Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

New Mobility For All: Evaluation Of A Transportation Incentive Program For Residents Of Affordable Housing In Portland, Or, Nathan Mcneil, John Macarthur, Huijun Tan

TREC Final Reports

Low-income residents, immigrants, seniors, and people with disabilities - people who are often the most transport disadvantaged and thus stand to gain the most from tools that could reduce transportation costs and time – are often poorly served by new transportation tools and services, whether due to issues of affordability, gaps in technology adoption, unbanked populations, social or knowledge gaps, physical access, or other barriers. The research team worked with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to evaluate the Transportation Wallet for Residents of Affordable Housing Pilot (TWRAH). The program provided a set of transportation incentives for low-income participants including …

Our Diversity Is Our Strength: Explaining Variation In Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Emphasis In Municipal Arts And Cultural Plans, Carolyn G. Loh, Amanda Ashley, Leslie Durham, Karen Bubb

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

Problem, Research Strategy and Findings: Municipal arts and cultural plans direct significant amounts of public investment and set far-reaching policies, as arts and culture investment becomes an increasingly widespread economic development strategy. While these plans frequently advertise the city’s diversity, they often lack specific strategies for supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, the creation of these plans often does not involve urban planners, nor do the plans often connect to the city’s comprehensive plan or contain the types of fact bases and commitments to equity that comprehensive plans do. In this study of 64 US municipal arts and cultural …

Beyond Bouncing Back? Comparing And Contesting Urban Resilience Frames In Us And Latin American Contexts, Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson, Sara Meerow, Robert Hobbins, Elizabeth Cook, David M. Iwaniec, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Nancy B. Grimm, Allain Barnett, Jan Cordero, Ghandeok Gim, Thaddeus Miller, Fernando Tandazo-Bustamante, Agustín Robles

Sustainable Futures Lab Publications

Urban resilience has gained considerable popularity in planning and policy to address cities’ capacity to cope with climate change. While many studies discuss the different ways that academics define resilience, little attention has been given to how resilience is conceptualized across different urban contexts and among the actors that engage in building resilience ‘on the ground’. Given the implications that resilience frames can have for the solutions that are pursued (and who benefits from them), it is important to examine how transformative definitions of urban resilience are in practice. In this paper, we use data from a survey of nine …

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

An Equity-Focused Assessment Of The City Of Richmond’S Rvagreen 2050 Planning Process, Meghan Z. Gough, Eric Asplund, Rebekah Cazares, Gabriella Francese, Logan Ashby, David Sale, Rebecca Acland, Sara Barton, Nicholas Jancaitis, Ben Jordan, Desmond Smallwood, Jen Allen, Molly Mickens, Kerry Ramos, Sarah Mullarney, Michelle Murrills, Joseph Pickert

Urban and Regional Studies and Planning Reports

Local climate action and sustainability initiatives are often critiqued for their inattention to issues of equity and justice. In response, an increasing number of cities are now attempting to respond to this critique by making equity a more explicit goal of their climate action plans: Richmond Virginia is among those cities. The City of Richmond's Office of Sustainability committed to prioritizing equity in the RVAGreen 2050 plan by recognizing how Richmond’s history of racism and structural inequalities have exacerbated climate concerns for largely Black and Latinx communities and centering historically marginalized communities of color in the engagement process. Students in …

Vcu Monroe Park Campus 'Iconic Green' Pre-Planning And Design Study, Nicholas A. Jancaitis

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

The 'Iconic Green' pre-planning study for the Monroe Park Campus of VCU provides the framework and data necessary to support the intended 'nexus' on the proposed site. A review of the existing literature on various subjects included will highlight models and successful measures that have ensured success for previous similar built works. Having an understanding of the underlying factors and implications for the site, a needs assessment using existing literature and design precedents and in comparison with VCU's own desired end state and needs. Focusing on these comparisons within a theoretical framework called the Just Beautiful City, established in this …

Improving Access To Trails And Green Space: Brightwood Neighborhood, Springfield, Massachusetts, Gregory N. Poelker-Mckee, Alena Conrad, Cameron Joshua Holland, Eli Grigorian

Student Showcase

Accessibility has been an issue with the Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway (River Walk) since its completion in 2003. Our project focuses on designing better connections between this Springfield, MA rail trail and the local environmental justice communities it is meant to serve. As a team of four undergraduate design students, we have spent three months conducting a comprehensive research study on the trail. Ultimately, we will be turning over our research to the Appalachian Mountain Club which intends to use it for reference in their efforts to secure funding for improving River Walk access in the city of Springfield. …

The Limits Of Equity, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

"Equity" is a common buzzword in urban planning circles. However, nearly any land use decision can be justified as more equitable than the alternatives.