Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing The Impacts Of Increasing The Availability Of Non-Automobile Modes Of Transportation On Carbon Emissions And Accessibility In Worcester, William Schechter

Sustainability and Social Justice

Over-reliance on cars in Worcester, Massachusetts represents a significant barrier to the introduction of accessible and ecologically sound modes of transportation. Through increases in frequency, accessibility, and service area, bus transportation in Worcester can offer a viable alternative to personal vehicle usage. In conjunction with the changes to buses, improvements to infrastructure for non-motorist transportation modes such as cycling, walking and assistive equipment will further reduce reliance on personal motor vehicles. Additional policies discouraging the use of motor vehicles is also suggested, with limited traffic zones and vehicle weight restrictions being implemented. With the developments and policy outlined within this …

Lewisburg Bikeability Report 2022, Morgan Powell, Shaunna Barnhart, Taylor Lightman

Student Project Reports

No abstract provided.

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 …

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Of Transportation And Driving Habits At Gettysburg College, Flavia Soctto D'Antuono, Megan G. Wojnar

Student Publications

By tracking the overall emissions put out by a college campus, mitigation strategies can be researched to lower total emissions. This study utilized a survey for both the student body and faculty and staff members at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This survey allowed this study to answer three research questions; what is the total number of Scope 3 emissions at Gettysburg College, how do these findings compare to findings from 2009 and the 2016 STARS report for Gettysburg College, and if any potential mitigation strategies are welcomed by the campus community. This study examined five major driving related emission …

Going Green: A Comparative Analysis Of Green Urbanism In Paris And Shanghai, Jeanne Torp

Honors Theses

As climate change becomes more pressing with each day and as we scramble to slow down the challenges it poses, adapting the means of operation within our cities will become an invaluable tool for reducing humanity’s carbon footprint. This paper seeks to study the ways in which green infrastructure in global cities can be used to do just that—adapting to and mitigating the effects of challenges resulting from climate change. In order to provide a broad overview of the effectiveness of such green infrastructure systems across the globe, this research will focus on two cities that vary greatly in their …

Work From Home, It Helps, Kendrick Ramos, Anthoni Reinhart, Anjana Mahesh, Joshiah Tan, Humna Amad

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

The world's population was in lockdown due to COVID 19, accompanied by stringent social measures in 2020. Surprisingly, the outbreak's positive impacts outweigh its adverse effects in terms of environmental well-being as there has been a significant decrease in greenhouse gas emissions at an average of 8% around the world. This study focuses on the relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the strictness level of lockdown measures across the 50 states of the United States of America for the years 2019 and 2020, as the data is retrieved from the U.S federal and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) websites. We …

Data And Information As Our New Transport Infrastructure: An Exploration Into How The Modern Transport System Is Being Shaped By Information Communication Technology, Adam Davidson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is focuses on the role that data and information has in creating and altering behavior related to transportation. To do so, it lays out a theoretical model of technological transition and then follows it up with three case studies. The theoretical model provides a structure to consider how different actors in our transportation ecosystem – users, firms, policy actors – mix with technological evolution to uphold or incrementally recreate our transportation landscape. The case studies stand on their own to highlight important findings about how data and information are impacting transportation scenarios, but collectively reinforce the theoretical models. …

The Effectiveness Of The European Union’S Environmental Policies, Wendolyn Borkoski

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The European Union has some of the highest environmental standards in the world. However, multiple member states fail at reaching the deadlines set by the European Union (EU). This thesis examines the effectiveness of the European Union’s environmental directives on gaining compliance from member states to reach the agreed-upon standards. This is assessed by using three European Union directives from different environmental areas and analyzing their requirements. Each directive represents either a hierarchical policy, negotiated policy, or voluntary policy transfer. This study hypothesizes that the hierarchical policy, represented by EU Directive 2008/98/EC, will be more effective at gaining compliance than …

Active Transportation, Spring/Summer 2012, Issue 26

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Smartphone App Survey To Encourage Sustainable And Healthy Travel Mode Choices, Paul Rivers

Theses and Dissertations

Can access to carbon footprint and health [calorie and fat burn] information influence transportation behavior? Survey methods are used in conjunction with a smartphone GPS mobile app to measure transportation tendencies in weekdays – weekends, and willingness to undertake modal shift based on app experience over one week.

Exploring Transit-Based Environmental Injustices In San Gabriel Valley And Greater Los Angeles, Bailey Lai

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to disentangle the multilayered interactions between Greater Los Angeles’s history, its built environment, and its inequitable treatment of different peoples, focusing on how transportation in surrounding suburban communities like San Gabriel Valley has developed in relation to the inner city of Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains a long, winding trajectory of transit-based environmental injustices, from the indigenous societies being overtaken by the Spanish missions, to the railroads and streetcars boosting the farmlands and urban growth of Los Angeles, leading into the decline of transit and rise of automobile-oriented suburbia. Within the San Gabriel Valley, the suburban …

Science, Advocacy, Policy, Planning: Tools For Advancing Transportation Equity, Garrett S. Mcallister

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of this portfolio is how different tools and approaches can be used for advancing transportation equity. Broadly defined, transportation equity is about fairness in transportation. There are a number of ways this fairness can be assessed. The most common way to assess transportation equity is by looking at the fairness of outcomes, distributed geographically, socially, or even by mode of transportation. Equity can also be defined by the fairness of processes. The first half of the portfolio illustrates some of the problems with the current transportation system and how it is unhealthy (Piece 1) and unjust (Piece 2). …

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 …

All Roads Lead To The Fair: How A 2022 Los Angeles World's Fair Would Accelerate The Implementation Of Sustainable And Innovative Forms Of Transportation, Isabella Levin

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the potential impact of a World’s Fair on urban mobility in Los Angeles County by 2022. A brief historical account of World’s Fairs, and their impact on technological innovations in transportation will be given in conjunction with the development of transportation in Los Angeles. These accounts will help to contextualize an analysis of current plans to provide Los Angeles with transportation solutions, in light of the oversaturated automobile landscape in place today. Specifically, my research has revealed that the further development of light-speed rail systems paired alongside a mass adoption of autonomous vehicles would both alleviate contemporary …

Hidden Costs And Deadweight Losses: Bundled Parking Andresidential Rents In The Metropolitan United States, C. J. Gabbe, Gregory Pierce

Environmental Studies and Sciences

There is a major housing affordability crisis in many American metropolitan areas, particularly for renters. Minimum parking requirements in municipal zoning codes drive up the price of housing, and thus represent an important potential for reform for local policymakers. The relationship between parking and housing prices, however, remains poorly understood. We use national American Housing Survey data and hedonic regression techniques to investigate this relationship. We find that the cost of garage parking to renter households is approximately $1,700 per year, or an additional 17% of a housing unit’s rent. In addition to the magnitude of this transport cost burden …

Worcester, Ma Bike Share Feasibility Study, Corinne Jachelski

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The Worcester, MA Bike Share Feasibility Study was conducted to determine whether the City of Worcester is suitable for a city wide bike share. This study includes a general history of bike shares; their benefits based on major categories of social, environmental, economic, and transit; and overview of demographic composition of Worcester. Several cities of similar population size to Worcester that have implemented bike share systems are reviewed as context for system size. Other completed bike share feasibility studies informed the methods employed in this study, as well as provided more information broadly and specifically about all of the elements …

An Exploratory Scenario For San Francisco To Become A Walking, Bicycling And Transit City, Chaowen Huang

Master's Projects and Capstones

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on global warming and climate change have become increasingly evident, and the transportation sector is a dominant contributor to GHG emissions which responsible for 13% of the world’s total GHG emissions and more than 21% of overall energy-related CO₂ emissions. Cities need sustainable transportation system that integrate new technologies and strategies to provide efficient and effective transit service while reducing its GHG emission and improving its livability. This paper explores a suitable and sustainable transportation scenario for San Francisco to achieve its 2035 goal which is to reduce 1,767,500 metric tons GHG emissions …

An Analysis Of The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’S Ability To Achieve Sustainability As Defined By The Transportation Index For Sustainable Places, Vanessa Trafas

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper analysis the ability of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority to adhere to sustainability under the Transportation Index for Sustainable Places (TISP). Analysis focuses solely on the environmental domain of the TISP and the criteria included within that domain. Three pieces are analyzed: the Los Angeles Sustainable Implementation Plan, the Sustainable Rail Plan, and the Regional Connector Transit Project. These pieces are found to adhere to the sustainability criteria under the environmental domain of the TISP.

A Chi-Square Analysis Of The Fall 2013 Transportation Survey: Students At The University At Albany, Cassidy Drasser

Publications

There are over 6,500 students at the University at Albany who live off-campus and commute to school. In order to reduce their carbon footprint, the University at Albany must investigate what influences the students’ transportation choices and their alternative transportation literacy. Therefore, the Office of Environmental Sustainability, Geography and Urban Planning Department and the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness conducted a survey in the fall of 2013 for the students at the University at Albany. After examining the results, the gender and minority distributions were not representative of the student population. The significant associations that were prominent were …

Syllabus: Sustainable Living: Solutions For The 21st Century, Laurie Simmons

Sustainability Education Resources

Your generation has been handed an opportunity: the opportunity to change the story of our culture from one of blind consumption to one of conscious ecological living. As individuals, as a society and as a species, we are facing challenges related to sustainability including economic stability, social justice, resource depletion and waste management, biodiversity preservation, climate adaptation and food and agricultural resilience. In this interdisciplinary course you will learn how to seize this opportunity by working with your peers to research and understand how sustainability in different contexts presents solutions to many of these challenges facing modern society. “Sustainable Living” …

Reduction Of Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions To Mitigate Climate Change Impacts, Mary Snow, Richard Snow

Publications

Weather affects almost all modes of transportation in a modern society, and likewise, transportation has an enormous impact on the weather. Transportation greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) impact climate change, which impacts transportation in return. Reduction of transportation impacts on climate change can mitigate the reverse climate change impacts on transportation. This paper examines the relationship between transportation and climate change and establishes prospective solutions to reduce transportation greenhouse gas emission impacts on climate change and mitigate the reverse climate change impacts on transportation.

Attitudes Towards Climate Change And Sustainability, Sammy Easby, Tess Manning

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Climate change is an important issue in the world today and the University of Richmond has the ability to make a difference. The purpose of this project was to gain information about University of Richmond students’ awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to climate change and sustainability on campus. A short survey was composed and sent to students via email. Over the course of two weeks, 274 students completed the survey. The data from the survey was composed and analyzed. Based on the data, for the most part our community’s behaviors have stayed consistent. Student awareness has slightly increased but they …

Principles Of Sustainable Transportation In The National Parks, R. E. Manning, S. Lawson, P. Newman, J. Halo, Christopher Monz

Christopher Monz

No abstract provided.

Case Study: University At Albany Develops A Guide To Examine Commuting Behavior And Patterns, Catherine T. Lawson, Mary Ellen Mallia, Chris Franklin, Benjamin Fischer, David Hogenkamp, Matt Ryan

Publications

The University at Albany conducted an examination of campus commuting patterns and behaviors over an eighteen month period. The components included a review of existing options, the development of GIS maps indicating origin points of commutes, a survey of campus perceptions of barriers to using alternative transportation and on-time tracking of mass transit offerings. The study revealed that the success of alternative transportation is hindered by limitations in bus routes and frequency in scheduling, the need for commuters to make additional trips outside their commute route and a distrust of bus reliability.

Are Subcompact Cars Driving Consumers Towards Sustainable Transport, Enda Mcgovern

WCBT Faculty Publications

Access to private transport is a critical component of the modern industrialized world but it is also recognized as a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, one of the global warming gases contributing to climate change. This paper looks at increased use of subcompact cars as a key component in developing a sustainable transport policy. These cars benefit the environment by emitting reduced levels of carbon emissions due to their smaller engines. This empirical research explores the opinions of Smart car owners in a focus group study. Smart car owners are primarily focused on reducing their costs due to difficult …

Erving Usher Plant Revitalization, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The purpose of this report was to make a plan to revitalize the Usher Plant in Erving, Massachusetts. The potential uses for the space are secondary to the question of structural integrity and extent of environmental contamination. The report raises these issues and gives some recommendations on how to proceed towards a resolution.

Economic Sustainability Plan For Adams, Massachusetts: Ten Year Projection Plan, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The client for this project is James Leitch, The town administrator for the Town of Adams. In addition, we are working in close conjunction with the Center for Economic Technology (C.E.T.).

The purpose of this project is to assist Adams in the creation of a ten year economic action plan, which is only one-third of Adams proposed Comprehensive Sustainability Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is to be completed by the merger of three plans: the 1997 University of Massachusetts Landscape Architecture Studio Report on environmental elements within the Town, our 1998 Economic Action Plan, and a Social Plan, to be developed …