Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons^™

The World's A Stage: The Strip's Privatized Areas Reimagined As A Performance Space, Klaire Viduya

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Las Vegas has been home to live performances since 1931, tying entertainment with the existence of hotels and casinos. A lot of focus has been put into the live music performances on a larger scale such as concerts and residencies throughout the tourist-filled Strip. Nowadays, major cities are promoting themselves through culture, art and the creative industries, developing new innovative urban spaces and business. According to a study by the UNLV Gaming Research Lab, throughout the past few years in hospitality, there has been a trend of the entertainment having less revenue compared to other sectors such as gambling and …

Parking In Progress: The Evolution Of Parking Garages, Jazmin Isabel Navarro

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

In the U.S. there are approximately 40,000 parking garages (Hartt, 2014) and that number continues to grow rapidly; for years the design of those structures has stayed stagnant, not being rethought since their conception around the 1950's. Meanwhile the automobile industries are evolving more rapidly than ever before to create smarter and more energy efficient technologies. The automobile has become a staple of society and there is little chance of it being eliminated from our society; it is a necessary evil at this point.

As vehicles rose in popularity there came the need for parking, and before long there was …

Redefining Pedestrian Infrastructure, Maurice Gregory

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Urban spaces are seeing a poor adaptability of roads and pedestrian traffic to coexist without conflict. This can be seen by looking into vehicle versus pedestrian accidents and their causes, what interventions are currently in place, and how urban sprawl has played a part in this crisis. In addition, case studies focusing on various urban design plans will be evaluated. Finally, it will be discussed how these issues can be addressed and what implementations can be made architecturally to alleviate the strain between vehicles and pedestrians in urban spaces.

Chattahoochee River Front: Creating A Public Space For The City Of Atlanta, Samantha Manders

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The city of Atlanta lacks public spaces. Atlanta is characterized by many high-rise buildings, and a bare urban fabric that is accessed by automobile-oriented roads rather than pedestrian streets. Dense city centers such as Buckhead, Midtown, and Downtown, lacks proper public places that support social cohesion. While the city is renowned for its green spaces and the tree canopy, much of the public space is dedicated as green parks rather than plazas as extension of the street network. When the development of Atlanta began, it was designed as a railroad city. This took the focus off its natural course of …

Urban Mitigation And Adaptation: Ecological Design Strategies For Flood Resilient Environments And Community Health In Athens, Makenna Chambers

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

According to FEMA, flooding is the most frequent and costly natural disaster in the United States (National Flood Insurance Program and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010). The risk it poses to both people and property will only increase in the coming years due to the increasing effects of Climate Change. Additionally, the effects of Climate Change mean that areas that were once safe from flooding are now in danger and their current infrastructure was not designed to withstand the impact and effects of the more frequent and dangerous flooding occurrences. Climate Change effects temperature, sea levels, and the increasing …

Vida: Community Center In The Heart Of Bogota, Juan Sebastian Mejia Ceballos

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Abstract

Bogota is the capital of Colombia known for its beautiful culture, architecture, music, food, ambiance. All these things are only seen in the northern portion of the city. When looking at the southern portion of the city, this is where the true neglect of a government shows. There is a lack of care, love, and respect for a city. It is noticeable that there is hierarchy where the elite live in the north and the poor live in the south.

This is the first issue addressed in this thesis.

When looking at the city and its relation to the …

Skins+Fabrications: Addressing Fashion And Clothing Waste, Renee Palmer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Articles of clothing; they are the second organ, the Second Skin. Their functions are to protect the body from the harsh external elements and create a sense of design with Fashion—the same as exterior facades on a building. However, where architecture and Fashion differ is sustainability.

The Global fashion industry contributes 10% of greenhouse emissions. From that 10%, about 13 million tonnes of clothing waste ends up in landfills or burned. Most of the waste comes from the Fast Fashion Industry, which sees cheap labor from underdeveloped countries to maximize profits. These companies will spend a good portion of their …

Prototyping Attainability: A Guide For Incremental Density In Communities, Quinlan Mcfadden

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

In the absence of direct public investment solutions, Prototyping Attainability, explores how the combination of building typologies and land uses can achieve attainable housing strategies by striking a balance between shared community spaces and optimizing density, without disrupting the existing residential landscape. Through this exploration of research and design, strategic changes in zoning, regulation and typologies will be brought forward to aid the framework process of solutions to the housing crisis not only within Nebraskan communities, but in communities nationwide.

Holistic Generations | Reshaping A City's Health, Tania Rodriguez Serrano

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In Puerto Rico everything seems emptier. The more hurricanes hit us, the less opportunities there are, the more corrupt the government gets, then the more people leave. The Puerto Rican population is rapidly decreasing. The small town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico is one that seems to be very lonely these days. I scarcely see my generation and the older generation is getting left behind. Due to this the town is basically a ghost town by the time 4pm hits. If my generation leaves, then who takes care of the older generations? Who maintains the town alive? When asked these questions …

Design Diplomacy - Cooperative Living, Kameren Horton

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

From 1990 through 1996, we witness a significant shift within the city of Atlanta. In the Summer of 1996, the Olympics was hosted in Atlanta. Techwood Homes at the time, was the first large affordable housing project in that area. In 1991, there was an order for the demolishment of Techwood Homes. However, it wasn’t until 1995, when the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) decided to begin demolition after waiting 4 years prior to the Olympics.

Several other large housing projects were demolished to make room for Olympic venues. This is where we see redevelopment. This is where we see a …

Where Dreams Begin: Challenging The Architecture Of Migrant Detention, Pablo Garcia

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Today, more than 40 million people living in the US were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s migrants. Even though the US is a nation comprised largely of immigrants and their descendants, immigration remains one of the most fraught social and political issues of modern times. People dream of moving into the country seeking a better life than the one they are leaving behind. Yet, upon arrival, they face inhumane circumstances due to the recent influx of people seeking asylum within the US. According to the Department of Homeland Security, over 3 million people arrived …

Postscript, Arthur C. Nelson

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Afterword - It Has Been A Good Ride, Julian Conrad Juergensmeyer, James Nicholas

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Our Cities, Ourselves, Nan Ellin

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Just as we are what we eat, we are where we live. We breathe the air, drink the water and inhabit the built and natural landscapes. We make our places and they, in turn, make us. While great places nourish body and soul, poor environmental and urban quality challenges us physically as well as emotionally. How might we heal our places, so that they sustain us, rather than strain us?

On The Restorative Power Of Nature, Or Why Every Neighborhood Needs A Public Japanese Garden, Mira Locher, Keith Bartholomew

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

In celebration of Professor Arthur C. “Chris” Nelson’s illustrious career and our shared ambles in academia and in gardens in Japan, we offer this essay on public health and public gardens, namely gardens in the traditional Japanese style and how they could play an important role in addressing pressing public health issues in urban areas in the U.S. (and elsewhere).

Stewardship Of The Built Environment In A Changing World, Robert A. Young

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Stewardship of the built environment emerged in the mid-1990s (Young 1994) when preservationists and conservationists needed to broaden their qualitative emotion-based arguments and adopt quantitative environmental and economic evidence to counter proposals that threatened the viability of both the built and natural environments. Social, environmental, and economic (SEE) concerns at the turn of the twenty-first century formed the triptych of the metrics found within the philosophy which: “…recognizes that the preservation, rehabilitation, and reuse of existing older and historic buildings contributes to sustainable design; respects the past, present, and future users of the built environment; and balances the needs of …

Becoming Henderson: How A "Boomburg" Used A Future-Focused Strategic Plan To Become A True Urban Place, Debra March, Stephanie Garcia-Vause, Lisa Corrado

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Since its incorporation in 1953, the City of Henderson, Nevada has grown from a sparsely populated, one-industry town into a “boomburb” comprised of numerous nationally recognized master-planned communities with an over-arching, future-focused strategic plan. This article is a case study of how this boomburb took advantage of its position in the American suburban landscape to become a true urban place. It also offers a checklist for other communities to consider as they plan for their own futures.

Beyond Brownfields Redevelopment: A Policy Framework For Regional Land Recycling Planning, Joseph Schilling

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

The fields of urban policy and urban planning lack a cohesive and comprehensive framework for recycling vacant and abandoned properties. Past and present efforts to repurpose vacant land and abandoned properties were often narrow responses driven primarily by economic redevelopment policies such as urban renewal of the 1950s & 1960s, deindustrialization of the 1970s & 1980s, and the public-private partnerships featured during the 1990s & 2000s. The 2008-2015 mortgage foreclosure crisis and Great Recession put the policy spotlight on how to address the widespread impacts from thousands of vacant and/or foreclosed homes that affected diverse markets and communities across the …

Making Places Better, Arthur C. Nelson

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Fiscal Impact Analysis And Where It Needs To Go, L. Carson Bise, Colin Mcaweeney

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Communities need analytical tools and technical support to assess and balance multiple priorities when making land use and development decisions. For many communities, priorities to be considered regarding land use decisions include resource conservation and climate adaptation, economic development, investing in new versus existing communities, and maintaining fiscal responsibility. This article examines the historical use of fiscal impact analysis and some thoughts on where the field should go in the future.