Digital Commons Network^™

Residential Zoning And Near-Roadway Air Pollution: An Analysis Of Los Angeles, C. J. Gabbe

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Air pollution from motor vehicles harms the health of those who live near freeways and other high-traffic roads. Land use regulations may permit, prohibit, or impose special conditions on housing near major roadways. This paper answers two questions: First, how is residential development near major roadways regulated? Second, how common are zoning changes near major roadways, and what factors explain these changes? This paper compares the zoning designations of near-roadway parcels with others in the city, and uses two sets of logistic regression models to analyze near-roadway zoning. The results show that residential development is permitted on most near-roadway parcels, …

Thing-Makers, Tool Freaks And Prototypers: How The Whole Earth Catalog’S Optimistic Message Reinvented The Environmental Movement In 1968, Andy Kirk

History Faculty Research

In the fall of 1968 a Stanford-trained biologist, organizer of the legendary Trips Festival and Merry Prankster named Stewart Brand published the first Whole Earth Catalog. Between 1968 and 1972, the Catalog reached millions of readers and won the National Book Award. The title and iconic cover image of this counterculture classic celebrated the first publicly released NASA photographs showing the whole planet Earth from space. These images profoundly changed the way humans thought about the environment. And the Catalog played an important role in that change.

Smart Tech, Smart Cities: Achieving Mobility For All, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Project Briefs

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Community-Based Assessment Of Smart Transportation Needs In The City Of Portland, Aaron Golub, Michael Serritella, Vivian Satterfield, Jai Singh

TREC Final Reports

The Portland Smart Cities UB Mobile PDX proposal focuses strongly on developing mobility solutions that would serve traditionally underserved populations (low-income, communities of color, and residents with mobility challenges). As the proposal now moves into a plan, this project explores and assesses the transportation challenges in traditionally underserved communities and explores how smart mobility solutions embedded in Mobile PDX can best be crafted to meet the needs of low-income and traditionally underserved residents in Portland, OR, focusing especially on East Portland. This project assists in that effort by developing a community-based needs assessment involving an analysis of existing data sets, …

Reorganizing School Lunch For A More Just And Sustainable Food System In The Us, Jennifer Gaddis, Amy K. Coplen

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Public school lunch programs in the United States are contested political terrains shaped by government agencies, civil society activists, and agri-food companies. The particular organization of these programs has consequences for public health, social justice, and ecological sustainability. This contribution draws on political economy, critical food studies, and feminist economics to analyze the US National School Lunch Program, one of the world's oldest and largest government-sponsored school lunch programs. It makes visible the social and environmental costs of the "heat-and-serve" economy, where widely used metrics consider only the speed and volume of service as productive work. This study demonstrates that …

Political Pilgrimage During China’S Cultural Revolution: The Case Of Dazhai, Ian S. Mcintosh

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) political pilgrimage was a tool for promoting the communist ideal of collectivism. This paper explores the creation in the 1960s by Chairman Mao Zedong of one of the foremost sites of political pilgrimage, the small agricultural commune of Dazhai in north-central China. I argue that in the days of militant atheism, all the factors usually associated with the creation of a religious pilgrimage site were present and utilized to great effect by the communists to create a ‘super symbol’ of China’s desired future. These factors included a miracle, charismatic leadership, altruism, poignant sites of historical …

Session 1 : Common As Alternative For The Future (I) : The Uncommon Commons, Lisa Rofel

South South Forum 南南論壇

On Day 4 (16 June 2018), in the session of “Common as Alternative for the Future (I)”, Lisa ROFEL (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA) delivered a lecture on The Uncommon Commons.

The video is produced by Global University for Sustainability, 2018.

Half A Century Of Supreme Court Clean Air Act Interpretation: Purposivism, Textualism, Dynamism, And Activism, David M. Driesen, Thomas M. Keck, Brandon Metroka

Political Science - All Scholarship

While public and scholarly concern about ideological decision making in Supreme Court cases has traditionally focused on abortion rights and other constitutional issues, the Gorsuch nomination brought forth some concern that ideology might influence statutory construction as well. This paper offers a case study in the evolution of statutory interpretation over time in the Supreme Court by examining the Court’s Clean Air Act jurisprudence, which now reaches back almost half a century. It examines the influence of both politics and evolving norms of statutory interpretation on the Supreme Court’s Clean Air Act case law.

Brownfield Redevelopment: Communities In Transition, Mahbubur R. Meenar

Open Educational Resources

This learning module focuses on two broad topics — hazardous waste and brownfields — and is suitable for courses in environmental and sustainability planning, environmental engineering, environmental science, environmental studies, and community development. The first topic explains different types of hazardous waste and challenges associated with them, discusses landfills and Superfund sites, presents consequences of Superfund sites using historical case studies, and finally introduces Cradle-to-Grave hazardous waste management systems. The second topic focuses on the history and types of brownfields in the USA, their disadvantages and opportunities, as well as their redevelopment options. Using text, field visits, and a series …

An Analysis Of The Bizx Commercial Trade Exchange: The Attitudes And Motivations Behind Its Use, Ján André Montoya

Dissertations and Theses

The Global Financial Crisis underscored both the complexity and brittleness of the global financial system, especially for small to medium enterprises dependent on the current banking regime for credit. More than ever, we have also begun to see the disentanglement of small businesses from traditional banks at the local and regional level in the form of CDFIs, fintech alternative lending, and now complementary currencies. Through interviews with the management and members of the BizX complementary currency this study asks what the attitudes and motivations are behind its offering and use. In addition, it inquires into the economic and psychological benefits …

The Dispute Over The Commons: Seed And Food Sovereignty As Decommodification In Chiapas, Mexico, Carol Frances HernáNdez RodríGuez

Dissertations and Theses

Seeds have become one of the most contested resources in our society. Control over seeds has intensified under neoliberalism, and today four large multinational corporations control approximately 70 percent of the global seed market. In response to this concentration of corporate power, an international social movement has emerged around the concept of seed sovereignty, which reclaims seeds and biodiversity as commons and public goods. This study examines the relationship between the global dynamics of commodification and enclosure of seeds, and the seed sovereignty countermovement for decommodification. I approach this analysis through an ethnographic case study of one local seed sovereignty …

Streeby, Shelley. Imagining The Future Of Climate Change: World-Making Through Science Fiction And Activism. Oakland, California: University Of California Press. 2018., Tarique Niazi Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Murphy, Michelle. The Economization Of Life. Durham, Nc: Duke University Press. 2017., Tarique Niazi Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Making And Breaking Trust In Forest Collaborative Groups, Emily Jane Davis, Lee K. Cerveny, Donald R. Ulrich, Meagan L. Nuss

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

There has been a recent increase in use of an organized, forest ‘collaborative’ group approach for multi-stakeholder input on federal forestlands in the U.S. West. This approach relies on the creation of shared trust to achieve social agreement. Yet growing critiques suggest a lack of trust in the U.S. Forest Service [Forest Service], between stakeholders, and the collaborative process itself. We conducted three comparative case studies of established forest collaborative groups in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to ask how trust is created and damaged or broken in this context. We found multiple, interlinked dimensions to trust, including significant reliance on …

How Can Expressive Therapies Help With Grieving And Loss? A Literature Review, Mary Louise Purves

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review surveys different expressive therapies interventions (ET) for grief and loss. There are examples from all major modalities in the ET continuum. Loss in this context is defined as the loss of someone important in one’s life (a child, a parent etc.). Two of the articles sited grapple with community loss whereby a community of people lost something of great value to them. The urge to create can be present for many people when they are grieving, and ET offers a therapeutic method of channeling this creativity. Mourning rituals that already exist can be linked to ET interventions. …

The Ethics Of Environmental Litigation, Jenna Marie Dibenedetto

Student Theses 2015-Present

Abstract

We are raised from the early days of our youth to distinguish right from wrong, evil from good. Though there are many careers that have easily distinguishable ethics from their day of creation, others require spend their entire professional careers floating in a grey area. Being a lawyer can leave you in limbo very often. The ethical battle between prosecuting people whose actions go against everything you believe in and defending someone who actions you struggle to rationalize, looking for a “nail in the coffin” or finding a way to pry it open can play a large role in …

A Green Opportunity: Why American Conservatives Will Benefit By Fighting Climate Change, Byrne W. Cronin

Student Theses 2015-Present

For much of the twenty-first century, there has been a debate in America over the existence of anthropogenic climate change. This debate is unnecessary and polarizing, as liberals often advocate for climate-change-mitigation policy while conservatives often declare anthropogenic climate change false or unimportant. Along with this, debate over climate change largely prevents effective policy from being passed in the US, which is a problem because as one of the most populous, polluting and powerful countries, we have a significant impact on how the fight to mitigate climate change proceeds.

The goal of this thesis is to work towards ending that …

Combating Food Waste: Dumpster Diving As A Form Of Consumer Resistance, Brock J. Vaughan

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper explores North America’s food waste issue associated with our current industrial globalized food system. Through a sociocultural lens, this essay examines the new social movement of dumpster diving among food waste activists and ‘freegans’ in urban areas. Millions of people are currently unaware as to where their next meal will come from, yet Western households and supermarkets waste massive amounts of edible food. Dumpster divers do not just encourage us to be mindful of the choices we make with respect to food waste; they seek to challenge pre-existing capitalist structures and conventional ways of thinking. Analyzing the counterculture …

Catching The Cloud And Pinning It Down: The Social And Environmental Impacts Of Data Centers, Heather Ipsen

Theses - ALL

As reliance on social media, mobile devices, and computers has grown in developed nations worldwide, data centers have become an important, but poorly understood, part of this digital age. These massive structures, which are increasingly built in rural areas, store digital files and images. Despite the clear importance of cloud computing, geographers have not studied this infrastructure or its effect on nearby communities and the physical environment. This project examines the social and environmental impacts of the development and operation of data centers, using a Facebook data center in Prineville, Oregon as a case study. It explores what impact the …

Insist, Persist, And Resist: Feminist Activism And Political Violence In Antioquia, Colombia, Carolina Arango-Vargas

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation presents a political ethnography of the dynamics of feminist activism among organized mujeres populares –working-class and rural women– in the province of Antioquia, Colombia, and sheds light on the development of political agency and transformation of subjectivity. The study investigates how feminist frameworks enable grassroots women to combat the simultaneous effects of violence, poverty, and trauma by analyzing the processes of collaboration between grassroots and professional feminist organizations and the effects of political violence in their communities. Drawing on political anthropology and transnational feminist scholarship, the dissertation examines these processes against the backdrop of a regional hegemonic project …

Resilience Through Connection To Place: How Native Peoples Rely On The Land And How The Land Relies On Us, Tabitha N. Espinoza

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Science, Advocacy, Policy, Planning: Tools For Advancing Transportation Equity, Garrett S. Mcallister

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The theme of this portfolio is how different tools and approaches can be used for advancing transportation equity. Broadly defined, transportation equity is about fairness in transportation. There are a number of ways this fairness can be assessed. The most common way to assess transportation equity is by looking at the fairness of outcomes, distributed geographically, socially, or even by mode of transportation. Equity can also be defined by the fairness of processes. The first half of the portfolio illustrates some of the problems with the current transportation system and how it is unhealthy (Piece 1) and unjust (Piece 2). …

Equitable Sustainable Development In Small American Cities: The Northend Greenway And The Path Forward, Amelia Morrison

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

As global climate change prompts a demand for “green” urban development, the representation of sustainability as a panacea to all environmental, economic, and social issues has been increasingly challenged by social justice advocates. In particular, critics of the social component of this supposedly balanced sustainability model have characterized holistic sustainability rhetoric as an appropriation of equity discourse to serve the interests of a narrow set of affluent consumers. The ongoing question of who benefits from sustainable development has revealed highly problematic patterns of displacement and gentrification that fall disproportionately on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. This tension is examined …

Greening The Graduate Experience: An Exploration In Sustainability Education For Higher Education Leadership Students At The University Of San Diego, David Horber

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of interactive educational interventions, namely a sustainability inventory (Green Graduate Inventory), campus tours, and sustainability game events, on sustainability engagement in graduate students studying Higher Education Leadership at the University of San Diego. Utilizing an Appreciative Inquiry lens, I aim to celebrate sustainability achievements of participants and the University of San Diego community. My research question is, how can I help develop and empower environmentally conscious leaders, amongst higher education leadership graduate students at the University of San Diego, through intentional educational interventions? Additionally, this research will examine the culture …

Policy Recommendations For Expanding Access To Banking And Financial Services, Terri Friedline, Mathieu R. Despard, Julie Birkenmaier

Center for Social Development Research

Access to financial services is a necessity in the modern economy, yet many households lack such access. This brief, released through the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative’s network toBuild Financial Capability for All, identifies policies with the potential to expand access to financial services for households in the United States.

Epoca House: The Implementation Strategy, Courtney Thomas, Yaffa Fain, Shuxiao Teng, Mingjun Xie

School of Professional Studies

This capstone report provides a written strategic implementation plan for EPOCA House. EPOCA, Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, is a non-profit dedicated to creating better resources and opportunities for prisoners and ex-prisoners in Worcester. The organization’s most recent initiative, EPOCA House, is a transitional facility that will provide reentry services and temporary housing to ex-offenders in and around the Worcester area. Recently, Massachusetts passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill that will dramatically reduce the number of people being incarcerated; however, little attention is focused on what will happen to individuals after they leave prison. At the same …

Assessing Cumulative Barriers To Transportation: An Integrated Framework Of Equity Analysis For Housing Choice Voucher Families In The Dallas Fort Worth Region, Myriam Igoufe

Public Affairs Dissertations - Archive

Transportation is said to be affordable if it does not consume more than fifteen percent of a household’s budget. The widespread normative threshold of transportation affordability, becomes increasingly problematic as households slide down the income spectrum. Most fundamentally, low-income households have vastly different financial capabilities to purchase transportation services, hence to travel. Yet, little is known about the financial capabilities of very-low income households, and the use of a normative cost-to-income-ratio-threshold of transportation affordability obscures our understanding of travel capacities, in monetary terms, of these populations. Failure to comprehensively conceptualize and evaluate transportation affordability inevitably inhibits the formulation of adequate …

Establishing A Central Archive For Transit Passenger Data, Gregory Newmark, Hilary Nixon

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report describes the rationale, background, establishing organization, and future steps of CATPAD, the Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data. The Central Archive for Transit Passenger Data is a repository that collects, indexes, archives, and makes available online the transit survey instruments, data, and reports collected across the country. This resource is unique in its focus on the disaggregated information of individual transit users – information that is critical for a range of transportation planning analyses. In addition, where available, CATPAD contains aggregated information, such as station boardings and service and fare schedules, to provide key context for the disaggregate …

Applying Place-Based Social-Ecological Research To Address Water Scarcity: Insights For Future Research, Jodi Brandt

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Globally, environmental and social change in water-scarce regions challenge the sustainability of social-ecological systems. WaterSES, a sponsored working group within the Program for Ecosystem Change and Society, explores and compares the social-ecological dynamics related to water scarcity across placed-based international research sites with contrasting local and regional water needs and governance, including research sites in Spain and Sweden in Europe, South Africa, China, and Alabama, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Texas in the USA. This paper aims to provide a commentary on insights into conducting future solutions-oriented research on water scarcity based on the understanding of the social-ecological dynamics of water scarce …

A Fair Distribution Of Accessibility: Interpreting Civil Rights Regulations For Regional Transportation Plans, Karel Martens, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights–related laws. In this paper, we suggest four interpretations of directives’ distributional standards in relation to accessibility. Employing this framework, we review the equity assessments of regional plans of the ten largest MPOs in the United States. Against our expectations, we find that MPOs tend to employ relatively strong distributional standards, albeit never explicitly. We argue that more explicit guidance regarding standards would improve the fairness and consistency of planning practice