Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Analysis Of Professors’ Perceptions Towards Institutional Redevelopment Of Brownfield Sites In Alabama, Berkley Nathaniel King Jr.

Dissertations

This study was conducted to analyze professors’ perceptions on the institutional redevelopment of brownfield sites into usable greenspaces. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011) refers to brownfields as sites, (either facility/land) under public law § 107-118 (H.R. 2869), which are contaminated with a substance that is classified as a hazard or a pollutant. Usable greenspaces, however, are open spaces or any open piece of land that is undeveloped, has no buildings or other built structures, and is accessible to the public (EPA, 2015).

Open green spaces provide recreational areas for residents and help to enhance the beauty and environmental quality …

Toward Regional Resilience In Toronto: From Diagnosis To Action, Zack Taylor, Leah Birnbaum

Western Urban and Local Governance Working Papers

Greater Toronto is recognized as a high-performing urban region. Over the past decade, however, negative social, economic, and environmental trends have emerged that threaten the region’s future. On the basis of documentary research and four focus group workshops with a diverse array of professional practitioners, this paper assesses the Toronto region’s current assets and vulnerabilities in relation to future risks.The discussion is framed by the concept of resilience—an increasingly popular, yet abstract, concept in urban planning and public administration. This paper proposes, first, that planning and policymaking be directed toward increasing the region’s resilience, understood as the diversity and redundancy …

Bioswales For Stormwater Remediation And Infiltration: Assessing Regulatory Climate And Quantifying Filtration Capacity Of A Claremont Bioswale, Skyler Lewis, Boyu Liu, Paul Picciano, Liana Solis, Char Miller

Environmental Analysis Program Senior Projects

Watershed management is critical in ensuring a sustainable water supply. This project is designed to assess the impact of bioswales in the context of Southern California’s climate. The patterns of droughts and floods make these green infrastructure appealing as they offer potential to boost water quality and regenerate local aquifers, while reducing the area of impermeable surfaces in our urban landscape. As bioswales have not been commonly incorporated into infrastructure development, our project focuses on a relatively new bioswale, added in 2012 and located on Pomona College’s campus, to serve as our case study in determining the viability of bioswales …

The Hartford Food System: A Review Of Assets, Challenges, And Opportunities, Zachary A. Fromson

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Abstract

Healthy food systems hold potential to improve a city’s social, health, and economic well-being. Currently, there is a worldwide trend in refocusing food systems to invest in the local community rather than relying on hyper-industrial food value chains that erect barriers for local residents in a city’s food sector. It is the purpose of this report to assess how Hartford’s food sector currently is working so that the city may move in a more innovative direction with its food sector, improving the social, health, and economic conditions for the city and its residents. Thus, this report examines Hartford’s food …

The Gaian-Inspired Systems View Of Life: A Systemic Approach To Global Crises A Case Study: How Scientific Worldviews Influence Global Food Systems, Wyatt Lee Graft

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

This Master's Paper relies on secondary research in addition to theoretical and philosophical arguments to show that humanity's metaphysical worldview significantly underlies its valuing systems, institutions, and behavior. The paper uses the examples of modern industrial food production and emerging organic and local alternatives to provide a comparative analysis between fundamental worldviews and how they influence the way human systems originate and function. It is argued that the change required to address substantial and interconnected global issues will require a re-evaluation and scrutiny of the metaphysical assumptions inherent in the politics and practice of agriculture, food processing, and the very …

The Economics Of Residential Building Deconstruction In Portland, Or, Mike Paruszkiewicz, Jenny H. Liu, Rebecca Hanes, Eric Hoffman, Peter Hulseman, Emma Willingham

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

Impact analysis of the nascent deconstruction industry, in light of recent legislation.

Green Buildings: Lease Structure, Productivity, And Regional Economic Impacts, Eun Kyu Lee

ETD Archive

In an effort to apply the sustainability movement to the built environment, sustainable construction has gained substantial strength and momentum in global society. A growing body of literature reveals the positive effects of sustainable, or green, buildings in terms of real estate market premiums, energy cost savings, employee productivity, and regional economic growth. In this context, my dissertation examines three research topics pertaining to sustainable buildings, and does so in three separate chapters.

The first study discusses the effect of lease structure on the tenant’s willingness to pay for energy-efficient building features, and compares the tenant’s stated willingness to pay …

From Planning To Action: An Evaluation Of State Level Climate Action Plans, Serena E. Alexander

ETD Archive

Climate change is one of the most daunting problems of our time requiring innovative responses to its causes and consequences. In the United States, the long absence of strong federal leadership along with growing public awareness of the problem created a fertile ground for state-level climate action planning. To date, 34 states have adopted Climate Action Plans (CAPs). The question that this study addresses is: Does state-level climate action have the potential to reduce carbon emissions significantly? This question was examined by assessing the relationships between CAPs, emissions reduction targets, plan implementation and emissions mitigation. My hypothesis was that CAPs …

Adopting Sustainability Innovations In Restaurants: An Evaluation Of The Factors Influencing Owner-Managers’ Decisions In Richmond, Virginia, Anna Salzberg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing restaurant Owner-Managers’ decisions to adopt sustainability innovations in restaurants. A cross-sectional survey research design is used for this study, which entails distributing a survey to restaurants in the City of Richmond, Virginia, to gain an understanding of the factors influencing sustainability innovation adoption. Drawing from both the innovation adoption theory and the theory of planned behavior, the researcher contributes a baseline of the restaurants’ sustainability and the Owner-Managers’ intrinsic motivations. By integrating innovation adoption theory’s perceived innovation characteristics and measuring restaurants’ past sustainability behavior, this study increases the overall …