Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Parks & Equity: A Framework For Equitable Access In Richmond, Va Parks, Kendra Norrell

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Increasingly, cities are investing in their green spaces, such as open spaces and parks, as a strategy to improve the livability of the city, but also to improve the health of its residents. Research finds that access and proximity to green spaces provides a host of benefits to humans, including mental and physical health improvements. However, not all residents have equal access to these green public amenities.

Research focuses on best practices for identifying minimum basic standards for DPR parks and the importance and limitations of green spaces in urban design. Basic standards include: setting the minimum limit for amenities …

Centering Social Equity In The Climate Action Planning Process: Lessons For Richmond, Virginia, Melissa M. Marquette

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The client of this plan is the City of Richmond's Office of Sustainability. The purpose is to assist RVAgreen 2050's in its equity-centered climate action planning and to reach the City of Richmond's frontline communities (those impacted first and worst to climate impacts of intense heat, low-lying flooding, and severe storm events). The method and approach include the content analysis of ten cities' climate action, sustainability, or resiliency plans. It makes suggestions of best practices and recommendations for the City of Richmond to reach those historically left out of the planning process and to shift power from the local government …

Transit Feasibility Study For Chesterfield County, Va, Taylor D. Jenkins

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This capstone presents a transit feasibility study for Chesterfield County, VA in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning in the VCU Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. GRTC Transit System (GRTC) is the primary public transportation operator for the Richmond region. In 2016, the Greater Richmond Transit Vision Plan created a regional transit network that would guide cohesive future transit development in the region. This plan intends to support building the bridge between the existing state of transit in Chesterfield County and implementation of the transit vision plan. Through the completion of …

3014 Meadowbridge Rd: A Community-Engaged Opportunity-Based Re-Investment Action Plan, Antwan L. Hoy

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This plan is an asset-based community response for 7^th Street Memorial Baptist Church CDC as a way to revitalize and uplift the Six Points neighborhood of Highland Park. This plan was designed to provide a template for community engagement that would reintroduce a legacy of service to the community while partnering with other community assets to reinvest into the community. The primary action that makes this a prime engagement opportunity is the restoration of 7^th Street Memorial Baptist Church location at 3014 Meadowbridge Rd. Treating the building as an asset for the community and not only the church …

The Chesterfield Pike Plan: A Community Revitalization Plan For Historic Route 1, Eric Van Mai

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The Chesterfield Pike Plan complements Chesterfield County’s ongoing efforts to revitalize the northern section of the Jefferson Davis Highway corridor. By focusing on housing and local economic challenges on what is locally known as “The Pike,” this plan explores community revitalization strategies in a diverse inner-ring suburb. The Pike has been impacted by the nationwide trends of suburban poverty and immigrant suburbanization, which present challenges and opportunities in the pursuit of revitalization. Striking a balance between meeting community needs and economic growth requires a plan that identifies ways in which both new private investment and the existing community can benefit. …

Westwood Multimodal Transportation Plan, Ashley N. Austin

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Westwood is experiencing an industrial regeneration that will change the way the area is utilized by the surrounding communities. To be proactive, Henrico County is planning for the future by creating an overlay zoning district and striving for a multimodal environment to ensure the area grows in a sustainable manner.

This plan evaluates the study area, retrieves community engagement, and makes recommendations on streetscape design and public transit improvements to create a multimodal Westwood. Study area observations provided evidence that the streets in Westwood need to be redesigned to accommodate more for pedestrians and cyclists. Community outreach in the form …

Rehouse Richmond: Plan To Address The Eviction Crisis, Lark Washington

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Rehouse Richmond aims to recommend specific best practices and start-to-finish development of successful organizing strategies for anti-eviction work. The client for this plan, RISC, is an interfaith coalition of congregations across the Richmond region. Richmond has a compounding history of redlining, urban renewal, foreclosure crisis, and now evictions that has drained the wealth of its Black residents for generations. There is a wealth of academic literature indicating the prevalence of eviction as well as the people who are most vulnerable: rent-burdened tenants, and Black women especially with children. There are a lot of responses to the eviction crisis ranging from …

A Framework For Forming Resident-Controlled Manufactured Housing Communities In Richmond, Linwood Rogers

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Despite manufactured housing representing one of the most affordable, unsubsidized housing options for families in the United States, the nature of ownership in many manufactured housing communities places families at constant risk of displacement. In mobile home parks, where a household owns their manufactured home but rents the land underneath it from a park owner, residents have few protections from eviction. Richmond contains 58 mobile home parks housing nearly 6,000 households, but poor park conditions and neglect from park owners has threatened the viability of many communities. In other parts of the country, residents have gained control of their communities …

Stadium Neighborhood Plan, Richmond, Virginia, Donald J. Smith

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The purpose of this document is to provide a 20 year comprehensive plan for the Stadium Neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. This document was produced as part of the requirements for the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). This plan fulfills the Professional Plan requirement in the MURP program, a credit-bearing educational experience in which students work with a community to develop its vision for the future and a strategic map to reach that vision.

The Eastern Goochland Greenway: Connecting Goochland's Past, Present, And Future, Scott A. Newhart

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The Eastern Goochland Greenway Plan proposes a shared-use trail that is nested within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) conceptualization of a statewide trail system called the James River Heritage Trail (JRHT). The JRHT includes shared use bicycle and pedestrian facilities as well as water trail access points that would connect pre-existing trail systems to new proposed trails that are parallel with and in close proximity to Virginia’s James River corridor and all of the natural, cultural, and historic resource opportunities that the surrounding areas offer. Specifically, the Eastern Goochland Greenway aims to serve two major purposes; to …

Infra-Sutures: New Perspectives In Responsive Design And Community Engagement, Shekinah Mitchell

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

Whether considering the construction of highways, urban renewal, or concentrated poverty, many low-wealth communities of color bear the scars of inequity. These scars are symbols of racial and socioeconomic trauma with deep physical, cultural and economic impact; however, this plan asserts that if the built environment has the power to entrench and reinforce hierarchies, it also has the power to participate in dismantling oppressive ideologies and advancing racial and socioeconomic equity. With Richmond, Virginia serving as the case example, this plan proposes a community engagement process and culturally responsive design principles to activate public space redevelopment projects as infra-sutures. Developed …