Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Do-It‐Yourself Urban Design: Making Local Improvements Through Unauthorized Alterations Of Urban Space, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This study examines “spatial interventions”: street art, guerrilla gardening, public space invasions, and other unauthorized practices of place-based, site-specific art or activism that challenge the normative uses or meanings of particular urban spaces. In recent years, a growing number of individuals have taken up these forms of site-specific direct action. Some argue that they represent new strategies of political expression, even “resistance”; others, that it is little more than vandalism or pointless juvenile acting out. Yet my research suggests that many of these actions are rather connected by something more subtle, a simple willingness to reimagine the built environment on …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 Of A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data, some minimal travel behavior data, and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 Of A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data, some minimal travel behavior data, and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to …

An Evaluation Of The City Of Palo Alto’S California Avenue Pedestrian And Transit-Oriented Development (Ptod) Combining District Regulations, Scott Alexander Mckay

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

San Rafael’S Downtown District: A Review Of Land Use And Traffic Policies That Can Effectively Limit The Increase Of Off-Street Commercial Parking Spaces, Adrienne Heim

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Metropolitan Growth Policies And New Housing Supply: Evidence From Australia's Capital Cities, Ralph B. Mclaughlin

Ralph B. McLaughlin

This paper empirically examines the relationship between house price change, metropolitan growth policies, and new housing supply in Australia's five major capital cities. Our hypothesis suggests capital cities with tighter regulations on new development will have fewer housing starts and price elasticities than those in less- regulated markets. The empirical procedure used in this paper utilises the Urban Growth Model of Housing Supply developed in Mayer and Somerville (2000a and 2000b) and employed in Zabel and Patterson (2006) by using quarterly data on housing approvals and house prices from 1996-2010. Data on metropolitan growth policies in Australia is borrowed from …

Understanding Household Preferences For Alternative-Fuel Vehicles Technologies, Hilary Nixon, J. D. Saphores

Hilary Nixon

This report explores consumer preferences among four different alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs): hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs). Although researchers have been interested in understanding consumer preferences for AFVs for more than three decades, it is important to update our estimates of the trade-offs people are willing to make between cost, environmental performance, vehicle range, and refueling convenience. We conducted a nationwide, Internet-based survey to assess consumer preferences for AFVs. Respondents participated in a stated-preference ranking exercise in which they ranked a series of five vehicles (four AFVs and …

Mothers And Infants In The Prehistoric Santa Clara Valley: What Stable Isotopes Tell Us About Ancestral Ohlone Weaning Practices, Alan M. Leventhal, Karen S. Gardner, Rosemary Cambra, Eric J. Bartelink, Antoinette Martinez

Faculty Publications, Anthropology

Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values. This study interprets δ15N values in the bone collagen of children (n = 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California. Radiocarbon dates for this site span 2200-250 B.P., but primarily fall during the Late period (740-230 B.P.). In the one probable mother-infant pair available for study, a …

Metropolitan Growth Policies And New Housing Supply: Evidence From Australia's Capital Cities, Ralph B. Mclaughlin

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This paper empirically examines the relationship between house price change, metropolitan growth policies, and new housing supply in Australia's five major capital cities. Our hypothesis suggests capital cities with tighter regulations on new development will have fewer housing starts and price elasticities than those in less- regulated markets. The empirical procedure used in this paper utilises the Urban Growth Model of Housing Supply developed in Mayer and Somerville (2000a and 2000b) and employed in Zabel and Patterson (2006) by using quarterly data on housing approvals and house prices from 1996-2010. Data on metropolitan growth policies in Australia is borrowed from …

Understanding Household Preferences For Alternative-Fuel Vehicles Technologies, Hilary Nixon, J. D. Saphores

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This report explores consumer preferences among four different alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs): hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs). Although researchers have been interested in understanding consumer preferences for AFVs for more than three decades, it is important to update our estimates of the trade-offs people are willing to make between cost, environmental performance, vehicle range, and refueling convenience. We conducted a nationwide, Internet-based survey to assess consumer preferences for AFVs. Respondents participated in a stated-preference ranking exercise in which they ranked a series of five vehicles (four AFVs and …

Do Fast Food Restaurants Cluster Around High Schools? A Geospatial Analysis Of Proximity Of Fast Food Restaurants To High Schools And The Connection To Childhood Obesity Rates, Hilary Nixon, Lauren Doud

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Nationwide, approximately 30% of children consume fast food on a typical day, and caloric intake from fast food has increased fivefold over the past three decades. Our analysis adds to a growing body of public health and planning research through a geospatial analysis of fast food restaurants in Santa Clara County, California. We selected 41 high schools, representing 97% of enrollment in the county, and examined proximity to fast food restaurants within 400 meters (437 yards) and 800 meters (875 yards) of the schools. Our results indicate that fast food restaurants are clustered near high schools with higher obesity rates. …

Mothers And Infants In The Prehistoric Santa Clara Valley: What Stable Isotopes Tell Us About Ancestral Ohlone Weaning Practices, Alan M. Leventhal, Karen S. Gardner, Rosemary Cambra, Eric J. Bartelink, Antoinette Martinez

Alan M. Leventhal

Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values. This study interprets δ15N values in the bone collagen of children (n = 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California. Radiocarbon dates for this site span 2200-250 B.P., but primarily fall during the Late period (740-230 B.P.). In the one probable mother-infant pair available for study, a …

'The Edge Of The Island': Neighborhood Identity And Evolving Community In 'Liminal Places', Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This paper examines the contemporary processes at work in urban areas without clear spatial identities that are simultaneously facing the challenges of cultural change and gentrification. I do so through the close analysis of one such ‘liminal place’ on Chicago’s West Side. I use the phrase ‘a community on the edge of the island’ to describe the area, inspired by an interview subject who referred to the tenuous search for a sort of ideal bohemian hipness as the need to stay as “close to the edge of the island” as possible without actually leaving it. Making use of ethnographic and …

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From A National Survey, Asha W. Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

No abstract available.

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From A National Survey, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Hilary Nixon

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Spanning Policy Silos In Urban Development And Environmental Management: When Global Cities Are Coastal Cities Too, Herman L. Boschken

Faculty Publications, School of Management

No abstract provided.

Paleoepidemiological Patterns Of Interpersonal Aggression In A Prehistoric Central California Population From Ca-Ala-329, Alan M. Leventhal, Robert Jurmain, Eric Bartelink, Viviana Bellifemine, Irina Nechayev, Melinda Atwood, Diane Digiuseppe

Faculty Publications, Anthropology

Interpersonal aggression is assessed paleoepidemiologically in a large skeletal population from the CA-ALA-329 site located on the southeastern side of San Francisco Bay, California. This comprehensive analysis included all currently recognized skeletal criteria, including craniofacial fracture, projectile injury, forearm fracture, and perimortem bone modification. Craniofacial injury is moderately common, showing an adult prevalence of 9.0% with facial lesions accounting for >50% of involvement. Clinical studies suggest that such separate evaluation of facial involvement provides a useful perspective for understanding patterns of interpersonal aggression. In this group male facial involvement is significantly greater than in females, paralleling the pattern found widely …

Cultural Sincerity In Urban Development, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This paper examines the role of culture in the urban development process. An abridged selection from an ongoing study of developers, activists and the politics of growth in Davis, California, it presents the case of the Target Corporation's campaign to build the first "big box" retail store in that city. I argue that Target's ability to win over the strongly slow-growth and anti-corporate community in a public referendum -- following apparently successful attempts to meet popular expectations of environmental leadership and the preservation of unique local character -- provides a clear example of how what I call cultural sincerity can …

What Is Glamour? The Production & Consumption Of A Working Aesthetic, Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

I examine here how glamour is manifested in different places and among different peoples across Los Angeles, each with different histories, cultures and aesthetics. After initially defining the concept with reference to traditional understandings using the social and spatial history of Hollywood, I develop three ideal-typical categories of glamour (glitz as glamour, status as glamour, and grit as glamour) as heuristics for looking at the many diverse ‘glamours’ to be found in Los Angeles today: from the film industry to finance, the allure of haute cuisine to the chrome of Latino car culture, the manufactured spectacle of absurdist architecture to …

Paleoepidemiological Patterns Of Interpersonal Aggression In A Prehistoric Central California Population From Ca-Ala-329, Alan M. Leventhal, Robert Jurmain, Eric Bartelink, Viviana Bellifemine, Irina Nechayev, Melinda Atwood, Diane Digiuseppe

Alan M. Leventhal

Interpersonal aggression is assessed paleoepidemiologically in a large skeletal population from the CA-ALA-329 site located on the southeastern side of San Francisco Bay, California. This comprehensive analysis included all currently recognized skeletal criteria, including craniofacial fracture, projectile injury, forearm fracture, and perimortem bone modification. Craniofacial injury is moderately common, showing an adult prevalence of 9.0% with facial lesions accounting for >50% of involvement. Clinical studies suggest that such separate evaluation of facial involvement provides a useful perspective for understanding patterns of interpersonal aggression. In this group male facial involvement is significantly greater than in females, paralleling the pattern found widely …

Green Transportation Taxes And Fees: A Survey Of Californian, Asha W. Agrawal, Jennifer Dill, Hilary Nixon

Hilary Nixon

This report explores public opinion on a new and promising concept—green transportation taxes and fees. These are taxes and fees set at variable rates, with higher rates for more polluting vehicles and lower rates for those that pollute less. This approach to transportation taxes and fees adapts the traditional transportation finance system to achieve two critical public benefits at once: encouraging drivers to choose more environmentally-friendly transportation options and raising revenue for needed transportation programs. To test public support for green transportation taxes and fees, the authors conducted a random telephone survey of 1,500 Californians that asked respondents their views …

Green Transportation Taxes And Fees: A Survey Of Californian, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Jennifer Dill, Hilary Nixon

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This report explores public opinion on a new and promising concept—green transportation taxes and fees. These are taxes and fees set at variable rates, with higher rates for more polluting vehicles and lower rates for those that pollute less. This approach to transportation taxes and fees adapts the traditional transportation finance system to achieve two critical public benefits at once: encouraging drivers to choose more environmentally-friendly transportation options and raising revenue for needed transportation programs. To test public support for green transportation taxes and fees, the authors conducted a random telephone survey of 1,500 Californians that asked respondents their views …

Linking Highway Improvements To Changes In Land Use With Quasi-Experimental Research Design: A Better Forecasting Tool For Transportation Decision-Making, R. G. Funderburg, Hilary Nixon, M. G. Boarnet

Hilary Nixon

An important issue for future improvement and extensions of highways will be the ability of projects to sustain challenges to Environmental Impact Statements based upon forecasts of regional growth. A legal precedent for such challenges was established in 1997 when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the EIS for a proposed Illinois toll road was deficient because the growth projections were the same in the build and no-build scenarios. This paper incorporates popular regional growth forecasting models into a quasi-experimental research design that directly relates new highway investments in three California counties to changes in population and employment location, …

Linking Highway Improvements To Changes In Land Use With Quasi-Experimental Research Design: A Better Forecasting Tool For Transportation Decision-Making, R. G. Funderburg, Hilary Nixon, M. G. Boarnet

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

An important issue for future improvement and extensions of highways will be the ability of projects to sustain challenges to Environmental Impact Statements based upon forecasts of regional growth. A legal precedent for such challenges was established in 1997 when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the EIS for a proposed Illinois toll road was deficient because the growth projections were the same in the build and no-build scenarios. This paper incorporates popular regional growth forecasting models into a quasi-experimental research design that directly relates new highway investments in three California counties to changes in population and employment location, …

Effect Of Suburban Transit Oriented Developments On Residential Property Values, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Suburban Transit Oriented Developments On Residential Property Values, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Looking Beyond “Mow, Blow And Go”: A Case Study Of Mexican Immigrant Gardeners In Los Angeles, Alvaro Huerta

NACCS Annual Conference Proceedings

Abstract:

Recent research on Mexican immigrants focuses on the working conditions of farm workers, garment workers, janitors and day laborers. This coincides with successful efforts by organized labor and immigrant advocacy groups to organize these marginalized workforces. Little attention, however, has been given to Mexican paid gardeners. As part of the household service economy, paid gardeners represent a difficult labor sector to organize and research because they typically operate as independent contractors in the informal economy. This paper seeks to provide a more holistic picture of this dynamic, informal workforce. Drawing primarily upon ethnographic techniques, the paper documents how this …

Neighborhood Crime And Non-Auto Mode Choice, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell, Emy Mendoza

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.