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Wasteland To Wonderland:Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment Projects In Low-Income Areas Of Los Angeles, Rachel L. Warburton

Pitzer Senior Theses

The conversion of industrial waste sites, also known as brownfields, into sustainable green space can impact the surrounding community in a number of ways. This thesis is a compilation of three case studies in low-income areas of Los Angeles which have all experienced a brownfield to green space conversion. All three projects are dictated by various stakeholders and are located at the intersection of economic and environmental issues. I examine how the stakeholders of these projects affect the process and design and in turn how the process and design affects the community surrounding the site. Additionally this thesis sheds light …

Designing Affordable Housing For Adaptability: Principles, Practices, & Application, Micaela R. Danko

Pitzer Senior Theses

While environmental and economic sustainability have been driving factors in the movement towards a more resilient built environment, social sustainability is a factor that has received significantly less attention over the years. Federal support for low-income housing has fallen drastically, and the deficit of available, adequate, affordable homes continues to grow. In this thesis, I explore one way that architects can design affordable housing that is intrinsically sustainable. In the past, subsidized low-income housing has been built as if to provide a short-term solution—as if poverty and lack of affordable housing is a short-term problem. However, I argue that adaptable …

New York Neighborhoods Fight Land Grabs: Public Parks Going To Professional Teams, Donovan Finn

School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

In the diverse New York City borough of Queens, local activists banded together in the early 2000's to fight back against a trio of city-led urban development projects intended to provide public parkland to private real estate developers.

La Serreta Endokarst (Se Spain): A Sustainable Value?, Antonia D. Asencio, Teodoro Espinosa

International Journal of Speleology

La Serreta endokarst (SE Spain), which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1998, was considered a sanctuary with cave art and one of the most important archaeological sites in the Mediterranean region for both the remains it hosts and the spectacular karstic landscape at the site.

To coincide with the 40th anniversary of its discovery, the La Serreta cave-chasm was adapted for public use with the intention of showing visitors the remains, which date back to prehistoric times. The solution included attempts to minimize contact with the valuables in the cave in order to alter the existing remains as …

Zoning Barriers To The Implementation Of New Urbanist Land Use Principles In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel K. Jones

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Euclidean land use regulations that segregate different kinds of uses from one another can present significant barriers to achieving the land use-related principles of New Urbanism on a foundational level. This research evaluated the zoning ordinance of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a special focus on the Community Unit Plan and Planned Unit Development processes, in order to determine its openness to mixed housing and mixed uses, using a combination of policy analysis and Geographic Information System (GIS). It was found that a number of Lincoln’s zoning districts as well as a significant amount of land are restricted in …

Climate Action Grant For Street Improvements In Santa Paula, Lorien E. Clark

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Cultural Sustainability Of A Post-Industrial Brownfield In Wanzhou China: Maintaining Cultural Value Through Brownfield Redevelopment, Yi Zhang

All Theses

The post-industrial brownfield, generally regarded as one type of brownfield, is defined as an industrial property that remains abandoned or underutilized in part because of environmental contamination. In China, more and more post-industrial sites are abandoned because of changes to city land use, often becoming an obstacle for healthy city growth. This phenomenon places more concerns on brownfield redevelopment in China. Chinese professionals in landscape architecture can borrow some methods and techniques for addressing brownfields from more developed countries. While the brownfields in China share some similar characteristics with those in developed countries, they also have some specific features. For …

Public Housing In The United States: Using Sustainable Urbanism To Combat Social Exclusion, Jasmine L. Edo

Scripps Senior Theses

The United States government has taken steps to assure underprivileged citizens housing in the form of public housing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as various humanitarian programs in the form of homeless shelters. Yet, all housing is not equal. Our freedom to choose where we live and what type of house we live in is one revered aspect of life as a United States citizen. We can express our individuality, creativity, and personality through the architectural style of our homes. In this sense it is hard to ask for equal housing. I am suggesting that …

Finding Common Ground Part I: Understanding Growth Centers In Rhode Island, Edgar Adams, Brian Boisvert

Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Publications

Abstract: A successful Growth Management strategy must seek to find "Common Ground" between the needs of growing communities and the natural environment that supports them, between the past and the future and between the desires for social and environmental justice. In short, they seek a more sustainable way forward. 2011 marks the five-year anniversary of the introduction of Rhode Island's Land Use 2025 State Guide Plan. With this plan, Rhode Island adopted a hybrid solution to address the needs of the unique range of Urban, Suburban and Rural communities within its borders. Urban and suburban communities were accommodated within a …

Walking In The Land Of Cars: Automobile-Pedestrian Accidents In Hillsborough County, Florida, Marc Aaron Poling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Analyses of traffic accidents are often focused on the characteristics of the accident event and hence do not take into account the broader neighborhood contexts in which accidents are located. This thesis seeks to extend empirical analyses of accidents by understanding the link between accidents and their surroundings. The case study for this thesis is Hillsborough County, Florida, within which the city of Tampa is located. The Tampa Bay region ranks very high in terms of accident rates within U.S. metropolitan areas and is also characterized by transport policies which favor private automobiles over mass transit options, making it an …

Water Borne Diseases: A Cry Of A Trapped Community, Passmore Mudundulu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand the problem of attaining safe and clean water that has contributed to high incidence of water borne diseases and to investigate its effects on the residents of Chawama Township, Lusaka, Zambia. A survey was used to collect data from 400 male and female participants to determine their source, treatment and storage of water; sanitary facilities; attitude, experience and knowledge of waterborne diseases. Findings indicated that, the most common source of water was communal city taps and residents did not boil or add chlorine to make it safe for use, making it susceptible …

City Of King City: South First Street Corridor Masterplan, Fall 2011, Crp 341 Urban Design Studio

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

City of King’s South First Street Corridor Master Plan is a draft document prepared by Cal Poly’s Community Design Lab as a contribution to the city’s efforts to initiate a revitalization process for the street and the areas immediately adjacent to it. Revitalizing this corridor is an important endeavor not only from the economic, functional, and livability perspectives, but also because it provides the first view of the city for drivers entering from the south. Therefore, public and private investment along South First Street should be strategically integrated and coherently designed. The South First Street Corridor Master Plan provides the …

City Of King West Broadway Master Plan, Christopher Anderson Read

Master's Theses

This document is a professional project and academic companion piece

completed to partially fulfill requirements for the attainment of a Masters in City

and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis

Obispo. The project is the City of King West Broadway Master Plan (Plan). The

Plan was completed over the course of a year for a real-world client (The City of

King) and provides new form-based code recommendations in the Plan Area.

The Plan is included as Appendix A. The companion piece is intended to provide

additional background research that was conducted during the planning process,

but omitted …

Infrastructured: Opportunistic Infrastructure, Urban Revitalization, And Socioeconomic Reconciliation At Boundaries In Downtown Syracuse, Ny., Nilus Klingel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The contention of this thesis is that large-scale infrastructures, such as highway systems, energy networks, or water supply complexes – as well as more abstract infrastructures, such as the infrastructures of capitalism or mercantilism – have, as the ‘harbingers’ of Modernity, an indelible impact upon the lives of the human beings who exist under their influence. Eradicating the traditional way of life that preceded them, these structures provide only one point of reference: the unknown future, in which the human struggles to find an identity.

Recent recuperations of infrastructures illustrate how the transformation of former agents of alienation can build …

Of Spatial And Mindset Change: An Interview With Tay Kheng Soon, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Amidst the gloom of the growing environmental crisis and unmet social needs, one man refuses to admit defeat. After 50 years advocating in civil society and the architectural space, Tay Kheng Soon has come up with yet another ground-breaking idea—Rubanisation—which re-imagines the city and countryside as a single organic whole. Social Space catches up with the social space maverick in his eco-office in the tranquil setting of a wooded area off Dairy Farm Road.

Mitigating Climate Change At The Municipal Scale: American Urban Planning At A Crossroads, Kent L. Hurst

Planning Dissertations - Archive

The failure of international negotiations toward a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol to limit global greenhouse gas emissions has highlighted not only the problematic associated with a global agreement on such a scientifically and politically complex issue, but also the importance of sub-national action in lieu of such an agreement. This is especially true in the United States where any national climate protection framework seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. In the absence of any such policy leadership from Washington, it is increasingly falling to states, regional organizations, and municipalities to craft emissions reduction strategies that will contribute meaningfully …

Growing Greener In The City: Open Space Advocacy For Environmental Justice In Jackson Heights, Donovan Finn

School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

Local residents in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York City, develop a do it yourself solution to the community's lack of park space. The case study shows how civic advocacy can address issues of environmental justice and open space access in urban communities. by harnessing local social capital and building coalitions with city agencies and non-governmental partners.

Determination And Analysis Of Curriculum Content For A Degree Program In Construction Management, Jason Stepp

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Jason Stepp on April 23, 2010.

Collaboration And Road Safety On Indian Reservations, Leah Sirmin

All Theses

Native Americans, as a group, face many challenges including the highest motor-vehicle fatality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. While national motor-vehicle fatality rates have declined, the fatality rates for Indian reservations have continued to rise. Because addressing road safety requires significant interdisciplinary work, collaboration is an important tool; however, collaborations between tribal entities and non-tribal partners face a number of unique challenges including tense historical relationships, tribal sovereignty, and cultural differences. A variety of strategies can be utilized to address these challenges including methods such as regular face-to-face meetings to build trust, establishing formal …

Analyzing Equity Impacts Of Transit Fare Changes: Case Study Of Alameda–Contra Costa Transit, California, Cornelius Nuworsoo, Aaron Golub, Elizabeth Deakin

City and Regional Planning

Many public transit agencies consider increasing fares when faced with budget shortfalls. This paper analyzes the Alameda–Contra Costa (AC) Transit District's five alternative fare proposals introduced for public discussion in March 2005. The proposals combined fare hikes, base fare reductions, eliminations of free transfers, and discontinuation of periodic passes. Using the agency's 2002 on-board survey data, the study assessed the impacts of individual fare proposals on different subsets of riders and evaluated if they were equitable; and estimated potential fare revenues, using alternative price elasticities to estimate changes in ridership due to changes in price. The analysis revealed that proposals …

Providing Senior Citizen Mobility At Minimum Public Cost, Cornelius Nuworsoo

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Accessibility In Metropolitan Transportation Planning : Visualizing A Gis-Based Measure For Collaborative Planning, Aditi Sarkar

Dissertations

Passed by the US Congress in 1995, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), requires Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to further the trend of collaboration by employing visualization techniques for Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs). In the first part of this two-part research, three New Jersey MPOs are investigated to understand how accessibility is considered by their organizations, how TIPs are evaluated, and how collaborative planning and visualization techniques are used to evaluate TIPs. In the second part of this study, a small segment of a MPO's jurisdiction is selected to develop a visualization of …

The Influence Of Incentives Offered By Local Governments To Private Developers Or Land Owners On The Rate Of Brownfield Redevelopment, Erik Benjamin Simon

Master's Theses

Redevelopment of brownfield sites has become increasingly popular since the inception of voluntary cleanup programs in the early to mid 1990’s. Local governments have begun to offer incentives to private developers or land owners to offset costs associated with contamination and encourage the redevelopment of properties that are typically underutilized. Incentives may take several forms including, but not limited to, fast-tracked project approval, risk based cleanup standards, liability relief, tax breaks, and direct funding assistance.

This study investigates how incentives that are offered by local governments to private developers or land owners influence the rate of redevelopment in their sphere …

The Feasibility Of Incorporating Sustainable Materials In The Design Of Habitat For Humanity Homes, Meaghan Collins, '09

Outstanding Senior Seminar Papers

The concept of sustainable design has been one of increasing interest with regards to both personal choices and desire to reduce human impacts on the environment. This paper looks at the concept of sustainable housing design and why it is important. Particularly, it focuses on sustainable housing designs and materials that the McLean County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity can incorporate into the construction of its homes. This paper investigates three types of sustainable construction materials, flooring, cabinetry, and paints that Habitat for Humanity could incorporate into its homes.

India Basin Shoreline Development Proposal, Spring 2008, Crp 553 Project Planning Lab

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

No abstract provided.

Evaluating California Local Land Use Plan’S Environmental Impact Reports, Zhenghong Tang, Elise Bright, Samuel Brody

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Local land use planning has profound impacts on environmental quality; however, few empirical studies have been conducted to systematically measure local land use plans’ environmental assessment quality and to identify the factors influencing it. This paper analyzes the quality of 40 Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) of local jurisdictions’ land use plans in California. A plan evaluation protocol defined by five core components and sixty-three indicators is developed to measure the quality of local land use plans’ EIRs. The descriptive results indicate that the local jurisdictions produce relatively good quality on its EIRs, but there is still much room for improvement. …

Linking Planning Theories With Factors Influencing Local Environmental-Plan Quality, Zhenghong Tang

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The major planning theories provide a theoretical foundation for environmental planning. This study extends the major planning theories and develops a robust conceptual framework to measure the key factors influencing local environmental-plan quality. A random sample of forty Californian local comprehensive land-use plans and associated planning processes is analyzed to identify the critical factors influencing environmental-plan quality. Results from multiple regression analysis indicate that regular updating, environmental-information management and sharing, and planners contribute significantly to local environmental-plan quality. The findings expand established planning theories and practice by suggesting ways to improve local environmental-plan quality.

Carbon Neutral? Exploring Electronic Waste., Jessica Issler

SWITCH

This interview with Ted Smith, founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, explores the environmental and human health issues caused by electronic waste and toxic materials in the tech industry. Smith discusses his advocacy work, experiences meeting global leaders, and the efforts needed to make the electronics industry more sustainable. He shares insights on policy change, personal eco-practices, and the need for public access to environmental data.

Edra 38: Bibliography Of Books On Display, Kathleen Demsky

Bibliographies

edra 38 | Building Sustainable Communities | Sacramento, CA

The Competitive Global City 2030: A Futures Approach, Ruth Kelly, John Ratcliffe, Julie Gannon

Articles

In an increasingly globalising and competitive world, cities are facing unparalleled challenges relating to such forces as economic restructuring and fiscal stress, national security, institutional relationships and the changing role of governance, environmental degradation, social and cultural transformation and rising exclusion. In May 2005, The Futures Academy, Technological University Dublin, in collaboration with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), embarked on a joint initiative to stimulate thinking and encourage informed discussions concerning the future trajectory and sustainable development of the competitive ‘global city’. As part of this study, The Academy undertook in-depth background research including a comprehensive questionnaire survey; an interactive …