component Of Sustainable Development, Kevin S. Tellez Ramos

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project summarizes an assessment of affordable housing development in Sonoma County - centered in an analysis of sustainability. The language of sustainability requires a new vocabulary for conversation on a broad topic. The sustainable development goals can be directed for the benefit of organizations that contribute to solutions that lack insight towards greater longevity for the at-risk members of the community (i.e., greenwashing, net-zero emissions, etc.). More recent sustainable development literature from the United Nations reveals new priorities: social, economic, and environmental sustainability. (This applies to developing nations of which the researcher believes Sonoma County, California and the United …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

Postscript, Arthur C. Nelson

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Afterword - It Has Been A Good Ride, Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer, James Nicholas

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Our Cities, Ourselves, Nan Ellin

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Just as we are what we eat, we are where we live. We breathe the air, drink the water and inhabit the built and natural landscapes. We make our places and they, in turn, make us. While great places nourish body and soul, poor environmental and urban quality challenges us physically as well as emotionally. How might we heal our places, so that they sustain us, rather than strain us?

On The Restorative Power Of Nature, Or Why Every Neighborhood Needs A Public Japanese Garden, Mira Locher, Keith Bartholomew

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

In celebration of Professor Arthur C. “Chris” Nelson’s illustrious career and our shared ambles in academia and in gardens in Japan, we offer this essay on public health and public gardens, namely gardens in the traditional Japanese style and how they could play an important role in addressing pressing public health issues in urban areas in the U.S. (and elsewhere).

Stewardship Of The Built Environment In A Changing World, Robert A. Young

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Stewardship of the built environment emerged in the mid-1990s (Young 1994) when preservationists and conservationists needed to broaden their qualitative emotion-based arguments and adopt quantitative environmental and economic evidence to counter proposals that threatened the viability of both the built and natural environments. Social, environmental, and economic (SEE) concerns at the turn of the twenty-first century formed the triptych of the metrics found within the philosophy which: “…recognizes that the preservation, rehabilitation, and reuse of existing older and historic buildings contributes to sustainable design; respects the past, present, and future users of the built environment; and balances the needs of …

Becoming Henderson: How A "Boomburg" Used A Future-Focused Strategic Plan To Become A True Urban Place, Debra March, Stephanie Garcia-Vause, Lisa Corrado

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Since its incorporation in 1953, the City of Henderson, Nevada has grown from a sparsely populated, one-industry town into a “boomburb” comprised of numerous nationally recognized master-planned communities with an over-arching, future-focused strategic plan. This article is a case study of how this boomburb took advantage of its position in the American suburban landscape to become a true urban place. It also offers a checklist for other communities to consider as they plan for their own futures.