Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Desalination And Development: Locating The Missing Masses In Dakar’S Water Network, Marina Riad

Scripps Senior Theses

The introduction of desalination technology to the water network in Dakar, Senegal marks a monumental change in how state and commercial interests aim to solve systemic problems using novel technologies. Desalination aims to transform the ocean surrounding Dakar into potable water, a vital resource in the growing metropolis. However, this desalination project must integrate itself within a network of social, historical, political, commercial, and ecological influences shaping the role of desalination in urban Dakar. With millions of dollars and an entire ocean mobilized towards solving Dakar’s water problems, it may come as a surprise that this project will only provide …

Characterization Of Municipal Water Sources For The Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Basin Region, Ian F. Hirons

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

The Mexico and Toluca Valleys in central Mexico are part of one of the most heavily populated megalopolises in the western hemisphere where consistent access to safe, affordable, and quality water sources figures to be a decisive challenge in the era of climate change. This professional project report compiles a range of statistics and information about the vital liquid for 29 municipalities located in and around the Mexico City and Toluca areas. This contribution is derived from a broader team research endeavor that seeks to gauge the impacts and adaptive processes to climate change within those regions. By doing so, …

Holding Water For The City: Emergent Geographies Of Storage And The Urbanization Of Nature, Sayd Randle

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In the US West, water stories are often aqueduct stories, narratives of moving the vital resource from one place to another. This paper, in contrast, explores nascent efforts to keep the water still, in the name of helping buffer cities from the anticipated impacts of climate change. Scripted as potential holding sites for an urban water reserve, aquifers and the task of filling them now orient a range of policies and material investments across Southern California. Building on writings that explore the multi-scalar politics of storing and stockpiling vaccines, resources, and lively or uncooperative commodities, this analysis approaches storage as …

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 …

Interrupted Progress: Water And Sanitation In Haiti, Emily Bauer

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Haiti has faced damaging environmental and social impacts, which have interrupted progress towards clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities for its over 10 million people. Natural disasters, disease outbreak, political corruption and economic instability have contributed to poor health and social outcomes for the small, island nation. This study used the most recent data from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Programme (WHO/UNICEF JMP) to assess national trends in water source and sanitation facility improvements from 1990-2015. WHO/UNICEF JMP defines water improvements as piped or non-piped protected water, and sanitation improvements as networked, flushed …

Impermeable Assemblages: Flooding, Urban Infrastructure, And Stormwater Politics In São Paulo, Brazil, Nate Millington

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This project analyzes efforts to remake the relationship between water and city in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently experiencing overlapping problems of flooding, scarcity, and pollution, São Paulo illustrates the challenges of managing water in a contemporary mega-city. This dissertation subsequently considers the city’s water management through an approach that borrows from urban political ecology, social studies of science, and post-colonial urban theory. With an epistemological grounding in these literatures, this project analyzes ongoing conversations about water management in São Paulo, and focuses on how water is encountered and engaged with in the landscape by engineers, artists, and activists. This project …

The Effect Of Urbanization On The Embodied Energy Of Drinking Water In Tampa, Florida, Mark Vincent Eli Santana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing urbanization has serious implications for resource and energy use. One of these resources is drinking water. The increased amount of impervious surfaces associated with urban development is responsible for increased runoff during rain events, which may have a negative impact on the quality of nearby bodies of water, including drinking water sources. The growing populations associated with urbanization require a higher water demand. In addition, urban drinking water systems use energy to collect, treat, and distribute a safe reliable effluent to users. Therefore, this study focuses on the degree to which urbanization influences the embodied energy of drinking water …

Learning From Cinara: Exploring The Depths Of Participatory Water Engagement In Cali, Colombia, Zachary T. Strickland

Honors College Theses

Located within the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, CINARA is an academic institution, comprised of both engineers and social scientists, that has almost three decades of experience regarding participatory approaches to water supply and environmental sanitation. In this paper, I argue that CINARA’s work is important due to its emphasis on meaningful community participation that significantly involves communities in decisions on technical matters that are usually allocated exclusively to “experts.” Furthermore, the valuation of social considerations and non-technical knowledge found amongst CINARA’s engineers stands in distinct contrast to traditional development practices and engineering mindsets. This paper will go on …

Veins Of The City, Daniel Lewis

Capstones

Hurricane Sandy reminded New Yorkers that the city is as defined by its rivers and bays as by its parks and skyscrapers. This project looks at the history of New York's waterways: how they were designed, how artists, engineers, and residents are working to adapt to a changing climate, and how the solutions may once again make the water part of everyday life.

The Amphibious Public: A Historical Geography Of Municipal Swimming And Bathing New York City, 1870 - 2013, Naomi Miriam Adiv

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since 1870, the city of New York has engaged in a project of building and maintaining enclosed sites for municipal bathing, including building floating `river baths' (1870 - 1942), indoor municipal baths (1901 - 1975), eleven enormous outdoor pools built with WPA funds (1936 - present), and outdoor pools of various sizes built under the Lindsay administration (1968 - present). This dissertation explores the changing rationale, over almost 150 years, for the municipal construction of public bathing places in New York City, and the ways in which the physical structures have taken on new social goals, meanings and ideals, both …

Development Of A Public Education Website: Building Bridges Over Water, Angelina Mckee

Agricultural Education and Communication

Website created by Angelina McKee to educate the public about water resource issues. Water is the basic unit of life, water resources are the basis for what societies and ecosystems are founded upon. Water shortages and droughts are more prevalent in our ever-changing world. It is no shock that there are discrepancies between various stockholders on either sides of the dry riverbed. This senior project resulted in the development of a website that addresses global water resources, water use in California, water conservation, and water allocation. The website informs the public on water resources and related issues and will hopefully …

Water For Santa Cruz County: Nonprofit Advocacy And Public Policy, Matthew Alexander Orbach

Master's Theses

This professional Masters project involved turning the Sustainable Water Coalition (SWC), an unincorporated group of Santa Cruz residents advocating the work of the two local water agencies, into a California Nonprofit Corporation and an IRS recognized 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. This paper examines the biophysical, human, and institutional systems surrounding water use in Santa Cruz County, California, and the roles that a nonprofit advocacy organization can play within that framework. These roles are illustrated through an exploration of citizen involvement and advocacy in the comparative cases of the scwd² Desalination Program in Santa Cruz, California, and a proposed wastewater …

The 2014 National Community Summit On Green Infrastructure: Summary Report, Stuart Mendel, Justin Glanville, Julie Quinn

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report presents key points from each dialogue session, as well as overall themes from the Summit as a whole. These key points and themes were synthesized by dialogue facilitators and representatives from CSU, NEORSD and EPA. In addition, this report presents narrative versions of the lead presentations for each session. These are meant to serve as case studies of best practices to address each session topic.

Issue Brief: Auditing Your Town's Development Code For Barriers To Sustainable Water Management, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This issue brief is intended for town officials who want to understand how development regulations in their community affect local water resources. Municipal development codes – the set of regulations that control the built environment – can have a great influence on the availability of clean and healthy water for drinking, recreation, and commercial uses. This in turn affects the community’s social, environmental, and economic vitality.

Comprehensive plans, zoning codes, and building standards are just a few examples of regulations that intentionally or unintentionally regulate the way water is transported, collected and absorbed. Regulations that produce dispersed development or large …

Slides: What Does Climate Change Mean For Cold Water Fisheries, Stan Bradshaw

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

1 page "Abstract" and 8 slides

Slides: Is There A Dust Bowl In Our Future?: Projections For The Eastern Rockies And Central Great Plains, Dennis Ojima

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

Presenter: Dennis Ojima, Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University (NREL/CSU)

30 slides

Slides: Future Water Availability In The West: Will There Be Enough?, Michael Dettinger

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

Presenter: Michael Dettinger, USGS, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA

30 slides

"with contributions from Julio Betancourt, Dan Cayan, & others"

Slides: A History Of Climate Variability And Change In The American West, Kelly T. Redmond

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

Presenter: Kelly T. Redmond, Regional Climatologist, Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC), Desert Research Institute

65 slides

Sustainable Water Management On Brownfields Sites, Ryan Fenwick, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This practice guide was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Through a cooperative agreement with HUD, EFCN is providing capacity building and technical assistance to recipients of grants from the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency collaboration that aims to help towns, cities, and regions develop in more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable ways.

Slides: Natural Gas: Game Changer Or Runner Left On Base? Working To Get It Right In Co!, Gary Graham

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Dr. Gary Graham, Director, Lands Program, Western Resource Advocates

21 slides

Slides: Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program, Rich Haut

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Rich Haut, Houston Advanced Research Center

6 slides

Slides: Master Development Plans (Mdps): Oil And Gas Projects, Mary Bloomstran

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Mary Bloomstran, Edge Environmental

19 slides

Slides: The Costs And Benefits Of Best Management Practices: Insights From The Marcellus Shale, Timothy J. Considine

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Timothy J. Considine, School of Energy Resources, Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming

15 slides

Resource Conflict Among Farmers And Fulani Herdsmen: Implications For Resource Sustainability, Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin, Marietu Tenuche

Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

This study describes the traditional relationship between farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the incessant resource conflict witnessed in Kogi State, Nigeria and how it affects livelihood security of those involved and resource sustainability for the communities. These conflicts are most responsible for the unsustainable utilization of land and water resources as the trampling by the hooves of herds of cattle compacts the soil of farm land, destroy farm crops by the herdsmen, places restraint on effective utilization of arable farmland among other destruction of available resources. It is understood that these conflicts have their roots in the land tenure system, …

Slides: Adapting Western Water Policy For Resilience Under Climate Change, Bonnie G. Colby

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Dr. Bonnie G. Colby, Professor of Resource Economics & Hydrology, University of Arizona Department of Agriculture & Resource Economics

22 slides

Slides: The Big Questions, Doug Kenney

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Doug Kenney, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado Law School

7 slides

Slides: Linking Growth, Land Use And Water, Jim Holway

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Jim Holway, Global Institute of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona Water Institute, Arizona State University

29 slides

Slides: The Urbanizing West: Limits To Water, Limits To Growth, Lora A. Lucero

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Lora A. Lucero, AICP, American Planning Association

18 slides

Slides: Water Needs And Strategies For A Sustainable Future, Shaun Mcgrath

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Shaun McGrath, Program Director, Western Governors’ Association

25 slides

Slides: Beyond Rethinking: Redoing Western Water Law, Janet Neuman

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Professor Janet Neuman, Lewis & Clark Law School

17 slides