Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

Sustainable Commercial Interior Design, Órla Keane

Dissertations

This dissertation looks at the environmental benefits of 3 key areas in relation to interior design: Energy, Water and Air; energy efficient lighting, water efficient plumbing fixtures and the effects of interior materials and finishes on indoor air quality.

Qualitative research methodology: Extensive literature review of texts available on these topics, and also of the relevant building codes and environmental legislation applicable to Irish interior designers and the built environment.

Quantitative research methodology: A comprehensive survey of then currently practicing Irish interior designers, and their use of sustainable design strategies (or lack thereof). The survey was conducted in conjunction with …

Loosening The Ties That Bind: Grangegorman Masterplan, Noel Brady

Articles

Interview with James Mary O'Connor, Architect and Masterplanner with Moore Rubel Yudell designers of the Masterplan for DIT at Grangegroman, Dublin

Critical Foundations: Providing Australia’S 21st Century Infrastructure, Michael Regan

Michael Regan

Extract:

Infrastructure is undoubtedly the least understood of the major asset classes in Australia. A tradition of public ownership and operation, its status as a public good and a lack of information about its investment characteristics in both public and private hands has contributed to limited recognition of its role in national and regional economies. However, this situation is changing. A coincidence of political, economic and financial events in the lead up to the worldwide economic recession of the late 1980s and Australia's microeconomic reforms of the 1990s b[r]ought into sharper focus the central role that infrastructure plays in both …

Missing The Gold Coast Train? The Interaction Between Private Development And Three Levels Of Government Planning In Attempting To Co-Locate A New Railway Station And A Major New Town Centre, Daniel O'Hare

Daniel O'Hare

Queensland’s Gold Coast was established as a collection of coastal tourist resorts by the late 19th century. Private development was stimulated in the conventional way, by State government provision of public transport. The main resort areas flourished due to easy public access via two railway lines from the State capital Brisbane. During the 20th century a much larger network of Gold Coast holiday resorts and retirement suburbs was created due to the greater mobility allowed by increasing car ownership. By the 1960s, the original Gold Coast railway lines were removed, with their corridors eventually being redeveloped for a mix of …

Moving Towards Self-Reliance: Living Conditions Of Refugee Camps In Lebanon And Opportunities For Development, Dana Masad

Master's Theses

Refugee camps in Lebanon are harsh, continuously and rapidly deteriorating environments. In addition to poverty, numerous wars and the restrictions of civil rights, refugee camps that were not designed as a long-term settlement were made to accommodate their residents in addition to their descendents for a period that has lasted over 59 years. Since the establishment of the camps in 1948 the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have fallen victim to multiple wars and as a result most camps have witnessed major destruction of homes and infrastructure, and a few were entirely destroyed. Today, the planning and development of the camps …

Land Conservation And Land Use In New England: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities, Amanda Loomis, Tom Devine, Andrea Small, Brittany Howard, Brett Richardson, Stephanie Dulac

Land Conservation

Sprawling development patterns accelerated across the New England landscape in the last three decades and consumed the region‘s forests, farms, and open spaces at an unprecedented rate. New England‘ers in all six states formed land trusts, supported statewide conservation organizations, and collaborated with state and federal partners to protect some of their most-prized recreation lands, wildlife habitats, and working lands. The current economic recession has slowed development pressures across the region and offers an opportunity to build on recent successes. The time is right to plan a coordinated New England conservation strategy that protects and links the region‘s natural assets. …

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 …

South Burlington, Vt: Mixed-Use Comes To O’Dell Parkway, Ryan Neale, Brett Richardson, Richard Barringer

Planning

The proposed redevelopment of an underutilized property along major travel routes in South Burlington presents possibilities for infill development. The City of South Burlington, the developer, neighbors, and a variety of public and nonprofit financial partners work together to create a mixed-use residential/commercial development to meet a variety of housing and community needs. The case study describes the obstacles overcome to make redevelopment possible through zoning and regulatory changes, negotiation with local residents over traffic and other concerns, support from state and local housing advocates, and political leadership; as well as the development’s application of smart growth principles.

Substituting Residential Rainwater Harvesting And Greywater Reuse For Public Water Supply: Tools For Evaluating The Public Cost, Jennifer L. Ferguson

Master's Theses

The intent of this project is to provide tools for public administrators to implement and evaluate the cost of an alternative on-site residential water supply using rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse in their jurisdiction. These tools are then applied to the city of San Luis Obispo (SLO), California as a case study to demonstrate how rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse could be implemented to supply all residential potable and non-potable water needs, completely replacing the current centralized publicly-managed water system. Further, energy and direct fiscal costs of the alternative system are compared with the current system. A cost analysis is …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 2, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

The Portland Municipal Climate Change Working Group prepared a report in March 2008 that outlined several recommendations as a commitment by the City to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced during daily municipal operations. The Municipal Climate Action Plan was written in partnership with Clean Air – Cool Planet and Portland officials, and acknowledges under Recommendation #2 that an employee energy efficiency program would provide significant positive impact on the City’s reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Best practices from three cities show that focus on the greening of City Hall is critical in developing a program that promotes partnerships, community …

Bamboo: An Alternative Building Material For Urban Ethiopia, Bewketu Z. Kassa

Master's Theses

This project explores the potential of bamboo as an alternative building material for low cost housing units suitable for urban Ethiopia. The rational for the application of bamboo comes from its abundance throughout the country, and its proven physical properties that equate it to other building material like timber, steel and concrete. The proposed bamboo based design solution concentrates on simplification of construction methods, prefabrication of structural components and vertical densification of housing units, addressing the lack of skilled labor, cost of construction time and urban land respectively. An understanding of the design solution was established by constructing a full-scale …

Interdisciplinary Industrial Ecology Education: Recommendations For An Inclusive Pedagogical Model, Archana Sharma

Archana Sharma

Industrial ecology education is being developed and delivered predominantly within the domains of engineering and management. Such an approach could prove somewhat limiting to the broader goal developing the industrial ecology as an integrated knowledge base inclusive of diverse disciplines in contributing to sustainable development. This paper hypothesizes that industrial ecology could be optimally delivered across broader disciplines if it were to be delivered as a supplemental knowledge among disciplines that engage with sustainable development education. Based on this hypothesis, a pedagogical experiment is devised and presented here. The paper is descriptive, reflective and exploratory in approach; the challenges embedded …

Three State-Run Green Building Programs: A Comparative Case Study Analysis And Assessment, Haidee N. Janak

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis explores three state-run green building programs (California, Minnesota and New York) through comparative case-study analysis. Main topics discussed include cost benefits, health benefits, certification (i.e. LEED or other), and lessons learned from direct interviews with program staff.

Macarthur Park Master Plan, Community Design Center

Project Reports

Like waterfronts and transit stops, parks leverage value in urban areas. While much recent attention has been given to the signature mega-park, the value of the small-scale neighborhood park in reinventing the city has been overlooked. Once connecting neighborhoods of differing character, and sponsoring more than 80 residential structures along its edges, the historic MacArthur Park at the edge of downtown Little Rock is radically underutilized as an urban neighborhood asset. Severed from its neighborhoods along two edges by interstate construction in the 1960s, this moribund 40-acre municipal park is left with only 16 residential structures along its frontage. The …

The Network Imaginary: Coherence And Creativity Within A Multiscalar Collaborative Effort To Reform U.S. Fire Management, Bruce Evan Goldstein, William Hale Butler

Bruce Evan Goldstein

No abstract provided.

Rebuilding After Disaster: Going Green From The Ground Up, U.S. Department Of Energy

Publications (E)

If you’re a leader in a community that has met with disaster and must be rebuilt, this guide is for you. It’s intended to show how communities—big or small—can incorporate green principles and technologies like energy efficiency and renewable energy into their rebuilding plans. The information in this guide is based on the real-life experiences of two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) teams. One team worked with city leaders in New Orleans, Louisiana, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and the other assisted community leaders in Greensburg, Kansas, after a devastating tornado in 2007. Although the two communities are …

Ua30/1/1 Planning, Design & Construction Blueprints, Drawings & Plans, Wku University Archives, Ryun Warren

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Blueprints, drawings and plans of WKU buildings and campus created by the Department of Planning, Design & Construction.